Cloudyday
Hi there. Thanks for taking some time to check out my page!If this is your first time here, I highly reccomend checking out the About Me section for a demo reel and overview of me & my skills. Otherwise, you can find my various works listed by their categories.
Genre: Puzzle Simulation
Type: Uni Project
Engine: Gamemaker Studio
Tools: Gamemaker Studio, FLStudio, Canva
Iterations # 3
Role: Game Designer, Narrative Designer (Worldbuilding, Dialogue), Sound Designer (Environment, UI Interface),
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Genre: Digital Collectible Card Game
Type: Internship Work
Engine: Unity
Tools: Unity, Blender, Excel
Role: Narrative Designer (Dialogue, Campaign storytelling), Game Designer (mechanics, gameplay loop)
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Images Sourced from the Infinity Wars wiki.
About Me
My name is Tristan De Soysa, and I am a Melbourne-based Game/Narrative Designer. I presently hold 4 years worth of experience in the games industry, including industry experience and a Bachelor of Design at RMIT.I am a passionate and organized individual who excels in building the groundwork for unique, thematically engaging experiences, as well as supporting the production pipeline through my skills in iteration.My current goal is to earn further experience at a gaming company/studio, and eventually meet the right group of like-minded, passionate people to produce a revolutionary game akin to the Half-Life franchise in terms of legacy.
I'm generally a flexible writer, though my greatest strengths lie in worldbuilding and characterisation. You'll notice many examples that incorporate some imagery, as my storytelling is made stronger through a visual medium. This reason is why I enjoy writing for video games and animation.
Skills
Narrative Design
| Worldbuilding
| Dialogue
| Storyboard Art
Game Design
| Systems Design
| Level Design
| QA Testing
Genres
| FPS
| JRPGs
| Puzzle Games
| Walking Sims
| Science Fiction
| Horror
| Shonen
Software
Game Development Software
Unreal Engine |
Unity |
Godot |
Gamemaker Studio |
Ren'py |
RPGMaker MZ |
Short Stories
The First Bite
Purpose
The Briefing of Stygies II
A collection of text-only stories. Images Sourced by Adobe Stock.
Spaceport 925
Genre: Puzzle Simulation
Type: Full Release
Engine: Gamemaker Studio
Tools: Gamemaker Studio, FLStudio, Canva
Iterations # 3
Role: Game Designer, Narrative Designer (Worldbuilding, Dialogue), Sound Designer (Environment, UI Interface), Programmer (Scripting)
A Papers Please-type game where you screen aliens transiting to planets in the Andromeda system.This project involved half a year’s worth of production and would aim to be presented. As such, our game needed to stand out from the others, and the best way to do so was to make the most of each team member’s skills. With help from my teammates, I designed a game that would require less intensive programming and would place greater focus on the storytelling, artwork, and atmosphere. Through this optimisation, our game attracted attention during the RMIT show day and was among those chosen to present at ACMI.
Iterative areas included:
> Overscoping with 7 planets for each of the sins.
> Ensuring the planets weren't just bland pastiches of the 7 sins.These were overcome by:
> Narrowing down to 3 planets, the minimum needed for the reasons for transfer.
> Giving each culture history that justifies their current behaviour.
Worldbuilding
The seven alien races in the Andromeda system were set to be themed around the seven deadly sins, but also needed to feel like they were in a feasible, functioning society.Furthermore, Spaceport 925's gameplay loop involved sending aliens to a planet of the player's choice, and the amount of allegiance earned or lost depended on how favorably these planets viewed the traits of their new inhabitants.Therefore, the planets' cultures and histories needed to justify the scores they provided to these traits.
Avar1c11
Based off the sin of greed, this planet favours any traits that would result in earning money.Thier planet suffers from a shortage in natural resources in order to justify their participation in the federation, as well as their preference for community service.
Lautta
Based off the sin of gluttony, which is typically seen as one of the less severe sins.At the same time, they would need justification for favoring federation internships, so their society was written to require Federation support to survive.
Passho
Based off the sin of lust, this planet is very welcoming to visitors and prefers entrants who would voluntarily travel to their planet.However, because of their own selfish desires, they aren't interested in projects that focus mainly on Federation interests.
