Taco: Hamster Hero — Global Outlier
Gameplay Designer & Unity Developer | 1.5 years
Taco: Hamster Hero is a top-down 2D bullet-heaven shooter that our team developed over the course of a year and a half.
Over a year and a half, I was deeply involved in the development, contributing from the earliest prototype to launch and post-release support. I owned and designed several core gameplay pillars, including:
Combat systems and player abilities
Character progression and upgrade paths
Enemy design, behaviors, and combat roles
Moment-to-moment level flow and pacing
Throughout development, I iterated on mechanics based on playtesting and team feedback, helping refine balance, clarity, and overall player experience. This role required close cross-disciplinary collaboration and a strong focus on maintaining engaging gameplay across the full lifecycle of the project.
Match! Spin! Win! is a unique blend of match-3 gameplay and social-casino-style progression meta. Players make matches on a persistent match-3 board to spawn slots, which reward bonus games or currency used to progress through the meta systems.
I served as Lead Designer on Match Spin Win, being deeply involved in the project from early prototyping through active development and post-release updates.
My responsibilities evolved with the stage of development:
Early Prototyping
Designed core gameplay systems
Defined player progression structure
Helped establish the project’s design vision and pillars
Active Development
Defined and prioritized tasks for art and engineering teams
Oversaw implementation to ensure alignment with design goals
Performed QA on completed features and provided iteration feedback
Live & Post-Release
Defined update goals based on core product metrics
Designed improvements and new features aimed at increasing key KPIs
Continued balancing and tuning systems based on player data
This role required both hands-on design work and team leadership, giving me experience in ownership, cross-team coordination, and data-driven decision making.
Match! Spin! Win! — Global Outlier
Lead Designer | 1.5 years
Unannounced project — Gaijin Entertainment
Game Designe Intern | 3 months
During my internship at Gaijin Entertainment, I gained hands-on experience working on an open-world game alongside an experienced development team. This role allowed me to contribute across multiple areas of game design, providing a broad understanding of large-scale game production.
My work included:
Content design, creating and iterating on gameplay elements
World and level design, supporting the structure and flow of open-world spaces
Encounter design, focusing on challenge, pacing, and player interaction
Movement balancing, where I played a significant role in tuning unit movement values to achieve responsive and believable gameplay
One of the most valuable aspects of this experience was collaborating with senior designers who have 15+ years of industry experience. Through direct feedback and mentorship, I developed a stronger understanding of professional workflows, design iteration, and decision-making in a production environment.