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Senior design engineer shipping games, websites, prototypes, tools, and products that bring joy ^-^

Hamish MacDonald

Featured Projects

Mapmage lakeside scene with a timber house, footbridge, and campsite.
Mapmage snowy top-down environment with a cabin in the woods.
Mapmage aerial view of a forest village beside the water.
Mapmage glowing portal at night in a forest clearing.
Mapmage grassland terrain board with cliffs, water, and raised hills.
Mapmage snowy forest map with river, bridge, cabin, and campsite.
Mapmage desert landscape with a hidden oasis between sand dunes.
Mapmage virtual tabletop interface showing a river map with grid and session controls.
Mapmage armored hero miniature standing in a snowy landscape.

Mapmage

Mapmaking Sandbox for Game Masters

I am a Co-Founder and the Senior Design Engineer.

I designed and co-developed the mapmaker from prototype to release tooling.

My responsibilities include design and development spanning; UX/UI, app building, backend systems, automation, QA, integrations, and release tooling.

Tools
Unity Engine, C#, Codex, Figma, Git
Tech
WebGPU, sharable map URLs, virtual table-top software integration, custom file type design, Astro, NextJS
The Readyverse hero artwork with avatars, vehicles, an arcade cabinet, and the Readyverse wordmark.
Readyverse character facing a glowing portal in an industrial workshop.
Promptopia trailer scene with a player looking across a purple platform full of oversized props.
Promptopia arena scene with a player avatar approaching a floating results display.
Promptopia scene with a player facing giant Atari-themed letters and characters.
Promptopia scene with a player facing a holographic professor in a bright arena.
Promptopia gameplay arena with colorful obstacles and a spinning target in the center.
Readyverse arcade showroom entrance with a glowing Rcadia sign and portal.
Readyverse Tradeverse showroom with a green rabbit avatar in a sci-fi interior.
Readyverse attic room with a red rabbit avatar, warm sunlight, posters, and a prompt panel.
Readyverse hunt prompt overlay shown over a bright attic gameplay scene.
Readyverse black rabbit avatar standing near water and a curved white structure.
Readyverse bird avatar standing in a neon grid environment.
Readyverse red armored character in a hazy sunlit studio.
Readyverse cloaked character in a warm studio filled with sketches and posters.
Readyverse armored character in a neon-lit toy shop scene.

The Readyverse

Open Metaverse Social Game Platform

My role was the Senior Game Designer.

I lead game design across gameplay design and implementation, social space design of "Surreal Estate", "Showrooms" and "Strongholds", puzzle design, Unreal Engine prototyping, playtesting, through release, and iteration; in a tiny fast-paced infrastructure focused team.

We designed and released "Promptopia" which combined state-of-the-art player-prompted AI-generated content with stats, abilities and gamefeel logically based on those generations; in juicy and enjoyable competitive multiplayer "experiment" game rounds.

Tools
Unreal Engine, Blueprints, Figma, Perforce
Tech
Online multiplayer, Web3, NFTs, AI gen 3D, AI gen voice over, AI gen skyboxes
Seekers robots exploring a glowing crystal cave.
Two Seekers floating through a sunlit garden world.
Two customized Seekers in a teal mushroom forest.
Mushroom-covered Seeker floating through a glowing forest.
Bioluminescent mushroom forest environment for Seekers.
Group of fantasy-styled Seekers carrying a lantern through a dark cave.
Fantasy-styled Sneeker avatar floating through a misty cavern village.
Digger class Seekers drilling through a glowing crystal cave.
Fixer class Seekers repairing a race car in a neon garage.
Group of customized Seekers gathered in a soft forest scene.
Lineup of five themed Seeker avatars across different environments.
Gold Seekers floating in a bright mansion interior.
Bright green Seeker avatar on a vivid lime background.
Person smiling beside a large round Seeker character display.
Blue Seeker robot flying through a vivid purple warp tunnel.
Seekers exploring a purple underwater scene near the glowing surface.
Grid of ranked Seeker avatars shown in a marketplace-style interface.
The Seekers collection shown as a trending project on OpenSea.
Orange Seeker robot flying through a vivid purple warp tunnel.
Concept art of two teal Seekers floating on a white background.
Seekers node setup interface showing a selected avatar and wallet steps.
Red Seeker floating above a coastal city at sunset.
Seekers mint announcement with countdown and partner logos.
Seekers logo over a close-up purple Seeker character.
Seekers projected across a large SXSW stage dome during a panel.
Small mechanical capsule character crossing a molten industrial scene.
Seeker trapped in a hanging cage inside a warm wooden room.
Open lore book with Seeker notes, sketch, mission report, and blueprint.
Fluf World and Weta Workshop Dr. Grordbort's Rayguns announcement art.
Glitchy urgent signal screen from Seekers.
Close-up of a brass and glass Seeker beacon mechanism.
Close-up of a brass and purple mechanical device from Seekers.
Close-up of a Seeker holding a mechanical raygun against a bright abstract background.
Armored red-eyed Seeker in a dark fantasy war camp.

Seekers

Decentralised Comms Companion NFTs

My role was the Creative Director for the $20M collectable interactive 3D modular avatar project.

I lead the design of the project, including initial concept development, attribute creation, game design, partner outreach, ARG puzzle creation, and marketing asset creation.

