lillyan ling


lives in brooklyn, ny, usa, and is a member of american game development trio common opera

works
idlings
complete cv

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video-games game design
level design
audio & music
producership and project management
elaborate hangout
general nonsense

WAXWING (2024)
VIDEO-GAME, CUSTOM ARCADE CABINET & HARDWARE

Work with a partner using lightguns to guide Icarian avatars to their final non-destinations.

by COMMON OPERA

director game designer level designer music composer SFX UI/UX
Awards2024: Human Human Machine Award, A MAZE
2022: Grant Recipient, Brooklyn Arts Council

Exhibitions
2024: Museum of the Moving Image
2024: gamescom
2024: A MAZE Sheffield
2024: A MAZE
2024: MAGFest
2023: Day of the Devs
2023: Wonderville




OUT FOR DELIVERY (2020)INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY

Shadow a food courier in Beijing the day before Wuhan shuts down due to COVID-19.

by YUXIN GAO, JOHN BRUNEAU, GUS BOEHLING, & LILLYAN LING

translator copyeditor music composer SFX
Awards
2021: Impact Award, IndieCade
2021: Immersive Award, BAFTA Student Award


Exhibitions
2025: Visual Studies Workshop
2024: SuperFEST
2022: Museum of Pop Culture
2022: NowPlayThis
2021: IndieCade
2021: Game Devs of Color



COKE BUGS (2024)VIDEO-GAME

Road trip fueled by a cyclical haze beset by desperate procurement of more and more crystals.

by COMMON OPERA

music composer SFX UI/UX
Exhibitions
2024: Tokyo Game Show
2024: Boshi’s Place
2024: MAGFest
2023: Playtopia
2023: SXSW Sydney
2023: Busan Indie Connect
2022: Wonderville



KNOW-IT-ALL (2024)VR VIDEO-GAME

The ultimate trivia game show — play against friends or robots, or cheer on from the audience.

developed by COMMON OPERA for META HORIZON WORLDS
 
director project manager game designer audio designer



A TRAGIC ACCIDENTAL STILL LIFE (2023)VIDEO-GAME

A three act arcade adventure in which a kleptomaniac ambulance driver daydreams through theft.

by COMMON OPERA

music composer sfx ui/ux
Awards2022: Honorable Mention, A MAZE Berlin, Germany

Exhibitions2023: MAGFest
2022: Busan Indie Connect
2022: A MAZE Berlin
2022: NYCxDesign
2022: MAGFest



MOTOR AWAY TRIP (2023)VIDEO-GAME

Girls wreak mini-game havoc on their Ohio-Florida road trip in this multiplayer Mario Party knockoff.

by BLAKE ANDREWS for NYU GAME CENTER’s NO QUARTER

music composer
Exhibitions2025: MAGFest
2023: NYU Game Center’s No Quarter



CELL TO SINGULARITY (ONGOING)MOBILE GAME

Tap into the extraordinary tale of evolution in this cosmic idle clicker game.

by COMPUTER LUNCH

producer [pollination event]  producer [deep sea event]  music composer [beyond ep. 18] music composer [beyond ep. 19]



KINFOLK (2023)MOBILE APP

Place monuments vital to Black and Brown history in your AR space and learn about them.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for KINFOLK TECH

producer QA
Awards
2021: Best XR for Change Nominee, Games for Change
2021: Best Creative Non-Fiction, Tribeca Film Festival

Exhibitions
2023: MOMA
2021: Games for Change
2021: Tribeca Film Festival



1000 DEATHSVIDEO-GAME

Make decisions that you’ll take with you to the grave in this colorful, alien-like world.

by PARIAH INTERACTIVE

lead producer [2018-22]
Exhibitions
2022: MAGFest
2021: Wonderville
2021: Game Devs of Color
2021: PlayNYC
2020: Game Devs of Color
2020: IndieCade



MADE IN TRANS-PAKISTAN (2022)AR INSTALLATION

AR art on ceramic works explores nostalgia, gentrification, and urbanization South Asia.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for UMBER MAJHEED

producer QA
Exhibitions
2022: Pioneer Works



BELLS PURSUING ONE ANOTHER (2022)VIDEO-GAME

Players work together as Cuvier’s beaked whales in the Great Bahama Canyon to capture squids.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for RINDON JOHNSON

producer QA
Exhibitions
2022: François Ghebaly, BK, NY
2022: Albertinum, Dresden, Germany



ROCKET SYNC (2022)VIDEO-GAME, CUSTOM ARCADE CABINET

Work with a partner using custom controllers to destroy asteroids in this space rhythm game.

