Hi, I'm
Raluca Gaina
AI Engineer • Game AI Researcher • Simulation Systems
I build intelligent systems for games, AI playtesting frameworks, simulation platforms and procedural generation tools. My work combines academic research with practical software engineering to solve complex gameplay and AI challenges.
Featured Work
A selection of projects that best represent my experience.
TAG Framework
AI-powered framework for playtesting tabletop games using autonomous agents and simulation.
Problem
Tabletop games are difficult to analyse at scale because physical playtests are slow, expensive and difficult to reproduce.
Solution
Designed and implemented a modular Java framework supporting simulation, AI agents, game state representation and automated analytics.
Impact
- £120k+ Innovate UK funding
- Multiple research collaborations
- Published in international conferences
General Video Game AI Research
Research into general game-playing agents using Rolling Horizon Evolutionary Algorithms.
Problem
General game playing requires AI capable of solving previously unseen games.
Solution
Developed search algorithms, evaluation functions and optimisation techniques for planning under uncertainty.
Impact
- PhD research
- Multiple journal publications
- International collaborations
Tabletop R&D
Co-founded a company developing AI technologies for tabletop games.
Problem
Designers lack scalable methods for balancing and testing tabletop games.
Solution
Applied simulation, AI and analytics to support modern tabletop design.
Impact
- Co-founder
- Research funding
- Industry partnerships
Expertise
A combination of academic research and software engineering applied to intelligent game systems.
🎮 Game AI
Designing intelligent agents, gameplay behaviours and decision-making systems.
🤖 Machine Learning
Evolutionary algorithms, reinforcement learning and optimisation techniques.
🧪 Simulation
Building simulation environments for playtesting and balancing games.
🧩 Procedural Content Generation
Algorithms that automatically create levels, puzzles and game content.
⚙ Software Engineering
Java, Unity, Python, C#, tooling and scalable research software.
👥 Leadership
Conference organisation, grant leadership, supervising students and leading research projects.
Career Highlights
A few numbers that summarise my experience.