PERSONAL PORTFOLIO. Corrado Mariani

Transcription

1 PERSONAL PORTFOLIO Corrado Mariani

2 CORRADO MARIANI Born: 1991, June 13th, in Monza (IT) Master Degree: Game Development & Research Where: Cologne Game Lab, Cologne (DE) Bachelor Degree: Communication Design Where: Politecnico di Milano, Milan (IT) Main Skills: Game Design C# and UnityScript Programming UI / UX Design Hi, I m Corrado! This is a sample of the best works I ve done during this and the last years; some were made during my studies at Cologne Game Lab, some are personal projects that I made to experiment concepts I found interesting, and others are results of company work and Game Jams. Because of the interactive nature of some projects, you will sometimes come across external link icons ( ) for a quick visualization in case you re curious to see more.

3 WHISPER Development: University (personal) Year: 2015 / 2017 Field: Videogame Development Role: Concept & Game Design, Programming Software: Unity MonoDevelop (C#) Git (SourceTree GUI) Platforms: Windows, OSX, Linux Whisper is the videogame I developed as the core of my Master Thesis project at the Cologne Game Lab: it s a short interactive experience about the way we perceive reality in games. Assuming that when you can t see them things are what they sound like, players will be able to change things behaviors by swapping the sound they produce; though the game aims mainly at being a (possibly) mind-bending experience, it also features challenging puzzles to test the limits of its weird reality. After graduating I kept on developing and promoting Whisper, with the help of two classmates for sound design and dialogues writing. It was showcased in Vienna (Radius Festival) and Milan (Game Over Festival) in 2016, before being chosen as a Honorable Mention in the 2017 edition of the AMaze Festival in Berlin. In May 2017, Whisper was voted for release on Steam by the Greenlight Community; at this time, a realistic release date is early 2018.

4 Top row: The initial game sequence introducing Whisper s wireframe environment. Up: The pause menu recalls the TV screen from the first scene. Right: The main mechanic of the game: swapping object sounds to swap their behaviors.

5 PLAYING WITH SENSES Development: University (personal) Year: 2016 Field: Master Thesis, Game Theory Software: LibreOffice InDesign Many Books Parallel to the development of Whisper, I produced a theoretical research to support my practical work during my Thesis dissertation. As I was always fond of arts and design, from a both practical and theoretical point of view, this was a really useful chance to combine this passion with my game studies. So, I started investigating how different game designers used graphic minimalism to enforce the experience they wanted to convey with their games, and found out a variety of ap- proaches that eventually helped me sharpening my game concept. Overall, the result was interesting and somehow surprising, as the professors recognized after the dissertation itself. Should you be interested in the content of this booklet, you can download a digital copy at the link ( ) provided on this page.

6 SERENA SUPERGREEN Development: Company (The Good Evil) Year: 2016 / 2017 Field: Videogame Development Role: Prototyping & Programming Software: Unity, Git (SourceTree GUI) MonoDevelop (C# and XML) Photoshop (export tools scripting) Platforms: Windows, Android, ios, WebGL Serena Supergreen und der abgebrochene Flügel is a serious game for young players (12 to 16 years old) focusing on the different aspects of many technical jobs and it s the result of the cooperation between The Good Evil (the studio I work in), the Wissenschaftladen Bonn and the Technische Universität Dresden. It is a point and click adventure with branching dialogues and numerous minigames inspired by the usual tasks carried out by different kind of workers (e.g. soldering electronic components), with the goal of overcoming the gender gap that still surrounds them. As part of the team, I worked as a programmer on the development of the framework used to create the game in the Unity engine. My main tasks were to create export tools for Photoshop (scripting in Javascript) with relative import tools for Unity (scripting in C#) for a better development workflow, and to take care of the game UI (chat and inventory navigation, dialogues visualization and so on).

7 Top row: Some game locations, the mobile phone chat and the inventory. Up / Right: Two of the minigames ( closeups ) available in the game: tasks space from setting up electric circuits (up), to solder a solar charger for the in-game mobile phone (right).