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Accomplishments
Created a click-and-drag system with audiovisual feedback.
Established worldbuilding for 7 different planets in a system, including their culture and history.
My group successfully worked together to create an appealing art style that remains consistent despite being handled by multiple artists.
Future Goals
Collaborate with programmers proficient in more advanced software such as Unity and Godot.
Develop some way to ensure artwork retains its resolution while imported.
Infinity Wars
Genre: Digital Collectible Card Game
Type: Full Release
Engine: Unity
Tools: Unity, Blender, Excel
Role: Narrative Designer (Dialogue, Campaign storytelling), Game Designer (mechanics, gameplay loop)
During 2024, I completed a year-long internship with Lightmare and worked with a team of writers on several faction campaigns. These include the majority of the Genesis Industries and Swarmer campaigns, as well as smaller contributions on other campaigns. Writing for the Swarmer story can be found below:
Unit Dialogue
Some cards are set to provide flavor text during a match to add some worldbuilding elements. My role was create dialogue that was short and to the point.Iterative areas included:
> Overuse of text effects (e.g Zalgo/glitched text.)These were overcome by:
> Rewriting quotes to convey aspects such as corruption in a more straightforward fashion.
Faction Campaigns
The game's 8 factions were all set to receive their own playable story in different parts of the game's timeline. Working with a team of writers, I helped provide narratives that provided unique perspectives on each of the factions' roles in the story.Each campaign had 3 missions and a boss fight, which all required dialogue for the opening cinematic, closing cinematic, and first turn of gameplay.
Accomplishments
Developed the ability to write realistic and stylised dialogue, as well as differentiate between the two.
Helped design unique mechanics for an upcoming campaign.
Future Goals
Be less reliant on "..." for dialogue, as well as bold and italic text.
Be more consistent with character voice.
Digging Holes
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 1 Week
Type: Game Jam
Engine: Ren'Py
Role: Narrative Designer, Programmer, Writer
An absurdist visual novel made for Game-A-Week, which involves a prime minister candidate (The player) trying to convince a studio audience of the benefits behind digging a massive hole at the center of the city. Each choice generates a level of controversy, and the player's ending changes depending on how much controversy they've accumulated.
Park Pressure
Genre: Psychological Horror
Duration: 4 Weeks
Type: Uni Assignment
Engine: Twine
Role: Narrative Designer (Branching dialogue writing, design and implementation)
A text-based Twine Survival/Psychological Horror where players must choose carefully to escape a park full of monsters. This project has helped me delve outside the visual narratives I'm used to writing, by making me tell an interactive story entirely through words.
Brimstone Bus
Genre: Monologue/Drama
Duration: 4 Weeks
Type: Game Jam
Engine: Ren'Py
Role: Narrative Designer (Worldbuilding, dialogue), Programmer
A short Visual Novel made as a collaborative effort for an O2A2 game jam. The story revolves around an unnamed bus driver lamenting his dead-end job, unaware of the mental prison he's placed himself into. As this was a group project for a visual novel jam, I got to experience networking and collaborating with people online.
Contact Info
Gmail: [email protected]
Discord: @tristan09282You may also write to me through any of the icons below, though bear in mind I may take longer to respond.
Walking Sims
Pirate Secrets
Adventurer's Asylum
Anomaly
Trips through immersive environments made in Unreal Engine and Unity.
Accomplishments
Boosted my familarity with software integral to the games industry.
Presented storytelling through interactive and visual means.
Learned how to use mise-en-scène creatively to guide player movement and focus.
Future Goals
Introduce more interactivity for 3D projects such as this.
Optimise the camera and environments so that the player doesn't look see out-of-bounds areas.
Improve lighting and texture implementation so that objects look less glossy.
Keep files organised while making these games.
Adobe Animate
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Krita
Da Vinci Resolve
Substance Painter 3D
Blender
Maya
Gamemaker Studio
Godot
Unity
Unreal Engine
RPGMaker MZ
Accomplishments
Constantly learning new methods of streamlining animation process, producing a better end product as a result.
Future Goals
Stay focused on one scene or process at a time, rather than jumping to something else.
Cloudyday
Sprite Animation
A less orthodox form of animation that allows me to display my skills in scene composition, choreography, visual storytelling and sound design.