Works
About me
Hi, I'm Paolo D'Alessandro, aka Pole! I'm very passionate about videogame development and street dance culture. I always had a strong need to create things that have an impact on the world around me, whether it's an app, a videogame, a choreography or a DJ set. This leads me to continously learn new stuff, face new challenges and improve my skills.
Contacts
pole.gamedev@gmail.com
Bolganone
Bolganone is a companion app for Fire Emblem Heroes, a popular
gacha game for mobile platforms.
Thanks to its features and completeness, the app quickly surpassed other competitors and became the most
popular FEH companion app on Android, reaching 12k users and a rating of 4.8 stars.
Bolganone was also featured in different videos by a popular content creator of the community.
I have a lot of memories with this app, it was my first big project and I learned a lot while developing it.
LoR Wiki
LoR Wiki was the first companion app for Legends of Runeterra to land on Android.
It has over 5k downloads and a 4+ stars rating.
The app features a database with all the cards currently avaiable in the game, a deck builder and a match
simulator.
Lor Wiki was selected for the Legends of Runeterra Developer Challenge held by Riot Games itself, but was sadly disqualified right after because Italy was not one of the countries eligible for the challenge.
I really enjoyed the game and had high hopes for the app, so that still stings a bit.
D3EFunk - The Game
D3EFunk - The Game is a shoot'em up game heavily driven by music. It takes inspiration from shumps classics like DoDonPachi and Cho Ren Sha 68k, mixing them with rhythm games like OSU.
It was developed in collaboration with MadD3E, a music producer, to celebrate the release of his EP "D3Efunk Vol. 3".
This is my first complete game, and I'm very proud of it.
I developed it while I was still in Bending Spoons, working early in the morning, late at night and during weekends.
Completing it was hard and sometimes painful, but it made me realize that I was capable of creating entertaining games.
Loomly
Loomly is an easy-to-use social media management platform that helps you craft & schedule posts, track analytics, and manage a unified social inbox across your social media channels.
I joined Loomly right after it was acquired by Bending Spoons.
The first months of a new acquisition are always thrilling, chaotic and challenging.
The team was small but experienced, so everyone had a lot of responsibilities and ownership.
I'm very glad I got to experience that!
We had to quickly adapt to a new codebase and new (subpar) tools, working with employers on a different timezone.
I also had to switch from Android development to full-stack web development.
While in Loomly, I shaped and developed complex features involving both backend and fronted, developed and maintained API integrations with all main social networks (Meta, X, Bluesky...) and implemented AI-powered features.
Remini
Remini uses innovative, state-of-the-art AI technology to transform your old photos into HD masterpieces or to generate images using only your selfies.
In August 2024, Remini surpassed ChatGPT as the most downloaded AI app.
I worked in Remini during the peak of its virality. That period really made me grow as a Software Engineer.
I developed main and complex features, shaping them with PMs and designers. We iterated very rapidly on experimental ones to quickly gain insights.
Working in such enviroment was really helpful for me to learn how to prioritize tasks, coordinate with other engineers and update stakeholders.
Both the team and the codebase were quite big, so I got to practice sharing knowledge, documenting resources and maintaining a large codebase.
I also worked with data analysts, learning about product and process monitoring.
Splice
Splice is a full-fledged video editor that allows you to create professional-looking videos on your mobile device.
During my first months in Bending Spoons, I was tasked with rewriting the UI for the main editor screen of Splice, which was the most complex and performance-sensitive part of the app.
That was so fun, I had a blast!
I learned a lot about optimizing performance, working with cutting-edge technology and managing a long lasting project.
I also fell in love with Jetpack Compose (the UI framework used), and apparently became the go-to person for Compose-related questions in the company.
Disboard
Disboard is a C++ framework useful for studying and developing AIs for turn based games.
It includes a basic game engine that can be expanded to implement any type of sequential turn based
game.
It also features different AIs (mostly based on MCTS and AlphaBeta Pruning) that can play any game implemented using Disboard.
The projects includes an implementation of "Connect Four" and some AIs that can play it.
Some of them are challenging enough to beat a human player.
I had a lot of fun working on this project. The MCTS algorithm is definitely my favourite algorithm!