Gameplay Systems Engineer · Technical Designer
Hey — I’m Marwan. I design and build gameplay systems & simulations: readable mechanics, replayable loops, tunable data, and feedback players can trust. I take projects from concept to playable release.
Unity (C#) and Unreal Engine (C++ & Blueprints) are my strongest tools; I work as both a technical designer and implementer. I recently completed my A.A.S. in Digital Gaming & Simulation (Programmers), and I keep learning new engines, tools, and workflows as the industry evolves.
I also bring QA instincts to my systems building process—twenty-five years as a gamer has trained me to notice friction, pacing, and edge cases early.
I’m passionate about software and computers. I’m relatively new (~2 years) to formal study in the field, but I’ve been serious from the start: shipping games, building this portfolio site, and maintaining public repos on GitHub.
Featured Projects
This was a solo project, shipped with Unity 6 for browser play. It's essentially brick-breaker plus reactive typing challenges.
Unity capstone: five micro-games driven by one breath-input layer—custom fan hardware, USB mic, and keyboard fallback so demos always work.
Unreal 5 endless runner built for PC + school arcade hardware. Lanes, jump/slide, ramping speed, overclock bursts, medals, local boards, adjustable visual themes, and gamepad play.
What I Do
Systems & design — Prototyping in-engine, tuning rules and pacing, building player-facing mechanics, and keeping project state maintainable.
Engines & tooling — Unity, Unreal, and WebGL when needed.
Playtesting & collab — Clear notes, reproducible bug reports, readable feedback, and coordination with artists, programmers, and designers.
How I build
My primary focus is gameplay engineering and technical design—mechanics, loops, tuning data, and in-engine UI/session flow. Alongside that, I work in Cursor and modern assisted tooling (accelerators, not autopilot—I own intent, integration, review, and playtesting) plus portfolio / web front-end work: this site’s custom theme, SCSS, and canvas animation; GitHub portfolio repos; and docs that keep releases legible for collaborators and hiring.
I’m usually in an engine or in Cursor, turning intent into code, fixing integration issues, and iterating until playtests feel right. Regardless of the stack (C# & Unity vs C++ and/or Blueprints with UE, or something else entirely), that rhythm and pipeline is how I’ve shipped several small games, kept itch builds and devlogs current, and grown from my coursework into independent releases.
Right now my heaviest workloads are a UE5.5 (C++) first-person wave-survival prototype (private IP)—combat, enemy AI, and escalating rounds are in the playable loop; currently hardening the facility vertical slice—and a UE5 (C++) friendslop-style co-op shopping mall prototype (private IP) in active development. See Current Focus and Projects for what’s shipping vs in progress.
Hiring & playables
I’m looking for entry-level, associate, or intern roles in gameplay engineering and technical design. I’m also open to generalist or production work and QA-adjacent roles where I can keep contributing to awesome projects while growing into gameplay mechanics and systems ownership.
- Resume (PDF): MC_1PageResume.pdf
- Start here (in browser): Access Granted · Dread & Breakfast · BREATHE Arcade
Connect
- Itch.io: goldleafinteractive.itch.io
- LinkedIn: Marwan Charafeddine
- GitHub: GameDev Portfolio
Shipped prototypes, jams, and coursework are organized around gameplay systems and technical design. Public code is on GitHub; playable builds and devlogs on itch.