Senior C++ Software Engineer for Performance-Critical Systems

Context: OpenTibiaBR Canary is a large C++/Lua online server runtime where startup touches scripts, map data, tile caches, spawn configuration, and runtime registries.

Problem: Startup had expensive hot paths that slowed iteration and operational startup.

Solution: Optimized Lua loading, map parsing, tile cache construction, zone indexing, and spawn startup without changing expected runtime behavior.

Impact: Script/module loading dropped from about 54 seconds to roughly 1.5-3.0 seconds in public PR measurements.

Context: A long-running C++ server runtime must keep player-visible input and movement responsive while processing expensive background pathfinding, target selection, combat preparation, maintenance, and asynchronous work.

Problem: Broad dispatcher queues allowed large background workloads to compete with latency-sensitive work, while repeated asynchronous tasks, stale decisions, ownership churn, and unbounded fanout limited fairness and multi-core utilization.

Solution: Introduced lane-aware scheduling, adaptive runtime budgets, bounded multi-core compute, immutable navigation snapshots, visibility-aware promotion, coalescing, queue telemetry, and strict stale-completion validation.

Impact: Improved runtime behavior and player-visible responsiveness under monster-heavy workloads. The architecture passed 264 unit and regression tests and has been field validated across multiple OT server deployments while broader operational feedback continues.

Context: A C++ client/server runtime needed to support modern 15.x, old-protocol 11.00, and compatible 8.60 client families without separate binaries, ports, or fragile version checks spread across the protocol stack.

Problem: The client families differ in TCP framing, checksums, encryption layout, compression, handshake behavior, login payloads, asset signatures, item mapping, and version-specific message fields.

Solution: Implemented transport codecs, initial-connection behavior, runtime protocol profiles, session hints, version-gated payload contracts, compatibility tests, legacy asset export profiles, and coordinated client release packaging.

Impact: Three client families now share one field-validated C++ runtime and deployment model without requiring per-version ports or server builds.

Context: Some C++ package-manager and cross-build workflows use a host protoc while target packages only need protobuf::libprotobuf-lite.

Problem: The target-side Protobuf package could still pay build and install cost for full runtime and compiler-side artifacts that the target dependency graph did not need.

Solution: Implemented upstream Protobuf CMake support for a constrained lite-only runtime build and contributed the vcpkg port change that makes libprotoc opt-in for non-native target builds.

Impact: The Protobuf change landed through Copybara as public commit 7c090172. The local PoC measured the build step dropping from 508.063s to 55.648s and installed footprint from 113,754 KB to 21,579 KB.

Context: Market, inbox, and offline-save flows need strong item and persistence invariants. Small mistakes can duplicate items, lose items, or overwrite valid player progression.

Problem: Full inboxes, stack splitting, partial insertions, market clone behavior, and partial offline-player saves had edge cases where mutation order could corrupt state.

Solution: Hardened inbox and market insertion paths with capacity checks, safer cloning/insertion behavior, batch insertion helpers, and offline save protections.

Impact: Reduced risk of duplicated/ghost items, item loss, and progression resets in economy and persistence flows.

Context: A large C++/Lua runtime loads mutually exclusive content profiles containing Lua scripts, XML registrations, protobuf-backed item definitions, storages, actions, movements, weapons, spells, monsters, and NPCs.

Problem: Cross-profile definitions could incorrectly satisfy each other, dynamic Lua expressions could be mistaken for authoritative references, invalid XML ranges could be silently skipped at runtime, and naive whole-repository scans produced noisy or unsafe results.

Solution: Built a deterministic profile-aware auditor that produces typed symbol registries, reference reports, unresolved coverage, stable fingerprints, CI annotations, and JSON/Markdown artifacts validated against bundled schemas.

Impact: Scanned 39,311 facts across two runtime profiles, corrected eight blocking content errors, reduced storage findings from 1,225 to 405 by removing false positives, and completed 72 tests with zero remaining scan errors.

Context: Client delivery needed to support modern and legacy asset sets, server-specific modules, public launcher downloads, catalog visibility, operational monitoring, and versioned update metadata without exposing private implementation details.

Problem: Partner distribution was not a single-download problem. Different servers and client versions needed isolated asset trees, module sets, launch goals, update cadence, archive selection, catalog integrity, news, monitoring, and delivery rules through one controlled public entry point.

Solution: Integrated client asset automation, launcher/API delivery flows, version-aware archives, catalog validation, server-specific asset/module loading, partner rules, admin monitoring, news APIs, signed metadata, and release support.

Impact: Gives players and operators a controlled download/update path while preventing version-mismatched packages, repairing 11 spritesheet collisions, and preserving separation between server-specific packages and confidential partner operations.

Context: Remere's Map Editor is a long-lived C++ desktop tool used to inspect, edit, load, save, render, and export large map/client-asset data sets.

Problem: Large-map workflows were paying too much allocation, traversal, binary I/O, save-path, repaint-invalidation, and generated asset export cost.

Solution: Added pooled allocation, cached floor/tile lookups, improved binary I/O, optimized save traversal, reduced unnecessary repaint work, and added large map asset export support.

Impact: Public PR metrics report slab refills dropping from 17,830 to 2,230, allocation CPU share dropping from 20.01% to 14.62%, and static viewport sampled CPU dropping from 139,767 to 126.