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Mario Alberto Ramirez

Game designer · Writer · Bilingual educator

Seven years teaching kids how stories work — now building playable ones. Levels, systems, and narrative in Godot and TypeScript, including the island this site is built around.

Open to level design, narrative & content, product design, and early-career software engineering — Bay Area

About

I spent seven years teaching elementary and middle-school students in the Bay Area — English, Spanish, and the messy parts in between. These days I teach part-time and spend the rest of my hours making games: a cozy top-down adventure, a pixel restoration platformer, a 3D sailing adventure, a tiny-army RTS, and a hummingbird flight game in Unity.

I also build for the web — a live mythology directory at mythicgrounds.com and AI-assisted learning resources for heritage-language families. The classroom skills carry straight into design: pacing, clear feedback, and knowing exactly when an audience is lost.

Experience

Trail behind.

Language Arts Instructor at Art of Problem Solving
2025 — Present
  • Lead small-group instruction in advanced literary analysis, rhetoric, and narrative construction for upper-elementary and middle-school students.
  • Design problem-based reading and writing sequences that scaffold close reading and structured argument.
  • Provide written feedback on student writing under tight turnaround.
ELA & Spanish Teacher at Stratford School
2020 — 2025
  • Taught grades 4–8 across ELA, Spanish, and bilingual sections at three Bay Area campuses (Fremont Osgood, Raynor, Blackford).
  • Coached Speech & Debate; led Green Club; coordinated cross-grade curriculum brainstorming with the English department.
  • Built restorative-practice classroom systems and ran small-group SPED/ELD intervention alongside core instruction.
  • Sustained close parent-teacher communication, often translating in Spanish for families.
ELA Teacher at Voices College-Bound Language Academies
2018 — 2020
  • Taught ELA in a dual-language elementary setting in San Jose, supporting students from associate-teacher role into lead-teacher responsibilities.
  • Developed lesson plans aligned to California State Standards for individualized and small-group instruction.
  • Participated in IEP meetings and adapted curriculum for special-needs and ELD students.
Selected Work

Things I'm building.

2026 → liveValewoodThis site's playable centrepiece. A top-down cozy adventure in Godot — a farm, two fishing waters, and a mine dungeon across nine screens on a twenty-hour clock. 460 headless checks gate every build. Play it here.→2026The EngineThe TypeScript canvas engine this site runs on — no game framework, autotiled coastlines, Y-sorting, 183 tests, and a build that refuses to ship if any part of the world becomes unreachable. It powered the site's own explorable world until Valewood replaced it.→2026 → liveTidekeeperA pixel-art restoration platformer in Godot — bring a poisoned watershed back to life, one creature at a time.→
2025 → ongoingVolta do MarA 3D pirate sailing adventure in Godot 4.7 — real wind, a living ocean, and islands worth crossing it for.
2026 → in developmentFlight of the HummingbirdA hummingbird flight game in Unity 6 for the Bezi Mega Jam — fly a chain of blooms and colour spreads behind you, then lock, dock and feed to pollinate. Working title.
2026 → playableSpallA browser shooter where cover is a resource you spend — plasma fire eats the map down to open ground, and every gun destroys differently. Godot 4.7, bots, no download.→
2026 → in developmentThe SuccessorsA prose-first visual novel of the Diadochi — the wars that pulled Alexander's empire apart, written from the primary sources and structured like a season of television.
2026 → playableBannerfallA tiny-army RTS with MOBA-style lanes — three-tier elevation, hero abilities, a data-driven faction economy. Playable in the browser.→2026 → playableBurning BridgesA wisp crosses a chain of ignited bridges over the Styx, Charon waiting at the far shore. Built start to finish in seven hours.→2026 → liveKomaSuper Spinning Top — a Beyblade-meets-gauntlet arena brawler. Built for a jam, playable in the browser.→2025 → liveMythic GroundsA live directory of sacred places and world mythologies. Next.js · Neon Postgres · Vercel.→2026 → liveThe TerminalizerA Windows Terminal theme randomizer published on npm (v1.6): 515+ schemes ranked by computed rarity, a live typeable terminal, three neon UI skins. Zero-dependency Node.js.→
2025 → ongoingHeritage Language Practice PacksPDF, interactive, and AI-assisted resources for heritage-learner kids in Spanish, Mandarin, and Hindi.
Skills & Tools

Game Design

Godot 4.7 · GDScriptLevel & encounter designNarrative & dialogueGame feel & tuningPixel art pipeline

Web & Tools

TypeScriptNext.js · ReactNode.jsPostgres · SupabaseTailwindClaude APIClaude Code · MCP

Art & Animation

ProcreateAsepriteBlenderGIMP

Audio & Broadcast

Ableton LiveSeratoRCS SelectorOBS

Teaching

ELA · ReadingELA · WritingGrammarSpanish classes (Beg–Int)Curriculum DesignRestorative Practice

Languages & Writing

English (Native)Spanish (Native)French (Beginner · reads)Portuguese (Beginner · reads)Editorial WritingPublic Speaking
Education
B.A. International Relations · University of California, Davis
2014 — 2017
  • Emphasis in Peace & Security studies in Latin America.
  • IGETC transfer scholarship from Ohlone College.
  • Coursework in critical analysis, comparative political systems, and political theory.
  • Relevant coursework: CTS175 Game Design.
General Education · Ohlone College
2010 — 2014

Certifications

CBEST — passed June 2018Certificate of Clearance — CA Commission on Teacher Credentialing
Contact

Let's talk.

Open to level design, narrative, and content roles — to product design and early-career software engineering, especially AI products — plus curriculum work, freelance writing, and the occasional unusual project. Best reached by email.

LinkedInGitHubitch.ioSoundCloudMythic Grounds