Stéphane Bura

Services

Consultant - Game & Experience Design - Game Writing & Worldbuilding - Public Speaking

 

I have 25+ years of experience as a game designer and have been in the videogame industry for 11+ years.

 

Design

I can create for you or help your team come up with the design of your game or your interactive experience:

• High Concept - Documents that help you define the goals and positioning of your project and focuses discussion within your team.
• Detailed Concept Document - Suitable for publishers and strategic evaluation.
• Game Concept Presentation - Slides and script for pitching the project internally or externally
• Detailed Game Design - Describes all the features and their priorities, suitable for production evaluation and risk management. Can include initial high-level product backlog, user stories, prototypes specifications, estimated value points, etc.

I can also perform analysis on an existing design or project and work with the team to improve:

• Game balance
• Difficulty and learning curves
• Tutorial design
• Flow
• Pacing
• User Interface and accessibility
• Game structure
• Level design
• Interdependencies between the various sub-systems and the other parts of the experience (Holistic design)
• Sub-systems' simplicity and elegance
• Design features backlog management, in the case of an Agile project
• Asynchronous gameplay in Social Network games
• Online player retention
• Monetization
• Virality
• Etc.

 

Writing

Having been a role-playing game writer for 25+ years, I know how to design worlds, stories and game systems that support and enhance each other.
This includes:

• Worldbuilding - Geography, History, Ecology, Cultures, Religions, Economy, Cities, etc. As detailed or abstracted as you wish.
• Magic and Advanced Technology Systems - Rules, Symbolism, Cultural links, etc.
• Creatures, Aliens and Monsters - Ecology, Biology, Life cycles & behaviors, etc.
• Character Profiles - Main characters' bios and drives, Castes, Factions, World-specific jobs, etc.
• High Level Plot - Drives, Values, Turning points, etc.
• Detailed Scenario - Characters' arcs, Storylines, Protagonist's journey, etc.
• High Level Structure - If you want to design a world that would accommodate more than one project (sequels, different medias, etc.)
  

 

Public Speaking

I've spoken at many conferences about game design, game and simulation theory, games and education, etc.
Contact me for more information.