Luc Shelton

Gears of War 4 Gears of War 4
The Coalition Microsoft Studios Splash Damage
The Coalition Microsoft Studios Splash Damage

Gears of War 4

Gears of War 4

Gears of War 4 was the first sequel in the franchise that was developed by The Coalition instead of Epic Games. Splash Damage was largely responsible for developing the multiplayer component, and porting the title to Windows 10 from Xbox One.

Responsibilities

My responsibilities were mixed on this project, as I was transitioned off infrastructure and tooling towards the end of the project life cycle to assist with remaining UI tasks.

Build and Continuous Integration Systems

  • Build systems powered by TeamCity.
  • Build and automation pipelines for Unreal Engine 4.
    • Including "flavoured" build configurations for nightly, multiplayer, single player and complete builds.
  • Build pipeline tooling for building content and assets required for Windows 10 title based Universal Windows Platform.

Infrastructure

  • Backend systems for enhancing Perforce performance, and build infrastructure.
    • Implementation of a UFTP backend for fast synchronising of assets and local caching of Perforce workspace data.
    • Reducing load on Perforce servers and increasing cache usage.
  • Build systems and configurations for daily and nightly builds of the game.

Localisation

  • Integration of Unreal Engine 4's localisation system with game content.
  • Automation tooling for generating localisation entries and integrating them as part of builds.
  • In-game tooling for managing in-game localisation, including the identification of missing localisation content.

Debug Tooling

  • Visualisations and tooling for localisation and UI teams.
  • Debugging and identifying missing localisation entries.
  • Diagnosing UI bounding issues with localised strings in various locales.

Windows 10 UI

  • Scalable systems for porting UI prompts and interfaces from Xbox One to Windows 10 with keyboard and mouse input.
  • Refactoring UI systems developed for Xbox One, for porting to Windows 10.
The three main characters in the game featured in one of the cinematic marketing graphics found on various online stores. The three main characters in the game featured in one of the cinematic marketing graphics found on various online stores.
Screenshot from an in-game cut scene between Marcus and JD Fenix. Screenshot from an in-game cut scene between Marcus and JD Fenix.
One of the pieces of marketing cover art that was used for Gears of War 4. In this picture is the three main characters of the game: Kait, JD, and Del. One of the pieces of marketing cover art that was used for Gears of War 4. In this picture is the three main characters of the game: Kait, JD, and Del.
The credits screen for Gears of War 4. Displaying my attribution under "Tools and Infrastructure Engineering". The credits screen for Gears of War 4. Displaying my attribution under "Tools and Infrastructure Engineering".
An in-game screenshot of Kait performing a curb stomp on an enemy Swarm character, with JD firing a lancer in the corner. An in-game screenshot of Kait performing a curb stomp on an enemy Swarm character, with JD firing a lancer in the corner.
Gears of War 4
The Windows Store page for purchasing and downloading Gears of War 4.

Technologies:

Unreal Engine 4 .NET Framework TeamCity MSBuild Perforce Microsoft Visual C++

Languages:

C++ C# Python

Platforms:

Xbox One Microsoft Store Xbox