Luke Bonniwell Player 1 · Programmer

Game Programmer & Designer

Luke Bonniwell

B.A. Computer Science × Game Studies, University of Delaware, 2026

Gameplay programmer and level designer who likes getting games into players' hands.

View Projects

GitHub

itch.io

Read the Devlog Email

luke@bonniwell

// currently > shipping games, writing code, designing narratives, building levels, testing game mechanics, managing teams

01 About

Programmer first. Storyteller always.

I'm a Computer Science and Game Studies double major with an English minor who's happiest owning both sides of a game: the systems that run it and the story that makes them fun. On "Tails of the Tower," I was one of nine programmers in a 24-student capstone studio. I built enemy and level systems and unofficially ran the team's Git workflow, which meant reviewing every commit that shipped. Inside my branch and code review workflow, I keep close at hand AI coding tools like Claude Code for drafts, boilerplate and project structure.

I build worlds and write stories as Dungeon Master for a weekly live table, which is really narrative design with an audience that talks back. I also spent four years producing and shoutcasting UD's live esports broadcasts, which means I'm comfortable being the person who keeps a live, public thing running on schedule.

This summer I interned at IndeVets, owning the frontend of a Reddit-style community app for veterinarians. Since then I've shipped The Last Alchemist, a 10-day Game Boy jam game, and designed the enemies for a Scream Jam horror game that was later scrapped. Right now I'm programming a Dead Space-style horror game and building a game I plan to release on Steam and mobile.

Based in: Philadelphia, PA
Focus: Gameplay programming, level & enemy design, narrative design and world building
Education: B.A. Computer Science & Game Studies, English minor, University of Delaware, 2026
Currently: Programming a Scream Jam horror game · building a game for Steam and mobile

Tools of the Trade

Languages

GDScript C# C++ C Python TypeScript x86 / ARM Assembly

Engines & Frameworks

Unity Godot Unreal Engine React / React Native Node.js

Dev Tools & Pipeline

Git / GitHub CI/CD Docker Blender Agile / Scrum

Design & Production

Level Design Enemy Design Narrative Design World Building Playtesting Live Production

Games Made

~/games

● Tails of the Tower Godot play · code · devlog

● Whispers Through the Halls Unity play · code · devlog

● Project P.E.T. Unity play · code · devlog

● The Last Alchemist Godot play · code · write-up

02 Experience

Where the work happened

The jobs I've held alongside making games.

Completed Jun 2026 – Aug 2026

Technology Intern, IndeVets

One of two engineering interns on a full-stack team. Owned the entire frontend of a veterinarian community platform, a cross-platform app in React Native, Expo and TypeScript. Shipped the MVP in five weeks, then wrote production code through the same tickets, PR reviews and weekly deploys as the full-time engineers.

React Native TypeScript Redux Toolkit Agile

Completed Sep 2025 – May 2026

Production Intern (Lead), UD Esports

Led broadcast operations for University of Delaware Esports: scheduled 3–10 live streams a week, each with a four-person crew, and personally produced or shoutcast most of them. Built and maintained the broadcast overlays from a forked open-source frontend, and trained every incoming operator on OBS, camera, and audio.

Live Production OBS Team Lead Premiere Pro

Ongoing Jun 2024 – present

Dungeon Master, StartPlaying

Top GM

Run paid Dungeons & Dragons campaigns weekly for groups of 5–6 players booked through StartPlaying, currently about two sessions a week. I build homebrew worlds and write their stories, then design the encounters and a modular character-progression system to go with them. Awarded StartPlaying's Top GM badge (re-reviewed monthly, currently held), with a 5.0 rating.

Narrative Design World Building Systems Design Encounter Design Foundry VTT

Profile →

03 Projects

Shipped & in development

Every project links out to a full write-up covering how it was actually built.

Shipped Godot · GDScript

Tails of the Tower

My capstone flagship. Programmer and enemy/level designer in a 24-student, 9-programmer studio. I also ran the team's Git workflow.

Level Design Enemy Design Capstone

Play Code Devlog →

Shipped Unity · C#

Whispers Through the Halls

One of two programmers on an 11-person studio team. Built the interactive-object logic for a ~15-item interaction system over a 4-month cycle.

Gameplay Systems Team of 11

Play Code Devlog →

Stealth

Design Godot · Scream Jam 2026

Scrapped Horror Game

Four horror monsters I designed from Pac-Man's ghosts for a Scream Jam game. Each one gets the same player input twice: once while you hide, once after you break cover.

Enemy Design Game Design Game Jam

Watch the clips →

Side Quests

The Last Alchemist
Shipped · Godot · GBJAM 14, 10 days

Sole programmer on a Game Boy puzzle game, working with two artists: every mechanic, puzzle, and level, plus all of the in-game text.

Play Code Write-up →
Project P.E.T.
Shipped · Unity · GMC Winter Jam, 7 days

A 2-minute jam game where I was the designer and the only programmer on a four-person team. One of 23 entries.

Play Code Write-up →