Ronald Burns
Gameplay, engine, graphics & infrastructure engineer
Core Engineer II at Mob Entertainment. I build game systems, engine tooling, shaders, and the infrastructure that ships them. This is where I log what I work on.
2026
2024
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Speeding Up Unreal Engine Compiles
A deep dive into how I leveraged Unreal Build Accelerator (UBA) to significantly reduce compile times for modules and shaders in Unreal Engine.
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EOS Voice Chat System (WIP)
A voice chat system designed to allow designers the ability to modify voice chat using Unreal's MetaSounds, as well as position the sound in 3D space.
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EOS Voice Manual Input/Output
Online Subsystem EOS doesn't have any built in way to configure manually inputting and outputting the voice data?!
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Common Services Plugin (WIP)
A plugin I created to integrate all the Online Services, such as Friends, Leaderboards, Achievements, and more, in the same style as CommonGame and CommonUser.
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Elemental Volumes
In-depth details on the development of Elemental Volumes, their gameplay effects, visuals, and how they interact with the player and combine into other gameplay effects.
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Weighted Random
A plugin I created to easily generate weighted random numbers in Unreal Engine.
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Crafting a Distance Pull Ability System for VR (WIP)
A distance pull ability system inspired by Half-Life Alyx using Unreal Engine's powerful tools and gameplay systems.
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FeaturedUnleashing the Ultimate Gameplay Ability System (GAS)
An in-depth showcase of my advanced Gameplay Ability System (GAS) implementation in Unreal Engine. This post covers integration with ViewModel, CommonUI, and more! Learn how I developed PvP gameplay mechanics using all GAS features, including abilities, tags, effects, cue notifies, and a custom context system for managing effects, damage, and elemental interactions.
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My Portfolio
What I experienced and learned during the development of THIS website.
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Enum to String
A super easy way to convert an enum to a string in Unreal Engine.
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Game Framework System
The best way to propery code around the state of your actors and components.
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State Tree AI
In-depth experiments and research into utilizing State Tree for AI in Unreal Engine 5.4
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Replicated Physics Plugin
My implementation of replicated physics objects in Unreal Engine for multiplayer games. Please check out the attached repository with the source code for more details!
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Nanite Displacement Fade
Insights into how Nanite displacement fading works based on resolution and its impact on performance and visual fidelity.
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Nanite Skinned Meshes Work
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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World aligned nanite displacement
I bet $5 you haven't seen something more satisfying than this.
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Interesting VR Render Bug
Random into a rendering bug in VR.
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New Update Redirector References Menu
5.5 seems to have made some cool changes to this!
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New Local Variable Icons
These are so much easier to read!
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State Tree Property Ref BP
Finally added property references to blueprint!
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OpenXR Hands
Finally was able to interface with the OpenXR API for finger positions!!!
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Cool Organic Shader
Found a cool shader on twitter and decided to recreate it in Unreal Engine.
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Toon Shading - Part 3 (Preview)
A preview of what I've been working on for Part 3. As I complete the outline shading, this article will be updated with more information.
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Bent Normals and Ambient Occlusion
Leveraging Unreal Engine 5.4's Modeling tools to create Bent Normals and Ambient Occlusion for superior shading on static meshes, with a focus on weapon models.
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PCG Random Filter
A custom node for PCG designed to randomly filter points, with a special added feature.
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Toon Shading - Part 2
Adding Anisotropic Shading
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Toon Shading - Part 1
Insights into the deferred renderer in Unreal Engine and experimenting with toon shading techniques.
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Nanite Static Lighting
Turns out Nanite meshes can be lit with static lighting
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Distributed Shader Compilation
Support for distributed shader compilation has been added to UBA!
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Fixing 3D Widget Colors
Applying a material to all stereo widgets to fix the color errors.
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Many Lights
Exploring the capabilities of the "Many Lights" plugin for Unreal Engine and how it can significantly improve performance in scenes with numerous light sources.
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Setter Variable Trick
You can use the right pin to access the variable on its setter node.
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Unreal Game Sync
Why Unreal Game Sync has been an absolute game changer for my team.
2023
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Simulating LED Screens
Learn how to simulate LED screens in Unreal Engine using a simple material setup.
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UEFN Experimentation Week
A week of learning UEFN and Verse to build a "Guess the Celebrity Sillhouette" game.
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Landscape PCG Test
Experimented with modifying the landscape using a spline and placing PCG points along that spline on the landscape.
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Lumen vs Ray Tracing vs Path Tracing
A comparison of the three rendering technologies in Unreal Engine 5.
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Awesome GAS Weapon
A little bit of what went into getting my GAS VR weapon to work.
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Weapon Fire Cooldown
A gameplay effect that limits the rate of fire for weapons.
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VR HUD Tests
Learning the capabilities and limitations of VR HUDs
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64 Core, 128 Thread Machine
Testing new hardware in a windows server VM
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Custom Avatar Asset Type
A completely custom avatar asset I created with custom viewport, details, asset browser, and hierarchy so modders can create their own avatars.
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Floor Trace Error
An error I fixed in the engine where the capsule wasn't tracing the floor properly. It was falling through and coming back up each frame.
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Holodeck Dev Update - 03/2023
Holodeck Developer Update log for March 2023.
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Holodeck Dev Update - 02/2023
Holodeck Developer Update log for February 2023.
2022
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Secure Access without a VPN
How I used HashiCorp Boundary to securely access internal tools without the need for a VPN.
