Rakibul Hasan Toor
Game Designer & UX Researcher
Hi!
Originating from Bangladesh, my journey has shaped me into a versatile Game Designer with a passion for exploring the intersection of art, culture, and psychology in interactive experiences.
Thoughout my professional journey, I have worked with multidisciplinary and diverse teams. Currently, I am working at Massive Miniteam, on its own IP “Oddsparks: An Automated Adventure”. I’ve grown from a Junior Designer to taking ownership of key features like procedural world design and progression balancing.
Beyond my professional work, my Master’s research delves into companion design, driven by a long-term goal to develop personalized in-game AI agents.
Interests
General Game Design, Level Design, UX Design, Behavioral Psychology, Player Motivation, User-Centric Design.
Experiences
March 2023 – Present
Associate Game Designer • Massive Miniteam (Pulheim, DE)
- Design resource distribution and POI placement within procedural generation systems to drive engaging exploration in a cohesive game world.
- Create and Balance player progression via quest design to enhance game flow based on playtesting feedback and improving player experience.
- Design and iterate on new features and content to improve user experience across PC and consoles.
September 2021 – March 2023
App Tester (Student) • Grandcentrix (Cologne, DE)
- Planning and Running test runs for new features developed in Live Ops.
- Providing support to the developer and stakeholders to ensure Product Quality in an agile development cycle.
June 2019 – August 2021
Junior Game Designer and Researcher • Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln (Cologne,DE)
– Project SOLVE | Junior Game Designer
- Designed levels, mini-games, and chapters for SOLVE.
- Conducted playtesting with target users to assess Personas and User flow
- Balanced gameplay difficulty and in-game currency.
– DiSpielGeo | Student Assistant (Game Analysis)
- Research and analyze commercial games
July 2015 – December 2016
Multimedia Assistant • Worldfish, Bangladesh & South Asia (Dhaka, BD)
- Created multimedia content (videos, photos, posters, infographics, documentaries) to promote aquaculture research projects.
- Independently produced videos from filming to final edit, documenting project activities and results.
- Designed print-ready infographics and posters using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for project communication.
March 2012 – March 2016
Independent Media & Startup Experience • PortBliss Inc. (Dhaka, BD)
- • Co-Founded and Directed media creation for the startup, managing projects and communicating with clients.
- Produced media from concept to completion, including video (cinematography, editing, VFX) and graphics (logo, print).
- Planned production and promotion for “Heroes of ’71,” a mobile game that achieved over 1 million downloads.
Education
September 2021 – Present (Thesis Pending)
MA Digital Games
Cologne Game Lab, Technische Hochschule Köln
Specialization: Game Design & Game Programming
Thesis: “Relatedness in Interdependency: A companion’s tale of interdependent gameplay in single-player video game”
September 2017 – August 2021
BA Digital Games
Cologne Game Lab, Technische Hochschule Köln
Specialization: Game Design
Thesis: “Companion Design in Video Games”
March 2009 (incomplete!)
BSc Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering
Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology
Skills
Game Design
- Game & Level Design – Procedural generation, world-building, player progression
- Game Balancing & UX – Difficulty scaling, playtesting, iteration.
UX Design
- User Persona
- User-Centric Design
- Composition & Layout
- Accessibility
Research
- QA Testing
- Usability Design
- Research & Data Analysis
Project Management
- Documentation
- Agile Development
- Team Management
- Event organization
Languages
- Bangla (Native)
- English (Fluent)
- Deutsch (Intermediate)
Software & Tools
Game Related
Unreal Engine
Unity 3D
Version control
Plastic
Source Tree
Creative
Adobe Creative Suite
Office tools
Microsoft Office
Google Docs
Plastic
Proficient
Cinema 4D
GitHub, SourceTree
Jira, Click Up, Trello
Confluence, WordPress
Discord, Slack
SPSS
My Story
About Me
Born in a small village in Bangladesh, I have raised in a city called Khulna, near the Bay of Bengal. While I was introduced to new technologies in my city life, summer vacations are always about going back to the village and enjoying nature. Experiencing the both, I developed a strong interest in technology and human experience. I started to get interested in games at the age of 10 when we have our first computer. I would spend most of my time in front of it and learn tools to develop skillset as a graphic designer and video editor in my high school.
With time, I have developed an interest to create a virtual space for people to have experiences with things, places and emotions. My passion is to add higher dimensions to human life that cause the transcendence of the soul to life. Unfortunately, the knowledge to develop this kind of technology is very rare in Bangladesh. There are only few educational institutes which provide opportunities to study media, but nothing about games or interactive media specifically. And with the pressure and prejudice from society, that being an engineer or a doctor would give me more opportunities to survive, I had to choose engineering as my study in the Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology.
I could not find any relation between my choice of career and passion. So I have concentrated on the skills needed for my passion while continuing my studies. For that I engaged in various social and organizational activities in BUET such as organizing cultural programs and festivals, being a member in clubs, volunteering in various social causes etc.
Later, together with some of my friends, I have founded a creative group, known as FOCs studio, where we made short films, dramas, feature film etc. I worked as a cinematographer and editor in FOCs studio. In March 2012, I joined PortBliss as a founding member to develop mobile games targeting Bangladeshi mobile users. My responsibility included story writing, game mechanics, developing aesthetics and sometimes graphics. I contributed to a game project named “Heroes of 71”, the most downloaded android game developed in Bangladesh, which deals with the topic of the liberation of the country.
I had to manage my own finances and for that I had joined WorldFish, an international research organization, as a multimedia assistant. There my responsibilities were story writing, video editing, creating graphics content, developing communication materials, etc. I worked there till December 2016. This experience gives me more experiences about the life of rural and poor people all around the country, and knowledge about their culture, lifestyles, and struggle.
Even though, my years in BUET, improved my analytical abilities, especially my problem-solving skills. My undergraduate studies got stuck because I could not concentrate and were being unpassionate about it. Finally, I took a leap of faith in my passion and decided to invest 100% of myself into it. I decided to apply abroad for studying game and media.
In 2017, I got accepted into Cologne Game lab, in BA Digital Games, specializing in Game Design. During my university years, I acquire more knowledge about video games, media theories, design and building game prototypes, etc. It needs to be mentioned that the gaming culture is completely different in Europe and Asia, which I have experienced myself.
From June 2019 until August 2021, I have been working as a part-time student assistant under Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Guardiola’s supervision in Project DiSpielGeo and SOLVE. In Project DiSpielGeo, I have contributed to analyzing games for geography learning, design, and create communication materials. In Project SOLVE, we are developing a mobile game to intervene for adolescents with increased risk of substance misuse within a multi-cultural international team. As a junior game designer, I contribute to designing game mechanics, level design, difficulty progression system, UI/UX framework, etc., based on the User-Centric Design framework.
In 2021, I have achieved my Bachelor’s degree in Digital Game. My Bachelor thesis was focused on “Companion design in Video Games”, where I have conducted a mixed-method study to find a correlation between Player experience and Game Mechanics.
Now, I am working in Grandcentrix GmbH as a working student in an App Tester role, besides continuing my master’s. My Master’s project is focused on improving player motivation through game mechanics. Along with my Master’s project, my student job allows me to develop skillsets in testing, project management tools, and working in an agile methodology in an industry setup.
Additionally, I am also looking for opportunities to take one step further toward my vision for creating design methodology and tools for an improved experience.