Éric Bisceglia

Game designer

Lives in Paris, France
Born August 26th, 1988
Making games since 2002
Version française disponible

Lives in Paris, France
Born August 26th, 1988
Making games since 2002
Version française disponible

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Released games

2024
2023
2023
2022
2006
2006
2006
2005
2005
2005
2004
2004
2003
2003
2002

Future Invaders
Tributes
Bad Tutorial
Void
NRM Online
NoBlemeRPG
Monster arcade
Brain Heater
NRM Card Fight
God's Hand Flash
Unreal Melee
Stock Exchange
God's Hand
Trap Dodgers
Mini TD

Collectible card game
3D movement challenge
3D movement tutorial
3D movement challenge
Browser tactical MMO
IRC tabletop adventures
Flash game collection
Flash logic puzzle
Flash card game
Flash mouse masher
Warcraft III FPShooter
Warcraft III trading sim
Warcraft III mouse masher
Warcraft III obstacle course
Warcraft III tower defense

Card game
3D obstacle course
3D tutorial
3D obstacle course
Browser MMO
IRC tabletop
Flash collection
Flash logic puzzle
Flash card game
Flash mouse masher
WC3 FPShooter
WC3 trading sim
WC3 mouse masher
WC3 obstacle course
WC3 tower defense

Design ; Printing
Design ; 3D modeling
Design ; 3D modeling
Design ; 3D modeling
Design ; Coding ; Maintenance
Design ; Coding ; Maintenance
Design ; Coding ; Graphics
Design ; Coding ; Graphics
Design ; Coding ; Graphics
Design ; Coding ; Graphics
Design ; Triggers ; Coding
Design ; Triggers
Design ; Triggers
Design ; Triggers
Design ; Triggers

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Skillset

Game design
Game building
Tech skills
Languages
Strengths
Experience

Designing systems - Iterating & Balancing - Drafting game design documents
Using gamedev tools - 3D level modeling - Writing lore and worldbuilding
Software architecture - Cybersecurity - ITIL & Change management
Native french speaker - Fluent in english - Used to international teams
Managing teams - Customer facing & communication - Zen at all times
Over 20 years making games - Over 15 years in tech - Quick to learn and adapt

Design
Building
Skills
Languages
Strengths
Experience

Creating systems - Iterating & Balancing
Game dev. tools - 3D level modeling
Architecture - Cybersecurity - ITIL
Native french - Fluent english
Managing teams - Communication
Over 20 years in games & 15 in tech

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Personal word

I grew up around tabletop games and computers. Playing wasn't enough, I always felt the drive to understand the systems and mechanics behind games, then learned how to make my own. After a 15 year hiatus during which I focused on my tech career, I decided to come back to my core passion: game design.

For any query unrelated to game design, you can see my tech consulting CV and portfolio.

I am always open to meeting new people and exploring new challenges.

Feel free to add and/or contact me on my LinkedIn page.

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Portfolio

Future Invaders

Collectible card game

2024 - Ongoing

Channel your inner strategist in this science fiction collectible card game. Any number of players can draft an arsenal of cards and challenge each other to a game of Future Invaders, battling their opponents with futuristic spaceships until only one player remains standing. Fast paced games with plenty of interactive choices will test your sense of strategy and your deckbuilding skills.

Game design document:

• A comprehensive design document has been written for the game
• Covers every aspect of the game's designs, mechanics, and lore in detail
• Includes examples of cards, various pictures, and some gameplay videosk
• You can read Future Invader's game design document by clicking here

Features:

• Quick game sessions with a high replay value
• Two players are required, there is no maximum number of players
• You can play with your pre-built optimized decks, or in draft mode for more chaotic games
• Core set of 125 different cards with unique keywords and mechanics
• Future sets are already designed, with new game changing concepts introduced in each set
• Simple but enthralling lore and worldbuilding reveal themselves through the flavorful cards
• Four different factions with unique playstyles: Terrans, Invaders, Organics, and Pirates
• A fifth Neutral faction fills the design holes of the other four main factions
• An income curve forces your decks to include both cheap cards and end game powerhouses
• Card balance is constantly being optimized thanks to feedback from playtesters

