ENGAGING GAME DESIGNER
SELECT PROJECTS
Hey. I'm Rakan Assaf, a Game Designer specializing in engaging mechanics driven by design theory and
expressive style.
I believe that great gameplay emerges from design processes that find problems, solve them inventively,
and expand a game's vision, with a goal of creating games that engross players & tap into psychological
drives, while keeping heart. Scroll to explore my project designs.
Top Inspirations: Mega Man X/Celeste (Controls+Progression), DOOM 1993/2016 (Game Feel), GTA San Andreas (World+Autonomy), BioShock/Rockman 4 Minus
Infinity (Unpredictability+MDA), Stardew Valley/Plants vs. Zombies (Motivation), Yu-Kai Chou's Octalysis (Motivation/Framing Theory)
Some of the highlights of what I made over the past few years. This list will update as time goes by.
ABOUT ME
Hey, I'm Rak. I got into Game Dev in 2013 after my friend in 4th grade introduced me to Game Maker. Since then, I got into Game Design and got a thing for making games with daring, focused visions, and the process of delivering those visions. My first success was in high school, when my demo, Fat Ninja, reached 500 downloads in just months.
My process revolves around identifying problems, planning strategically, and coming up with bold + inspired solutions. Repeat till there's a game that means the world to someone.
Outside of games, I'm a fan of Liverpool FC, and I credit football & other things I'm interested in– film, music, chess and more, for so often inspiring my games & design philosophy.
I'm currently a student based in Berlin, Germany. Feel free to look around and see what I've been cooking over the years :)
MY TOOLBOX
ALT SKILLS
GAME DESIGN
I concept game pillars + features and identify/predict problems, come up with dope solutions, maximize responsiveness/juice & expressiveness of mechanics, elaborate + expand the core vision, and setup methods of integrating narrative, quest/level progression, UX tools & world building for my teammates.
TOOL DESIGN
I design Mechanics & Prefab concepts that allow for maximal level design potential, tweak/balance values & plan out ideas to make gameplay more engaging/expansive or improve the controls' toy value, and design how the feedback loop offered would play into its context in the game.
PROTOTYPING
I break down planners into MVP concepts, optionally develop prototypes to test gameplay in hours, and evaluate playtesting results and adapt prototypes to player experiences.
CORE SKILLS
LET'S CONNECT
• Unity
• GameMaker
• Godot
• Aseprite
• Figma
• Miro
• Trello
• Microsoft Excel
• Problem Solving
• Feedback + Data Analysis
• Documentation
• Scrum/Agile
• Programming/VisScripting
• Communication
• Market Analysis
• Quick Learning
• Google Docs
• Sourcetree
• Git
• C#
• GML
• JavaScript
• HTML
• Cinemachine
SQUISHY WORLD
Team project, Shooter-Platformer hybrid with Candyworld aesthetics & squish physics, featured at A. MAZE 2025 (Unity)
I worked as a Lead Game Designer and Lead Programmer, branching out into controls/player, co-designing & lead-coding game juice, level enemies/gimmicks, physics, level design, and more. The project ran from Oct 2024 to Feb 2025.
MARSCRAFT.ORG
Custom-coded Minecraft server, chill RPG/FarmSim gameplay with modded feel inspired by Runescape & Stardew Valley, ranked #151 globally at its peak with a dedicated playerbase (Minecraft)
Worked as Lead Designer/Dev; crafting new loop & mechanics on top of Minecraft's gameplay, daily quests + retention features, pacebreaker minigames, global game economy for 78K+ players, feedback analysis & project management, and more. I worked on MARS from Jun 2020 to Jul 2023 before handing the project to friends.
FISHYHEIST
Couch co-op puzzle/platformer with slippery controls and a ceiling for mastery, designed to create engaging, dynamic & playful experiences, despite being challenging (Unity)
I worked on this as a solo project for my Game-A-Week course in April 2025. Key roles were designing controls, level gimmicks/designs, and more.
DICTATORSHIP SIMULATOR
UI game inspired by BitLife & Football Manager, play as a Dictator fighting against inevitable collapse, choosing a style of leadership & planning your nation by buying towers. (Unity)
I worked on this for 4 days in April 2025, key roles included designing systems, gameplay + loop, flavor texts, progression, towers, narrative, and more.
