I have been designing and implementing systems in digital games for 4+ years with an emphasis on creating intricate economies, systems that are intertwined with narrative, and balanced progression.
systems implementation
I have implemented game systems in Unity C#, Lua, and GDScript including using spreadsheets to balance, develop, and prove complex systems like game economies and progression scaling.
you are a writer
2025 - Solo Developer
A short-form typing incremental game where you must contend with the modern realities of being a writer.
you are a writer (pictured above), generates rudimentary but responsive text as you type.
you are a writer was created over the course of only a couple of months of part-time work. My contributions include—
you are a writer
solo developer
A short form typing incremental game that puts you in the shoes of a modern day writer.
The Heist of the Argonaut Limited
2024 - Solo Developer / Writer
A text adventure game for Panic's Playdate, inspired by classic TTRPGs, where you play the part of a witless criminal on a train heist where everything goes wrong.
Argonaut Limited (pictured above), was built using Lua with the Playdate SDK to support a variety of character "voices" and textual expressions.
At the 2024 Playdate Community Awards, we were honored with winning Best Narrative!
On Argonaut Limited I worked on everything as the sole developer (though I collabed with a pixel artist and musician) but most notably the--
Heist of the Argonaut Limited
solo developer / writer
A Playdate text adventure where you play the part of a witless criminal hired for a daring train heist where everything goes wrong.
Vanitas
2025 - Game Designer, Narrative Designer
A jazzy mystery game where you play an evolving dice game with the strange passengers on a train to nowhere.
Vanitas (pictured above), has a variety of special die faces that interact with the score differently.
Vanitas was developed in Unity and the primary gameplay loop revolves around a simple but deep dice game. My contributions include—
Vanitas
game / narrative designer
A jazzy mystery game where you play a constantly evolving dice game with the strange passengers on a train to nowhere.
systems exploration
In addition to the above larger projects, I have developed a good many (very) small projects that were all developed in less than a week, many of which you can find in the archive.
Following, I've included a couple of these smaller games that demonstrate a versatility in systems design.
DIY
2025 - Solo Developer
A short form incremental physics game where you start out really bad at hammering nails... but you eventually get really good at hammering nails.
DIY
hammer nails, very straight
WORK
2025 - Solo Developer
A punishing typing rogue-like where you are working a job that is asking you to type unique words.
WORK
it's time to get to work
collaborating
Lastly (and proudly), I have worked a good number of different jobs in my life. I've worked as a bartender, barista, runner, electrician, producer, colorist, and writer just to name a few. Almost all of these jobs involved me working closely with others under pressure and communicating constantly with collaborators and clients. Check out my résumés to see more details.
You made it to the bottom of the page! Check out the following links if you want more info and don't hesitate to reach out to me at me@nicoailani.com.