Pitch:

• Quick to learn, hard to master
• Fewer rules than the average collectible card game
• Little equipment required: 30 cards and a few dice or counters are all you need
• Unique mechanics combining original ideas with the best aspects of other card games
• Targets a casual to midcore audience at first, thanks to its smooth learning curve
• Hardcore players will be onboarded with further set releases, introducing more complex mechanics
• Strict design restrictions purposefully avoiding the "unfun" aspects of other card games
• Hard science-fiction is an underused theme in the non-franchised card game market
• Years of future core sets already planned and designed
• Bilingual (english & french), with room for more languages
• Playtested to universal acclaim, by new and experienced players alike

Roadmap:

• Future Invaders is currently unpublished, I am actively looking for a publisher
• The core set is finished and ready to be published
• Large amounts of balancing iterations and playtesting are continuously being made
• Card design is near final but still a prototype, needs to be updated by a graphics designer
• Card illustrations currently use generated art, which needs to be replaced with proper illustrations
• A game manual currently exists in card format, needs to be reworked as a paper booklet
• Printing, publishing, marketing, and release will be the final steps
• Card boosters with new unique cards to be published yearly or twice a year, to keep the game fresh
• New core sets with new major mechanics to be published yearly, to grow a dedicated playerbase

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Tributes

3D movement challenge

2023

Try to master the complex movements of the Urban Terror game engine including jumps, strafes, wall bounces, and slides, in order to reach the end of three different obstacle courses. Each of them is a tribute to decade old obstacle courses built in the same game engine, remastered and redesigned to be more challenging, more balanced, and better adapted to current player skill levels.

• Entirely free to play
• Requires the game Urban Terror
• 3D level modeling done on NetRadiant
• Available for download on UrT jump maps
• Players start the game in a hub, from which they can select one of three challenges
• Each step of these challenges can be completed at your own pace, checkpoints allow unlimited tries
• Aimed at players already familiar with movement in the the Urban Terror game engine
• Smooth difficulty curve makes it accessible to beginners, but they will likely eventually get stuck
• Secret areas incentivize hunting for subtly hidden ways to climb on the scenery
• Timers and checkpoints allow for competitive speedrunning, records are tracked on UrT jump maps
• Selected as one of the challenges used in the URT Jump Cup Season 1 speedrunning competition

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Bad Tutorial

3D movement tutorial

2023

Learn the complex movements of the Urban Terror game engine including jumps, strafes, wall bounces, ice slides, ladder climbs, and much more. Presented as an obstacle course, this tutorial will gradually become more and more challenging, requiring you to master the skills you are learning in order to pass its final test and complete the challenge.

• Entirely free to play
• Requires the game Urban Terror
• 3D level modeling done on NetRadiant
• Available for download on UrT jump maps
• Each step of the tutorial can be completed at your own pace, checkpoints allow unlimited tries
• Aimed at players not yet familiar with movement in the the Urban Terror game engine
• Prepares players for harder challenges such as Tributes and Void
• Low difficulty curve makes it very accessible and finishable by anyone willing to try hard enough
• Although there are written hints, the level design incentivizes learning by trying
• Timers and checkpoints allow for competitive speedrunning, records are tracked on UrT jump maps

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Void series

3D movement challenge

2022 - 2023

Try to master the complex movements of the Urban Terror game engine including jumps, strafes, wall bounces, and slides, in order to reach the end of multiple harsh obstacle courses. Visit the Void, a mysterious world without color, then continue your adventure through the Void Archives which contain six different themed challenge runs of increasing difficulty.

