The Project
Last Day of June, a BAFTA-nominated interactive tale of love and loss, is a 3rd person narrative adventure game for PC and Playstation 4.
A collaborative effort between Ovosonico, the musician Steven Wilson and 505 Games.
the work
Game Designer
Wrote the story with Lead Designer and Creative Director.
Technical writing for various documentation.
Various copywriting such as Achievements and their implentation, including translation.
Worked with Lead Animator to create storyboards.
Directed voice actors to get desired emotional impact.
Prototyped mechanics and stories in and out of engine.
Implemetation of design and story using in-house tools.
Playtesting, QA and Bug hunting/fixing.
Level Designer
Created various level blockouts for the game.
Tweaked camera and character controllers for better feel.
Modified existing level structure to tweak gameplay and puzzles and accomodate various changes.
Worked with Lead Artist to ensure changes in environment are both beautiful and do not conflict with Design.
Worked on early collision passes.
Voice Actor
Voiced the protagonist, Carl.
What I learned
I worked from June 2016 to June 2017 as a contractor for Ovosonico in Varese, Italy to help complete the game with the Lead Designer, Mattia Traverso. In the small team, I learned from top to tail the details of shipping a console title.
In the beginning, my work was focused on story and technical writing. Using various software such as yEd and Twine, I prototyped and tested out various mechanics that tell the story to help the Lead Designer and Creative Director understand the options and pick a direction.
Later, I worked in-engine for the level design and general design implementation. I worked to clarify and simplify an existing bloated system for doors, unifying it into a single language for the players. I was in close collaboration with the artists to ensure that the design was portrayed properly.
I was initially set to only voice the character temporarily, but after a successful first session, the creative director chose to continue having me voice the protagonist.
By the end, I was primarily focused on QA and bug hunting/fixing. However, I was still taking charge of various design tasks such as the copywriting and full implementation of Achievements.