Mario Mergola
Game Designer -- Quest, Narrative, Systems, Data
Its'a me, Mario!
- 8+ 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
- 15+ years of leadership experience delivering $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
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.
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.
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.