Specialty & Expertise
Reza specializes in color-sort and match-3 game mechanics design, with deep expertise in difficulty curve tuning and player flow state optimization. His work spans level design, onboarding flows, and the subtle rhythm of challenge and reward that keeps puzzle players engaged across dozens of sessions. He has shipped over 200 hand-tuned levels across the Suntongames catalog and runs weekly playtest sessions to validate every difficulty step before release. His design process blends hands-on level authoring with quantitative player behavior data, and he believes that good game feel can never be fully automated — it always requires a designer's hand on the curve.
Design Philosophy
"A good puzzle teaches itself. If a player needs a tutorial, the mechanic is too complex."
Focus Areas
- Game feel and tactile response in touch-first puzzle interactions
- Level design that scales difficulty smoothly without frustration spikes
- Player retention driven by depth, never by dark patterns or paywalls
- Flow state optimization for short 2–5 minute play sessions
- Mechanic simplification — cutting features until the core loop is undeniable
Background
Reza spent 7 years in casual game design before joining Suntongames, previously at Indonesian mobile studios Hago and Yotka where he led hyper-casual and puzzle game prototypes. He joined Suntongames in 2024 to lead level design and difficulty tuning across the puzzle catalog. His earlier work included designing onboarding flows for mass-market mobile games where retention was measured in seconds, not minutes — an experience that shaped his belief that the first three moves of any puzzle must teach the entire mechanic. He mentors junior designers at the Suntongames studio in Jakarta and runs an internal weekly design critique. He also maintains the internal design documentation library — a living reference of level patterns, mechanic taxonomy, and post-ship analysis that the team consults before greenlighting any new puzzle prototype. His design notes on color-sort difficulty curves are now used as onboarding material for every new designer who joins the catalog team.
Reza's published writing on the Suntongames blog covers level design philosophy, game selection criteria, and how difficulty curves shape long-term player retention. His recent pieces break down the internal decision-making behind which games ship and the strategic thinking required for advanced color-sort play.
