Intro
About
Projects
Skills
Experience
Awards
Contact
Game Designer · Lampung, Indonesia

Pray
Cristanto

Systems · Narrative · Feeling

I grew up with To The Moon and A Space for the Unbound — games that felt like someone reached through the screen and said I see you. That's the only reason I do this.

Three shipped titles. PC, Nintendo Switch, Mobile. But the number I actually track is how many players felt something true.

Open to Full-Time Remote Roles
🚀 Google Indie Game Accelerator '22
💡 Xbox Game Camp · Microsoft '24
What the work left behind
5+
Years in One Studio
PT. Eternaldream Games International, 2019 – 2025. Three roles. Each one earned.
47
Choice Nodes
The Sun Shines Over Us — I didn't want to decide how the story ends. So I didn't. Players do.
100+
Hand-Built Events
Matchmaker Agency — each one triggered, tested, and broken before it shipped on Nintendo Switch.
2×
Accelerator Alumni
Google Indie Game Accelerator · Microsoft Xbox Camp. Both selected on the strength of shipped work.
Google Indie Game Accelerator · Alumni 2022 Xbox Game Camp · Microsoft Alumni 2024 Best Narrative Game · IGDX 2022 Best Game Designer · Gameloft Indonesia 2023 LevelUP KL 2021 · International Finalist PC · Nintendo Switch · iOS · Android · Shipped Bumi Langit · Licensed IP · Official Mobile Tie-In Google Indie Game Accelerator · Alumni 2022 Xbox Game Camp · Microsoft Alumni 2024 Best Narrative Game · IGDX 2022 Best Game Designer · Gameloft Indonesia 2023 LevelUP KL 2021 · International Finalist PC · Nintendo Switch · iOS · Android · Shipped Bumi Langit · Licensed IP · Official Mobile Tie-In
Pray Cristanto
02
Who I Am
Most people think game design is about ideas. It's really about measurement.

I'm an INFP who ended up building invisible machinery for a living — and I think that's actually the whole point, not a contradiction. I came in through programming, shipped a mobile game in my first month as an intern before I really understood what I was doing. Then two years in community, watching players react to systems that weren't quite right. Then design, where I finally had the tools to fix what I kept seeing break.

"When a player says 'this felt unfair' — there's a number somewhere that's wrong. I find that number. That's all design is. You're not an artist standing above the work. You're a mechanic underneath it, making sure nothing leaks."
On why systems matter more than vision

The games I'm actually chasing are To The Moon and A Space for the Unbound — small, quiet, honest. The kind that makes you sit with the credits rolling and not want to move yet. I haven't made that game. But every system I balance, every branch I weight, every playtest I run — it's practice for that one.

I want players to see the world from someone else's eyes and come out of it a little more willing to understand people they don't yet know. That's the ministry underneath the craft. Rigorous invisible systems, delivering raw visible truth.

Google Indie Game Accelerator
Alumni · 2022
Xbox Game Camp · Microsoft
Alumni · 2024
Best Game Designer
Gameloft Indonesia · 2023
Best Narrative Game
IGDX · 2022
03
Three Games I Shipped

Three games.
Real players.

All three are playable today. Each has a design document behind it — not a retrospective dressed up as a GDD, but the actual working doc I used during production. Click "Read Full GDD" on any project. Click any screenshot to enlarge.

Studio Checklist
Shipped on Steam
Nintendo Switch
iOS + Android
500K+ Downloads
Award-Winning
Licensed IP Work
GDD Available
TSSOU gameplay
TSSOU screen 1
tssou-screen1.jpg
TSSOU screen 2
tssou-screen2.jpg
TSSOU screen 3
tssou-screen3.jpg
Project 01 / 03
Visual NovelUnity · C#PC · iOS · AndroidFree · Community

The Sun Shines Over Us

A game about bullying and mental health — made because someone in our team needed to make it. My job was to build a branching system where no ending felt like the "right" one, and no player felt their choices were decided before they started.

