George Design Portfolio on Mediiia

Making bold decisions is creating a game.

I’m George Zinoviev, a game designer with a strong understanding of what makes games fun and engaging. I work with Unreal Engine, Unity, and Godot, and I’m constantly experimenting, exploring new ideas, and trying new approaches to game design.

I enjoy experimenting with different game interactions and formats.

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I have worked with various types of controls and gameplay styles.

My experience and encyclopedic knowledge allow me to find unorthodox solutions to game design challenges.

Experimenting with visuals is one such challenge.

Game DesignAnimationProject ManagerPrototyping

Distalix: Meditation exploration game

Distalix is a game about exploration, interactions, and a robust combat system with depth and ample room for combo expression.In Distalix, you are trapped in a digital limbo, striving to break free from a new cycle through interactions and in-game experimentation.

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project management, game design, animation

In Distalix, I am responsible for project management, game design, and some animation work. Thanks to the efforts of my team and me, we have been able to participate in many game exhibitions.

As a game designer, I focus on gameplay systems, player interactions, combat, progression, and the game’s overall structure. I constantly test new ideas, explore unconventional solutions, and strive to refine how the player engages with the world. I am also involved in prototyping mechanics and iterating on them based on playtesting and team feedback.

These exhibitions include venues such as

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These exhibitions became an important part of our development process. Watching new players experience the game helped us understand which mechanics were intuitive, which systems needed improvement, and what aspects of Distalix attracted the most attention. This allowed us to continue refining both the game and the way we present it.

We even custom-built a controller specifically for Distalix.

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We even designed and built a custom controller specifically for Distalix. Instead of treating the controller as a simple replacement for a keyboard or a gamepad, we approached it as an extension of the game itself. Its unusual form of interaction helped make the experience more physical, memorable, and engaging, while also encouraging players to approach the game differently from what they were used to.

Developing the controller required us to think about game design beyond the screen: how physical input affects player behavior, how quickly a new interaction can be understood, and how the controller itself can become part of the game’s identity. This experiment eventually allowed us to present Distalix as part of an exhibition focused specifically on games with alternative controls, giving us the opportunity to observe how completely new players interacted with both the game and its unconventional input system.

Waitnskate

A solo project created for a VR prototype featuring skate mechanics and multiplayer functionality.

Wait’nskate is a multiplayer skating game set inside an MFC-inspired roleplaying environment. The idea was to take a very ordinary, bureaucratic public space and turn it into something playful by combining it with movement, skating, and social interaction.

Because VRChat does not allow the same level of custom gameplay systems as a traditional game engine, I intentionally kept the design barebones. Instead of building a large number of complex mechanics, I focused on making a small set of interactions feel clear, responsive, and fun within the platform’s limitations.

The main design challenge was to create something that still felt like a game while operating inside a social VR environment. Skating became the central mechanic because it provides players with an immediate way to move, experiment, and interact with the space without requiring complicated systems or lengthy explanations.

Experimentation is a key driver of fun.