Tools
Blender, Unity Engine, C#, Figma, Git, Photoshop
Tech
WebGL, ARG, Web3, NFTs, Encryption
Swordy snowy mountain arena shown from above with players and weapons scattered across the platform.
Swordy combat scene with two fighters clashing swords in a sunlit arena.
Swordy overhead forest scene with a character holding a shovel beside a wooden mission structure.
Swordy top-down brawl with players crashing into a wall amid bright purple impact particles.
Swordy cinematic arena view with towering ruins, stormy skies, and glowing particles.
Swordy players fighting near a wall and grassy edge with glowing orange weapon trails.
Swordy desert arena viewed from above in warm golden light.
Swordy player tumbling through colorful red and blue impact particles with coins and weapons nearby.
Swordy arena exploding with bright white shards during a chaotic multiplayer fight.
Swordy fighter landing a glowing sword strike in a bright arena with long shadows.
Swordy hammer-wielding fighter launching another player into a wall with orange and purple particles.
Swordy duel between two armed fighters in a sunlit arena with coins and weapons on the floor.
Swordy overhead battle with a mace strike and colorful particle trails around circular pads.
Players watching Swordy on a monitor during an in-person playtest.
Four PAX attendees playing Swordy with controllers at a crowded booth.
Group of PAX attendees smiling while playing Swordy together at a booth.
Crowd gathered around a Swordy demo station at PAX.
Wide view of a busy Swordy booth with players, spectators, screens, and banners.
Swordy overhead combat snapshot with players colliding in blue and green particle effects.
Swordy snowy arena snapshot from high above with colorful player trails rising from the arena.
Swordy top-down temple arena snapshot with several fighters, coins, and red paint-like trails.
Swordy title screen with a hammer-wielding character in front of the arena ruins.

Swordy

Local-Multiplayer Physics Brawler

I was a Co-Founder, Game Designer, and Game Developer.

I co-designed and built the physics-based combat gameplay, taking core mechanics from prototype through playtesting and refinement.

My responsibilities focused on moment-to-moment gamefeel, combat readability, and player joy through diegetic feedback, juice, rapid prototyping, and iteration.

Tools
Unity Engine, C#, Git
Tech
Physics, AI, Steam, Xbox One
Sylo mobile app screens showing video calling and wallet balances.
Sylo mobile profile and NFT selection screens shown on two phones.
Sylo Apps, Network, and Token brand panels.
Sylo network statistics and earning interface on a dark blue web dashboard.
Sylo WalletConnect and Ethereum collection screens shown on two phones.
Sylo smart wallet token balance and price chart screens shown on two phones.
Side-by-side comparison of Sylo 2020 and Sylo 2021 Bitcoin wallet screens.
Oya launch artwork with Sylo branding over a blue network background.

Sylo

Web3 "Smart Wallet" and Private Messenger

I was a UX/UI Designer.

I designed product experiences for a Web3 wallet, messenger, and mini-app platform from early flows through shipped features.

My responsibilities included turning complex technical systems into usable UX flows, interface designs, prototypes, and production-ready product experiences.

Tools
Figma, Photoshop, After Effects
Tech
iOS/Android, private messaging, video calling, web3 wallet, and user-owned data/privacy

Skills by Evidence

Game

Game designGame developmentGamefeel

Gameplay prototyping, playtesting, tuning, and iteration

Mapmage Swordy Readyverse

Unity implementation of gameplay, UI, flows, builds, iteration and gamefeel

Mapmage Seekers Swordy

Unreal implementation of gameplay, iteration and gamefeel

Readyverse

Real-time interactive character/avatar systems

Seekers

Physics-based combat implementation, iteration, readability, and gamefeel

Swordy

Product

Brand designUI/UXGraphic DesignMarketing

UX/UI for web3 wallets, messaging, game UI, portals, and creative tools

Mapmage Sylo Swordy

Turning ambiguous ideas into scoped, usable product workflows

Mapmage Sylo

Product documentation, feature definition, and released user flows

Mapmage Sylo Readyverse

Translating infrastructure-heavy systems into clear user experiences

Sylo Mapmage

Web

DesignDevelopmentInfrastructure

Product websites and responsive interfaces with positioning

Mapmage

Shareable web experiences and WebGL/WebGPU delivery

Mapmage Seekers

Route handling, state, auth flows, and user-owned content

Mapmage

VTT-ready web embedding and cloud-connected creative tools

Mapmage

Systems

Build pipelinesRelease toolingQA workflows

APIs, storage, auth, hosting, and cloud-save architecture

Mapmage

Build pipelines, release automation, CI/CD, and QA workflows

Mapmage Swordy

Discord bot for monitoring and control of build/release coordination

Mapmage

Monitoring, incident debugging, and keeping shipped systems working

Mapmage Swordy

Cross-coordination between design, dev, QA, marketing and business

Readyverse Mapmage Swordy Sylo Seekers

About Hamish Macdonald

I’m a senior design engineer working across games, interactive products, and emerging platforms, combining systems design, UX, prototyping, and hands-on implementation to turn ideas into playable, usable, commercially grounded experiences.

My work sits at the intersection of game design, UX, prototyping, creative direction, and product thinking. I design worlds, systems, and player-facing experiences that connect creative ambition with technical and commercial reality, then pressure-test them through hands-on iteration in Unity, Unreal Engine, and web.

I’m strongest in ambiguous spaces where teams need someone who can turn vision into mechanics, loops, prototypes, and live user experiences. I care about how a thing feels, how people use it, how it ships, and how it keeps evolving.

From 2013 to 2025, I worked across Web3 ecosystems including wallets, messaging, mini-apps, avatars, decentralized technologies, and digital collectibles. That experience sharpened my ability to design for complex emerging technology, unusual constraints, and emerging forms of ownership, identity, and interaction.

At core, I bridge creative vision and the technical side: shaping ideas into systems, turning concepts into playable and testable prototypes, and bringing emotive, informative gamefeel to real-time characters, worlds, and experiences.

Outside of work, I’m interested in psychology, productivity, privacy, off-grid self-sufficiency, sustainability.