GDC 2025 Session Viewer

A presentation from NetherRealm studios telling the development story of Mission Kontrol – an Unreal Engine plugin for testing fighting game combat scenarios that has become an essential tool for hundreds of artists, engineers, QA testers, and designers. This is a high-level retrospective on the full process of problem identification, framework design, implementation, feedback, and live iteration alongside an evolving game project.

Every game studio discipline has a unique workflow and toolbox, but they all contribute to the same shared product. Ensuring the stability and quality of that product is a shared responsibility, so everybody needs to be able to test their work locally before submitting to a shared build. Especially when fixing bugs. This can be a significant challenge in a game with intricate controls, or for a hybrid remote workforce. Learn how NetherRealm addressed this problem with in-engine tooling, dramatically reducing bug-fixing and iteration times.

Takeaway

Attendees will discover how the Unreal Engine's UI and networking modules can be used to efficiently create a framework for specialized gameplay testing tools, and how this type of tool can become essential to every developer on the team.

Intended Audience

Target audience includes engineers or technical directors involved with or interested in creating custom tools for gameplay testing and automation. Particularly those with experience using the Unreal Engine, although this will not be required to understand the presentation.