Role
Game Designer
Team
~8 people
Duration
18 months
Downloads
500K+ (free)
Best Narrative Game — IGDX 2022 · Finalist LevelUP KL 2021
  • Built a 47-node branching system over 18 months — ran 30+ structured playthroughs before each milestone to verify every path held
  • Early playtests showed 80% of players hitting the same two endings — Act 1 was quietly locking the story. Redistributed the decision weight to midgame. After the fix, all six endings were reached organically.
  • 500K+ free downloads through Discord and organic community. A handful of players sent messages saying it helped them talk to someone they'd been avoiding. Those messages are why I still do this.
↗ Read Full Design Document
Intention
All 6 endings feel genuinely reachable — not hidden behind a guide, not decided by Act 1.
Process
Mapped 47 nodes in Google Sheets with weighted outcome values per ending. Defined pass/fail criteria for each playtest cycle before running it.
Challenge
80% of players hit the same two endings. Act 1 choices were silently narrowing the story — players lost agency before they realised it.
Solution
Moved the heaviest decision weight from Act 1 to mid-game. Separated emotional tone flags from outcome flags. All 6 endings normalised in the next test cycle.
Outcome
Post-fix playtest: "my choices actually mattered." 500K+ free community downloads. Best Narrative Game, IGDX 2022. And a few DMs that meant more than any award.
Matchmaker gameplay
matchmaker-screen1.jpg
matchmaker-screen2.jpg
matchmaker-screen3.jpg
Project 02 / 03
SimulationUnity · MachinationsNintendo SwitchSteam · PC

Matchmaker Agency

A simulation about attraction and compatibility — which sounds light until you're 40 trait combinations deep trying to understand why one personality type keeps winning everything. I stepped into lead design mid-production and had to diagnose the game before I could finish building it.

Role
Lead Designer
Team
6 people
Events
100+
Traits
30+
Best Game Designer — Gameloft Indonesia 2023 · Shipped Steam + Nintendo Switch
  • Discovered "Adventurer" matching at 3× the expected rate through Machinations simulation — rebuilt the compatibility formula, rebalanced 40+ trait combinations before touching the engine
  • Players were ignoring 80% of the event library because triggers clustered early — restructured event timing around character familiarity, not random probability
  • Kept a single centralised GDD in Google Sheets throughout production — every designer, programmer, and artist reading from the same source, zero version-conflict incidents
↗ Read Full Design Document
Intention
Waiting feels like anticipation, not emptiness. No trait dominates. Every combination has a plausible path to success.
Process
Modelled the full 30+ trait matrix in Machinations before implementation. Built 100+ events via a content framework. Ran 3 full test cycles with written pass criteria per cycle.
Challenge
Two problems surfaced in Cycle 1: players skipping most events, and Adventurer matching at 3× rate — a dominant strategy that killed strategic variety.
Solution
Tied event triggers to character familiarity milestones instead of timers. Separated attraction score from compatibility score — Adventurer's social appeal no longer overrode long-term compatibility.
Outcome
No dominant strategies at ship. Launched PC and Nintendo Switch. Best Game Designer, Gameloft Indonesia 2023.
Virgo gameplay
virgo-screen1.webp
virgo-screen2.webp
virgo-screen3.webp
Project 03 / 03
Licensed IPUnityMobileBumi Langit

Virgo & The Sparklings

The story was already written. Bumi Langit owned it. My job was to build player agency inside a locked room — mechanics that gave people something to do with a narrative I couldn't change. That turned out to be the most interesting design constraint I've worked inside.

Client
Bumi Langit
Platform
Mobile
Type
Licensed IP
Engine
Unity
Official Bumi Langit IP · Cross-media tie-in for Indonesia's largest superhero release
  • Designed a dress-up mechanic ruleset that created full player agency in the spaces the IP hadn't defined — zero narrative conflicts in the approval rounds
  • Built and balanced a point and progression system — every scene cross-checked against the source comic before build handoff
  • First external licensed client project for the studio — learned to argue for design decisions with evidence through an IP approval pipeline, not just instinct
↗ Read Full Design Document
Intention
Satisfy fans who know the IP and players discovering it for the first time — without rewriting a single line of story.
Process
Mapped every scene against the source comic first. Designed the dress-up ruleset and point system in the narrative gaps — spaces Bumi Langit had not defined.
Challenge
The story is fixed and immovable. Every mechanic had to create a sense of agency without touching the protected narrative — or the approval round would reject it.
Solution
Focused entirely on between-scene moments and costume expression — what the IP left unsaid became the play space. Presented every mechanic with a written rationale for approval.
Outcome
Delivered through Bumi Langit's full approval pipeline. First licensed IP project shipped by the studio. Taught me that constraints aren't limits — they're the frame.
04
What I Do
How I
think.