• Entirely free to play
• Requires the game Urban Terror
• 3D level modeling done on NetRadiant
• Void is available for download on UrT jump maps
• Void Archives is also available for download on UrT jump maps
• Aimed at players already familiar with movement in the the Urban Terror game engine
• Void includes a short tutorial for beginners, although playing Bad Tutorial instead is recommended
• Harsh difficulty curve means beginners are likely to get stuck quickly
• Each step of these challenges can be completed at your own pace, checkpoints allow unlimited tries
• The Void Archives include five themed challenge runs and a hidden sixth much harder obstacle course
• Timers and checkpoints allow for competitive speedrunning, records are tracked on UrT jump maps

NRM Online

Browser based tactical MMO

2006 - 2008

Take on the role of a mecha pilot and join the ultimate robot fighting tournament, the NoBleme Robot Mayhem. Pick your favorite battle suit, challenge other players to turn based tactical fights, earn credits through victories, and use them to upgrade your mecha. Decide when to use your mecha's unique skills against each of your opponents, and hope you guessed their strategies correctly, as they might attack you while you're away! Only the most skilled pilot will survive the grueling month-long tournament and be crowned NRM champion… could that pilot be you?

Features:

• Entirely free to play
• Browser based, nothing needs to be installed before you start playing
• Bespoke illustrations for each mecha drawn by Pins
• Limited number of actions each day act as an efficient anti-addiction measure
• Massive tactical depth, with a large number of pilots, mechas, abilities, and upgrades to combine
• Learn by playing: despite its complexity, the game is designed to be intuitive and requires no tutorial
• Near infinite learning curve: the more you learn, the more there is left to discover
• Get familiar with other players as you battle them, make new friends through the messaging system
• Learn other players' strategies and figure out ways to counter them, always changing and adapting
• Monthly seasons introduce new game changing features and major balance updates
• Season winners get immortalized in the hall of fame
• Many third party tools designed by players can help you optimize your builds and strategy

Technology:

• Back-end coded in vanilla procedural PHP with a MySQL database
• Front-end built in HTML with almost no JS - the early 2000s were a different time!
• Two Apache servers shared the load, season 18 peaked over a hundred simultaneous players!
• A team of two extra volunteer developers helped with finding and fixing bugs

Postmortem:

• Shut down after three years in 2008 due to a dwindling playerbase and high hosting costs
• The playerbase kept growing, then started losing players soon after I stopped delivering new features
• Implementation of new features should have be prepared months in advance to leave time for testing
• Monthly seasons require monthly new features, working under such a schedule is a full time job
• This could have been prevented by doing longer seasons and recycling older season themes
• The hosting costs were growing exponentially as player count increased
• Eventually, monetization would have become necessary to subsidize ever growing hosting costs
• This could have been financed by voluntary donations or an optional subscription model
• Designing a live service game is an amazing experience, full of lessons waiting to be learned

NoBlemeRPG

Text-based role-playing adventure over IRC

2006 - 2015

The strange lands of NoBleme are filled with mysteries. A group of adventurers joined forces to work for The Oracle, an invisible being who offers increasingly suspicious jobs in exchange for great rewards. If you join these adventurers on their missions, will you merely accept the rewards, or will you try to figure out what The Oracle is up to? Sign up to take one of the limited slots available each play session, in which I act as the game master, and players interact through text chat, over IRC. The rich world of the NoBlemeRPG is one of wacky adventures, tense battles, fantastic rewards, hilarious banter, and a big mystery waiting to be solved.

Features:

• Entirely free to play
• All you need is an IRC chat client and your keyboard
• Comedy-oriented role-playing game guarantees a good time full of laughs
• Play sessions announced a week in advance leave you time to prepare your evening
• Extremely interactive game world, players are allowed to do literally anything they want
• Simple battle system based on dice rolls and strategic choices
• 1 to 3 months long story arcs followed by 3 to 6 months breaks paces players, avoids overexposure
• The main story arc spanned over 10 years, and ended with a satisfying conclusion to the whole game
• Complex game master interface capable of reading, interpreting, and sending messages over IRC

Technology:

