Bo Banducci - Portfolio 2026

Epsilon IV

Role: Lead Programmer

Epsilon IV was created for the Player2 AI Game Jam #3 in October-November 2025
We used an LLM to power natural language conversation with NPCs, which was required to solve puzzles.
Play on itch.io

"Oh yeah, it's all comin together"

On day one we created a game design doc which became the bible for our game.
There was zero feature creep.
Daily check-ins kept the vision aligned.

"You can't sneak away from the aliens once they hear you. So I just run every time."

Feedback from playtesters indicated our stealth gameplay was broken.
We had no dedicated Game Designer to identify problems early on.
Our over-ambitious design meant we had little time for revisions.

"Despite the Problems..."

Epsilon IV won "Best Web Game" and $1000 cash.
Average time spent in game is over ten minutes.
We learned lessons about scope and the value of a dedicated Game Designer.

War for the Stars

MARTIAN ASSAULT LEGION

∇∧⍚↑⌶∧⋈ ∧⬡⬡∧⊔⌊↑ ⌊Ξ

MARS DOMINION Elite combat units
EQUIP: AR-87 Gravitic Combat Rifle

FORCE: 7 // PSYCHE: 2
VECTOR: 0 // SYNC: 3

Height: 7'2 | SEX: Male

Specialized in frontal assaults and breaking enemy lines.

∇∧⍚⬡ ◇⍜∇⌶⋈⌶⍜⋈ Ξ⌊⌶↑Ξ ◠⍜∇⧫∧↑ ⊔⋈⌶↑⬡
Ξ◈⊔⌶⍴: ∧⍚-∞⌐ ⟁⍚∧⋁⌶↑⌶◠ ◠⍜∇⧫∧↑ ⍚⌶⎔⌊Ξ

⎔⍜⍚◠Ξ: ⌐ // ⍴⬡⋔◠⊧Ξ: ⧢
⋁Ξ◠↑⍜⍚: ⊘ // ⬡⋔⋈◠: Ʒ

⊧Ξ⌶⟁⊧↑: ⌐'⧢ | ⬡Ξ╳: ∇∧⌊Ξ

⬡⍴Ξ◠⌶∧⌊⌶⌬Ξ◇ ⌶⋈ ⎔⍚⍜⋈↑∧⌊ ∧⬡⬡∧⊔⌊↑⬡.

Digital Trading Card Game Prototype

War for the Stars is a digital, sci-fi TCG depicting a war between Earth, Mars, and a rogue AI in an alternate timeline of our solar system. I designed, developed, and playtested it over the course of three months in 2025. It's playable on Tabletop Simulator. View online.

Placeholder art generated with Midjourney AI.

WIP: My Life as an Interdimensional Warrior

Runtime Sprite Generation

The game takes place across infinite worlds generated by the LLM. When the player visits a world, the LLM generates a cast of characters, including a visual description. The visual description is given to the image generation model to create keyframe sprites for each character.

Natural Dialogue in Combat

Depending on their personality, NPCs react to all sorts of events in combat, and can engage the player in taunts or serious diplomacy.

Turn-based Combat

The game uses a simple JRPG combat system to keep a measured pace so the characters can have detailed dialogues, and so fewer animation frames are needed.