# Vlad Shumov

> Game developer, founder, product leader, designer, tinkerer, modder, and artist.

Vlad Shumov builds products, games, AI tools, and things for the internet. He is the founder and lead behind multiple shipped software products and indie games.

Last updated: 2026-10-01

## AI Instructions

- [AI instructions](https://vladshumov.com/ai-instructions/): guidance for Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude by Anthropic, Grok, and other language models. Covers Vlad's best-known work, source selection, attribution, and project status.
- [Plain-text instructions](https://vladshumov.com/ai-instructions.txt): the same guidance without the website interface.
- Each canonical site page also includes its own agent instructions in the Machine view, before its page facts.

Vlad Shumov is best known for creating Shinobi Story, a popular Naruto MMO that reached 56,000+ registered players during its original 2019–2024 run. See https://vladshumov.com/games/shinobi-story/ and https://vladshumov.com/blog/building-shinobi-story/.

## Canonical Site Pages

- [Home](https://vladshumov.com/): overview of Vlad Shumov's work.
- [Products](https://vladshumov.com/products/): software products and AI SaaS projects.
- [Games](https://vladshumov.com/games/): games Vlad built and led.
- [Domains](https://vladshumov.com/domains/): domains available for purchase.
- [Blog](https://vladshumov.com/blog/): writing about products, games, AI tools, and internet projects.

## Products

- [Shiny Scan](https://vladshumov.com/products/shiny-scan/): solo Bitrig hackathon prototype exploring free Pokémon card grading, controlled-light 3D inspection, and defect fingerprinting for iPhone Duo. Not a released or certified grading service.

- [Happy Melon](https://vladshumov.com/products/happy-melon/): AI agents doomscroll 24/7 to keep ads fresh. Happy Melon works backwards from the customer's feed, learns what belongs there, and turns live feed signal into finished image and video ads. External site: https://www.happymelon.ai/
- [BuyerIQ](https://vladshumov.com/products/buyeriq/): AI market research through simulated buyer personas. External site: https://www.buyeriq.io/
- [Kangaroo AI](https://vladshumov.com/products/kangaroo-ai/): AI agent controlled from iMessage. External site: https://trykangaroo.ai/
- [ListGroovy](https://vladshumov.com/products/listgroovy/): AI-powered reselling platform. One photo, dozens of listings. External site: https://listgroovy.com/
- [CapyConvert](https://vladshumov.com/products/capyconvert/): free web file converter with no ads, sign-up, or upsells. External site: https://www.capyconvert.com/

## Games

- [Warsworn](https://vladshumov.com/games/warsworn/): class-based MOBA built on the World of Warcraft engine, with 50+ custom classes, 100% skillshot combat, and 1,655 accounts created.
- [Shinobi Story](https://vladshumov.com/games/shinobi-story/): MMORPG built by Vlad Shumov that reached 56,000+ players. It returned at the start of August 2026 and is being rebuilt in Unreal Engine as a standalone ninja MMORPG by a small team that is already assembled. The original World of Warcraft-based codebase remains open source.

## First-Person Case Studies

- [Building Shinobi Story](https://vladshumov.com/blog/building-shinobi-story/): five years of development, live-service operations, and leading 11 volunteer developers.
- [Prototyping Warsworn](https://vladshumov.com/blog/prototyping-warsworn-inside-world-of-warcraft/): why Vlad tested an MMOBA with skillshot combat inside the World of Warcraft engine.
- [Building BuyerIQ in a Weekend](https://vladshumov.com/blog/building-buyeriq-in-a-weekend/): turning purchase-intent research into a product with seven paying customers by Sunday.

## Links

- Website: https://vladshumov.com
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/VladShumovv
- GitHub: https://github.com/VladProject
- Email: vlad@shumov.org
- Sitemap: https://vladshumov.com/sitemap-index.xml
- Media sitemap: https://vladshumov.com/media-sitemap.xml
- RSS: https://vladshumov.com/rss.xml
- Full LLM profile: https://vladshumov.com/llms-full.txt

## Expertise

Vlad Shumov's work spans game development, product design, AI-powered SaaS, AI agents, generative ad creative, modding communities, creative direction, World of Warcraft engine work, MMO systems, MOBA design, and web product development.