Bahadır Serdar Yanıkçı

Game Economy Designer · AI Tools DeveloperEconomies · Rule engines · AI agents
Class
3 yrsbuilding games
Level
9 yrsdesigning board games
XP
IstanbulPC games
Origin

I design the numbers players feel, and I build the tools behind them: rule engines, editor bridges and AI agent workflows.

Projects

Play Cargo Line
  1. Keep a PC game's economy healthyHiraru Games · 2025–⁠present· Current role NDA
  2. Turn table games into rule enginesMeet In Games · web app · 2026
  3. Build an endless runner: Run PenguinPersonal project · 2024–⁠present
  4. Build a hyper-casual loop: Big Man RunPersonal project · 2024

Strengths

  • EconomyMachinations Builder (2024) · source/sink balancing at Hiraru
  • SystemsRule engines written as explicit state machines (boardgame.io)
  • PlaytestGame Master at Meet In Games (project-based) · QA at Panteon and JIB Games
  • BuildUnity/C#, Unreal, Next.js/TypeScript, Claude Code

Keep a PC game's economy healthy

Hiraru Games · 2025–⁠present

  • Machinations
  • Unreal
  • Jira
  • Miro
Currency has to feel earned at every stage of progression: never so scarce that play turns into grind, never so plentiful that rewards stop meaning anything.
Objective

Moves

  1. I map every source and sink in the economy and the rules that connect them.
  2. I model the loops in Machinations and simulate them before they reach the build.
  3. I tune source/sink balance against progression targets and hand values to the team through Jira and Miro.

Under NDA: process only

The game and its numbers are under NDA, so I can show the process only. Cargo Line is a small flow model built on the same sources-and-sinks principles. Try it.
Outcome
Play Cargo Line

A core economy loop

A representative loop: structure only, not the real game's content or numbers.

Select a step to break it and watch the loop stall.

income (faucet)spending (sink)PlayersCurrencyProgressionContentUpkeep

Players

Players act in the game and earn currency for it. Every other step starts here.

The loop is healthy: every step feeds the next.

Turn table games into rule engines

Meet In Games home screenMeet In GamesLive · free · in the browser · built solo Play now

Meet In Games · web app · 2026

  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • boardgame.io
  • Claude Code
Bring the board games I ran at the table to the browser with their rules intact.
Objective

Moves

  1. I wrote each game's rules as an explicit state machine: every move is either legal or rejected, with no hidden state.
  2. I built a modular game registry: a new game plugs in without touching the others.
  3. I designed, built and shipped it solo, with Claude Code as a pair programmer.
Live and playable in the browser.
Outcome

Build an endless runner: Run Penguin

Personal project · 2024–⁠present

  • Unity
  • C#
  • 2D
A penguin dodging obstacles across snowy landscapes: small scope, finished properly, and kept alive.
Objective

Moves

  1. I designed and built the core run loop, obstacles and menus in Unity/C#.
  2. I have maintained and improved it since 2024.
Source on GitHub.
Outcome
GitHub
Run Penguin gameplayRun Penguin menuRun Penguin design notes

Build a hyper-casual loop: Big Man Run

Personal project · 2024

  • Unity
  • C#
  • 3D
A stickman clears obstacles and collects diamonds: a study in a tight, readable 3D loop.
Objective

Moves

  1. I designed and built the obstacle course and collection loop in Unity/C#.
Source on GitHub.
Outcome
GitHub
Big Man Run gameplayBig Man Run gemsBig Man Run design notes

Cargo Line: 5 days, one investment a day

Factories make shapes that wait in the depot and ride the belts to customers. The switches route each shape on their own; take one over to rush a shape to an urgent order. Before each day, pick one investment.

Delivered
0
Cash
10
Reputation
70
Company level
1
12A

Illustrative model, synthetic numbers

AI Projects

I design the system, write the brief and review what comes back; the agents do the typing. Here is what I built that way.

  • Meet In Games: party games in the browser

    Party and social-deduction games (Hain, Sessiz Tanık, Teleparty) with peer-to-peer online rooms, each rule set written as a boardgame.io state machine. Designed and built solo with Claude Code.

    • Next.js
    • boardgame.io
    • P2P
    • Claude Code
    Play it live

  • A small agent orchestra

    One lead agent plans and reviews, cheaper sub-agents handle file work, and Gemini does research; every agent returns a short machine-readable verdict and nobody approves their own work. This portfolio was built that way.

    • Claude Code
    • Gemini
    • multi-agent

  • Unreal Engine 5 editor, driven by an agent

    An MCP bridge that lets an AI agent operate the Unreal Engine 5 editor directly.

    • UE5
    • MCP

  • A 2D animation pipeline, written as code

    Scenes, characters and camera moves are written in HyperFrames; AI handles voice-over, images and music. One brief becomes a 20 to 30 second explainer in vertical and horizontal formats. The three below are concept pieces with invented brands.

    • HyperFrames
    • ElevenLabs
    • Gemini TTS
    • ComfyUI
    • Ledgerly · SaaS product demo (concept)
    • Rota Global · logistics story (concept)
    • Lumea Clinic · health travel, vertical (concept)

  • This site: my CV, turned into a game world

    I turned my one-page PDF CV into a bilingual, playable portfolio: roles became places, skills a character sheet. Designed, built and deployed solo with Claude Code.

    • Next.js
    • TypeScript
    • Vercel
    • Claude Code

  • Kutu Oyunları: a table companion for board-game nights

    A live shared score table for Turkish board-game nights: join with a table code, track turns and time. The concept isn't mine; I built the working web app with Claude Code.

    • Next.js
    • Supabase
    • Vercel
    • Claude Code

  • Jarvis: a Turkish voice assistant

    A push-to-talk voice assistant on my own PC: local Whisper for speech-to-text, Piper for Turkish speech, Claude working inside my notes as the brain.

    • Whisper
    • Piper
    • Claude

Experience

  1. 2025–⁠presentJr. Game Economy Designer · Hiraru GamesEconomy and rule systems in Machinations; Unreal projects.
  2. 2020–⁠presentGame Master · Meet In GamesProject-based: operations and R&D support on their board games and digital games, covering playtesting, balance feedback and QA.
  3. 2025Virtual Production Assistant · Pancake StudioUnreal and Blender pipelines; ComfyUI in production.
  4. 2025QA Specialist · PanteonRegression and onboarding test cycles.
  5. 2024Game Design Intern · Keep GamesBalance, narrative and system design in Miro and Machinations.
  6. 2023–2024Game Design Intern · CompactiveUnity/C# systems, economy and level design.
  7. 2023QA Intern · JIB GamesBuild testing, session-recording analysis.

Tools

Design
Machinations.ioMiroGDDExcel
Engines
Unity · C#Unreal EngineBlenderboardgame.io
Code
TypeScriptNext.jsPythonGit
AI tooling
Claude Code multi-agentUE5 editor MCP bridgeComfyUI
QA
JiraQaseJenkinsSmartlook

Education & certificates

  • Machinations Builder · Machinations.io2024
  • Unreal Engine · Visual Design · Navras Akademi2025
  • Game Creator Bootcamp · Techcareer2024
  • BSc Software Engineering · Doğuş University2024

About me

  • I learned game design at the table before I learned it in an engine. Nine years of board games trained me to watch players, spot the exact rule that kills the fun, and fix it.
  • I studied software engineering, so I build what I design: economies in Machinations, prototypes in Unity and Unreal, web games in Next.js. These days AI agents handle much of the building while I steer.
  • Off the table I play basketball and used to referee for the Turkish Basketball Federation. Calling rules fairly under pressure turned out to be design practice too.