https://mariomergola.com 2026-09-01 daily 1.0 https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image01.svg Branching mission logic resolving through squad loyalty and specialist checks into survival or death states. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image03.svg Quest chain of four quests over a shared data spine, with a phase gate between quest two and three. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image07.svg Puzzle gating flow: a story beat, a clue check, a second beat, a state set, and resolution. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image19.svg Open world flow: a story beat and free roam feeding a trigger volume that fires the next beat or re-arms. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image20.svg Design direction feeding three reusable templates that eleven designers built from. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image09.jpg The Base: full branching structure across squad assignments, loyalty states, and survival outcomes https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image08.jpg Randomizing loyalty variables in Unreal Engine 5, written against the Articy flow https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image04.jpg Annotated zone map showing quest routing, with numbered step markers, named locations, and colored paths tracing different faction routes and a marked dead end. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image05.jpg Five verb paths converging on a single interact-and-use-item quest goal. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image11.jpg Spreadsheet view of the quest database, with columns for quest ID, identity code, name, requirements, and requirement type, and tabs along the bottom for quests, requirements, phases, targets, creatures, rewards, NPCs, and objects. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image14.jpg Ascend, a puzzle adventure set on a magical mountain, shipped 2025. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image13.jpg Planning board with level columns mapped to the five stages of grief, each column listing its zodiac sign and gating notes. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image10.jpg Top-down view of an Ascend puzzle level. Glowing gold lines connect star points across the ground, tracing the completed light path. A darker constellation outline sits beneath it showing the target shape the player is aiming to match. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image17.jpg In-game capture from Pandora: Chains of Chaos showing the player traversing an open-world environment. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image16.jpg Temple traversal concept art with blue lines marking intended player paths and red markers at key points, annotated with a design note about layout-driven navigation. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image12.jpg Design document section headed "Objective: Search Kobe's office," listing each examinable object in the room and the dialogue line it triggers. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image18.jpg The Tūn-Gāst of Oakshaw, a top-down pixel art horror game built in Godot. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image15.jpg A greyboxed overworld in Godot alongside written notes and playtest questions for the design team. https://mariomergola.com/assets/images/image02.svg Branching mission logic resolving through squad loyalty and specialist checks into survival or death states.