Josh Malmquist

Gameplay Programmer

Divine KnockOut (DKO)

DKO is a 3rd-person platform fighter where you play as Chibi Smite Gods battling in party game modes!

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Position: Gameplay Programmer

Company: Red Beard Games (Hi-Rez Ventures)

Duration: December 2021 - December 2022

Technologies: Unreal Engine 4, C++, Unreal Gameplay Ability System Plugin (GAS)

Released Platforms

Windows PC

PlayStation 5/4

Xbox Series X/S

Steam Deck

Contributions

Nativized and cleaned up core gameplay abilities from Blueprints to C++ to make them maintainable and readable.
Created a new ability foundation that implemented a standardized flow to creating new abilities. It allowed designers to rapidly prototype and create new abilities while making them significantly more maintainable and stable, doubling the rate at which we could produce characters.
Created and implemented blueprint coding standards for the studio to allow for maintainable, stable, and readable blueprints
Helped implement and iterate on new mechanics and systems for Characters, Maps, and Modes
Worked with production and Tech Director to help establish a proper process for branching for releases and character pipeline.

Notable Gameplay Mechanics & Features

Moving Platform Tech

Created a system that allowed level design to easily control and move Platforms along a spline path in the editor to create new levels.

Standardized Gameplay Ability

Created a new Ability foundation that implemented a standardized flow to creating new abilities. It moved away from a JSON config system to utilizing the engine’s Class default settings and variables to allow the designer to quickly and rapidly prototype and create new abilities while also making them significantly more maintainable and stable. Doubled the rate at which we could produce characters.

Tag Manager System

Created a system that allowed designers to dynamically update ability block and cancel tags from a datatable and propagate out to all the ability assets in the game. Allow design to easily standardize and maintain game rules. Modified the Unreal Engine Editor to be able to show designers the generated tags that would be applied to the ability at runtime. The tag manager also allowed the game to have easily standardized rules for status effects that blocked or canceled a player's abilities