INVENTIVE GAME DESIGNER
PORTFOLIO PROJECTS
I'm Rakan Assaf, a Game Design student focused on crafting engaging mechanics that drive
gameplay forward. I design with intention, by solving problems through inventive solutions,
creating experiences that are fun, personalized, & built to stand out in a crowded industry.
Currently: Making a Game A Week for my Game Design course.
Projects I made over the past few years. This list & its contents will update as time goes by.
ABOUT ME
Hey, I'm Rak. I got into Game Dev in 2013 after my friend in middle school introduced me to Game Maker. Since then, I got into Game Design and got a thing for making games with daring, focused visions, & the process of delivering those visions. This webpage serves as a journal for my travels since entering Game Design.
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 features/game pillars and identify problems, come up with dope solutions, maximize responsiveness/juice & expressiveness of mechanics, elaborate + expand the core vision, and setup methods of integrating narratives, quest/level progression, UX & 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
• Communication
• Market Analysis
• Programming
• Drag&Drop VisScripting
• Google Docs
• Sourcetree
• Git
• C#
• GML
• JavaScript
• HTML
• Cinemachine
SQUISHY WORLD
Team project, Shooter-Platformer hybrid with Candyworld aesthetics & squish physics
I worked as a Lead Game Designer and Programmer on Squishy World. The project ran from Oct 2024 to Feb 2025.
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MARSCRAFT.ORG
Custom-coded Minecraft server, inspired by Runescape & Stardew Valley, ranked #151 globally at its peak and enjoyed a large, dedicated playerbase
I worked as a Lead Game Designer & Lead Programmer simultaneously, often sidequesting to smaller technical/design work. I worked on MARS from Jun 2020 to Jul 2023 before handing the project over to friends.
FISHYHEIST
Couch co-op puzzle/platformer designed to create dynamic & playful experiences, movement mechanics are challenging but engaging.
This was a solo project for my Game-A-Week course in April 2025.
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DICTATORSHIP SIMULATOR
UI game inspired by BitLife & Football Manager, play as a Dictator in a text-only game and fight against inevitable collapse
This was a solo project for my Game-A-Week course in April 2025, but it failed on release so I spent another week fixing the game to make it presentable.
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[Coming Soon]