• Back-end relies entirely on a FileMaker database
• Hooks allowing controlling random events coded in vanilla C
• Hooks allowing interactions between the back-end and IRC coded in vanilla C and Perl
• Game master front-end uses FileMaker's interactive views, using FileMaker Script for interactions
• No player front-end required, as the IRC protocol natively handles sending and displaying text messages

Postmortem:

• Shut down after ten years in 2015 after the main story arc concluded
• Giving players time to breathe and think about the game between story arcs was key to player retention
• Allowing infinite player freedom in the game world meant too much work was spent coding edge cases
• The game world's rules should have been less lenient, not too strict but not infinitely free
• Game sessions were longer to prepare than they were to play, but nothing can alleviate that work
• Being game master to a satisfied player base is an amazing experience, full of positive lessons

Monster Arcade

Flash game collection

2006

Ten different Flash games, bundled in one package. All of your gaming abilities will be tested, from your mouse and keyboard skills to your logic and your patience. Progress in the first three games to earn stars, which allow you to unlock more games, in which you can earn more stars to unlock even more games!

• Entirely free to play
• Sadly unplayable due to Flash's demise and the game's built-in copyright protection
• Ten games in one, covering a wide range of genres
• Unlocking all the games and bonus content incentivizes you to keep progressing
• Reuses four previously published games featuring brand new level designs
• Six brand new minigames are exclusive to this game collection
• Hand-drawn assets ensures that all games use a similar visual style
• An optional built-in music player keeps you company while you play

Brain Heater series

Flash logic puzzle games

2006

Find your way through treacherous grids made of Xs and Os. Thinking ahead of time is required, as each level is trickier than the previous one. Can you escape the seemingly unending mazes, or will your brain overheat?

• Entirely free to play
• Sadly unplayable due to Flash's demise and the game's built-in copyright protection
• All the puzzles are designed to be complex at first glance, but easy and fun to figure out
• Unlimited tries on each level lets you learn the game through experimentation and failure
• Mechanics are progressively introduced as you beat levels, adding complexity to the core gameplay loop
• Hundreds of levels split through three different games
• Brain Heater introduces the series with simple levels and few mechanics
• Ultimate Brain Heater adds more levels and more mechanics
• Brain Heater Action Pack includes the previous two games along with new levels

NRM Card Fight

Flash card battling game

2005

Made as a teaser preview for the future NRM Online, this minimalistic card battling game has you choosing between randomly given cards to increase your power and defeat your AI controlled opponent. A simple promotional game, it includes a bit of worldbuilding lore, which set up the foundations for the NRM Online.

• Entirely free to play
• Sadly unplayable due to Flash's demise and the game's built-in copyright protection
• Simple minigame with very few rules, but decent tactical complexity
• The gameplay loop is short, addictive, and full of surprises
• Includes a gallery of artworks, which would later be used in the NRM Online

God's Hand series

Flash & Warcraft III mouse mashing games

2003-2005

Spanning two different media, the God's Hand series has you playing the role of various deities trying to defend their realms from invaders, by mashing your mouse button in a top down view. Can you stop the seemingly infinite waves of advancing creatures and machines, or will you fall to the threat?

Features:

• Entirely free to play
• Addictive mouse mashing gameplay with extra mechanics appearing as you progress through the levels
• Spans eight different games released over three years

Warcraft III mods:

• Still downloadable and playable to this day if you own Warcraft III Reforged
• Bugs inherent to the Reforged edition might make the mods buggy or broken
• Built using Warcraft III's official level editor
• Scripted using Warcraft III's built-in trigger scripting language
• Spans six different multiplayer mods released over two years
• God's Hand introduces the series as a team game: six players must collaborate to stop the onslaught
• God's Hand Survival pits players against each other, turning the game into a single player challenge
• God's Hand II allows players to select individual difficulty levels for a more fine tuned challenge
• God's Hand Wars has infinite levels, getting progressively harder until only one player is left
• God's Hand III allows AI-controlled opponents and adds an optional random difficulty
• God's Hand X greatly increases the difficulty level, and adds upgrades as a reward for finishing levels

Flash games:

