Design Documents
Game Mechanics Analysis and Design
RPG System Analysis - Pokémon Types
Elemental affinities are common in many RPGs - however, Pokémon Types are on a whole different level. They are the core of the Game which then reflects on all aspects of the RPG System of Pokémon.
Pokémon-like I observed failed to provide the same core essence, the same Identity of each Type that Pokémon does. To understand what Pokémon did differently:
At the end of the Analysis I came up with a plausible process to develop Pokémon-like Systems and I wrote an Article on LinkedIn, explaining the Data I found and coming up with questions that Designers of Pokémon-likes can ask themselves to improve their Game. Read all of them from the links on the right! |
Character Game Design - Othercide
Othercide has become one of my favourite games, and definitely one of the most unique Tactical RPGs I ever played.
In this Game Design Exercise I created a new Character Class for the game, simulating what it would look like in a real Production. The new Class had to be tuned based on the other Classes of the Game, respect the Game's theme and narrative, offer a unique Gameplay and be ready to be implemented in the Game. To do this, I:
I also included an explanation of my thought process and what led me to the various decisions I took during the exercise. Designing RPGs is always engaging to me because of all the math involved in it, and how you need to find how those numbers deliver an experience to the Player. |
Combat Analysis - Kingdom Hearts III
I'm am a huge fan of Kingdom Hearts, and someone who felt strongly about various aspects of the combat system of Kingdom Hearts III.
I decided to study the game's combat system to understand what were the root causes of the negative feedback the Combat system received, and try to figure out possible solutions. To do this I:
From this analysis I learned a lot about Action Game Design; it was thrilling to figure out why they picked specific pillars and how they led to a waterfall effect of problems, I had a blast with that! Designing action games is hard: when a 1 frame difference in 1 of 50 animations can decide if the whole core system feels good or not, the Design team is up to a challenge - this analysis helped realized this. |
MDA Analysis - Love Nikki
Love Nikki is a mobile Dress-up Game. What appears as a small and cute Casual Game is actually a surprisingly complex Strategy Game in which the player's skill in interpreting a theme and their aesthetic sensibility take the place of strategy and tactics.
Each dress is essentially like a card in a card game, and the interactions between the various dresses, styles, colors, accessories and so on create one of the most complex systems I had the chance to study. Not only that, but analyzing the game using my Gameplay Aesthetic Framework, I found out something that left me baffled: the game is balanced between Achiever type of Players (who play for self fulfillment, Strategy and Collection) and Socializer type of Players (who use the Game as "an excuse" to interact with other players and express themselves): basically, the two opposites of the spectrum. I took the opportunity to create a Spreadsheet that could automatically count the Aesthetics (not an easy task!) and even color the cells according to the Player Type (an even harder task!). |
Tuning Documents
Spreadsheets that automatize tuning
IMP Card Tuning Document
A Document I made for my Card Game IMP, used to tune the number of Cards in the Deck.
We wanted a game to last around 30 to 45 minutes, so we collected data from various playtests and found out that a turn of a single Player lasted around 2 minutes. From there I calculated how many cards had to be in the Deck in order for the game to end in the desired time and worked with different percentages of the different Card types to balance the gameplay, automatizing the process of tuning by just changing variables. |
Siege of Alesia Tuning Document
Document used to tune my Game Jam Game "Siege of Alesia". I worked with a colleague to create this document and perfectly tune a complex strategy game in just 72 hours. The Document keeps track of the results of all different combinations of moves Players can make at different levels of strength and automatically shows us winning and losing combinations and helps us visualize the balance of the game.
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