About Me

Before I ever joined a studio, I spent close to eight years as a self-taught developer - building levels, experimenting with 3D art, learning to code, sketching UI, and trying to understand what truly makes games work. I have put my hands in everything game dev related - I just wanted to try everything and learn everything. At the same time, I was working full-time in professional kitchens, eventually leading teams as a head chef. That chapter of my life shaped me more than I realized at the time. It taught me discipline, responsibility, resilience under pressure, and what it really means to lead people - not just manage tasks.

My real education has always come from curiosity and passion. I followed industry trends obsessively, analyzed games, studied Game Developer articles, watched to hours of Pach-Attack! and experimented with every tool I could get my hands on my first self-built PC - from 3ds Max and Photoshop, through C# in XNA, to UDK. I never wanted to just play games. I wanted to understand why they work, how they fail, and what makes players feel something real. What made me feel so excited when playing Mario as a 6 years old, why Fallout 1 in high-school made me stay up all night, or later Farenheit made me think I was entangled in intrigue all the way, and why they give me so much fun! 

When I returned to Poland and joined my first professional team, I already had a strong foundation in systems thinking, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. Since then, I’ve worked across a wide range of projects - from early prototypes to shipped PC and console titles. I’ve worn many hats along the way: level designer, systems and game designer, product owner, and creative director. I’ve helped shape core mechanics, combat systems, progression loops, pipelines, and team structures. I’ve supported vision at its earliest stages and carried it through production realities. Of course - not all is a success story! Although I have to admit that I did not expect it to be so amazing to actually be a part of teams and turn one-sentence ideas, into tangible experiences!

Over the years, a few things have become very clear to me.

Game development is about people.

Ideas are easy. Execution is hard. And execution only happens when there is trust, clarity, ownership, and honest communication inside a team. I care deeply about team health, documentation, alignment, and creating environments where people can do their best creative work without chaos. I believe strong games are built by strong, well-supported teams.

Fail fast. Follow the fun.

Some of my most valuable lessons came from things that didn’t work. Levels that had to be scrapped. Systems that looked great on paper and died in playtests. Those experiences taught me humility, iteration, and respect for feedback. I don’t believe in designing from theory alone. I believe in testing, breaking, fixing, and learning. Real fun reveals itself in play, not in documents.

Structure enables creativity.

One of my biggest influences is Mark Cerny and his “The Method” approach. It fundamentally changed how I think about development. I strongly believe that great design lives at the intersection of vision and structure - where creativity is supported by systems, prototypes, validation, and iteration. I strive to balance ambition with feasibility, emotion with mechanics, and ideas with execution.

Today, as a co-founder of small indie studio Panato Games, I focus on building foundations - for projects, for teams, and for ideas. I enjoy solving complex design problems, shaping core loops, refining game feel, and aligning gameplay with narrative intent. I’m driven by responsibility, craftsmanship, and the belief that games can be both mechanically strong and emotionally meaningful.

If you’re curious about the projects I’ve worked on or the teams I’ve collaborated with, feel free to explore the rest of the site. And if you’re working on something ambitious, challenging, or just genuinely exciting - I’m always open to a good conversation.