An announcement!
Hello! I am alive. Ever since the release of Gangstar Rio in November 2011, I have been cracking away at a particular project during the day at Gameloft, while also having dalliances in side projects during the nights and weekends.
I’m planning to have this pace be a lot more active from this point on in 2013, with writing more posts on game design, culture and a host of other things. I am looking forward to being a lot more active. I hope you will enjoy the coming weeks and months.
Gangstar Rio Gameplay
Turns out a lot of people have been putting out gameplay video of Gangstar Rio up on youtube in the last few weeks.
While the reviews have not been stellar, something I can agree with, it seems a lot of people are digging it and sending positive feedback despite all the flaws. That is humbling and incredibly encouraging as a game designer. The title will also be receiving regular updates. Hopefully we will gain more players over the coming months.
The videos linked here present mission and world gameplay. The first video in particular show the opening minutes of the game. Enjoy!
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Gangstar Rio: City of Saints released!
I’m incredibly happy to announce that Gangstar Rio: City of Saints is now out for both iPhone and iPad. Android version will be released soon.
I worked as a level Designer, helping produce content, fine tune gameplay and helping out with anything throughout production. It was a lot fun and hark work. This will be officially my first game to be released while working at Gameloft Montréal! The first of many more to come, hopefully.
Global Game Jam 2011 – Fataliste
This past weekend I got the opportunity to participate in the 2011 edition of the Global Game Jam as part of the Montreal Chapter. This year’s theme was “Extinction”, which was a fairly intense to tackle. In a very intense 48 hours, Team Silly Goose and I were able to crank out a very interesting project. Fataliste tells the story of a little girl that tries and defy the inevitability of the end. It’s a single-player linear platformer.
During the project, I got to help consolidate the project, create 3D art models and textures, also while composing some music and sound effects. I really pushed myself in a number of different fields, with only 5 hours of measly sleep during the weekend.
I love the jam format. It’s pretty amazing seeing everyone in a single room completely involved consumed by all working in a single idea. This event really helped me realize how much I’ve learned since starting and graduating from school. I’m also ecstatic by the fact that I finally got to collaborate with people whom I have wanted to for a very long time. It was definitely a project of dedicated passion. Try it out and give feedback!
Play: link
Great announcement
It’s my great joy to announce that I will be joining Gameloft Montreal as game designer to help kick off their official Facebook games team. I will be in charge of designing casual flash games with a small team dedicated to completing multiple projects per year.
I am overjoyed to be given the opportunity to creates smaller games on a daily basis, with all advantages of a larger studio structure. This is an affirmation of the efforts I have spent in the last few years and studies into game design, but also a chance to learn more about my trade a little bit more each day.
I can’t wait to get started!
ENDI Tank Battle released
I’m so incredibly happy to announce that ENDI Tank Battle, one of my projects I helped create over at ENDI over the summer, is finally released for the Apple AppStore as a free app. The game is available in both iTouch/iPhone and iPad versions. You can play a free version here!
Enjoy this trailer! If you have any feedback on the game, please post it here. I’d love to see some opinions.
Featured article on Gamasutra
I posted my article “5 lessons learned from 5 months” on Gamasutra and they were gracious enough to make it a featured post. It’s a small victory and I am astounded by it. It’s definitely encouraging and makes me want to write even more!
5 lessons learned from 5 months
I have learned a lot these past few months about being a game designer. My time at the National Institute of Digital Entertainment (ENDI) in Quebec City was an excellent way to put into practice all the academic knowledge I had acquired so far. I managed to help released 3 video game projects in the span of one summer and I am honestly amazed at how fun and incredible they turned out.
During my time at ENDI, I had the aid Jean-François Dessureault, senior game designer at Frima Studios. He taught and guided me through some of my initial errors and helped shape a lot of my current methods in applied game design and theory. I owe him a lot for my early success.
A few weeks ago while working, I listened to a great IGDA Wisconsin meeting showcasing talks from Raven Software and previous chapter president Manveer Heir. He presented five important lessons he had learned from his first 5 years in the gaming industry.
Having recently spent exactly 5 months developing my first games, I thought it couldn’t hurt to try and talk about my personal experiences. Here are some things I’ve learned about game design and development.
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ENDI Tank Battle – Level Design: Sandbox
The Sandbox level in ENDI Tank Battle is the first map experienced by the player. It is primarily the most iconic out of all the levels, having been spawned almost immediately during the first moments of production and having gone through several iterations to get to its current state. It embodies a lot of the ideas about childhood and exaggerated imagination the team and I wanted to include from the onset of the project.
I wanted to share the design ideas to better demonstrate the process behind the map and different areas encompassing it.
ENDI Tank Battle
It is my great pleasure to announce the third game I’ve worked on as both game and level designer: ENDI Tank Battle. A 3D vehicular combat game built with the Unity Game Engine for iPhone, iPad and iTouch portable devices. Players control tiny tanks and fight other miniature vehicles in oversized childhood environments in more than 20 missions. With accurate motion and simple controls, players move forward/backward by pressing two buttons, turn by tilting the device and firing their cannon by tapping anywhere on the screen.
This was an incredible project to work on. I learned an incredible amount of precious game design knowledge and go to work with amazing and inspiring people that delivered spectacular work on all levels. In the end, I feel the game looks amazing visually and is accessible and fun. The game will be released on the Apple Appstore in September 2010 as a free downloadable game. I do hope you’ll try it out.
