issam ul haq
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Game and systems engineer

I make games and the servers that run them.

I'm issam, a software engineer from Pakistan. I build games end to end: the gameplay and physics, the tools that test them, the servers they run on and the store release. I've also built backends and web apps full time since 2024.

Download my CVSee my best workPlay Fresh Powder

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Me, standing in the snow with mountains behind

My day job since 2024: production backends

Since 2024 I've worked full time, remotely, for a software team in the Netherlands. I build Django and Express backends, React and Next.js apps, a React Native wallet that about 5,000 people use each month, and smart contracts. Before that I freelanced for a year, and at university I built a self-driving rover that came third at GIKI.

Tools I use most: Godot 4 and GDScript, Python and Django, TypeScript with React and Next.js, Linux, Docker and Nginx. I've also written C# in Unity.

Download my CVMore about me

All six games, in the order I made them

Each game taught me something, and the next one put it to use. Click a name to read the full story, or move your cursor over a trailerhold your finger on a trailer to see what's going on underneath. The X-ray switch at the top shows every hidden layer at once.

On Google Play (open testing)

Remember the handheld water toy where you blow bubbles to float rings onto pegs? This is that toy, rebuilt in 3D.

Measure it, don't eyeball itTwo physics bugs only showed up once I measured things instead of watching. It was also my first time through Google Play's review.

60 levels and four modes, with every ring and peg a real physics object

Tilt code → Decant"Toy first, puzzle second" → Boyle
Trailer · 16 s · a level, then Survival, Timed and Endless
Release scheduled

A puzzle game where your phone is the glass. You pour the liquids by tilting it.

Let a program test the levelsI wrote a solver that plays every level on its own and finds the dead ends before a player gets stuck in one.
The solver idea → Boyle
Trailer · 16 s · three levels, played by tilting
World 1 is ready to test

Puzzles about air pressure. You never touch the ball. You move it by pushing air around.

Build the tools before the levelsI built the level checker first, then used it to make all 12 levels of World 1.

All 12 levels of World 1 proved solvable, with no dead ends

Every sound checked by ear → Fresh Powder, Red DotPlay World 1
Trailer · 17 s · five World 1 levels
Game on hold · netcode finished

An online arena brawler for two to four players, running on a game server I wrote and host myself.

How to hide lagYour own moves feel instant, and every test match ended exactly in sync with the server, even with a quarter of a second of lag.

13 of 13 test matches ended in sync with the server, with up to 250 ms of lag

Same inputs, same result → Fresh PowderMy own server and deploy scripts → Fresh PowderRead the case study
Trailer · 18 s · a real four-player match at 270 ms of lag
Playable right here

A calm sledding game where every run packs down the snow for the next rider.

Run the same code in two placesBefore a run counts, the server checks it with the game's own code, the same idea of one piece of code in two places that I used in Neon Brawlers.

Worst frame went from 82.7 ms to 2.8 ms after moving the snow to the GPU

Build setup → Red DotPlay today's hillRead the case study
Trailer · 17 s · five hills, played by the game's own bot
Ready to test

A laser puzzle with a cat. Bounce the laser off mirrors so the cat chases the red dot into a box.

Work it out live, and test with real fingersStored answers broke if a mirror was a quarter of a degree off, so now the laser is traced live. Aiming snaps into place too, because fingers aren't pixel-perfect.
Play the test build
Trailer · 14 s · three rooms, each ending in the box

End of the trail, for now