Elestrals RPG


Role

Technical Director & Lead Programmer on an upcoming indie turn-based Elestrals RPG built by a 15+ person team. Responsible for technical direction, architecture, and implementation of core systems.


Daily Responsibilities

  • Coordinate with project managers and creative directors to align technical implementations with business goals and creative vision.
  • Provide accurate feature estimates and propose alternatives when needed.
  • Mentor and review code from programmers using feature-branch workflow.
  • Bridge art and engineering by defining specs, asset pipelines, and workflow optimizations.
  • Implement core gameplay systems that are maintainable and efficient.
  • Coordinate with QA to prioritize fixes and validate gameplay requirements.

Technical Highlights

Architecture & Design

  • Built a data-oriented architecture separating data, simulation, and visualization layers for maintainability and testability.
  • Developed headless simulation for gameplay logic, enabling high test coverage and intelligent NPC AI that can simulate future combat turns for more engaging gameplay.
  • Created scalable systems that let non-technical designers add content without programmer bottlenecks.
  • Designed a clean UI architecture that makes use of styles sheets and animation.
Editor Tooling


Data Systems

  • Designed spreadsheet-driven workflows for designers to manage characters, items, and abilities.
  • Implemented a command-pattern combat system for modular, testable, and extensible abilities.
  • Separated static configuration from runtime data for easier testing and persistence.

Impact

Delivering the technical foundation, leadership, and tooling that empower a creative team to efficiently build complex RPG systems at scale.