• Sadly unplayable due to Flash's demise and the games' built-in copyright protection
• Hand drawn graphics in a naive art style give the games a unique visual identity
• Spans two different single player games released the same year
• God's Hand ports the mechanics of the Warcraft III mods in Flash
• God's Hand II: Mouse on Fire adds several unlockable new game modes and mechanics

Unreal Melee

Warcraft III first person shooter

2004

This mod inspired by Unreal Tournament allows you to play a first person shooter within Warcraft III's game engine. Choose your preferred map layout, grab your favorite gun, and start shooting at your opponents. The first to reach a hundred frags wins the game. Ready, set, aim, go!

• Entirely free to play
• Sadly unplayable due to Warcraft III Reforged breaking backwards compatibility
• Built using Warcraft III's official level editor
• Scripted using Warcraft III's built-in trigger scripting language
• First person movement and shooting coded using the JASS scripting language
• Choose between four different maps built into this one single mod
• Fast paced first person shooting in a game engine originally designed for top down gameplay
• Defeat opponents to unlock new weapons, including the fabled Redeemer

Stock Exchange

Warcraft III financial trading simulator

2004

A bit of an oddball project, this Warcraft III mod simulates a stock exchange's fluctuations over time, allowing you to experiment with trading stocks. Learn about derivatives including warrants, options, and swaps, while the game world's random events cause it to go through various crash and boom periods.

• Entirely free to play
• Sadly unplayable due to Warcraft III Reforged breaking backwards compatibility
• Built using Warcraft III's official level editor
• Scripted using Warcraft III's built-in trigger scripting language
• Passive gameplay based on waiting, then buying and selling contracts
• Simulates a full stock market with its ups and downs influenced by the interactive game world
• No goals or endgame rewards, this is all about learning and experimenting

Trap Dodgers series

Warcraft III obstacle courses

2003 - 2004

Mazes of blades, catapults, exploding penguins, and more scary obstacles await you in this series of challenging mods for Warcraft III. Would you rather collaborate with other players, battle them in minigames, or race them to the end of a giant obstacle course? Make your choice, and challenge your friends!

• Entirely free to play
• Still downloadable and playable to this day if you own Warcraft III Reforged
• Bugs inherent to the Reforged edition might make the mods buggy or broken
• Built using Warcraft III's official level editor
• Scripted using Warcraft III's built-in trigger scripting language
• Tests your reflexes, your patience, and your memory
• Master the obstacle courses and take part in tournaments against the best players
• Spans four different multiplayer mods released over two years
• Blade Labyrinth is a collaborative survival obstacle course for up to twelve players
• Trap Dodgers is a survival obstacle course pitting players against each other
• Traps and Minigames is a "party game" in which you take part in a series of short obstacle courses
• Trap Tournament is the ultimate survival obstacle course, taking elements from all previous mods

Mini TD

Warcraft III tower defense

2002

Subverting the expectations of a traditional Tower Defense, this Warcraft III mod expects you to quickly identify enemy waves, dismantling your towers to replace them with the appropriate ones, over and over. Can your speed and mechanical skill carry you through this short challenge of ten action-packed waves of enemies, or will one of your opponents manage to survive the gauntlet longer than you can?

• Entirely free to play
• Sadly unplayable due to Warcraft III Reforged breaking backwards compatibility
• Built using Warcraft III's official level editor
• Scripted using Warcraft III's built-in trigger scripting language
• Extremely active gameplay requiring you to think and react fast
• Quick games with a decisive ending, winning requires less than ten minutes of survival
• Subverts the tropes of tower defense games, expecting you to destroy your own towers
• Randomized enemy waves ensures no two playthroughs give you the same gameplay experience
• New specialty towers unlock with each level, quickly increasing the complexity of the challenge

Upcoming projects

This is a tentative roadmap of my upcoming projects, nothing is set in stone. I like to plan my game designs years in advance, in order to have plenty of time to iterate on my ideas before I start working on them. The names in this list are placeholders, they are not the final names under which these projects will be released.