Senior Unreal Engine 5 C++ Developer – Schematic-Ready Weapon, Vehicle & Physics Systems

Here is a condensed version designed to stay comfortably below 10,000 characters while preserving the important requirements.

I am hiring an experienced Unreal Engine 5 C++ developer to build the gameplay and engineering foundation that will later integrate with a separate AI-assisted Schematic Software platform for my persistent MMO.

This is a production-quality foundation, not a throwaway prototype.

The purpose of this project is to build the weapon, ammunition, attachment, vehicle, physics/engineering, technology, material, and manufacturing-definition systems in a modular and data-driven way so that future player-created Schematics can configure them without requiring major redesign.

The game uses Unreal Engine 5.7 for PC.

CORE GOAL

The future Schematic Software will allow players to design original weapons, ammunition, attachments, vehicles, and other objects.

This project does NOT include building the full AI Schematic editor.

Instead, it must build the Unreal gameplay foundation and standardized data interfaces that the future Schematic platform will use.

Example:

Schematic Definition
→ Weapon Definition
→ Unreal Runtime Weapon

Schematic Definition
→ Vehicle Definition
→ Unreal Runtime Vehicle

The developer should avoid building large numbers of hardcoded weapon or vehicle classes. The goal is a reusable system driven by structured definitions, reusable components, physical properties, materials, and capabilities.

WEAPON SYSTEM

The weapon framework should eventually support essentially every category, including:

* Melee and primitive weapons
* Bows/projectile weapons
* Firearms
* Explosives
* Artillery
* Missiles
* Vehicle/aircraft/naval/spacecraft weapons
* Energy weapons
* Futuristic and fictional weapons

The system should use reusable capabilities rather than completely separate architecture for every weapon.

Possible configurable properties include:

* Dimensions
* Mass
* Center of mass
* Materials
* Barrel/emitter properties
* Ammunition
* Projectile properties
* Energy requirements
* Rate of fire
* Recoil
* Heat
* Accuracy
* Range
* Penetration
* Durability
* Structural properties
* Handling
* Attachment interfaces
* Technology requirements

Important performance values must be calculated or validated by trusted gameplay rules rather than accepted directly from player/client data.

Players should not eventually be able to submit arbitrary values such as extremely high damage with zero recoil.

Combat should be physically believable and cinematic where practical, including systems such as projectile travel, penetration, ricochets, recoil, heat, armor interaction, localized/component damage, and explosive effects.

Random weapon jamming is not desired.

AMMUNITION AND ATTACHMENTS

Ammunition should exist as its own configurable definition and future Schematic type. Different ammunition designs should be capable of affecting weapon performance.

Player-created attachments will generally be designed for specific weapon Schematics rather than being universal. Developer-created default weapons may use standardized attachment systems.

Compatibility should be validated through data and relevant geometry/interface information.

VEHICLE SYSTEM

A reusable vehicle framework is required for future:

* Wheeled vehicles
* Tracked vehicles
* Ground vehicles
* Aircraft
* Naval vehicles
* Spacecraft
* Futuristic vehicles

This project does not require every final vehicle type to be finished. It should establish an extensible foundation and representative working examples.

Possible vehicle properties include:

* Dimensions
* Mass
* Center of mass
* Materials
* Structural properties
* Propulsion
* Energy/fuel
* Steering/control
* Suspension
* Aerodynamics
* Buoyancy
* Armor
* Damage
* Weapon mounts
* Cargo
* Crew/passengers
* Technology requirements

PHYSICS / ENGINEERING FOUNDATION

The game does not need professional engineering-software accuracy.

The goal is believable and consistent game engineering.

Examples:

* Greater mass affects handling.
* Material density affects weight.
* Projectile mass and velocity affect impact.
* Structural limits prevent obviously impossible designs.
* Higher energy output may require greater heat management.
* Powerful systems require appropriate physical volume, materials, energy, and technology.

This foundation must support future validation of player-created Schematics.

Players must not be able to exploit geometry or data to place impossible machinery, hidden functional systems, zero-volume components, unrealistic energy sources, or oversized systems inside tiny objects.

TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM

Current technology categories are:

Primitive
Medieval
Victorian
Industrial
Millennium
Advanced Technology
Super Futuristic

Super Futuristic technology is developer-restricted.

Higher technology should primarily unlock better engineering capabilities, materials, precision, power density, efficiency, and manufacturing methods rather than simply applying percentage buffs.

The architecture must allow additional technology classifications later.

MATERIAL SYSTEM

Gameplay material definitions should be separate from purely visual Unreal materials.

Properties may include:

* Density
* Structural strength
* Durability
* Thermal properties
* Technology requirements
* Manufacturing difficulty

New materials should be addable through data rather than major code changes.

MANUFACTURING FOUNDATION

The project should establish the data needed for future manufacturing.

A Schematic should eventually be capable of producing requirements such as:

* Required materials and quantities
* Required technology
* Machinery/facility requirements
* Labor
* Production time
* Manufacturing difficulty
* Quality/tolerance requirements

The full animated manufacturing gameplay system does not necessarily need to be completed here, but the weapon and vehicle architecture must support it later without redesign.

SCHEMATIC-READY DATA MODEL

A major deliverable is the standardized interface between future Schematic Software and Unreal.

The developer should propose appropriate production structures for areas such as:

* Weapon Definition
* Ammunition Definition
* Attachment Definition
* Vehicle Definition
* Material Definition
* Technology Definition
* Manufacturing Definition
* Performance/Simulation Definition
* Schematic ID
* Revision ID
* Parent/Derivative Schematic ID
* Validation Results

The architecture should support versioning so future Schematic revisions do not break existing manufactured items or saved MMO data.

SERVER AUTHORITY / SECURITY

Important gameplay data must not be trusted from the client.

The system must prevent manipulation of:

* Damage
* Weight
* Range
* Materials
* Energy
* Ammunition capacity
* Manufacturing requirements
* Technology requirements
* Vehicle performance
* Attachment compatibility
* Other authoritative values

These should be calculated, validated, or independently verified by trusted server/backend systems.

MMO REQUIREMENTS

The wider game is a persistent MMO using dedicated servers.

The systems must therefore be compatible with:

* Server-authoritative gameplay
* Replication
* Dedicated servers
* Persistent item/Schematic identifiers
* Future backend/database integration
* Large numbers of player-created equipment definitions
* Data-driven content rather than hardcoded assets

This project does not include building the entire MMO backend, but clean backend integration interfaces are required.

TEST IMPLEMENTATIONS

I do not expect every weapon and vehicle in the game to be created during this project.

The developer should build enough representative examples to prove the architecture, such as:

* Configurable firearm
* Ammunition
* Melee weapon
* Weapon attachment
* Ground vehicle
* Additional vehicle example proving extensibility
* Material and technology definitions
* Runtime spawning/configuration from structured data

The developer may recommend a better test set.

ARCHITECTURE REQUIREMENTS

The system should be:

* Unreal Engine 5.7 compatible
* Primarily C++
* Modular
* Data-driven
* Extensible
* Server-authoritative where appropriate
* Suitable for long-term production
* Compatible with Perforce
* Documented
* Designed for future Schematic, backend, faction, manufacturing, and AI integration

Avoid unnecessary hardcoding and avoid tightly coupling weapon, vehicle, backend, manufacturing, and Schematic systems.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

* Technical architecture/specification
* UE5.7 C++ source code
* Weapon framework
* Ammunition framework
* Attachment framework
* Vehicle foundation
* Shared physics/engineering framework
* Material system
* Technology system
* Manufacturing data foundation
* Schematic-ready data interfaces
* Server-authoritative validation foundation
* Representative test implementations
* Technical documentation
* Repeatable/automated testing where appropriate

PLEASE PROVIDE

* Relevant Unreal Engine C++ experience
* Weapon-system experience
* Vehicle-system experience
* Physics/simulation experience
* Multiplayer/dedicated-server experience
* Data-driven architecture experience
* Examples of comparable work
* Recommended architecture
* Major technical risks
* Proposed milestones
* Estimated total hours
* Estimated calendar duration

The objective is to establish a production foundation that the future AI Schematic Software, manufacturing systems, backend, faction systems, and player-created content can use without requiring the weapon and vehicle architecture to be rebuilt later.