Hey, I'm Leo, welcome to my page! Here I will show you my progress through the adventure I've been dreaming of since I was a kid: Being a Video Game Producer and Designer.
I'm a disciplined and creative guy who strives to constantly improve and keep learning about the different areas that are involved in the development of a video game. Despite being focused on the production and design, I believe knowing about everything, even topics outside video games, will provide me with a better foundation to do my job!
I focus on creating experiences that are enjoyable and memorable, as the games that influenced me as a kid. I believe in video games' potential beyond just entertainment, and I strive to bring it out in every project I participate in.
Blast Course
Producer, designer and writer.
February 2023 - September 2024
Blast Course is a first-person platformer centered around the classic game mechanic of Rocket Jumping. Control Kit in a day at work testing "Hyperboom", a revolutionary transport technology based on explosives. Overcome four different levels with the help of your own "Hyperboom" and its set of modifications while testing the viability of this new product.
Mandado
Producer, designer and main programmer.
MalagaJam Weekend 18 - July 2024
Mandado is a small game created for Malaga Jam Weekend 18. In it, two players compete to be the first to free themselves. The other player will decide the attempts you have to make your escape each round using a die.
Who are You, Really?
Designer and writer.
February 2023 - December 2024
Who are you Really is a gamified version of a popular test used in work environments to analyze personalities: The DISC test. Through a "choose your own adventure" narrative players will help the members of a small village solve a mystery to then receive an extensive analysis and the results of the test.
Myrmica
QA Tester
September 2024 - November 2024
Myrmica is an investigation game set in a petrol station where players will have to solve a mystery while being hunted by a time anomaly. Talk to the crew, use the time loops in your advantage and solve the mystery before it gets you killed.
In-depth information on my projects
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Blast Course is a project developed during my last year of my Bachelor's degree at U-Tad along with some of my classmates. We were a small team of four students of the Interactive Product Design degree and three from the Animation one as the main team. However, we worked with other students and people outside the University to achieve a well-rounded final product.
Blast Course originated as an ode to Rocket Jumping, a classic mechanic beloved by a huge part of the gaming community. We focused on bringing it back as the main mechanic and simplifying it, so players could have a blast using it to solve different kinesthetic puzzles.
The level design of the game is greatly inspired by the Portal series. We wanted to design levels that could allow players to explore different ways of solving the situations presented with the four different types of rockets the game provides them with.
Lastly, the narrative is simple but effective to act as a guide through the four different levels of the game. Players will control Kit in his first day of work at The Interesting Company, where he has to test their newest transport technology: "Hyperboom". This device intends to bring a revolution to how people move by using explosives.
MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT
Being such a small group, we all had to wear many hats during the development. However, everyone had an area of expertise according to their skills.
During the development of Blast Course I was the producer, as well as part of the design team and the writer of the narrative.
As a producer I had several main tasks such as:
Managing the assignment of tasks of the team using tools such as Jira.
Talking with external members such as the composer, providing them with information, needed documents and instructions, as well as maintaining an open communication.
Presenting the team with decisions such as eliminating content when I saw the first indicators of not having enough time to keep the stablished quality for the game in all of its areas.
Being the face of the team when needed, such as in press presentations. You can see us in pages such as Vandal and HobbyConsolas.
As a designer and writer I was also in charge of:
Creating and updating design documentation.
Defining the concept of the narrative and writing the script.
Initiating the level design progress by providing to the level designer a concept of the areas that could be included.
Taking part on team decisions such as the design of the mechanics of the different rockets or the elements of each level, the order of introduction of said elements inside the game and similar decisions.
Overall, working in the development of Blast Course has given me a new perspective on the creation process of games that I could not have gained otherwise, no matter how much I studied. Working with other people, with their own personal issues and tasks to attend has allowed me to learn how to assign tasks in an effective way, avoiding burn out by being close to all the members to understand when I could ask more from them or when I needed to give them a break.
Despite having a long way until being a skilled producer, I believe Blast Course gave me the oportunity to really comprehend what skills I need to work on, as well as the ones I can be more confident about.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Mandado is a game a group of friends and I developed for Malaga Jam Weekend 18. The topic was "de mal en peor", a spanish saying which means "going from bad to worse". With this premise, we ended up creating Mandado: A competitive experience for 2 players in three days using Unity.
In it, they will be playing the classical knife game, where you have to avoid cuting youself while stabing a knife between your fingers. However, Mandado has a twist. To fit the premise, we decided that players will need to cut their fingers before their opponent, to free themselves and eliminate the other. As they achieve to cut their fingers, their vision becomes blurry, their pulse trembles and they move faster, making it more difficult to hit the target.
