Independent developer
Efe Arda Sakarya
I am an independent developer. I handle the design, the development and the release of a project from start to finish, and I use AI as part of that process. Much of my experience came out of my own projects — I believe the way to understand something properly is to build it. Part of the work so far sits on the game side; I am also continuing my Digital Game Design studies.
How I work
Systems
I build systems made of connected parts: user interaction, state, economy and progression loops. A part working on its own is not enough; what matters is that it behaves consistently alongside the others.
I would rather work inside an existing framework than rewrite it. Building on top shortens development and keeps the project coherent.
Tools
Rather than solving the same problem from scratch each time, I turn the solution into a reusable tool. These solutions accumulate during development and eventually become something that can be packaged as a plugin.
Warmpool, which removes the cost of creating objects at runtime, is one example of this approach: it started as a solution that accumulated across my own projects and is now published as a free, open-source Unreal plugin.
Artificial intelligence
I use AI as leverage: for research, first drafts, repetitive code and review passes. The point is not to hand the work off, but to finish a wider scope with a one-person team.
The decisions and the responsibility for what ships stay with me. I do not use what comes out without reading it, testing it, and rewriting it where it needs rewriting.
Experience
Ongoing practice
My own projects
In my own projects I have worked on interaction, interface and performance. Most of my experience came from finished work and from what releasing it demanded.
Released product
Click and Clone — published on Google Play
A mobile application I ran on my own from design to release. Building the exponential economy on BigInteger, the offline earnings calculation, the store process and the Google Play Services integration were all part of this project.
Released tool
Warmpool — published on Fab
An object pooling plugin for Unreal. I packaged a problem I had solved over and over in my own projects so that it works in someone else’s too; free, CC BY 4.0, with the source open.
Team project
Sci-Fi Agent Game Showroom
I designed and built the interaction and gameplay systems of a project developed with a team. The showroom gathers the systems I built into a single walkable space. The aim was not to describe the systems but to make them directly playable.
Education
Digital Game Design studies
Ongoing.
Contact
For job offers, collaborations and questions, email is the fastest channel. I usually reply the same day. What each channel is used for is listed below.