Enrich and connect lore to gameplay.

Storyboard and write dialogues and banters.

Design the characters, providing feedback to the concept artist.

Voice-over casting and direction.

Be the bridge between digital marketing and the dev team, occasionally covering the role of social media manager.

Write the pitch for publishers and narrative-related documentation.

Curate the environmental storytelling.

Be engaged in the sound design-related decisions (especially when directly affecting the narrative on any level).

Be an active member of the team to collaborate on issues to tackle / decisions to make, regardless of their connection to narrative.

After pitching the game at the First Playable 2022 and First Playable 2024, I actively took part in the follow-ups and design-related decisions based on the game's reception. After the showcase to the public at the Milan Games Week 2024, I've been documenting their feedback and taking notes on the player's behaviour.

I've been researching on environmental storytelling and branching. 

I've been working constantly with the game designer to improve the consistency of Imperfection, gathering notes on the narrative-related flaws and strengths after each important task was delivered and tested. 

I've been optimizing the narrative pipeline to fit in the team's ever-growing development process. Being an ambitious, indie project waiting for funding and developed by a small, fully remote team, this involves a lot of trial-and-error and engagement with the team regardless of the roles.

I completed the cast design based on the actors' styles and strengths to accomodate the production schedule: they had their artistic freedom, while also being provided guidance within a reasonable time span.

Writing from linear to branching narrative (once this choice was made in tandem with the game designer to enrich and give new nuances to the project). I suggested Articy Draft:X  for a smoother collaboration between me and the programmer, and set the conditions of the branching dialogues and events.

Having a complex theme and an introspective take on the sci-fi genre, I've been re-designing the synopsis to fit branching narrative, in accordance to the scope and identity of the game.

All milestones are followed by thorough self-analysis and post-mortem with the team: this allows me to see what to learn and fix next; this includes from design to soft skills and the writing/design process.

To support and manage the work of a team of actors and to communicate with different people from different sectors. 

To reflect on the narrative pace: from highly contemplative and explorative, to a dynamic FPS with strategic elements.

To take active part in the team's work.

To pick up my battles and express my necessities as a narrative designer in terms of tools and project management.

Perfection DOES NOT EXIST. It's great to be present and also make mistakes that I can own and learn from.

To perfect (pun intended) my skills on Articy Draft: X. 

The basics of how to write an editorial plan.

Pitching to investors and publishers.

The players who enjoy indie games are enthusiastic to learn about the development and look for ways to engage; they are looking for ambitious and meaningful experiences.

A general grasp of different details on my team members' work: from environment to game design to 3D.

Write the characters' dialogues, taking place in a cafe.

Advice on the content and implementation of the dialogues in the game.

Deepen the characters' conflicts and background, based on Ladin folklore and Japanese tropes.

Presenting the narrative of the game at the Checkpoint Conference on 28th of November 2024

Wrote varied dialogues with different purposes.

Divided them into different parts: the dialogues are in a randomised order, gradually unlocked as they progress through the demo.

Researched and played on symbolism to carry the lore while also giving distinctive styles to each character's speech to expose their feelings and background.

For the conference, I suggested how to connect all perspectives to an organic telling of the process, aligned with the requests of the festival

The dialogues were given a progression based on the gameplay growing challenges: from the introductory dialogues to the pressing doubts on faith and belonging the Saints struggle with.

The dialogues' parts were all auto-conclusive and their general theme is maintained as the sole thread: the player doesn't feel disoriented while reading them regardless of the order they read them in.

Based on the lore, research, and synopsis, each character was designed and fully developed based on their corresponding archetype and the essential style of the game (no cutscenes, complex animations, or fights between the Saints). 

• • • Edel's noble nature and pedant loyalty to the Bishopric make her voice and style courtly. Most of her thinking process is expressed through (invented) verses of the Sacred Scriptures; this is also a tool to signal to the player the moments when she struggles with her faith; 

    • Violet's disillusioned perspective on power and greed is represented by her colloquial style that is direct and ironic; 

    • Aliza is seeking a balance between scientific curiosity and faith, which actually reveals her sensitivity and constant need to ask questions. This allows the player to have certain questions exposed, with all their implications.

I used a Milanote Board to collect all information, deadlines and brainstorming results, highlighting the keywords to use in the script.

There are many ways to tell a story about spirituality and religion, especially in games in which the player story will be part of the experience

You can have a complex, mature, and layered writing style in a game with essential, retro-gaming aesthetics and tools: this contrast will be engaging for the player who experiences both and seeks deeper meaning.

Design branching dialogue: the player chooses how to develop her personality and leads to different endings accordingly.

Design quests according to the game pillars: music, friendship, time loops, depression, and nostalgia. 

Create a solid ground for a story-driven and dialogue-based game, and suggest mechanics that could be implemented in the dialogues.

Three main dialogue options: spoiled and negative; stoic, reasonable, curious; highly sensitive, empathic.

Starting the quest from simple tasks, such as delivering food or checking on a pet, to then create a climax of events based on the characters’ emotions and reactions, giving the player the chance to build the main character’s personality.

I have taken the placeholders as reference point to meet the game designer's (the commissioner) expectations.

I've given a distinctive voice to each player-character's attitude in order to give space to player agency. 

I connected the three main behaviours to three endings: 

• the bad ending (that is connected to the negative and selfish choices); 

• the good ending (reflecting a more stoic and reflective view of the end of the world);

• the perfect ending (going way beyond just fighting the threat, but understanding the villain on an emotional level).

I've written a synopsis and designed flowcharts for the quests, keeping in mind that, if they had just one possible outcome, they were necessarily rich in possible emotional responses from the main character. The first encounter with the villain is an exception: the fortune-telling determines how the Princess feels about the uncertainties of her destiny, giving more space to the player's freedom of role-playing and immersion.

The basis of branching narrative design: how it can be incredibly fulfilling for the writer as for the player, but it has to be contextualised so that the consequences are always visible to the player. 

It is better to show your drafts and experiment sooner than to show what seems perfect later.

The main character and the scientist, her companion, improvise a ghost story together: combinations of keywords lead to over 50 different finales, all of them metaphorically representing the three endings of the game. We've called them the Ghost Stories, and I personally see them as my lesson on overscoping. There is no way one player will know more than two of them; this means that I worked very hard on a piece of writing that can hardly be experienced fully, providing too many (invisible) choices and branches. I learned how essential it is to optimize the narrative and your energy, regardless of how enthusiastic you can get about your work.

This was my first commitment to narrative writing and design. I guess what I learned was how much I enjoyed it, how hard it can be, and how amazing it can feel.