Six things I've actually done across three shipped games. I keep design documents for all of them — ask and I'll share the working files, not just the outcomes.

Systems Design
I build the math before the game is built. Economies, trait matrices, progression curves — modelled in Sheets and Machinations first, because finding the broken number after it's in the engine costs everyone time and goodwill.
Narrative Mechanics
Branching dialogue is just a weighted tree. The craft is making every branch feel like it was the only one. I've built a 47-node system and then broken it on purpose during testing — I know where these structures fail before players do.
Quality Assurance
I started as QA. I still think like one. Every test cycle I run has a hypothesis before it starts and a written resolution after — not a verbal summary. I don't ship anything I haven't broken first.
Licensed IP Production
Working with Bumi Langit meant arguing for every mechanic through a client approval pipeline. You learn fast to separate your instincts from your evidence. That habit travels to any team.
UX & Onboarding
The first five minutes of a game are a different design problem than everything after them. I've spent a lot of time on those five minutes — how a player forms their first mental model, and whether it's the right one.
Unity + C#
I can prototype my own ideas before involving a programmer. I'm not a programmer — but I know enough to test whether a mechanic actually works, not just whether it sounds good in a doc.
Unity C# Machinations Google Sheets Miro Steam Nintendo Switch Play Store App Store Adobe Premiere Photoshop Discord Audacity Corel Draw
05
Work History
One studio.
Three jobs.

I didn't plan to stay five years. But each role taught me something the next one needed — and I kept needing the next one.

Download Full CV ↗
Feb 2025
— Present
Independent Game Developer & Researcher (Career Break)
Self-Employed
Dedicated time to analyzing advanced game design frameworks, focusing on AAA combat design systems and player engagement models.
Prototyping experimental gameplay mechanics and narrative branches using Unity and C#.
Aug 2021
— Jan 2025
Game Designer
PT. Eternaldream Games International · Lampung, Indonesia
Shipped 3 commercial titles as systems and narrative designer — PC, Mobile, and Nintendo Switch
Stepped into lead designer on Matchmaker Agency mid-production — inherited a partially-built system, diagnosed two balance failures, and shipped without dominant strategies
Designed 47-node branching system and caught the path lock-in bug in playtesting before it ever reached players
Every iteration has a written hypothesis and resolution criteria — not just "it felt better this time"
Delivered Virgo & The Sparklings through Bumi Langit's IP approval pipeline — first licensed external client project the studio had taken on
SystemsQANarrativeUnityMachinationsLicensed IP
Jan 2020
— Jul 2022
Community Manager
PT. Eternaldream Games International · Lampung, Indonesia
Grew the player community from zero — 500K+ total downloads across X, Instagram, Facebook, and Discord, no paid acquisition
Two years of daily content moderation taught me to make consistent rule-based decisions at scale without letting individual cases drift the policy
Turned player feedback into structured design briefs that directly shaped post-launch patches — the first time community data drove design decisions at the studio
CommunityContent ReviewPlayer ResearchPremierePhotoshop
Jun 2019
— Jan 2020
Programmer Intern + QA
PT. Eternaldream Games International · Lampung, Indonesia
First month: built and published a complete mobile game on Google Play Store. I didn't fully know what I was doing. It shipped anyway.
Ran manual testing with defined protocols and written reports from day one — the habit that stayed through every role after
UnityC#Manual QAAndroid
2016–2021
Education
Indonesia Teknokrat University · Lampung
Bachelor of Informatics Engineering · GPA 3.48 / 4.00
06
Recognition
🚀
Google Indie Game Accelerator Alumni
Google · 2022
💡
Xbox Game Camp Alumni
Microsoft · 2024
🏆
Best Game Designer
Gameloft Indonesia · 2023
🎖️
Best Narrative Game
IGDX · 2022
🌏
International Finalist
LevelUP KL · 2021
🎯
Best Pitch
Selasar Game Design POV · 2023
🌟
Future of Game Design
MDEC Malaysia
Certifications
Foundations of UX Design · Coursera / Google
07 / Let's Make Something
I want to build
games that heal.

I'm looking for a studio that cares about the emotional side of games as much as the technical side. Remote works — I'm in Indonesia but I keep focused hours and I respond the same day.

Write to me directly
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↗ Download Full Resume PDF
+62 822 7911 7619 · Lampung, Indonesia · Open to remote worldwide