Nick Balyanitsa, Developer in London, United Kingdom
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Nick Balyanitsa

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Game Developer

Location
London, United Kingdom
Toptal Member Since
April 18, 2022

Nick is a seasoned game developer who started his career in the game industry over 13 years ago. He took part in various projects, including some very popular games and applications, and held leading roles in many of them. Skilled in different technologies, programming languages, and frameworks, Nick has a keen interest in the technological stack for game development, ranging from high load multiplayer servers to lightweight and performant client apps.

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Unity, JetBrains Rider, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

The most amazing...

...game I've created is played by over one million users daily.

Work Experience

Senior Game Developer

2018 - PRESENT
Zynga
  • Created a multitude of rich features that added significant value to the project.
  • Built an automation tool for LiveOps management that reduces operational costs and human error.
  • Integrated a flexible experimentation framework, allowing extensively A/B testing of new and existing features.
Technologies: C#, Unity, JavaScript

Senior Game Developer

2014 - 2018
Gamesys
  • Created a game engine that enables the construction and skin of different games out of modules, minimizing the developer's reliance while supporting a portfolio of games.
  • Hosted multiple technical talks and was a speaker at some.
  • Led a UX team in revamping the games portfolio website.
Technologies: 2D Games, HaXe

Head of Games

2014 - 2014
IQ Friends
  • Built a framework to create and support a suite of brain training games.
  • Raised seed funding in a global accelerator for the project.
  • Achieved optimal performance by allowing the framework to support low-end devices.
Technologies: JavaScript, C++, Cocos2d

Lead Flash Developer

2012 - 2014
Level UP Games
  • Led a small team in creating a project from the ground up to production in four months.
  • Worked closely with the user acquisition (UA) team to facilitate efficient user conversion.
  • Tracked analytics and oversaw the company-wide culture of data-driven decisions.
Technologies: ActionScript 3, JavaScript

Lead Flash Developer

2011 - 2012
iWin
  • Managed an international team and supported a functioning process that allowed us to meet deadlines without crunch and stress.
  • Created the prototype of a new game that helped an outsource team build the final product more efficiently.
  • Introduced data-driven integrations in an existing legacy project, enabling more efficient business decisions.
Technologies: ActionScript 3

Game Developer

2008 - 2011
Sunwind Games
  • Developed an efficient network protocol based on Google Protocol Buffers (Protobuf).
  • Set up and maintained continuous integration and delivery.
  • Created a game client with user-generated content tooling and an in-game character editor.
Technologies: Java, ActionScript 3, C#

Merge Dragons

https://www.mergedragons.com/
Merge Dragons is an extremely popular casual match-three game with various gameplay loops and mechanics. It has a massive variety of objects that must be merged to create an object of a higher level from the same type.

Gambling Games Portfolio

https://www.jackpotjoy.com/
Created technical solutions for several games in the Gamesys portfolio, led the migration of many of those games from ActionScript to HTML5, and delivered some asset pipeline improvements, dramatically decreasing iteration times.

IQ Friends

IQ Friends is an app that provides a collection of scientific brain games to train your logic, memory, numerical skills, speed, and mental flexibility. The app is available as a web-based and native app, with a wide variety of games grouped into specific categories like memory, reaction, and more.

Languages

C#, JavaScript, HaXe, C++, ActionScript 3, Java

Frameworks

Unity, Cocos2d, Angular

Tools

JetBrains Rider

Other

Software, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Games, 2D Games, Game AI, Simulations, Probability Theory

Platforms

Blockchain, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

2005 - 2011

Master's Degree in Computer Science

National Technical University of Ukraine (NTUU KPI) - Kyiv, Ukraine

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