Image of Leo Toivio

Hello!

I’m Leo Toivio and I specialize in Technical Game Design. If you’re looking for someone who thinks and communicates like a game designer and programs like an engineer, I’m your guy.

Here’s a short overview of what I’ve achieved during my career so far.

🚀 7 released commercial games

💼 10+ years of professional experience

🏫 5 years of Game Design education

🧑‍🏫 Guest lecturer at HFBK University of Fine Arts Hamburg and held an introductory course in Unreal Engine 4 at Future Games

Characters from Acron: Attack of the Squirrels

Experience

Vertigo Games Logo

Vertigo Games

Senior Technical Designer 2024 - Present

Collaborating closely with discipline leads across the team, acting as a bridge between design and engineering to translate gameplay ideas into practical implementations.
Prototyping gameplay features in Blueprint or C#, validating ideas and rapidly iterating on gameplay feel before bringing them to production quality with the wider team.
Providing technical design expertise when implementing features to support strong gameplay feel, fun, and responsiveness.

Selected shipped interactions

Diegetic tool interaction: portable battery and generator (charging the flashlight, powering devices and doors).
Immersive moment-to-moment interaction: wiping away condensation from the gas mask.
Environmental hazard feedback: hands can ignite if held too close to open flames.

Press feedback

The little gadgets that help you survive … are absolutely well done and very immersive. - IGN (review)

Everything about using it feels great … Using this tool feels awesome. - ThisKory (video review)

My goodness, it’s so immersive it almost makes me wish for a nuclear winter in real life. - ItsYaBoyBrandyBoy (video review)

Shipped Games

Metro Awakening - Unreal Engine 5

Winner of Best VR Game
Metro Awakening

Winner of Best PSVR 2 Game of the Year
Metro Awakening

Nominee for Best VR/AR Game
Metro Awakening

Technical Designer 2023 - 2024

Shipped Games

Arizona Sunshine Remake - Unity
Arizona Sunshine 2 - Unity

Nominee for Best VR/AR Game
Arizona Sunshine Remake

Nominee for Best VR/AR Game
Arizona Sunshine 2

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Resolution Games

Game Developer 2018 - 2023

Led development of the award-winning Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!, guiding a cross-disciplinary team from concept to release, as well as multiple confidential projects.
Led the Mixed Reality update for the award-winning Demeo, translating hand tracking into responsive gameplay through iteration, systems tuning, and close collaboration with engineers at Meta.
Collaborated directly with engineers at Google and Qualcomm to ship games while shaping XR APIs and developer tooling from a real-world game development perspective.

Game design and implementation on the cross-platform party game Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!, including camera, controls and character (3Cs), special abilities, and other game mechanics.

Winner of Best VR Game
Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!

Bronze at Halo Awards
Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!

Nominated for Best Game or Toy
Demeo Mixed Reality

Apprope Logo

Apprope

Game Developer 2017 - 2018

Developed and shipped two mobile games at a four-person studio, focusing on gameplay feel, fun, and rapid prototyping across design and programming.

Right Nice Games Logo

Right Nice Games

Game Designer, Lead Programmer & Co-founder 2015 - 2017

Founded a successful games company that is still up and running to this day.
Created and released the 3D platformer Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island, with a focus on Technical Game Design including camera, controls and character (3Cs), special abilities, and other game mechanics.
The game has been featured at Games Done Quick and other speedrunning events.