Chris Sixsmith

Senior Game Engineer | C++, Blueprints & Unreal Engine | Generalist: Gameplay Systems, Game UI, Multiplayer, UGC Tools, Rendering, Physics & Engine Architecture

About, education and contact

About

I work mainly in C++, C, and C#, with deep experience across Unreal Engine 4 and 5 in both C++ and Blueprints, gameplay systems, game UI, game networking, multiplayer gameplay architecture, graphics programming, editor and tools development, procedural generation, user generated content, Windows, Linux, Perforce and UGS, Git and AWS. My background in music and visual art shapes how I think about interaction, presentation and the quality bar for tools. I watch people use things I've made and improve them.

Many of the projects here were a key part of something new that made a big difference. I'd love to be a key part of your project too.

I'm based in the UK. All of my studio roles have been remote, and I prefer remote work. I'm available now!

AI tools

I can use AI programming tools such as Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex CLI.

Education

MSc Computer Science Distinction

Lancaster University · 2019–2020

Self-selected focus on visual programming tools, languages and compiler infrastructure. My thesis project, a functional visual programming language, was the forerunner of Brickadia's wires.
BSc Computer Science First Class Honours

Lancaster University · 2016–2019

My third-year project and thesis scored the highest in the year.

Contact

chris [at] sixmorphugus [dot] com

CV (PDF)

Projects

Brickadia

Founding Developer, Partner & Director · Principal Programmer and Game Designer · 2017–present

A self-published Unreal Engine 5 multiplayer sandbox on Steam, with more than 1,000 positive reviews and tens of thousands of copies sold. I designed and built some of the core systems: replication for brick components, wires and entities, the building tools, wire logic and its GPU renderer, physics joints, player-built vehicles and aircraft, and much of the game UI.

I've built Brickadia in my own time throughout my career, alongside full-time roles at Surreal Events and 1047 Games.

Unreal Engine 5.8
C++
Blueprints
Game UI
Iris Replication
Client-Side Prediction
RDG / HLSL
GPU Rendering
PhysX 5
Vehicle Physics
ECS
Tools Programming
Game Design

Splitgate 2: The Lab

Senior Game Engineer, 1047 Games · Remote · 2023–2026

Splitgate 2's in-game multiplayer map creator, where players build maps together in real time. I was one of three engineers who architected and built it, and I wrote the custom replication channel that streams maps to players after we found Iris RPCs couldn't carry large files.

Unreal Engine 5.8
C++
Blueprints
Multiplayer Replication
Collaborative Editing
UGC / Level Editor
Tools Programming
Gameplay Programming
Game UI
Perforce / UGS
PS5 / Xbox Series X|S

SURREAL 2: Surreal Photon

Senior Unreal Engine Developer, Surreal Events · Remote · 2020–2023

The networking layer behind SURREAL 2, the second version of a 3D virtual events platform from the metaverse boom of the COVID lockdowns. Surreal Events hired me based on my Brickadia work, and I rewrote SURREAL 1's core netcode on top of a custom Unreal Engine net driver for Photon. It powered the Atlanta Braves' Digital Truist Park for over 1,000 concurrent attendees.

Unreal Engine 4.27
C++
Blueprints
Custom NetDriver
Network Replication
Photon
Multiplayer Architecture
C#

Renderboy

Software renderer for DOS · Personal project · 2026

A software renderer I wrote in C and hand-scheduled Pentium assembly for real DOS machines, with Quake-style span rendering, at 100 fps at 320×200 on a Pentium II. To get there, I made the modern Tracy profiler able to open captures from a DOS machine. An early prototype of it draws Did You See It?, which you can play in your browser.

C
x86 Assembly
Software Rendering
Fixed-Point Maths
Pentium Optimisation
VGA Mode 13h
Emscripten / WebAssembly

Special FX

SoundFont synthesiser for DOS · Personal project · 2026

An integer-only SoundFont synthesiser for DOS that drives a real Sound Blaster 16, with bit-identical output on every platform. It also runs as an FL Studio plugin, so music sounds the same in the DAW as in the game. Hear it in Stay Resident, Little Town!

C
Audio Programming
DSP
SoundFont 2
Sound Blaster 16
DMA and Interrupts
FL Studio Plugin SDK

Did You See It?

Short narrative game · Personal project · 2026

A short narrative game about fetching supplies from a cellar while evading a very clever monster. It's a prototype of a Ring Village monster, made with the help of Codex CLI in my own C engine and drawn by an early prototype of Renderboy. I made the art and sound myself. The monster can't step into anything your camera can see, so it plans around you: it turns off lights, reaches under doors and herds you into the dark. Play it in your browser.

C
Game Design
AI Planning
IK
Narrative Design
Game UI
Sound Design
Touch Controls
Emscripten / WebAssembly

Music

I regularly compose music but rarely share it. I compose in the style of 1990s video game soundtracks. Those were either synthesised in hardware, like the Commodore 64's SID chip, or played from soundfonts, either in hardware (the Super Nintendo's Sony SPC700 and S-DSP, or one of many DOS sound cards) or in software (the Nintendo 64's RSP).

Here are some examples of my work in various styles:

Stay Resident, Little Town! (2026)

Sound Blaster 16. Played by Special FX, my SoundFont synthesiser for DOS, so this song can be played on a real 1990s DOS machine.

Temple of Time EP: Idle Time + Hourglass Pinwheel + Postdestined Fate (2022)

Contemporary: emulated Commodore 64 voices, more of them than the real hardware has, mixed with orchestral instruments from modern Kontakt libraries. The EP got a strictly limited “release”: to my friends and family.

Magical Mountain's Maw (2020)

2SID Commodore 64. Plays on real hardware: get the .sid or watch an oscilloscope demo.