Under Construction
I directed, designed and programmed Still There, a psychological adventure game about lingering grief, technical puzzles, wacky AIs and dark humour.
After receiving an emergency radio transmission, the routines of an isolated space-lighthouse keeper and his AI companion are broken forever. Confront, console and confess through dialogues with rich and compelling characters. A classic, humane, sci-fi mystery.
A sci-fi adventure into space station management, mysterious radio messages, motherfucking AIs, sociopathic people in charge, and finding oneself in a galaxy way too far, far away.
I directed, designed and programmed Blockstorm, a unique multiplayer FPS featuring destructible block environments.
Players can create and host custom maps instantly, encouraging community collaboration. The game allows personalization through the creation of unique character and weapon skins.
With diverse gameplay modes, Blockstorm strategically rewards creativity while disadvantaging repetitive tactics like camping, ensuring a dynamic and engaging experience.
I made Samwise™ (or §amwise™), a scripting language for writing interactive dialogues.
The goal of Samwise is to offer writers and designers a way for crafting interactive dialogues with intricate structures and dynamic behaviors, encompassing branching, concurrent dialogues, and interruptions — eliminating the need to rely on specific proprietary game engine tools and reducing dependence on programmers' work.
Samwise also provides the following tools:
- A C#/Wasm runtime library for parsing the Samwise scripting language and supporting the execution of dialogues in an interactive software (e.g. a videogame);
- A Visual Studio Code extension that assists the developer in the task of writing dialogues and testing them quickly.
I am a freelance computer engineer, and I would be delighted to work on your project as a senior programmer with either a time-based or milestone-based contract. I give priority to narrative and mid-long term projects.
Contact me:Here some of my freelance works:
Strange Horticulture is an occult puzzle game in which you play as the proprietor of a local plant store.
Find and identify new plants, pet your cat, speak to a coven, or join a cult. Use your collection of powerful plants to influence the story and unravel Undermere’s dark mysteries.
- Porting to Playstation 4|5
Look, I have both good and bad news for you. The bad is that 2D point-and-click adventure games are dead, the good is that they came back to life—and they live in your Wardrobe.
- Porting to Xbox One|Series
- Porting to Playstation 4|5
Hand draw any weapon, tool, building piece and your own character in this innovative science-fantasy creative survival game.
Mine for resources, construct unique buildings and battle fantastical beasts with friends or play alone. Explore a world made entirely out of cardboard and experience new gameplay.
- Performance Optimization
- Memory Optimization
Friend. Confidant. Therapist. Voyeur. As a cab driver working the Paris night shift, you are many things to different people. Your gift is getting people to talk; and in order to catch the serial killer who left you for dead, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do.
- Character animations
- Shader FXs
Build insane, fully customisable robot battle vehicles that drive, hover, walk and fly in the free-to-play action game Robocraft.
Add weapons from the future and jump in the driving seat as you take your creation into battle against other players online!
- Performance Optimization
- Memory Optimization
Winner of several international awards, Antura and the Letters is a free mobile game that mixes the best of entertainment technology with practical educational content to give kids, ages 5-10, an engaging learning experience.
As EduApp4Syria Contest 2017 Winner, it was created to help Syrian children that are not able to attend schools.
It won the prestigious Fun and Serious 2017 award as Best Serious Game.
- Lead Programmer
With her career at a standstill and her personal life in shambles, Junon's world is in chaos. Will she be able to delve into her memories and navigate the depths of her past to find solace?
The iOS version won the Apple Design Award 2024 for Social Impact.
- Porting to Xbox One|Series
- Porting to Playstation 4|5
- Porting to iOS, Android
Coming back to the family hotel after years, a young woman finds herself trapped with the ghosts from her past and an old cellular telephone as the only way to unveil a terrible truth.
- Porting to Nintendo Switch
The sequel to the genre-defining game, played by over 16 million people! Experience vehicle-based online PvP destruction with limitless options, absolutely free.
- Rendering effects
It is a true Android tablet designed for the specific gaming needs of children aged 6 and intended to create a connection between the digital and real worlds.
- Former Product Design
- Android/Linux Firmware
- Game Design
Greetings, I'm Davide Barbieri, a Ph.D. in computer engineering and a game developer from Rome, Italy.
My first experiences with computers began between 1989 and 1990 on my family's Olivetti 286. At that time, I couldn't even write my own name yet, but I knew the MS-DOS commands needed to start up games like Budokan: The Martial Spirit, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Prince of Persia. On my first day of elementary school, I wrote down those commands in my notebook and the teacher scolded me for "writing things haphazardly" ("a casaccio" in Italian) - that's how I learned the word haphazardly.
A couple of years later, I found out that those games didn't just appear out of nowhere, but that they could be developed. So, following in the footsteps of my older brother, I took my first hesitant steps into Basic programming. Fast forward through a computer engineering Master's degree in 2010 (Yikes! Sorry for the time jump), I decided to turn this passion for game development into my profession. Thus, while pursuing a part-time doctoral research program in Computer Engineering, I co-founded GhostShark Games with my brother.
My all-time favorite games include the first two Monkey Island games, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Grim Fandango, Super Metroid, Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and X-Com: Terror from the Deep. However, I have to admit that I enjoy developing games more than playing them, perhaps that's why my list stops at the last century.
I'm one of those who firmly believe - contrary to some - that video games are capable of telling "the great stories". They have nothing to envy to other mediums, but rather provide a greater number of tools to communicate deep values and to build bridges between cultures, ages, and different countries. Simply put, just because no one has succeeded yet doesn't mean it can't be done. And when it will happen, it will finally be clear to everyone.
Contact me: