Full-scope engineering role on Drive Beyond Horizons for Tacty Studio, working on the game’s major next version — a period-correct driving experience with real-world vehicles simulated from engineering data rather than hand-tuned magic numbers.
Core architecture
Designed and implemented the base code architecture for the new version, setting the patterns that the rest of the systems build on top of: strict physics-thread safety, deterministic simulation, RefreshDerived() precomputation to keep per-tick Simulate() allocation-free, and a rigorous separation between Game Thread concerns (asset references, effects, sound) and Physics Thread simulation logic.
Modular item system
Built a modular item framework where anything in the world can be an item — configured entirely through data. Each item is composed by attaching configuration blocks that describe its behavior, letting designers assemble complex objects from simple, reusable parts without touching code.
Vehicle physics — full engine simulation
Layered a complete simulation on top of Chaos Modular Vehicle, reworking the entire drivetrain. The engine is simulated from first principles: FMEP-based drag torque, deterministic idle governor, four-state startup state machine (OFF → CRANKING → STARTING → IDLING), engine braking, fuel consumption tied to load, misfire and stall behavior — all running physics-thread-safe and resim-compatible.
Vehicle physics — brakes and suspension
Rebuilt the brake system with per-wheel torque scaled to instantaneous vertical load (Fz), generalizing correctly across FWD, RWD and AWD layouts with a rear safety factor for front-first lockup compliance. Rebuilt the suspension around a frequency-first design: target natural frequencies and damping ratios are the design inputs, absolute stiffness and damping values are derived — so per-vehicle setups can be entered from real manufacturer specs and aftermarket catalog data (Suplex, Lesjöfors, Kilen, Spidan).
Fluid and combustion systems
Built a normalized fluid property framework using Gameplay Tags, supporting mixing of gasoline, diesel, motor oil, water and unconventional fluids with property-appropriate mixing rules (linear averages for most axes, min() for lubricant, max() for corrosive). Fuel and combustion use baked LUT structs on the Physics Thread with hash-based deterministic RNG.
Team infrastructure
Set up the studio’s GitLab server and built the CI pipeline for the project and the custom engine build — so artists don’t have to build anything locally, they pull pre-built binaries through the tooling and get on with their work.
Design documents in French
Produced comprehensive team-facing design documents explaining each subsystem in accessible language for non-specialist teammates, with per-property physical justifications, normalization references, mixing rules, and gameplay consequence matrices.