Game Design • Strategy • Simulation

Curious about systems.
Passionate about building better ones.

I’m Charlie Barra. I like figuring out why games work, what makes players choose one strategy over another, and what happens when one small rule changes everything. Most of my projects start with a question I cannot stop thinking about.

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North Star

I’m most interested in the moment when playing a game turns into wondering how it works.

My projects include competitive Pokémon, an original strategy card game, Roblox design studies, programming, and cybersecurity. They look different, but they usually begin the same way: I notice something, wonder why it happens, and try building something to test it.

Design

Rules, balance, pacing, and the choices players actually make.

Analysis

Probability, risk, matchups, patterns, and outcomes.

Building

Prototypes, code, playtesting, fixing bugs, and explaining what changed.

My Story

Every designer starts as a player.

I started with games like Super Mario Bros., Disney Infinity, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, and Exploding Kittens. Later, Roblox and Minecraft showed me that players could build their own worlds too. Competitive Pokémon made me curious about probability and preparation, and eventually I started making games and programming projects of my own.

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Featured Work