(I am currently in the process of updating this website :) please bear with me. Feel free to reach out on Twitter/Bluesky or by email if you have any questions)
I'M
Chris Sawyer.
Unreal Engine UI Programmer currently working at 1010 Games
Graduating with First Class Honours from the University of East London with a Bachelors in Computer Game Development, I am a Game Programmer with experience working on a wide variety of different systems and features. My primary area of specialisation is UI & UX, with significant experience creating, developing, and implementing UI systems, features, and mechanics - both in Single-Player, and Multiplayer. Additionally, I also have experience both promoting Accessible Game Design, & helping to develop and implement accessibility features in games.
If you have issues with any links on my site, or need additional support from me (whether that’s audio descriptions, dyslexia or screen-reader friendly version, or anything else that would aid in the accessibility of the site), please feel free to reach out to me via DM’s on my Twitter or by Email where I will respond as soon as I can.
01 PORTFOLIO
02 About Me
Hi! I'm Chris Sawyer, a UI Programmer currently working at 1010 Games
I have been working in the games industry for around 18 months now, starting at 1010 not long after graduating from university. Whilst working at 1010, I have been primarily focused on the development, implementation, & optimization of UI across all areas of games. Working closely with the other members of the UI Team (our Technical Artist/Technical UI implementer, and our UI Artist), we developed an excellent workflow - establishing a strong, reliable system for the development and implementation of UI assets & systems.
Upon starting at 1010, I was able to take some of the workload away from our Technical UI Implementer - who had previously been almost solely responsible for the implementation of UI for the studio. This meant that I became responsible for a wide variety of systems, including (but not limited to):
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Main Menus, Pause Menus, & Game Settings
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Player HUD (Health bars, inventories, objective pop ups etc).
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Legal Screens (such as Photosensitivity Warnings, End User License Agreements etc).
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Character Selection Menus, Character Variant Unlocking etc.
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Overall UI optimizations & clean-up.
Additionally, one of my primary areas of focus shortly after starting at 1010 was overseeing the implementation of Common UI, and Enhanced Input. Due to the fact that both of these elements are quite closely tied together, I have often become a point of reference for people looking to understand Enhanced Input (and general input systems).
I am a developer who is keenly aware of my strengths and weaknesses, and as such find myself able to work incredibly well within a team in order to deliver effective, eye-catching, and interesting UI in games. For example, I unfortunately am not blessed with the ability to draw (stick men are just about my limit), but the studio has a wonderful UI Artist, so I work closely with them to implement the assets they develop in order to achieve the best outcome.
Some of my relevant skills are listed below:
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C++ Proficiency (specifically UI development using C++ in tandem with Unreal Engine).
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Unreal Engine 4 & 5 (UMG, Blueprints, Editor Utilities, Analytic Tools etc).
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Source Control Software (Perforce, Github)
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Project Management Software (Jira, Trello, Miro)
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Experience writing & maintaining documentation (using Confluence, Slack, Teams etc).
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Experience promoting & encouraging Accessible Game Design