One player will roll a die, which will indicate how many attempts has their opponent to try and cut one of their fingers before their turn ends. With this, we wanted to include an extra feeling of competition by being able to "mess" with your friend even if the die's result is ruled by randomness.
MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT
Our group was made up of six artists (three of them specialised in 2D art and the other three in 3D art) and myself. I was the only one with technical knowledge about game design as well as the only one with programming knowledge. During the development I acted as the producer and the main programmer, and worked with the other members to design the game, providing insight from a designer perspective when needed.
As a producer I found myself facing a big challenge: Creating a game with a team made up of artists and with a limited knowledge about programming.
I distributed tasks to have everyone working on something by dividing the team into 2D and 3D.
Guided one of the 2D artists so he could act as support in the programming area if needed.
Managed times to be able to finish the game in the limited time frame we had without burning out.
As a designer and main programmer I was also in charge of:
Directing the brainstorming session to lead the team to something fun to play and achievable with the available resources.
Managing the source control software used, which was GitHub, so there were no problems with having different members working on the Unity project.
Programming the logic of the game and the main scripts.
Working in the development of Mandado was a personal challenge, as I am not skilled in any way when talking about coding and programming. It taught me valuable lessons, being the most important for me to know when to ask for help if needed. I learned that sometimes, bumping your head against the same wall for hours is not the most efficient way to progress (duh!), and there is nothing that make you less worthy when you ask for help from others!
The experience of going to a Game Jam such as Malaga Jam was incredible. There were many talented and kind developers that came together to enjoy the weekend that, despite it being a challenging experience professionally speaking, I left feeling full of joy and love for video games.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Who are You, Really? is the result of trying to gamify a assessment to analyze personalities in a work environment, known as the DISC assessment. To do this, we decided to create a text-based game with a "choose your own adventure" approach. The player will see themselves involved in a series of situations that they will need to overcome by selecting between the options given. These are the situations used to analyze their decisions to then asign them a personality type, while they enjoy the story of the game.
The village of Fuenteventura is on the verge of being destroyed by a real state agency and only you can save them! By directing a group of villagers with crazy and unsuspected abilities, you can uncover the mystery of Fuenteventura that will save it.
The development team was made up of five members: Two programmers, one artists and two designers. We were under the management of Belén Gómez, a renowed game designer inside the gamification world in Spain.
MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT
As a designer and writer I:
Contributed to the overall game design, ensuring that the gameplay was aligned with the DISC assessment's objectives for the analysis of personalities in work environments.
Wrote and adapted the narrative, integrating the questions from the DISC assessment into the game.
Created and maintained project documentation to ensure clear communication between the team.
Being able to work in a project like this was an enriching experience for me. Since I started my game design studies I fell in love with gamification, and during the development of Who are You, Really? I was able to learn about different techniques and approaches when designing experiences of this kind.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Myrmica is an investigation and puzzle adventure viewed from an isometric perspective. Explore a petrol station while chased by a time anomaly. Manipulate the routines of 5 unique characters to achieve your goal, create your situations trapped in a time loop, and uncover the truth of Complex B13B.
The year is 2058. In a dystopic future where the USA leads as the de facto only world power, play as Liv: An agent of the S.I.N (Supernatural Investigations Network). You will be sent to an oil station in the middle of the Pacific, stuck in 1982. Your mission? Discover what’s causing problems in the system so the station can continue working without being noticed. But this place is full of secrets and Liv is just a cog in the machine.
Explore a petrol station (Complex B13B) full of secrets and mysteries. The environment and the people who live in it will react to your actions and the events happening at the station. Rooms, lights, dialogues, and so much more will change... with time. Explore and test the possibilities of the time loop while making your way to uncover the truth.
MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT
I joined the development of Myrmica almost at the end of production, just for a month. During this month I fullfiled the role of QA Tester for the game.
The hardest challenge was to adapt to the methodologies and workflows of the already existing team in such a short period of time. However, in just a few days, I was completing my tasks as expected.
As a tester I:
Conducted extensive playtesting sessions to identify bugs and performance issues. The main objective was to find errors in the logic of the time loop, meaning sentences that should not be said, characters not remembering something they should, etc.
Provided detailed notes on bugs with screen recordings or screenshots to help clarify the issue.
Reported and tracked bugs using HacknPlan, ensuring a clear description of issues so the time could solve them as quickly as possible.
Contributed to the project through consistent feedback.
Despite being in this project for just one month, it was a great experience to learn more about QA testing. I used my time in Myrmica to improve my skills and find more efficient ways of conducting this sessions, as well as practicing my conciseness and clarity when reporting a bug.