Devi Acharya | AI + Games

Hi, I'm Devi Acharya

I develop applied AI tools for game studios to help accelerate design and development as a part of Take-Two Interactive's AI team. I'm experienced working with client teams to understand their needs and build tools and prototypes to support them, ranging from procedural content generators with LLM integration to Unity games and full-stack web applications.


M.S. in Computational Media, University of California, Santa Cruz
B.A. in Computer Science and Film, TV, and Interactive Media, Brandeis University
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Letter Lock Puzzle Generator

Full-Stack Developer, Take-Two AI

PythonSvelteTypescriptAWSLLMsProcedural Content Generation

A puzzle generator and editor for the Letter Lock minigame in Words with Friends. Allows designers to generate, edit, and playtest puzzles in the browser. Uses constraint-solving and LLM integration to generate words and puzzles based on inputted puzzle size and theme.

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Match-3 Level Generator

Full-Stack Developer, Zynga Applied AI

PythonSvelteTypescriptAWSProcedural Content Generation

A level generator and editor for Match-3 games, created for Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells and Two Dots. Allows designers to generate and edit levels in-browser using a graphical painting tool, speeding up design time and visualization. Uses PCG system to build valid levels with requested inputs like hazards and symmetry.

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Dog Gone Detective

Unreal Developer, Idisen Game Jam

Unreal Enginepoint-and-clickbranching dialog

A mystery point-and-click game where you play as a world-class (dog) investigator. Gather clues by speaking to the witnesses - or accuse a suspect! Created as part of the Idisen Game Jam, 2025.

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Episodic Ads

Unity Developer, Zynga Applied AI

Unityprocedural narrativestoryletschoice-basedsystemic design

A system for creating short-form, emergent narrative games in Unity using social simulation to model characters' reactions to player choices. Uses Farmville as an example setting, but uses setting-agnostic JSON to support playable experiences for any scenario with custom images, dialog, and stats.

Thumbnail for project TTRPG Game Master Assistant

TTRPG Game Master Assistant

Researcher + Developer, Expressive Intelligence Studio @ UCSC

PrologJavaScriptResearch Study

A co-creative AI assistant for game masters of tabletop roleplaying games. Developed based on interviews with game masters, the tool uses Prolog-based constraint-solving over a Cthulhu Confidential game module to visualize information about the game world and provide suggestions for what can happen next based on the player's past actions.

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Warmer

Unity Developer, NSF-funded research group @ UCSC

Unitypoint-and-clicksystemic design

An NSF-funded game about climate change and human impacts on the environment using real environmental models, designed to help students learn about the impacts of actions on global emissions. Includes interactive minigames where players can enact legislation, protest emissions, and fight wildfires, seeing the effects of these actions on global temperatures.

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Spatial Cognition in Virtual Reality

Researcher + Unity Developer, Iowa State University

UnityVirtual RealityResearch Study

A virtual reality research game developed in Unity to help study the effects of different VR navigation methods on spatial orientation, including usage of landmarks, walking and turning, teleporting, and mixed physical and virtual navigation.

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VR / Physical Escape Room

Mentor, UCSC Science Internship Program

UnityVirtual Reality

An escape room made in Unity with asymmetrical puzzle-solving in physical and virtual reality spaces. Served as co-mentor teaching research and game development techniques to high schoolers.

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Terasology: Light and Shadow

Java Developer, Google Summer of Code

Javaopen-sourcemultiplayer

A capture-the-flag game mode made for open-source voxel game Terasology, made as part of Google Summer of Code.

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Fusion Galaxy

Lead Artist, Massachusetts Digital Games Institute

UnityPhotoshop

A mobile game about collecting and crafting elements together to discover the universe, made with the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute.

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Red Survivor

UI Artist, Mustachio Games

UnityPhotoshoppoint-and-click

A strategy game where the player fights to survive against killer robots in a war-torn Russia. Shown at Boston Festival of Indie Games, 2014.

Publications

Blood on Whose Hands - The Impact of Hybridity and Distance Level on Board Game Player Experience

Devi Acharya, Laijana Braun, Yasheng She, Mirek Stolee
PAIDIA Special Edition - Monsters, Magic, Mediality, 2024

Shoelace: A Storytelling Assistant for GUMSHOE One-2-One

Devi Acharya, Jack Kelly, William Tate, Maxwell Joslyn, Michael Mateas, Noah Wardrip-Fruin
International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 2023
Best Paper Award

Requirements analysis and speculative design of support tools for TTRPG game masters

Devi Acharya, Michael Mateas, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Digital Games Research Association, 2022

Computational Support for Game Masters of Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Devi Acharya
Master's Thesis, Computational Media, University of California - Santa Cruz, 2021

Story Improvisation in Tabletop Roleplaying Games: Towards a Computational Assistant for Game Masters

Devi Acharya, Michael Mateas, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Conference on Games, 2021

Interviews towards designing support tools for TTRPG game masters

Devi Acharya, Michael Mateas, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Poster presentation, International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, 2021

Tabletop Roleplaying Games as Procedural Content Generators

Matthew Guzdial, Devi Acharya, Max Kreminski, Michael Cook, Mirjam Eladhari, Antonios Liapis, Anne Sullivan
International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 2020

Spatial cognitive implications of teleporting through virtual environments

Lucia A Cherep, Alex F Lim, Jonathan W Kelly, Devi Acharya, Alfredo Velasco, Emanuel Bustamante, Alec G Ostrander, and Stephen B Gilbert
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2020
Raymond S. Nickerson Award for best paper

Cozy mystery construction kit: Prototyping toward an AI-assisted collaborative storytelling mystery game

Max Kreminski, Devi Acharya, Nick Junius, Elisabeth Oliver, Kate Compton, Melanie Dickinson, Cyril Focht, Stacey Mason, Stella Mazeika, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Procedural Generation Workshop, International Converence on the Foundations of Digital Games, 2019

Building worlds together: understanding collaborative co-creation of game worlds

Devi Acharya and Noah Wardrip-Fruin
International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 2019