8 KIDS LEARNING GAMES Development: Company (The Good Evil) Year: 2016 / 2017 Field: Videogame Development Role: Prototyping & Programming Software: Unity MonoDevelop (C# and XML) Git (SourceTree GUI) Platforms: Android, ios, WebGL Working as programmer at The Good Evil, I had the chance to work on many different projects, most of which were client-commissioned learning applications for kids. These games were usually built for Android and ios and released on their App Stores, but sometimes a WebGL demo version was also required. One of the main challenges of the development was keeping up with a tight schedule and with client-sided changes of mind: quickly prototyping game mechanics and minigames for testing, and finalizing them after approval. As a programmer and prototyper I had to take care of many aspects of the development, mainly focusing on map navigation, dialogues visualization, animations import/setup and UI implementation (UI design was mainly decided by client s Design department).

9 Left column / Previous page: Der Löwe, developed for Beltz&Gelberg. Right columns: Tafitis Savannenparty, developed for Loewe Verlag.

10 GAME JAM WORKS Development: Personal (random groups) Year: 2014 on Field: Videogame Development Role: Concept development, Game Design, Game Art & Programming Software: Everything that s needed for the project development Since I moved to Cologne to study at the Cologne Game Lab, I began to attend to Global Game Jam events organized by the University as well as participating in online Ludum Dares. During jams I always take the chance to experiment with new mechanics and concepts, working with always different people and with an always different outcome. I also always try to take on a different role in the team: sometimes as Game Designer, others as Artist (3D and 2D) or Programmer. Though the outcome isn t always as good as expected (but that s also part of the fun), every event is full of surprises: the game Sighted developed during the 2014 Global Game Jam was also awarded as the Best Game in the Jam from professors and representatives from Ubisoft BlueByte (main sponsor of the event). Overall, I m a big fan of the Game Jam events, as they always allow for unexpected outcomes and force me to keep on challenging myself.

11 Top row / Previous page: Several prototypes made during GameJam/LudumDare events. Up / Right: Sighted prototype, awarded as Best Game at the 2014 edition of the CGL Global Game Jam.

12 ROLLER MACHERIO Development: Personal Project Year: 2015 / 2016 Field: Graphic Design, Branding Role: Project concept and development Software: Illustrator Photoshop InDesign In parallel with my game designer activity, I also keep up practicing graphic design, for which I got my Bachelor Degree in 2013, and which always influenced my work as a game designer. As an in-line skater, I used to be part of the Milan-based team ANPInline; when, at the end of 2014, we decided to merge with the nearby town team Roller Macherio (which kept the original name), I got the chance to redesign their logo and team uniforms. Doing so, I was inspired by American NBA and NFL team logos for both the symbol and the lettering; after finalizing the logo, I moved on designing training and competition t-shirts, as well as flags and flyers for competitions and exhibitions. As I was already living in Cologne when I took on this project, this was a really good chance for me to keep on supporting my teammates while not being able to train with them anymore.

13 20% Equilibrio 30% Concentrazione 100% Passione 50% Tecnica Top row: Logo construction process, note how the main shape elements were derived from both teams original logos. Up / Right: T-Shirt logo applications for both athletes and supporters. Far right: Example of a promotional flyer. Dai primi passi sui pattini, alla partecipazione a gare italiane e internazionali; seguiamo i nostri atleti affinché possano migliorarsi sempre e crescere in un ambiente sportivo stimolante e adatto alle capacità di ognuno.

14 TOORBO Development: University (group) Year: 2013 Field: Prototyping, Physical Computing Role: Concept development Programming Software: Arduino Last, a really old project to which I m really attached to, as I think it really shows my approach to playful interaction. During my Bachelor last semester, as our Physical Computing class final project, me and my team developed a real life racing videogame : adding a color sensor to an r/c car, we gave it the possibility to read some special colored icons placed on the track in order to allow some actions as it happens in videogames. For example, passing on the green turbo boost arrow will cause the car to temporarily reach the 150% speed while the red backwards arrow will slow it down to 50%. We started by learning how to use and calibrate the sensor and the r/c car controller board, then merged the two codes together and simplified the circuit eventually soldering it to an Arduino Proto Shield. This enabled the main board to read the road thanks to the color sensor and allowing it to perform the desired task.

15 Left column: R/c car chipset and color sensor testing. Central column: Proto Shield soldering. Right column: Final prototype.