Valentin Serri


Game narrative designer & writer


Who am I?

Game narrative designer & writer currently looking for new opportunities!Some of the things I can craft:
- Cohesive world building & scenario
- Strong game pillars to structure a game's philosophy
- Engaging narrative systems
- Concise and effective design documentation
- Catchy dialogues & characters
- Meaningful environmental storytelling
- Gripping quests & missions
- And much more...!
Passionate about interactive storytelling and convinced of the impact that the video game medium can reach, I explore and work in my free time on the notion of desirable futures and other utopias in relation to their incorporation in these interactive works.To take a look at my writing and documentation samples, click on the button below, download or click on the PDF files and enter the password indicated on my resume to open it (or ask for it).

Besides game development, I am writing poetry, essays, short stories, and other stuff.I (try to) make music too, composing digital music mostly for video games.As a cinema enthusiast, I am also thinking of making short films as an amateur.


Fugue Interactive

Red Sails

To ensure the survival of his people, Sil, a sand explorer on the run from pirates, sails across the sinking sand desert to unite the different factions and establish a network of warning beacons; with the aim of bringing about a spirit of cooperation between them and ending the pirates' hold on the desert.

  • Game concept and core loop design

  • Mechanics and systems design

  • Narrative themes and world building

  • Scenario and characters development

  • Narrative and dialogue systems

  • Quest design and dialogue writing

  • Environmental storytelling

  • Camera, controls and gamefeel


Dontnod

Tell Me Why

In this intimate mystery, reunited twins Tyler and Alyson Ronan use their supernatural bond to unravel the memories of their loving but troubled childhood. As you conjure up memories of the past, your choices will affect the twins’ relationship, determine the strength of their bond, and shape the course of their lives.

  • QA test

  • Narrative design and writing feedback

  • Game and level design feedback


Movie game jam 2018

Replicant: The Search

Made for Movie Game Jam, inspired by Blade Runner 2049.Discover the city of Las Vegas and find who you came for. Will your questions be answered ?

  • Pitch and concept

  • Scenario and narrative beats

  • Environmental storytelling

  • Music composing


ISART Digital school project 2018

Path of sorrow

Play as a young person getting through the death of his father and digging his path to acceptance.Accompanied by the spirit of his father at his sides, incarnation of his child’s memories of his living times, the youngster is facing and fighting his inner demons.

  • Pitch and concept

  • Narrative features and gameplay cohesion

  • World building

  • Environmental storytelling


Global game jam 2019

Our World

A mix between a 2 players visual novel and a cooperative arcade game.The visual novel tells the story of a couple, and the arcade game is the minimalist representation of the story.

  • Concept

  • Dialogue writing

  • Narrative and gameplay cohesion

  • Visual novel programming


TeamBreak

Inside: Opéra

Try to solve the curse of the legendary Phantom of the Opera, and free him forever by deciphering a series of puzzles while visiting the Palais Garnier in a playful way, with the participation of many actors in period costume and musicians from the Divertimento Symphony Orchestra.

  • Puzzle design

  • Narrative relevance with puzzles

  • Scenario and dialogues writing

  • Design of the game's support book

  • Actors and actresses direction


More games

Some other games I have worked on.


Music game jam 2018

451

Open world car game (stealth and chase) in which you need to free the city from music censorship and oppression by driving your crew from radio towers to radio towers without getting caught by the 451, a secret state police.


Dontnod

Life is strange 2

After a tragic incident, brothers Sean and Daniel Diaz run away from home. Fearing the police, and dealing with Daniel's new telekinetic power, the boys head to Mexico. Each stop on their journey brings new friends and new challenges.


ISART Digital game week 2019

Write'n'slash

In Write'n'Slash play Molly, a doll who dreams to write like humans!
However, the other toys are reluctant to this idea and will do everything to prevent it...
Forget the mouse, the keyboard is your only weapon against the waves of toys that want to stop you from learning new words.


Asmodee Digital

Gloomhaven

Whether you are drawn to Gloomhaven by the call of adventure or by an avid desire for gold glimmering in the dark, your fate will surely be the same. Gloomhaven, the digital adaptation of the acclaimed board game, mixes Tactical-RPG and dungeon-crawling.


Other fiction works

Some of the writings I am making in my free time


Short story: Lands to Waste

Road trip / ApocalypseHurricanes are tearing the world as we know it apart and two women on the road feel fine with it.


Graphic novel: Bolla

Science fiction / RomanceAdèle, an Insider living in the Bollas meets an Outsider during a delivery from the outside. They fall in love and try to live this unlikely relationship, but an existential revelation is uncovered...


Short film script: Embourgeoisés

HorrorThe Dangreaux are coming to dinner tonight. The bourgeois trainees, family Lefèvre, did not expect their visit so soon, panic and madness ensues.


Research works

Some of my thoughts and views put on paper


Talk: Building a Desirable Future is Not an Individual Heroic Effort

Lightning talk at Narrascope 2022In this talk I briefly explore the way we, as game developers, can incorporate the notion of collective mind instead of an individual heroic one into our design and narrative choices.


Essay: The realism problem in video games

An analysis of realism in video games through the prism of this artistic movement in painting and literature.


Talk: Horror game imagery in Polish video games / THe polish video game industry

Short analysis of the polish video game industry and market. Focus on historical and horror productions: case study of My Memory Of Us.


Essay: Valve’s take on the walking simulator might help give a better understanding of this often ostracized genre.

This essay
focuses on the short game Aperture Desk Job, and how the
“reimagination of the been-there-done-that genre of walking simulators” promised by Valve
on the game’s Steam page might not be as silly as it sounds.


valentin.serri@outlook.fr