Hello there!
My name is Gustavo Cardoso Borges, and I am a Brazilian senior student at the Savannah College of Art and Design, majoring in Game Design.
My specialty is system design, though I also plan to work as a combat designer in the future. I have experience with Unreal Engine, Blueprinting, Pro Tools, Substance Painter, Photoshop, and Maya.
Although I only realized my passion for system design in the late winter quarter of 2025, I am eager to learn more, as I have always had a passion for sketching/developing ideas for the mechanics of games I played. Some of my favorite genres are multiplayer games, be it online/couch co-op, and most platformers.
Some of my favorite games are Splatoon 2, Overwatch, Hollow Knight, Mario Odyssey, and, for a more nostalgic pick, I would say the Skylanders franchise as a whole.
I hope to be the creative director of a game someday, though for now, I really hope to work for Blizzard on Overwatch.
Water Engine is a platformer with a focus on speed, inspired by such games as Neon White and Mario Odyssey. In it, you get a little taste of a singular level, introducing you to the mechanics, with the level design focusing on non-linear progression, allowing the player to find creative ways to finish the game faster to beat their own high score.
This game takes place on Oasis, a sunlit world of endless pools. Within its depths, sludge beasts rise to clog and take its splendor. Is it only defense? Engineers, protectors of the water engine. Play as The Engineer, one of its protectors, as you use swing, slide, and unclog its cylinders to defeat the Mother Gunk to restore the pool’s water.
Blueprinting done by me.
Monster designs and models made by me
Materials were gathered from FAB.
MC & enemy materials made by me
This was a personal project of mine that I worked on over the summer, in which I recreated, analyzed, and reworked the Petal Platform ability from the Overwatch Support hero Life Weaver from Overwatch 2.
I know the argument of Life Weaver being a flawed hero has been made often, but as someone who mains him, I feel like most feedback towards him can be improved upon.
As I often see, people want to essentially change him into a meta-defying hero with 0 drawbacks or slightly tweak his numbers, which often doesn't really address his biggest issue.
Life Weaver suffers from being a jack of some trades and a master of none. So in this project, I decided to rework one of his more niche abilities, utility-wise. Creating 10 different possible paths the devs could take to change it into something less niche while keeping the main idea of the original ability and some of its synergies in mind.
All blueprinting was done by me with help and advice from others.
Both the concept art for the Petal Platform and the music used in the video are owned by Overwatch and in no way of my own making.
ALL ASSETS WERE GATHERED FROM FAB AND WERE NOT MODELED BY ME.
MuZic is a low-poly rhythm-based platformer in which you play as Sprite, an electrical music fae living in a large city whose sole duty is to create songs through electricity.
In this game, Sprite tries to help a group in the park by recharging their powerless boom box, but his act awakens Spritz, a stone music fae who vows to stop him from ever reaching their picnic.
Dash around and possess electronics as Sprite in first person while he traverses the park, and its many obstacles, be it of stone or OSHA violations.
All blueprinting was done by me with help and advice from others.
Songs used are in no way owned by me and are purely for concepting.
Sprite and Spritz designs and model were made by me
MOST ASSETS WERE GATHERED FROM FAB AND WERE NOT MODELED BY ME.
Claymotion is a platformer where you play as Squimbus, a clay dragon with a deluded sense of grandiose and one goal in mind: ascending to the top of the mountain and becoming an unstoppable, mighty dragon. In this project, I worked as both the Level Designer and Sound Designer, editing sounds and creating the level structure in both sketching and Unreal Engine. Songs used are in no way owned by me and are purely for concepting.
Styx is an endless runner where you play as Styx, the guide to spirits, as he goes through his river so the spirits he guides may rest. In this project, through MakeCode Arcade, I worked as its programmer.
In this project, I took a cutscene from Zenless Zone Zero, a gacha hack-and-slash action-based RPG, replacing its audio completely with my own edited audio.
Ooga Bunga is a co-op board game where players act as cavemen, using a limited but growing vocabulary while gathering resources through the board, and crafting items, so they may all survive the apocalypse. In this project, I aided in the creation of the board and the special power cards through its making.
Cookie Parade is a casual battle royale board game where the player gets to choose 1 out of 5 different cookie kingdoms. Cast crunch spells and fight other players while raiding their bases to regain your magical chips to become powerful enough to destroy them and remain as the last player standing.
This project was a concept for a possible backrooms/poolrooms inspired game with all models, decals, and audios created by me for this video or gathered from freesound website before editing. In it we see as an unknown person camera in hand goes through this strange place with no cryptids strangely in sight and drawings made from what appears to be non-human blood.
Starball is a concept for a Rocket League-like multiplayer game where the player would have the choice between different magical monsters to brawl in an intense football-like match, so they may earn points and evolve, changing their abilities to fit their playstyle. This game would end when one player has scored 5 points by hitting the starball into the enemy goal twice. First to break its protective barrier and second to score the goal.
Concept sketches I drew up for fan-made original characters for the popular hero shooter "Overwatch 2". These are not based on existing or playable characters and are original concepts by me.
Concept sketch for the juggernaut to join Marvel Rivals as a a vanguard. As Juggernaut, you play an aggressive brawler vanguard who uses unstoppable momentum and strong health regeneration to push enemies back. Your primary attack lets you dive in and draw attention, while your secondary attack redirects your charge toward a target, allows you to throw a Stone Pike at foes on high ground or in the air, and helps you manage momentum charges to optimize your bonus health generation.
Dragon Island is a third-person open-world puzzle-solving sandbox. Play as the new dragon god of joy, as they explore unlocking mystic powers from relics and gadgets to regain their true power as the ruler and protector of the Prismatic Isles. Explore different areas and switch between modes inspired by other multiplayer/couch co-op games. (possible future passion project)
EMAIL: gutticborg@gmail.com
Phone: +1 (912) 482-9055 | +34 629 38 85 24
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavo-cardoso-borges-b27451304/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scolipede_2004/