Curriculum Vitae
Yadu Rajiv
Game & UX Designer · Developer · Educator
I design interactions and experiences for entertainment and education. My practice is driven by a need to experiment and push the boundaries of my medium, and to create new and interesting experiences. I'm an instinct-driven designer who applies artistry and skill to solve problems, and uses data to measure, correct and iterate. I love to tell stories through play; games are my medium of choice. Over 20 years I've worked across game development, UX design, teaching and creative technology.
Available for consulting Design and UX audits, prototype sprints, fractional design leadership, workshops and curriculum, for teams building games, tools and learning products. See what I offer · Book a call
Skills & Tools
Experience
Chief Creative Officer
Second Quest
Lead creative vision, narrative and design direction at this Bengaluru studio building systemic simulation games and community-driven creation (UGC) tools, from concept and brand identity through to release.
Lead Game Designer
PlaySimple Games Pvt Ltd · 3 yrs 1 mo
Led design in the New Games Group: prototyping, product-market fit and scaling. Lead on Tile Match; previously Jigsaw and Destination Solitaire.
Lead Game Designer
BYJU'S, Think and Learn Pvt Ltd (Osmo) · 1 yr 8 mos
Designed phygital learning games on the Osmo platform for children under 10, balancing fun with curriculum and common-core learning goals.
Faculty
Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology · 5 yrs 1 mo
Taught game design, development and UX / information design; mentored students and ran India's first indie games festival, Indie Game Shindig.
Senior User Experience Designer
redBus.in · 11 mos
Led UX for the redBus.in web experience and the redBus Plus B2B analytics platform, including a reusable component system for developers.
UX & Technology Lead · Co-founder
Hashstash Studios · 2 yrs 7 mos
Co-founded the studio; designed and built the award-winning game Circulets and redeveloped Zap the Knight.
Creative Engineer, UX & UI Designer
OSSCube · 1 yr 4 mos
Led a design team on web UI / UX and Drupal theming for clients; drove open-source community building and events.
Faculty
Arena Animation Academy · 1 yr 7 mos
Taught graphic design, web design and animation across the Adobe suite, ActionScript and front-end web.
Faculty
Aptech Global Learning Solutions · 11 mos
Taught web design and animation to international students under the ITEC / SCAAP program (Ministry of External Affairs).
Full detail on LinkedIn.
Selected Gameography
- Model Trains, Second Quest · 2024–present
- Tile Match: Triple Puzzle, PlaySimple Games · 2022–2024
- Tile Empire: Mahjong Match, PlaySimple Games · 2024
- Jigsaw, PlaySimple Games · 2022–2023
- Destination Solitaire, PlaySimple Games · 2021–2022
- Math Wizard / Wyverndell Express, BYJU'S / Osmo · 2020
- Lost and Found at the Mall, GGJ 2021 · 2021
- Social Media Massacre · 2020
- Gone to Pieces, GMTK Jam · 2017
- Badass · 2017
- The Rhizome, interactive installation at the Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa · 2016
- Wayfarer, GGJ 2016 · 2016
- Circulets, Hashstash · Most Innovative Game, Casual Connect Asia 2013 · 2013
- Zap the Knight, Hashstash · 2011
More games on itch.io · Portfolio video (2011–2018): bit.ly/yadu-2011-2018
Tools, Toys & Side Projects
- TinyGames.in, my label and home for small, playful games and tools (eGacha, Bauhaus Bat, Launch your Lunch and more), with its own newsletter
- P2PDF, a quick tool to convert photos to PDFs, with OCR support
- PressCat, a visual press-kit generator for game developers · in progress
- SuperGrid, a multi-stream video wall for watching many streams at once; vanilla JS, no backend
- gets.games, a signal layer for Steam game pages, with a private library and browser extension
- Vellum, a minimalist, browser-based invoicing and ledger tool with no servers or tracking
- SimpleMIDI, a MIDI-controller add-on published on Blender's official extensions platform
- NotesForever, a Git-backed journaling workspace with Markdown support
- ParallaxMaker, a maker and viewer for parallax image vignettes
- Custom Permalinks for Publii, WordPress-style generated post URLs for Publii
- Mini Loops, a pack of short, loopable music tracks for games
More tools, toys and experiments on itch.io.
Publications & Writing
- Developing Turn-Based Multiplayer Games with GameMaker Studio 2 and NodeJS, Apress / Springer (book) · 2018
- GameDev India newsletter, writer, community essays on Substack · 2025
- How to Learn Flixel, Envato Tuts+ · 2013
- 5 Tools to Develop AAA Games, Linux For You · 2010
- Getting Started with Game Development, Linux For You · 2009
- Literary translations from Malayalam: Poetry International (2010), Indian Literature / JSTOR (2003)
Interviews & features about Yadu
- Exploring the Rise of Hybrid-Casual Games, Eximius Echo · 2024
- Online Gaming Is Pretend, But the Harassment In-Game Isn't, The Swaddle · 2023
- First Person Encounters #9, DiGRA India Podcast · 2021
- Making Space to Make Games, Everybody's Talking At Once, Ep. 109 · 2021
- Gamescapes: Art in the World of Video Game Design, STIR · 2020
- Co-founders, Hashstash Studios, NGDC · 2013
Speaking, Recognition & Awards
- GamesIndustry.biz Top 100 Game Changers · 2020
- IGDA Foundation Next Gen Leaders, GDC · 2020
- POC in Play #SAHMGames100, South Asian Heritage Month · 2021
- Keynote Speaker, Jam Jam Festival, Finnish Game Jam, Helsinki · 2019
More talks, panels & workshops
Community & Associations
Past roles & volunteering
Education
- Master of Design (M.Des), Design for Digital Experience
National Institute of Design (NID) - BA, English Language & Literature
St Alberts College, Kochi, Kerala