I’m an Italian game designer, born in 1985, currently based in Milan, Italy.
In 2010 I co-founded the indie game studio Santa Ragione, in 2014 I defended my PhD in Interaction Design, and in 2016 I started a manifesto for nontraditional game design called rejecta.
This is my portfolio of games and other endeavours.
A selection of the games I worked on that are currently for sale
or the result of professional collaborations.
Escape From the Aliens In Outer Space is a card game of strategy and bluff set on a badly damaged deep space research ship.
A narrative road trip game set in the roaring Italian 70s, it tells the story of Lella, a restless woman driving on the roads of the western coast of Italy.
Asta Grande is a drop-in, drop-out crowd game for 30 people. Winner of the IndieCade 2018 Innovation in Experience Design Award.
A tribute to video rentals and great movies from the 90s. We want to convey what it is like to explore a collection of forgotten gems.
An adaptation of Camus' 1942 novel "The Stranger". The game interaction simulates the protagonist's recollection of the events that lead to the trial.
A VR narrative game protoype in which you are accused of a terrible crime that gets reconstructed in real-time.
A downloadable virtual exhibition of video games created by some of the world’s most renowned independent game designers.
A game about books, real books: how they feel, the paper they are made of, the beautiful covers that get worn-out after many reads.
A game based on history, comedy, and the love for Milan, in which players compose poems in a beautiful villa at the beginning of the 19th century.
My master’s degree thesis project in the form of a boardgame for designers that want to make games that are accessible to the visually impaired.
A game that explores the representation of sex in interactive media, in an effort to use technological limitations to in an expressive way.
An experimental arcade game in which two players share a controller to guide two little ships connected by a rod.
Designing Playful Artifacts – The exploration of play as a process and the limited role of the designer is the PhD thesis I defended in March 2014. Today, successful games are made in genres and about topics that defy traditions of an industry rooted in action and fantasy settings. This dissertation argues that many of these games share common elements – namely, the absence of stated objectives, and the presence of interaction that is not task or objective-driven. My aim was to provide a framework for creating games that rely on player initiative in a way that is not objective-driven.
2018 Umberto Eco Center for IS – “The Problem with Interactive Adaptations”.
2018 Svilupparty – “Eight Years of Santa Ragione”.
2018 Drama Lab – “Dramaturgy and Game Design”.
2017 Subotron – “Building Tools and Audience for Non-Traditional Games”.
2017 ScreenShake – “How To Abandon Traditional Video Games”.
2016 GDS Conference – “New Perspectives on Game Curation”.
2016 IndieCade Europe – “A new manifesto for non-traditional game design”.
2016 GDC Europe – “Innovative Games Showcase”.
2015 Clash of Realities – "Designing An Italian Game About Italy"
2015 The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference – “DOING philosophy"
2014 The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference – IGP Panel
2014 GDC Europe – “MirrorMoon EP: A True Sci-Fi Game Postmortem”.
2014 GALA Conference – “Beyond Gambling Temptations”.
2013 Arse Elektronika – “Awkward Sex, Exploring the Uncanny Valley”.
2012 GDC Europe – “Games Happen: Design Lessons in MirrorMoon & Fotonica”.
2012 GDC – Experimental Gameplay Sessions.
2012 VS-Games – “The Unimportance of Flawless Game Mechanics”.
2012 ECREA pre-conference – “Exotic Orientation Systems as Gameplay Devices”.
2012 Italian GAME Journal – “Designing Non-Objective Oriented Games”.
2011 Swiss Design Network – “[Game Mechanics] & [Phenomena in Cognitive and Social Psychology]: Experiments in Emotional Design for Communication”.
2011 Com. a Misura d’Uomo – “Visual Impairment and Digital Entertainment”
2010 Luce su Luce – “Designing Entertainment”.
2010 Dataflow Vol.2 – “This is Living!”.
This is my full CV, an exhaustive list of everything I have been up to, my publications, teaching experiences, etcetera.
2018 IndieCade Innovation in Experience Design Award.
2016 IGF Nuovo Award HM.
2016 A Maze Awards Most Amazing Game Grand Prize Finalist.
2016 IndieCade Festival Official Nom.
2015 IGF Excellence in Audio HM.
2014 Apple Best of App Store.
2014 Golden Dragon Art Achievement.
2014 Fantastic Arcade Spotlight Game.
2014 SXSW Gamer’s Voice Award Nom.
2013 IGF Nuovo Award Nom.
2012 Indiecade Selection.
2017 Mojo Nation.
2017 NYU Game Center.
2016 Inverse.
2016 Gamasutra.
2016 Gamer de pere en fils (French).
2015 Gamasutra.
2014 GAME Magazine.
2014 Gamasutra.
2014 VentureBeat.
2013 ANIMAL New York.
2013 Le Monde.
2013 Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
2013 Polygon.
2012 TheVerge.
2012 Unity3D Blog.
2012 Uncommon Assembly.
2011 VentureBeat.
2011 True PC Gaming.
2017 New York – No Quarter, NYU Game Center.
2016 Chicago – MCA Studio: Interactive Collective One.
2016 London – WordPlay.
2015 Austin – Fantastic Arcade Spotlight Premiere.
2014 Paris – La Gaîté Lyrique.
2014 Kyoto – Bit Summit MMXIV.
2011 Venice – 54th International Biennial of Art.
2011 New York – Kill Screen Videogame Film Festival.
2011 Berlin – Delta.
2011 Stockholm – FFeaturing.