Ridhô Jeftha

Engineering the software platforms behind interactive museum exhibits and immersive public installations experienced by thousands of visitors.

I take projects from concept through deployment, designing real-time systems, integrating hardware and sensors, and driving the architecture of production codebases so installations remain stable, performant, and maintainable through years of continuous public use.

Staff Unity Engineer at Carry1st, Africa's #1 mobile game publisher operating across Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and beyond. I worked on Mancala Adventures, a modern reimagining of the classic board game boasting 500K+ downloads, blending traditional strategy with real-time multiplayer, power-ups, and offline-first play.

I drove game systems architecture, payment flow consolidation, game logic refactoring, and code quality leadership on a live production title.

A 48-hour jam game for Global Game Jam 2025. Theme: Bubble. You play as a herbalist trying to cure speech bubbles that have gone wrong, stir the right herbs, watch the cauldron bubble up, then pop the good ones to heal. Pop the wrong ones and you make things worse. Plays in the browser.

Built with Sean Du Plessis, who also did all the art in Krita.

'•.¸♡ PRISM ♡¸.•' is where my movement and dev work became the same thing. An immersive tunnel of 8 interactive arches lined with LEDs, and live generative audio built to react to whoever walks through it.

'•.¸♡ PRISM ♡¸.•' runs on a mood state machine. Leave it alone long enough and it gets lonely, lights dim, sounds grow melancholic. Fill it with people and it tips into overwhelm, frenetic patterns, layered soundscapes. Visitors become unwitting composers, their movement shaping an environment that is shaping them right back.

I also performed inside it. As the Mood Walker, dressed to mirror the tunnel interior, I danced with an OddBall controller and fed live input back into PRISM's state, blurring the line between performer, participant and system. Each run through was different.

Built with Unity, Bluetooth LE, MIDI/OSC, and the OddBall. Exhibited at Playtopia Festival 2024.

Mancala Adventures is a modern mobile take on one of Africa's oldest board games, published by Carry1st. The game blends traditional Mancala strategy with real-time multiplayer, power-ups, competitive leaderboards, and offline-first play, amassing over 500,000 downloads across the continent.

As Staff Unity Engineer, I drove game systems architecture, consolidated payment flows across multiple African markets, refactored core game logic, and led code quality initiatives on this live production title.

Some of the highlights of my work included:

• Architected and refactored core game systems in live production, ensuring reliability, scalability, and maintainability
• Consolidated scattered payment flows into a single, efficient system with offline support
• Reorganized core game logic and save systems to simplify future updates and enable scalable feature expansion
• Led engineering standards, code reviews, and TDD practices, driving long-term code quality and stability
• Mentored peers, shared technical knowledge, and influenced cross-project architectural decisions

During these two years I managed a team of junior developers; providing guidance and maintenance for live projects, while facilitating their ongoing learning and professional development. I supported the juniors' time management, triage, debugging, and enhancing app quality.

Some of these projects include:

• Mishkat Nuclear & Renewable Energy Exhibit
• FishFORCE Training Game
• Museum of Science & Technology in Islam

Each project has its own card below with more details.

Game for South African Fishery Control Officers aimed to enhance practical training by simulating their work environment. Developed in partnership with Nelson Mandela University and Sea Monster.

I led the final stages of development, focusing on data integration, optimization, and user acceptance testing. I introduced a service worker for offline PWA accessibility.

Multiplayer social deception game demo for Snapchat Games, developed with Sea Monster.

Directed entire app development lifecycle, from strategic decisions on game architecture to backend integration. Interfaced with Snapchat SDK for frontend elements including stickers, bitmojis, and chats.

Interactive games for young children that teach the basics of sun, wind, and geothermal renewable energy at the Mishkat exhibit.

Implemented real-time fixes, updates, and improvements to keep the installation running smoothly.

Exhibits highlight contributions by Muslim scholars to science and technology. Developed by formula D_.

Daily monitoring of applications, actively identifying errors, conducting real-time debugging to ensure exhibit reliability.

Developed games for both web and mobile platforms utilizing technologies like Phaser.js and Unity3D for Android and iOS. Additionally, I contributed to serious games, engaging in tasks such as porting and conducting research and development (R&D).

These projects included:

• Toyota KINTO Sky Drive
• Cipla Live2Love
• Marimba Jam: African Music Heritage VR
• SA Reserve Bank Currency App
• Ackermans Lion King AR
• Capitec Bank: Livin' It Up
• Air France Destination AR
• Pick n Pay Super Cards
• Amazon Digital Catwalk
• DoBAT Study - Kuamsha
• South African National Space Agency Game
• Zuri's Lab VR Port
• Wonderdal Kids Edutainment Centre
• Vukuzenzele

Each project has its own card below with more details.

