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Damon Pidhajecky

Damon Pidhajecky (dpid) is a game developer and engineer. He has made his living building games for more than 20 years, through every platform shift since Flash: web games at Neopets and Miniclip, social games at Zynga, launch titles for PlayStation VR and Gear VR, and now AI-driven social play as Founding Engineer at Playable Intelligence. He is also a drummer, an aerial circus performer, and a trained opera singer.

Now

Founding Engineer, Playable Intelligence (2020–present)

Playable Intelligence is a startup turning AI into social play. Damon builds product features and brings two decades of game development and engineering experience to the team.

Career

Years	Role	Organization	Highlights
2020–present	Founding Engineer	Playable Intelligence	Startup turning AI into social play
2018–2020	Indie Game Developer	Rose City Games	Lead engineer on indie games for PC, console, and mobile, including Floppy Knights and The World Next Door; AI developer tools commissioned by Intel (2019)
2017	Commissioned Artist	Google	My Monster G, a Halloween animation for Google's main Twitter account; Monster Character Kit for Google Blocks
2015–2017	Lead Engineer	Frame Interactive	Headmaster, a PlayStation VR launch title, also released on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
2015–2016	Co-Founder, Artist	Portland Immersive Media Group	VR Spa installation; Andy Warhol Foundation grant
2014–2020	Founder	dpid.co	Snow Strike VR, a Gear VR launch title featured in a Samsung Gear VR commercial (100k+ installs); ARCore experiments, Snapchat lenses, Instagram filters
2012–2014	CTO, Co-Founder	Lucky Puppy Games	15+ social games on the Kik messenger platform; 1M+ monthly active users
2008–2011	Software Architect	Zynga	CityVille (61M DAU), YoVille (5M DAU), Roller Coaster Kingdom (3M DAU); viral mechanics and virtual goods economies
2005–2008	Founder, Lead Engineer	D.Lux Games	Early games for Facebook and Myspace
2004–2005	Game Developer	Neopets	Kass Basher, the #1 all-time played Neopets game; branded games for Disney, Universal, Sony, McDonald's, and General Mills
2003–2004	Indie Game Developer	Miniclip	Alien Abduction, an early 3D Shockwave browser game featured on the Sci-Fi Channel

Patent: US 9,021,390 B1, "Methods and apparatus for optimized pausing of an embedded application to render pop-up window." Filed 2010 at Zynga, issued 2015.

Selected work

Headmaster

Frame Interactive · Lead Engineer · Unity · 2015–2017

Physics-based VR comedy and PlayStation VR launch title, later ported to Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Critically acclaimed.

→ headmastergame.com

CityVille

Zynga · Software Architect · Flash/AS3 · 2010–2011

Social city-building game that peaked at 61 million daily active users. Worked on viral mechanics, the virtual items pipeline, and asynchronous friend visiting.

→ Gameplay video

YoVille

Zynga · Software Architect · Flash/AS3 · 2008–2011

Virtual world with 5 million daily active users, and one of the games that established microtransactions and virtual goods in western games. Built the 2D avatar clothing pipeline and the isometric home builder, and worked on viral mechanics and the virtual items pipeline.

→ YoWorld (the game today)

Snow Strike VR

dpid.co · Lead Developer · Unity · 2015

VR action game and Gear VR launch title, featured in Samsung's Gear VR commercial. More than 100,000 installs across Gear VR and Google Cardboard.

→ Meta Store

Floppy Knights

Rose City Games · Lead Programmer · Unity · 2019–2020

Grid-based strategy RPG. Built the turn system, enemy AI, and narrative mechanics for the initial alpha.

→ Steam · Nintendo Switch

The World Next Door

Rose City Games · Technical Engineer · Unity · 2018–2019

Narrative puzzle RPG. Scripted the interactive narrative, built puzzle-based multiplayer combat, and handled platform porting.

→ Steam · Nintendo Switch

AI developer tools for Intel

Rose City Games · Lead Developer · Unity · 2019

Open-source AI tools for indie game developers, commissioned by Intel.

→ AI Agent Simulator · AI Particle Generator

Google commissions

Google · Commissioned Artist · Google Blocks, Maya · 2017

My Monster G: Halloween animation posted on Google's main Twitter account. Post
Monster Character Kit: character construction kit for the VR modeling app Google Blocks. Sketchfab

ARCore experiments

dpid.co · Lead Developer · Unity · 2017–2018

Early augmented reality prototypes.

→ YouTube

Kass Basher

Neopets · Game Developer · Flash · 2004–2005

The #1 all-time played Neopets game. Also built branded games for Disney, Universal Studios, Sony, McDonald's, and General Mills.

→ Jellyneo

Alien Abduction

Miniclip · Indie Developer · 3D Shockwave · 2003

Early 3D browser game, featured on the Sci-Fi Channel.

→ YouTube

Skills

Languages: C#, C++, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Rust, PHP
Engines and frameworks: Unity (10+ years), React
AI: day-to-day engineering with AI coding agents; Hugging Face model fine-tuning for NPC personalities; AI tools for Unity developers (Intel)
XR: OpenXR, ARKit, ARCore, Meta XR SDK, SteamVR, PlayStation VR
Art and audio: Blender, Maya, Substance Painter, Adobe Creative Suite, Ableton Live, FMOD
Robotics: KUKA industrial arm programming for interactive installations
Also: Solana and EVM smart contracts

Focus areas: game systems architecture, rapid prototyping, technical art pipelines, XR interaction design and procedural animation, UX/UI for immersive experiences, and audio and spatial sound design.

Beyond code

Music

Professional drummer who also plays keyboards, sings, and produces in Ableton Live.

Dead Sexy (2005–2007): drums · Spotify
Romie Romak and the Turquoise Lemonade (2023–2025): drums · Spotify
Black Möbius, Struct, Mediko, Lab Coat Technicians: drums, keyboards, vocals

Circus and stage

Aerial performer on silks and straps, and a stage actor and narrator.

The Library by Night Flight (2023): aerial silks solo
Fright Night by Night Flight (2024, 2025): actor, narrator, music producer, and live performer in Portland's Halloween circus

Languages

English; intermediate Mandarin Chinese (中文), still studying.

Family

Married to Yebin Woo, a utility engineer and aerial silks performer who co-starred in The Library. Father of Möbius Mystery Pidhajecky.

Key facts

Damon Pidhajecky, also known as dpid, is a game developer and engineer based in Dallas, Texas, and works remotely.
He has more than 20 years of professional game development experience, starting in 2003.
Since 2020 he has been Founding Engineer at Playable Intelligence, a startup turning AI into social play.
His social games work ran from 2005 to 2014: D.Lux Games (Facebook and Myspace), Zynga, and Lucky Puppy Games (Kik).
At Zynga (2008–2011) he was a Software Architect on CityVille, which peaked at 61 million daily active users, and YoVille, which had 5 million.
He was Lead Engineer on Headmaster, a PlayStation VR launch title released in 2016 by Frame Interactive.
His studio, dpid.co, made Snow Strike VR, a Gear VR launch title featured in a Samsung commercial, with more than 100,000 installs.
At Neopets (2004–2005) he created Kass Basher, the #1 all-time played Neopets game.
In 2019, at Rose City Games, he built AI tools for game developers, commissioned by Intel.
Google commissioned his VR art in 2017. He is an Andy Warhol Foundation grant recipient through Portland Immersive Media Group, which he co-founded.
He is an inventor on US Patent 9,021,390, filed at Zynga in 2010.
He is a drummer, an aerial circus performer, and a trained opera singer.