Hi, I’m Pradnesh Patil, a Game Designer.

Currently, I’m working as a Senior Game Designer on Pokémon GO, a role I’ve held since 2024. I joined the team in May 2021 as a Game Designer, initially focusing on Live Ops event design and contributing to various features. Over my time with the team, I’ve designed and executed five seasons in Pokémon GO. In my current role, I balance my time between enhancing live game experiences and developing new features.

Before joining Niantic, I was a Game Designer on the Minecraft Earth team at Microsoft in Redmond. There, I designed systems for several game features, with a key highlight being my work on the location generation algorithm, which leveraged open-source data. I also managed live content for bi-weekly releases and led the content design for the game’s sunset.

I’m passionate about collaborating with programmers, artists, and UX designers to create fun and engaging gameplay systems. I also enjoy developing backend tools, and I’ve created numerous automated scripts and Excel macros to streamline workflows and improve efficiency. Listening to player feedback is something I value greatly; I strive to surface community insights and make decisions that put players first.

I hold a Master of Entertainment Technology degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Vidyalankar Institute of Technology, Mumbai University. My journey into game design began with a course in game design and art after completing my undergrad. I’ve been programming since high school and enjoy prototyping ideas quickly, often with quick code hacks to prove concepts. Occasionally, I dabble in data analysis as well.

Outside of work, I’m passionate about photography, videography, and gaming.

The projects featured on this website are a mix of academic work from my time at the ETC and a few personal projects.

I’d love to connect! Feel free to reach out via email at [email protected], or find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.