Mario Mergola
Game Designer — Systems, Quest, and Player Progression
Its'a me, Mario!
- 7+ years of experience as Game, Narrative, and Quest Designer on shipped and large-scale and live-service projects
- Lead Game Designer managing teams of up to 11 designers
- Delivered a total of $50M+ projects across multiple industries
- Hands-on experience with Unreal Engine 5, Unity, Godot, and Python
- Professional freelance writer with 1,000+ published articles
- Engineering degree with a strong technical and systems-oriented mindset
Game Design Portfolio -- Quest, Narrative, Systems, Data
Mass Effect 2: Mission Logic Recreation (Portfolio Piece) -- Game Designer, Narrative Designer, Programmer
Challenge: Complex Branching Mission Logic
Solution: I mapped the mission’s logic in Articy Draft 3, then used Unreal Engine 5 to extend it where Articy fell short. I scripted custom logic to handle branching conditions, randomization, and outcome resolution, keeping the structure readable and easy to reason about.
Result: The result was a playable simulation that clearly showed how player decisions affected outcomes and character survival. It demonstrated my ability to combine narrative design, systems thinking, and technical implementation across tools.
Scars of Honor (In Development) -- Quest Designer / Encounter Designer
Challenge: MMO Quest Scalability
Solution: I treated quests as systems, not one-off content. I built multi-step quests with clear states, branches, and conditions, and supported them with shared quest data that other departments could reference through our shared server setup. I worked closely with narrative, systems, and level design to make sure quests fit naturally with combat, exploration, and world progression.
Result: The quests were flexible, replayable, and easier to extend without rework. Shared data reduced back-and-forth between teams and made iteration faster, helping establish a cleaner, more maintainable quest pipeline for the project.
Ascend (Shipped) -- Narrative Director, Game Designer, Content Designer
Challenge: Risk of Narrative-Gameplay Misalignment
Solution: I designed story beats, puzzles, and progression together instead of treating narrative as a separate layer. I worked closely with the Creative Director to prototype puzzles that supported the themes of the world, and I kept documentation focused and practical so other teams always knew what was needed and why.
Result: The final game delivered puzzles that supported immersion instead of interrupting it. Clear documentation and early alignment reduced iteration time and helped the team ship on schedule with a consistent narrative and gameplay experience.
Pandora: Chains of Chaos (Shipped) -- Narrative Designer, Game Designer, Content Designer
Challenge: Open-World Narrative Pacing
Solution: I designed mission structures that allowed player freedom while protecting narrative pacing. By working closely with Programming and Level Design, I aligned narrative triggers, quest flow, and gameplay systems in Unreal Engine so story beats fired reliably and supported player flow.
Result: The game delivered a clear narrative arc within an open world. Story and gameplay supported each other, helping maintain player engagement and emotional continuity throughout the experience.
The Tūn-Gāst of Oakshaw (Not Released) -- Lead Game Designer
Challenge: Scale and Team Growth
Solution: As Lead Game Designer, I focused on setting clear design direction and feedback loops. I ran live design sessions, mentored designers through hands-on reviews, and shared prototypes through GitHub to keep work visible and collaborative. Design decisions focused on long-term engagement rather than short-term, episodic content.
Result: The team delivered cohesive systems while improving collaboration and individual skill growth. Designers gained confidence and ownership, and the project benefited from clearer workflows and more consistent, player-focused design decisions.
Writing Sample -- Narrative Designer and Game Writer
This cutscene sample would play at the start of a mission in a Mafia/Payday-style open-world crime simulation game. The playable character is Rafael and the player has been briefed about the particulars of the mission, including the presence of glass-break sensors.This scene underwent three iterations based on feedback from professional narrative designers.