Building software that scales
Hi, I'm Miguel A. Lopez — a software engineer based in Winter Haven, FL with 7+ years in Unity, Unreal, and full-stack development. I prioritize pragmatic problem-solving and building from first principles - breaking complex systems down to fundamentals before architecting solutions. This approach has let me ship everything from ECS frameworks to procedural generation systems to real-time multiplayer backends.
Co-Founded War In Arms: Prime Forces, a 5v5 tactical mobile FPS that hit 50,000+ sign-ups organically. Led mixed teams through beta on mobile and desktop. Also architected 15+ modular systems for a networked horror game, cutting iteration time by 60% through data-driven design.
Technical Expertise
Game Development
7+ years building gameplay systems, UI, and performance-critical code in Unity and Unreal Engine. Across mobile and desktop platforms.
Full Stack Development
End-to-end web application development - from database schema design through API architecture to the UI layer. I build backends that serve clean data to frontends that display it well. REST APIs for standard CRUD, WebSocket connections for real-time updates, and caching layers when performance matters.
Network Programming & DevOps
Building the infrastructure that keeps multiplayer games and real-time apps running. Custom server backends that handle thousands of concurrent connections, state synchronization across clients, and the CI/CD pipelines that get code from commit to production with containerized deployments for consistency across environments.
Professional Experience
Co-Founder, Systems, Gameplay & Network Programmer
Founded War In Arms: Prime Forces, a 5v5 tactical mobile FPS where players take on the roles of Operators in a Special Forces Unit. Think squad-based, strategic gameplay built for mobile from the ground up.
- Led a mixed team of volunteer and paid contractors through beta tests on mobile and desktop, hitting 50,000+ sign-ups by 2025 with zero marketing spend. All organic traction.
- Owned development across networking, gameplay systems, and front-end UI. Currently preparing for soft launch on iOS and Android.
Senior Software Engineer
Designed and implemented a production-grade Entity-Component-System framework and procedural maze generation system for a networked multiplayer horror game using Unity and Photon PUN 2.
- Architected 15+ modular gameplay systems including a sophisticated Minimum Spanning Tree-based level generator, networked player/AI modules, and real-time multiplayer synchronization for 4+ concurrent players.
- Developed scalable ScriptableObject-driven architecture enabling data-driven design, reducing iteration time by 60% and supporting cloud save integration via PlayFab and Steam platform features.
UI Programmer, Gameplay Programmer, Software Engineer
Collaborated with a sizeable team on the action-adventure game, "Curse of the Deadwood," formerly known as "Deadwood: the Forgotten Curse." My primary responsibilities encompassed front-end and gameplay programming.
- At the company subsidiary "Steamroller Technologies," I undertook a contract for a C++ software application. My contributions included designing and implementing Serialization Systems and core features, complemented by custom-created nodes.
- Additionally, within the entertainment and attraction segment at "Steamroller Technologies," I had the privilege of overseeing a technical team member who was a valuable addition to our project.