Laura DeCarli's Portfolio
Game Design & Game Studies
Hello there and welcome to my portfolio!
I am a game designer interested in videogames both as a creative profession and as a subject of study.
I have completed DBGA's online course in Game Design, and I'm currently studying at the Master's course in Games (Design Track) at the IT University of Copenhagen.
My videogames
Sprites I made for Goldash:
Sprites I co-created with Sebastiano Clon:
Emotes I added to Cristian Ghiorzi's sprite of the player character:
Goldash
About Goldash:
Goldash is an endless runner mobile game created by Qizue Team for DBGA's online courses in Game Design and Game Programming.
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The player plays the role of Trasher, a cleaner robot tasked with collecting the trash under the city of Goldash.
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During the run, the player has to jump to navigate the environment and to defeat hostile robots.
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However, jumping too much can cause Trasher to overheat, and eventually and explode if they don't cool down by releasing energy by falling on enemies or with ice cubes.
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They can also pick up consumable power-ups that will help them in their run, which can be upgraded through the in-game shops by spending the gears gained from collecting the trash.
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In addition to collecting the trash, the player can also complete various achievements and gain more gears in addition to character skins to personalize Trasher.
What did I do for this project:
I participated in the project as Game Designer and Project Manager. I worked mostly on:
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game's ideation,
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team's organization,
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project's documentation (pitch, GGD, art guidelines, playtesting doc),
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gameplay design,
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fine-tuning (of all elements of the gameplay during the run and of the game's economy),
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on some of the sprites.
About Goldash's sprites:
In order to have an art style as consistent as possible, Qizue Team decided to base any homemade sprite on the spriteset used for the environments (16x16 Industrial Tileset by 0x72).
I created a reference Art Guidelines document for the team, created a few sprites, re-colored and slightly adjusted the design of sprites made by the other designers and created the animations for the enemies.
Qizue Team:
Game Programmer:
Game Designers:
Pumpking!
About Pumpking!:
Pumpking! is little 2-players Halloween-themed game made for the One Minute Game Jam #8. The two players chase each other around a cornfield in rounds of 30s: in the first round they can choose if they want to start out playing the role of the escapee or of the chaser, while in the second the roles will be swapped. The players can also choose between two playable characters: Pumpkin and Scarecrow, each with their signature ability. The Pumpkin can sprint, while the Scarecrow can push away or pull towards themselves the other player.
What did I do for this project:
I participated in the project as Game Designer, and I mostly worked on:
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game's ideation,
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level design,
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fine-tuning of the player characters' abilities
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fine-tuning of the power-ups,
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fine-tuning of the traps.
Pumpking!'s Team:
Game Programmers:
Cristian Ghiorzi, Nicolò Bertoli
Game Designer:
3D Artist & Animator:
Music Composer:
Sound Designer:
My Digital Prototypes
Working title: Ball Maze Over the Edge
Creating a prototype and learning to use Unity:
This is a little prototype I made for DBGA Online Blended’s course in Game Design Level 1.
The objective of the assignemnt was to start learning how to use Unity Engine by re-creating a base prototype from a tutorial and then improve on it by correcting errors, enhancing it however we wanted, and adding a new mechanic, as long as the player’s shape remained that of a sphere.
About Ball Maze Over the Edge:
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I decided to create a game about pushing objects that bounce around when they hit a wall, and to change the aesthetics of the game.
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The player's objective is to push all the little spheres into the void before the time runs out.
Future developments?
It would be interesting to create a game with more levels, to have levels that develop downwards, to play around with physics a bit more, and to add a leaderboard of the players’ scores.
Working title: Roomba Witch
Creating another prototype in Unity:
This is another small prototype I made for DBGA Online Blended’s course in Game Design Level 2. The base game was in 3D endless runner, that we could enhance however we wanted, and I choose to experiment with creating a game in 2D and to play around with an idea that was discarded during an ideation session with Qizue Team.
About Roomba Witch:
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The player can control two player-objects: a Witch who can jump and her flying Roomba that can be moved up and down.
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The player's objective is to collect as much mail as possible, and to avoid being pushed off the Roomba by the obstacles.
Future developments?
This prototype isn’t particularly polished, because I didn’t have a lot of time to work on it, but it was fun to make and I wouldn’t mind expanding on it (example: giving abilities to the witch, adding animations, sprites for the obstacles and an actual background, creating a more varied level design, etc.).
My Paper Prototypes
Working title: Dicey Labyrinth
Working from a brief:
I made this paper prototype for DBGA Online Blended’s course in Game Design Level 1. The assignment was to pitch a game for a turn-based PvE game based around a set of dice and power-ups, with Slay the Spire and Yahtzee as inspirations.
About Dicey Labyrinth:
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I created a Pitch Document and a first paper prototype of a game in which 1 up to 4 players have to use dice combos to defeat the guards that keep them trapped in a labyrinth that magically changes its layout.
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The pitch could be used for either a digital game or a board game (or both).
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The boardgame version takes inspiration from the boardgame Labyrinth. The way the labyrinth shifts is determined by rolling the dice.
Future developments?
I would love to test and fine-tune this paper prototype and/or create a digital version of the game based on this pitch.
My Digital Exercises
Flyover Camera Cinematic in Unity
Learning to use Unity's Terrain Tools and Cinemachine:
This is a flyovercamera cinematic I made for DBGA Online Blended’s course in Game Design Level 3. I started learning to use:
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Unity's Terrain Tools to create an outdoor level,
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Cinemachine to create a cinematic with a flyover camera that shows the level and key locations.
Simple Interactions in Unreal
Learning to create simple interactions in Unreal 4:
These are some little experiments I made to learn how to create simple interactions in Unreal Engine 4 for DBGA's Online Blended course in Game Design Level 3. I decided to:
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make a small indoor scene with diegetic lighting and pictures on the walls (using decals),
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create some simple interactions with the level for the player (opening/closing doors, turning music tracks on/off to mix them, read some pieces of paper, and be damaged by fire),
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and add UI and HUD elements.
My Paper Experiments
Yathzee Mod for Labyrinth
About this mod:
While working on the Dicey Labyrinth prototype, I also came up with a few rules that I then used it to make Labyrinth a bit more fun for me and my friends.
At the beginning of their turn, each player can roll the dice to obtain combos like one would do while playing Yathzee. The combo obtained can be used to cast a spell.
How did I create this mod:
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I created a list of spells that players can cast to gain an advantage or to create a disadvantage against the other players in the boardgame Labyrinth.
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Then I assigned the spells to Yathzee combos.
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I tested it with my friends and changed some spells based on their feedback, and now our games of Labyrinth are more competitive.
My Academic Writing
The Player as Co-Narrator:
a Case Study of This War of Mine
Bachelor's Thesis
in «Communication, Media and Advertising»
While playing This War of Mine (11 bit studios, 2014), I noticed that my playstyle had a significant impact on the narrative development of my playthroughs. This prompted my investigation about the relationship between game design and narrative development. Specifically, I wanted to critically assess my contribution as a player.
These initial questions were eventually followed by others: What is the relationship between the game’s anti-war message and the narratives produced by the player with their own experiences? Does the process of co-creation reinforce This War of Mine’s political and moral position?
These are the main questions that guided my analysis of This War of Mine’s design and of other player's experiences with the game.
