About Me
I always wanted to entertain people. At 6 years old I started creating games on paper that I would give to my classmates. Seeing their joy when they were trying to finish the maze I drew made me so happy. Since then I continued to create more and more games to share with my friend. I realised later that what I liked wasn’t really giving games to play but rather sharing experiences, making others feel new things. This motivation drives me as a game designer.
There are 4 fields that define the game designer I am
My Vision
My key intention when I create a game is to share through the game an experience that the player never felt yet. It’s often a challenging problem, but it’s even more rewarding when you succeed to create this new experience. In order to do that, I always define strong game intentions and try to respect them in any aspect. For me, this is essential to give a coherent experience. With those intentions in mind, I use all my skills to enhance each aspect of the game to make them fit with the game as a whole.
When I think about the experience I want to give to the players, I want to avoid any design choices causing unhealthy behavior like forcing them to play. I deeply think that the game should help the player in his life rather than harming it. I also see video games as the best medium to learn new things.
Almost no game can be good after the first concept idea, that’s why I think that in order to create a good game, it needs several iterations to enhance, discard or rework the different aspects. I never consider the design choices set in stone. Since each part of the game should work with the others, I always reconsider the benefit of the existing mechanics compared to the others.
My Inspirations
Music is my main source of inspiration. I listen to a lot of different styles of music because I’m always looking for new feelings. When I’m listening to music, I imagine experiences, moods, and universes. Music allows me to immerse myself with a feeling which I can turn into intentions for games and I think this my best way to define pure experiences.
I’m also curious about the world around me. I’m interested in new things I discover and I regularly manipulate those new concepts in my head to see if they could be enjoyable in a game. I think that all the “original ideas” for video games already exist in the real world but are just hidden and as game designers, we should look for them.
I have a few hobbies that help me stimulate my thoughts, release stress, or take steps back from my work. I love dancing and I also like cooking.
I’ve played trumpet for 12 years, I like it because I feel I’m creating a feeling and sharing it with others. I also played in an orchestra, playing in harmony with others is a unique experience I’d like to share one day.
I like to sit back and think a lot. Sometimes, I use reflections and conclusions I had to define new intentions for games.
My Skills
My main field in game design is System Design. I particularly pay attention to the interactions between the different parts of games in order to have cohesive experiences.
I also design 3Cs, or more broadly core gameplays. It’s very important to me to have a satisfying and polished core loop. This part is often the one that I like to iterate a lot since it will define how the game around is made. I’m aware of the importance of the camera movement and the controls and that’s why I try to find the best ones according to the game needs.
Level design is a field that I have worked on since my childhood and I’m still enjoying it. It’s for me a natural start when I think about an experience. I often imagine different situations or scenarios that help me find mechanics and ideas. When the game's mechanics and systems are set, I love messing around with all the different elements to create interesting challenges. When video games propose in-game level editors I always spend a lot of time creating new levels.
I’m also used to working on feedback and readability in sounds or graphics. I care because they will define how the player experiences the game's mechanics.
I can very easily prototype game ideas on Unity or Unreal. I have a deep knowledge of the Unity engine and programming in C#. I'm also used to working on Unreal Engine with its blueprint system. It’s essential for me to test game ideas so prototyping has been a big part of my work.
There is a lot of software I used during game development and I frequently change so I’m always ready to work on new software. In terms of organization, I already used Trello and Jira and for versioning I regularly use Gitkraken.
I managed teams several times so I have a good knowledge of agile methodology. I can define tasks and make plannings.
TeamWork
I love working with other people for many reasons. First, it helps to feed your mind with new ideas and visions. Second, it is very enjoyable to work with others to reach a common goal. And last, sharing your thoughts and having people to talk to helps a lot in order to take a step back on your work which I think is important.
I love to debate and listen to anyone’s ideas. I always try to understand the intentions behind each idea. It helps to check if it fits with the game. When there are different propositions to solve the same problem I like to consider each one to propose a compromise. When I manage a team I care for the health of my team members so I pay attention to their workload and often check if they are fine. I encourage communication because I know that a lack of it may cause misunderstanding and conflict.
I’m always ready and happy to help. When I know someone is struggling and I think I can be useful I propose my help.
