I’m Rachel Li, a Senior Game Designer with six years of industry experience. I take early gameplay ideas from concept to playable form, working hands-on in C#, Unreal Blueprint, and whatever new tools or platforms the idea requires. I’m most excited by 0-to-1 development: finding the core interaction, building and testing prototypes, and refining them into playful, intuitive, and emotionally expressive experiences.
My work spans shipped AAA VR, independent games, and published tabletop design, including GOTY-nominated Skydance’s Behemoth, the BAFTA Student Award–nominated Hot Pot For One, and Nothing to See Here!, published by Penguin Random House. Across these projects, I combine hands-on implementation, systems design, narrative design, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to turn ambitious ideas into memorable experiences.
Click on each project below for more information including project details, my contributions, and design case studies.
You can also view my resume here.
Shipped and Published Games
Senior Game Designer (May 2024 - Dec 2024)
Game Designer(May 2022-May 2024)
A VR fantasy action RPG launched in Dec 2024.
My Contributions
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Drove cinematic and narrative implementation using sequencer and Blueprint scripting, and co-developed production pipeline for cross-functional delivery
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Crafted tactile, diegetic interactions for weapon upgrade system and lore collectibles to enhance immersion and thematic coherence.
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Refined Dredstag boss encounter from beta to ship under tight production deadlines, solving gameplay, pacing, and clarity issues to deliver a polished and satisfying player experience.
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Authored design documents to align cross-disciplinary teams and drove collaboration through practical, system-driven solutions.
Game Director, Gameplay Engineer
2019-2021
A short emotion-driven game about the bittersweet feeling of making hotpot at home for yourself.
My contributions
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Co-designed the game’s concept, narrative structure, emotional pacing, interactions, and overall player experience as part of a two-person core team.
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Implemented the project in Unity as the C# programmer, building the cooking interactions, physics-driven object handling, food-state feedback, memory system, and supporting game logic.
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Prototyped and evaluated multiple gameplay directions before simplifying the design around the most emotionally resonant actions: preparing, cooking, eating, and discarding food.
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Continued to lead design and development after the original thesis build, polishing the experience and coordinating with new collaborators on illustration, music, and additional content.
Game Designer, Co-Founder
A creative storytelling card game where players make up stories to get themselves out of compromising situations.
My Contributions
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Transform a student prototype into a polished commercial game as a co-founder and designer.
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Refined the core gameplay loop, rulebook, and co-designed three story scenarios and more than 100 cards.
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Led more than 20 in-person and remote playtests, using observation, recordings, surveys, and player feedback to improve pacing, rules clarity, narrative flow, and accessibility for players with different levels of improvisation experience.
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Helped bring the game to publication by preparing pitch decks and prototypes, presenting to publishers and the NYU Game Center Incubator, and collaborating with Penguin Random House on the final rulebook, card content, packaging, and visual presentation.
Prototypes and Experiments
Game Feel and Interactivity
A co-designed and prototyped a series of interactive prototypes to encapsulate the emotional experience of immigrant workers who struggled as they work endlessly for an empty promise to build a city that slowly erases them.
An experimental VR experience of a person transforming into a vampire and catching its prey. I co-designed and prototyped innovated VR mechanics for gameplay to explore the boundaries of VR storytelling.
A plant-growing simulator where you nurture a plant from a seed to a fully grown plant in a span of a week in real time. A solo project aiming to capture the realistic challenges of plant-growing, including close observations of the plant, reading its subtle and delayed responses, and silent waiting.
Technical Explorations
Come On Into My Secret Base is a short visual narrative puzzle made in 48 hours. By adjusting the brightness of a greyscale image, we turned static images into animated worlds hidden with secret messages.
Games I designed that experiment with physical computing and alternative ways of interacting with the digital interface.
Experiments with real-time graphics programming and tools rendered in game engines. Topics include procedural generation, shaders programming, AI, and render textures
Emotion-Driven Systems
A short life sim about the stress of juggling your life in the modern era and the never-ending pursuit of happiness. I co-designed the game concept and narrative, and built the level layout.
Made in 48 hours for CiGA Game Jam 2020.
Clean Your Shit Up is a 3D game made in Global Game Jam 2020 with the theme Repair. Inspired by people who love to keep their space clean. I co-designed the concept, scripted behavior of objects, and created shaders
Double R. is a Walking Simulator that attempts to capture the awkwardness and social anxieties introverts often encounter in their lives. I co-designed and implemented the high school level, dialogue, and crowd behaviors. Made in Unity.
Level Design and Worldbuilding
A short adventure game about meeting your sugar daddy in a Vietnamese rice field themed Casino. Made in Unity in 7 days. I co-designed the game and developed the level, environment, characters, and props.
A short experience made in Unreal Engine 4 about meeting up with your friend in a natural history museum. I designed the narrative sequence and built one of the three rooms in the museum.
A first person walking simulator about a robot programmed to recycle trash on a deserted island and generate electricity to power the human city above. I co-designed the concept, programmed player controller logic, and blocked out the level in Unity.
Talk
In this 2020 Babycastles Residency presentation, I shared the inspirations and process of creating the game Realistic Plant Growing Simulator. You can learn more about the game here.
Panel
How do you meaningfully include sex, kink, & sexuality in games? What are the design & safety considerations? How can we create experiences that aren't offensive or embarrassing? In this panel I shared the process of designing Nothing To See Here! and how we subverted common design tropes to create a sexually positive and inclusive player experience. (2020, Game Devs of Color Expo)
Talks and Writings
Podcast
A Chinese podcast focusing on the artistry and culture of video game development. Centering each episode around a theme, the hosts start a brainstorming session on new game ideas, inspirations, and what it takes to bring those ideas to life.
Other Work
Music Videos
Music Video for 江北嘴暮色
by Fantasy Girl 1985
Cyberpunk Music Video for
1 2 3 4 by Uzumakid Li
Music Videos for PO8's 2020 EP
血钻 The Tragic West
Directed and produced a retro synthwave style music video for Fantasy Girl music 江北嘴暮色 as part of their debut EP 重庆迷雾. Process includes concept and visual design, story-boarding, designing and rendering 3D scenes, creating 3D animations, and video editing.
Directed and produced a music video for Uzumakid Li's song 1 2 3 4. Process includes concept and visual design, story-boarding, designing and rendering 3D scenes, creating 3D animations, and video editing.
Directed and produced 3 music videos for this EP. Process includes concept and visual design, story-boarding, designing and rendering 3D scenes, creating 3D animations, and video editing.