Implementing bug fixes and enhancements while porting the game for console platforms. Developed with 24 Bit Games.

Web game that simulated guiding customers through a futuristic driving track, resembling a value chain decision model. Developed with Sea Monster.

Managed entire development process, from creating front-end elements like UI, animations and app flow to handling back-end tasks such as analytics, data structures, and integrations.

VR experience where the player can interact with African instruments. Award-winning social enterprise project, solo developed with Sea Monster.

App where you can explore, play and learn about South African banknotes and coins. Developed with Sea Monster.

Focused on displaying 3D models in a Unity3D scene within a React-Native container, using device data like accelerometer for interactive animations.

Implementing mini-games using accelerometer data, adding functionality such as quizzes and mini-goals. Developed with Sea Monster.

Research and development of cloth simulation for moving clothing. Developed with Make Associates.

Augmented reality app for displaying models, digital stories and content over a map of Cape Town. Developed with Sea Monster.

Proof of concept for in-flight entertainment and destination marketing organisations.

Web-based infinite runner game following the journey of a mixed-status couple, exposing users to information about HIV, knowing your status, ARVs, and PrEP. Developed with Sea Monster.

Worked on UI, animations and gameplay features using Phaser.js and JavaScript.

Mobile app aimed at connecting at-risk youth with behavioural analysts and mentors, developed with the University of Witwatersrand.

Worked on the final stages of development phase focusing on enhancements, final polish and user acceptance testing.

Augmented reality app where shoppers experienced fully-animated 3D scenes by scanning pictures of favourite characters on merchandise or in-store displays. Developed with Sea Monster.

Ported VR game for the Oculus Quest platform. Developed with Sea Monster.

Apps for an immersive and interactive edutainment experience. Developed with formula D_.

Solo developed a few Unity3D apps, designed and implemented a dynamic character builder enabling children to carry a customized character through each app.

You're a cube. You crunk, twerk, hip-pop your way through a crowd, weaving through that rave energy. You beat enemies, take their juice, and build flow. Stay in it long enough and you ascend.

The loop is simple, but it's really about rhythm. Movement, audio, visuals, everything starts syncing up. It's less about shooting and more about finding that state where you're just in it, reading patterns, responding, flowing.

Made with Kelly McCarter and Ross Borcherds for SA Game Jam 2018. We kept the scope tight and followed one feeling all the way through. It ended up winning Overall. The judges called out how complete it felt, like it actually builds, shifts, and lands, not just a jam prototype.

WASD to dash, mouse to aim, LMB to fire.
Plays in the browser.

Go find the rhythm.

Single-player Android game where you take on the role of a new recruit working towards becoming a "SANSA-Naut" at the space weather station. Each mission has a minigame that teaches you about different elements of space weather.

Augmented reality app where customers could see collectable cards come to life. Developed with Sea Monster.

Focused on AR implementation and gameplay features like the 3D cricket mini-game.

I created apps for museum exhibits, serious games and prototypes. Worked with interesting IO devices such as the Microsoft Kinect, VR headgears and RFID. Including UI, 2D animation, IO, UI/UX, networking, design, procedural mesh generation, shaders and graphics rendering.

Some more projects that I worked on:

• Saudi Aramco Energy Science Centre
• Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre
• Sunrise Jam
• Angry Birds

Each project has its own card below with more details.

Puzzle game about reimagining informal settlements in South Africa through the re-blocking process.

Implementing feedback changes and gameplay features in final stages of development.

Winner, Serious About Games Competition (2017)

Created a number of Space and Arabic Golden Age themed interactives using Kinect depth sensors. Developed with NewAngle.

Worked on a few complex interactives as part of this 40+ exhibit installation at the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture in Saudi Arabia. Developed with New Angle.

VR game where you play as the sun and, through manipulating the climates of the planets orbiting you, create environments conducive to life growth.

Worked on shaders and other gameplay features.

Companion app for the obstacle course at the Angry Birds Activity Park in Europolis Shopping Center, St Petersburg. Developed with NewAngle.

BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and Television Studies at the University of Cape Town.

Relevant modules:

• Mobile Game Development
• UX
• Advanced Computer Graphics
• GPGPU Programming
• Evolutionary Computation
• Advanced Television Analysis

Final Project: Implementation of a depth sensor (Kinect) to apply video effects to a streaming camera feed using C++.

Bachelor of Science at the University of Cape Town.

Major fields:

• Computer Science
• Computer Games Development
• Film & Television Studies