Hiago Almeida

Senior Game Developer @ TapNation

Mar 2024 - Jul 2026 • 2 yrs 4 mos

Led a deep overhaul of Hidden Objects: Adventure (1M+ downloads, 70k MAU): full UI/UX redesign, large-scale architectural refactor, and shipped recurring live-ops features (daily logins, battle pass, seasonal offers). Contributed to FunGames SDK (first-party). Built client-to-backend integrations for user management and leaderboards, and architected the SDK's first plug-in feature module: a barebones battle-pass. Kept Cornhole League stable despite many mutually incompatible third-party SDKs and native libraries through careful dependency isolation and memory profiling. Major architectural overhaul on Hero Adventure: Survivor RPG (hybrid-casual gothic ARPG): UI rebuild, remote saves, dynamic asset distribution (Addressables), leaderboard system, data-structure redesign, and monetization restructure. Maintained and modernized 7 live catalog titles (Wordling, Doll Dress Up, Legend of Gladiator, and others): Unity 6 engine migrations, plugin/library upgrades, profiling GC allocations, and user-bug triage — maintaining a >99.7% crash-free rate across the portfolio. Integrated and managed third-party SDKs end-to-end across titles: ads networks, analytics, IAP, Google / Facebook / Apple login. Created and supported tools in game development: custom Unity Editor extensions letting Game Designers iterate on content without engineering dependency. Leverages AI technology in daily work (Claude Code, Gemini agents, Rider + Agents) to streamline boilerplate, dedicating core engineering time to low-level performance, architecture, and system design. Drove weekly multidisciplinary syncs with design, art, and product to align sprint priorities; reduced mid-sprint scope changes by establishing shared feature-acceptance criteria before implementation.

Senior Game Developer / Engineering Lead @ BBTV Interactive

Sep 2021 - Dec 2023 • 2 yrs 3 mos

Lead developer for the engineering organization (5-engineer core team + cross-team influence): defined company-wide C# coding standards, owned shared-library architecture, ran code reviews, conducted hiring interviews, and shaped company-wide technical infrastructure. Mentored engineers across teams; established engineering processes and architecture reviews adopted across all dev teams. Created pipelines empowering non-coders (design, narrative, art) to ship and publish game content independently. Lead developer on Krew Merge Pets (merge mechanic + simplified city-building). Architected all core systems, 2D character movement, and design/art tooling. Shipped end-to-end in under 6 months with a 9-person multidisciplinary team (3 engineers, 4 artists, 1 producer, 1 game designer). Lead developer on Ripple: Join the Story (interactive stories with creators / celebrities). Built system foundations, core gameplay, narrative publishing tools, third-party SDK integration, remote content delivery, and CD / CI pipelines. Systems dev on Shiloh & Bros Impostor Chase (hyper-casual impostor mechanic): core gameplay loops, tutorial, bedroom feature. Owned third-party SDK integrations across all active titles: ads networks, analytics, IAP, social login.

Senior Developer / Live-Ops Lead @ Manifesto Game Studio

Apr 2015 - Sep 2021 • 6 yrs 5 mos

Joined as intern; progressed to Senior Developer / Live-Ops Lead over 6 years. Owned the Geppetto platform from initial development through Live-Ops lead. Profiled and optimized low-level memory/rendering, cutting load time and app build size by 80% and reducing crashes to near-zero on the Geppetto platform (3 school networks, 1,000+ deployed units). Handled critical Live-Ops incidents and production bug triage for global school-network clients. Mentored junior developers on the Geppetto team as the platform expanded. Full-stack & C++/C# systems: Unity / C#, Cocos Creator (JS / TS), C/C++ tooling, Node.js, MySQL, Firebase, AWS, GCP, Cloudflare cache & LB. Led 4 white-label editions of Geppetto for major English-course brands: WizCity, Digiworld, Rockefeller Play, Star Task. Owned CD / CI using Jenkins + Groovy scripts and complete build / deploy automation pipelines. Released Go! Medina Surf Game on mobile stores: a year-long Unity / C# production with direct client engagement. Built internal C# and Python tooling: asset-pipeline converters, data-optimization scripts, and build-automation utilities that reduced manual release prep time across the studio.