Max Pliskin

Max Pliskin is the designer, founder, and developer of Petri Dish Games. His fascination with neuroscience, math and the natural world drives his passion for developing rich simulation games and other creative software. Every game he designs sits at the intersection of living systems and artificial simulation.

Artificial intelligence development

Max's passion for neuroscience and math has thrived in the age of artificial intelligence. He believes in accelerating the development of safe and ethical artificial intelligence systems. As his part in that effort, he is designing a proprietary intelligence stack for Petri Dish Games LLC, built on models from providers whose values align with his own.

Background

Max holds a B.S. in cellular and molecular neuroscience from Colorado State University (2024). As an undergraduate he worked in the Reist Lab, researching Synaptotagmin mutations in Drosophila larvae through electrophysiology and fluorescent immunohistochemistry. The fluorescence imaging from that work is the origin of the aesthetic of Substrate: Emergence.

After graduating he worked as an EEG technician while contributing to an open-source game, his first game development work. In late 2025 he left clinical work for game development full time, as that interest grew alongside a turn toward computational neuroscience.

Max commits as BAR-Neb.