Ian Hackman

About

Unreal Engine 5 gameplay/systems developer who led major core features for the Early Access Steam city builder Geopogo Cities: Windsor Detroit, including an end-to-end building placement system tightly integrated with economy, AI pedestrians (Mass AI/Zone Graph/State Trees), and procedural city block generation. Also built a third-person exploration layer with character customization, stamina, and animation retargeting on top of the City Sample Crowd framework, plus shipped player-driven UX improvements based on live Early Access feedback.

Key Strengths

• Owned end-to-end development of a complex building placement system on a shipped city builder (concept → prototype → polish → economy/AI integration)
• Deep Unreal Engine systems integration across gameplay, UI, economy, AI navigation, and procedural tools
• Performance-driven AI redesign: migrated pedestrian AI from Blueprint AI Controller to Mass AI/State Trees in C++ to support hundreds of NPCs without freezing
• Strong debugging methodology using instrumentation (debug prints, line traces, visual debug actors) to diagnose and ship camera fixes
• Ability to work around third-party asset constraints by generating/testing custom collision for problematic meshes
• Built robust player-facing feedback loops (economy transactions, energy widgets, revenue/tax effects reflected in world population/traffic)
• Thorough combinatorial testing across many asset permutations (character customization) and multiple camera modes (stamina system)
• Incorporates internal and external feedback (manager/intern testers + Steam Early Access players) to simplify and improve usability of complex systems
• Mentored and leveraged a small intern team for QA and UX feedback

Reference Highlights

• Owned and delivered major gameplay/systems features from concept to final polish
• Strong at building systems from scratch independently
• Self-directed learner (seeks resources to learn)
• Balances timelines, budgets, release dates, and scope creep
• Good tradeoff judgment to maintain performance and experience coherence
• Effective prototyping that translates to real, playable implementations
• End-to-end feature ownership (UI through implementation, debugging, testing)
• Uses playtests to improve usability and engagement/retention
• Strong collaborator; understands team dynamics and others' strengths
• Competent with Git workflows (merging, debugging, resolving conflicts)
• Took on increased responsibility over time
• Coached/mentored new interns

Experience

Education

Awards

• Stanton 'Bud' Yusem Endowed Scholarship Fund
• School of Arts and Sciences Dean's List - Tufts University

Skills

Languages