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Automated Dev Deployement
How I used Hashicorp Waypoint to streamline my deployment process for APIs, websites, and game servers. **NOTE 6/2024** - Hashicorp has since moved to HCP Waypoint. This local guide is deprecated.
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Building Network Infrastructure
A deep dive into the sophisticated network infrastructure set up to ensure zero downtime, high security, and cost efficiency.
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Layered Animation Graphs
A deep dive into the power of Layered Animation Graphs in Unreal Engine.
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Integrating Holodeck API and Social Services into Unreal Engine
Detailed guide on integrating a custom API and social services into Unreal Engine
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Gif Texture Type
How I added GIF support to Unreal Engine
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Autoscaling Infrastructure
Some of the coolest shit ever. Request any number of servers and they'll auto purchase, deploy, and join the pool of nodes, allowing for any app to be deployed to them.
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Custom Avatar Asset 2
Created another asset and editor for custom Avatar Assets in the Holodeck ModKit.
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Rust in Unreal (Continued)
More rust in Unreal work to create cinematics. (Note June 2024 - This was before nanite and lumen. All lighting is the same quality as UE4)
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Smooth Camera Subject Change
Yup. Just what the title said.
2021
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First DevOps Tests (UGS and Horde)
Getting Unreal Game Sync and Horde working. All hail king Ben Marsh!
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Holodeck Game Profile
Working profiles in-game that utilize all the web features I built for Holodeck!
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Holodeck WebServer Development (Continued)
Continued work on the WebServer for my game Holodeck. Made an SDK as a plugin in Unreal and extended the web functionality to hold more data and implemented WebSockets.
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VR Physics Grip
VR Physics Grip
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Hashicorp Infrastructure
Taught myself how to use Hashicorp's infrastructure tools to deploy my own infrastructure.
2020
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Holodeck WebServer Development
Continued work on the WebServer for my game Holodeck. This is basically Epic Account Services, but a replacement with all my own needed features.
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Rust in Unreal
I was interested in making cinematics for the game Rust in Unreal.
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Steamworks In Engine
I got steamworks working in engine!
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Holodeck Level Tests
A few tests for levels in my game, Holodeck.
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Discord Game SDK Plugin
A plugin I made to integrate the Discord Game SDK into Unreal Engine 4's Blueprints.
2019
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New Sky Atmosphere Components
Messing around with Unreal's new Sky Atmosphere components.
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DFAO Testing
Testing realtime lighting with DFAO vs static lighting
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Arm IK Algorithm
Implementing the "HumanUpper-Body Inverse Kinematics for Increased Embodiment in Consumer-Grade Virtual Reality" by Mathias Parger in Unreal Engine, with a few edge-case fixes.
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Open Pose Component
Created a component to support reading and writing bones from the Open Pose component of SteamVR.
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Main Menu Test 2
A main menu with Steamworks, Spotify, and Authentication integration using my own webserver and OAuth 2.0
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Dynamically Lit Screen
A screen that can stream or play video and audio. It dynamically lights the environment around it, very efficiently using custom shaders for lighting. Also tested fake GI towards the end with multiple bounces.
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Cloth Physics Experiments
Yup. Exactly what the title says.
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Steamworks UGC Working
A demonstration of Steamworks Workshop UGC working! This lists the top workshop items, downloads them, mounts the .pak file in real time, and loads an instance running that content.
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VR Mega God
No one VRs like I do.
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Custom FullbodyIK Algorithm
I developed a custom Full Body IK algorithm that runs as an AnimBP node.
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Anime Style Shaders
Anime ๐
2018
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Streaming Video Player Experiments
A collection of experiments with streaming video players in Unreal Engine.
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Loading Pak File Experiments
A collection of experiments with loading pak files in Unreal Engine.
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Full Body IK Experiments
A collection of experiments with full body IK in Unreal Engine.
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Hide or Die - Freelance
I did work for Hide or Die, designing and implementing the main menu. This was before CommonUI was a thing. The game has since ran into controversy and I am in no way associated with the game or its developers.
2017
2016
2015
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Hunger Games Style Platform
I wanted to learn a little about modeling, so I decided to make a platform in the style of the Hunger Games.
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TrueSKY
A realistic sky and weather system for Unreal Engine 4.
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First Main Menu
A TON of pictures and videos showing off my first dashboard/menu with full Steamworks integrations.
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CSGO-Style Working UI
Designed a UI in the style of CSGO, but with working elements.
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Recreating Dust 2 in UE4
Using Hammuer to re-create Dust 2 in Unreal
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Kite Demo
If you love something, set it free! I've been exploring this kite demo, and it has a lot of cool technology!
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Party Join Design
A working design for players joining my party on steam. Not fake data. Real player in steamworks lobby.
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Steamworks SDK Finally Works
It took forever but I finally got Steamworks SDK to initialize! Here's an example of it showing the number of friends online.
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Animated Loading Sequence
Created a loading sequence for my game in UMG animator.
2014
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My First Inventory System
I like to pick stuff up and put them down.
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Multiplayer Dual Camera
First and third person cameras work in multiplayer now! :)
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Gas Mask 3D Model
I've started learning 3D modeling and have made a Gas Mask for my game, Solunum.
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Ex Nihilo Minecraft Mod
I'm creating a minecraft mod called "Ex Nihilo", a latin phrase meaning "out of nothing". The mod focuses on creating resources from nothing.
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Core Protect - Minecraft Plugin
I started working on the plugin Core Protect for the Sponge API in minecraft
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Minecraft Websites
I create websites for my friends Minecraft servers.