Sebastian Bolatto

Design Portfolio

About Me

Hi! I’m Sebastian Bolatto, a game developer who works at the intersection of game design and programming. With a Computer Science degree from the University of Maryland, College Park and a current M.S. in Game Design and Development at the Rochester Institute of Technology, I bring both technical expertise and a strong understanding of design to every project. This combination allows me to create human-centered systems and realistically executable designs, ensuring that the player experience is always first and foremost.

I’ve always been deeply involved in the game development community. I’ve led game design workshops as president of the UMD Game Development Club and helped organize the SGDA Summit, a two-day games showcase and conference. These experiences have strengthened not only my creative and technical skills, but also my ability to collaborate, communicate, and share knowledge with others.

Some of my favorite pastimes including DM’ing Dungeons & Dragons for my friends, video games and board games of all genres, sports like soccer and tennis, playing guitar, reading fantasy and science-fiction novels, writing and world-building, and petting cats!

As I continue to grow early in my career, I’m excited to explore where I can make the biggest impact – whether as a designer, programmer, or in a role that blends both.

Awards

Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) Foundation Scholarship

National GEM Consortium GEM Fellowship

Featured Projects

Verdant Engine

Design Lead – Systems Designer

Strategy roguelike where the player controls a massive mech that has been possessed by a plant-like entity.
The mech has a garden growing atop of its chassis, and the placement of plants influences its combat capabilities. The mech must make its way through the city, battling immense polluting factories, before defeating the central AI that keeps the factories running.

Team Size: 6
Time Spent on Project: 6 months

What I worked on:

Led design on core gameplay systems, including mechanics for plant placement, mech parts, resource management, and progression systems.
Coordinated playtesting sessions, iterated using player feedback.
Planning and documentation.

Cursebreakers

Design Lead – Gameplay and Systems Designer

Multiplayer First-Person Social Horror game where players work together before one betrays the others.
A group of fledgling ghost hunters explore a haunted mansion as they attempt to dismantle its curse. The curse eventually takes ahold of one person, turning them into a terrifying monster who must hunt down the others!

Team Size: 5
Time Spent on Project: In development since August 2025

What I worked on:

Led rapid prototyping across core gameplay systems, including the exploration-to-betrayal game loop and asymmetric monster mechanics.
Implemented and refined player interactions, items, room types, and challenges through frequent playtesting and iteration.
Conducted planning, documentation, and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

VALORANT Agent Design Exercise

Ability Kit Design Exercise

An extensive design exercise with the goal of creating a new Valorant agent from Uruguay called Gaucho.
In this project I go through the full design process of analyzing Valorant’s gameplay and character design extensively, and using that knowledge to develop a new Controller character that fills its own niche within the game.

Team Size: Solo
Time Spent on Project: 4 months

What I Did:

Conducted a thorough analysis on Valorant’s gameplay, compilling my research into a report.
Designed a full character ability kit with consideration to character role, theme, and ability combos.
Ensured ability kit followed Valorant’s agent design pillars and fit well into the game, without overlapping with other agent’s niches.

Level Design Prototyping

Exercise in Level Design

Created four different levels across four different games, each within a two week timeframe.
Followed a complete level design process for each prototype, starting with a game analysis document, a level molecule and napkin sketch, then developing a first playable iteration, conducting playtests, and refining based on feedback into a final version.

Team Size: Solo
Time Spent on Project: 2 months

What I Did:

Began each project with a thorough analysis of the game’s mechanics, systems, and progression.
Created level molecules and sketches.
Developed and refined level iterations based on playtest feedback.

Professional Experience

NASA

Software Used: Unity, Autodesk Maya, Figma, Git

I worked for NASA, performing internships at both the Kennedy Space Center on the Space Coast in Florida, and the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. There I worked on various Unity-based simulations built for desktop and Virtual Reality.

Moon Tycoon V2

Moon Tycoon Version 2 emulates the lunar surface to a high degree of accuracy for mission planning, visualization, and educational purposes.

Mixed Reality Exploration Toolkit (MRET)

MRET is a set of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality tools built to provide cross-domain mission lifecycle support.

Consolidated Nuclear Security

Software Used: Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, Git

I worked for Consolidated Nuclear Security, at their Oak Ridge Enhanced Technology and Training Center. There I created simulations for use in exercise planning and site preparation, as well as educational tools for teaching nuclear energy and history.

Reduce & Remove Planning

Led the design and development of a simulation for use with partner countries to exercise planning, analysis and preparation for the removal and transport of radioactive material between hospitals and other storage locations.

AR/VR Learning Experiences

Designed and developed an XR simulation exhibiting a fictional nuclear power plant, an AR companion app for a statue installation of figures important to nuclear history in A.K. Bissel Park, and a VR training simulation for uranium workers using thermal haptic gloves.

Additional Projects & Studies

More Game Projects

Brew and Brawl Inn

Unity | 2D | Team of 4

Take control of a wizard-cook and a drunken fighter in the grand opening of their new tavern. Compete against an egotistical necromancer and his failing restaurant as you hold out against his onslaught of skeletal minions – while brewing wild concoctions to ensure maximum customer satisfaction.
A 2-player co-op game which combines cooking and restaurant management with the hack n’ slash genre!

Carni-Ball

Unity | 2D | Team of 5

4-Player party game, created within 5 days for the SGDA Summer Game Jam 2022. This is a deadly game of dodgeball where getting tagged means that you become a ghost – and can possess obstacles to mess with the living! If you cause your tagger to get hit themselves, then you’ll rejoin the land of the living and get another chance – Last one left alive wins!

Prototyping Adventures

Rapid Prototyping Challenge

Unity | 5 Games | Developed in 2 weeks each

A rapid prototyping exercise where I create five different games with five different teams of four to five members. The goal of this challenge was to practice rapid prototyping while designing each game around a single strong mechanic, exploring that idea in depth.