developed by COMMON OPERA for STRANGE OUTFIT

game designer music composer SFX UI/UX



HONEY FUNGUS (2022)VR EXPERIENCE

A queer, sentient, and omnipresent mycelial entity leads the audience into erotic intensity.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for SUE HUANG and JONAH KING

producer QA
Exhibitions
2022: Guilty By Association Gallery, BK, NY



AWOKE & AWAKENED: ALAAP (2022)SIMULATION

A speculation into a techno-utopian myth about a mythical artificial emotional intelligence.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for SURABHI SARAF

producer QA
Exhibitions
2022: SFMOMA
2022: HarvestWorks, NY, NY
2022: Honor Fraser Gallery, NY, NY



STORM BROKER (2021)VIDEO-GAME

Buy and sell properties to turn a profit amidst the barrage of devastating hurricanes. Powered by real weather data provided by dClimate.

developed by COMMON OPERA for DCLIMATE

game designer music composer SFX



THIS END THE SUN (2021)DIGITAL SIMULATION

An ongoing predictive simulation of the overhead sky over days and nights.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for RINDON JOHNSON

producer QA
Exhibitions
2021: New Museum



LAST YEAR’S ATLANTIC (2021)DIGITAL SIMULATION

A live rendering of real weather data collected on the vast North Atlantic “cold blob.”

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for RINDON JOHNSON

producer QA
Exhibitions
2021: SculptureCenter



ALL HER BODIES (2020)VR EXPERIENCE

Five recollections of vulnerability and violence endured by women.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for ELIZABETH LEISTER

producer QA
Exhibitions
2021: Games for Change
2020: Currents New Media



VARIATIONS ON CODA TO YELLOW SKY (2020)VIDEO-GAME

Members of a monastery contemplate death on the night before a final battle.

by COMMON OPERA

producer writer
Exhibitions2023: The Trope Tank, MIT
2022: ICIDS, Santa Cruz, CA
2022: Wonderville
2021: Busan Indie Connect




2020 THE RIDE (2020)VR EXPERIENCE

A fully illustrated zine of ten essays that explore death and grief in games.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for JEN DOT LU

producer qa
Awards
2021: Best VR Video Nominee, Webby Awards



SHE WHO SEES THE UNKNOWN: KABOUS (2020)VR EXPERIENCE

Stories of four generations of Iranian women are told in a bathhouse by the jinn of sleep paralysis.

developed by PARIAH INTERACTIVE for MOREHSHIN ALLAHYARI

producer qa
Exhibtions
2020: The Shed



D!SC: DUEL STRIKE CARDS (2019)CARD & PHYSICAL GAME

A physical card duel dealt in literal flicking of cards worn on arm holders. Attack, defend, trap.

by JRPG COMBAT SYSTEMS

producer game designer
Exhibtions
2019: Come Out and Play



HACK YOUR FACE (2019)VIDEO-GAME COLLECTION

An open soure mixtape of short games with the theme of “Hack Your Face.”

by JRPG COMBAT SYSTEMS

producer game designer



EPILOGUE SIMULATOR (2019)VIDEO-GAME

Wander desolate lands to collect pieces of a broken UI system and regain memories.

by JRPG COMBAT SYSTEMS

producer music composer
Exhibitions2019: EGX London



AERISDIES (2019)VIDEO-GAME COLLECTION

An open source mixtape of short games centered around the character Aeris from Final Fantasy VII.

by JRPG COMBAT SYSTEMS

producer game designer music composer



BEAT TAPE (2019)VIDEO-GAME COLLECTION

An open source mixtape of stand-alone, contextless game systems.

by JRPG COMBAT SYSTEMS

producer game designer
Exhibtions2019: Game On!



ENDGAME SEQUENCES (2021)KICKSTARTED ZINE

A fully illustrated zine of ten essays that explore death and grief in games.

by ELIZABETH BALLOU

assistant editor copyeditor



ELECTROCONCIERGE (2020)PHYSICAL GAME

Call and order pancake-themed games to wherever you are in the MAGFest hotel. Win pancakes.

by BABYCASTLES

game designer
Exhibtions
2020: MAGFest



ELECTROCONCIERGE (2019)PHYSICAL GAME

Call Electroconcierge today to request amenities including ASMR and Metal Gear Solid rants.

by BABYCASTLES

game designer audio designer
Exhibitions2019: MAGFest



Congratulations! You’ve reached the End. If you’re curious, you can Click Here for work before games, namely some music videos and a previous life at Oxford Press University as an Art Reference editor.