I was born in 1963 and I'm living in Milan. Since 1987 I'm working as a professional game designer and game editor.
A game designer is someone different than a "game author".
While a game author is more interested in the game concept, a game designer must always think about a game as a whole project made by rules, but also by components, boxes, gaming pieces, artworks and so on. Thinking about a game as a project means taking in consideration a lot of small details and this needs specific knowledge. From the kind of paper used to print the cards to the size of the box, everything concerning the production of a game is part of the project, not to mention the specific needs of the publisher. You can't design a good game if you don't understand the point of view of the publisher.
If inventing a game is "just" a matter of creativity, designing a game needs a lot of technical knowledge. You need a good idea, but also the know-how for understanding what can be really printed and what's the manufacturing cost of your idea. Sometimes game authors make the mistake to present brilliant game concepts that need too expensive components to be accepted by the publishers. Sometimes game authors create games that need a specific number of certain components that are incompatible with the production standards and this become an extra cost for the publisher. This is the reason why many game concepts are rejected, simply because they need too much changes to fulfill the production standards.
In my career I've followed the development of dozens of games (more than 200 right now), from RPGs to party games, not only as an "author" but also as a Production Manager. Most of them have been created by me, but I also used to work as game editor for great authors like Alex Randolph, Niek Neuwaahl, Leo Colovini, Roberto Fraga, Reiner Knizia, and many, many more. I've been in charge for the Italian edition of Dungeons & Dragons for 10 years as Director of the Research and Development office of Editrice Giochi, the Italian leading boardgame manufacturer, which I've developed most of my games for, like all the expansions of Risiko, the Italian version of Risk, and dozens of games under licence (including many games for children based on the most popular characters, from Disney's to Warner's). Thanks to this experience, I learned how important is to take in consideration all the small details that make the difference between a talented author and a game designer and editor.
As a game designer I've won many awards, locally and internationally. The most prestigious are:
1995, Kaleidos (published by Editrice Giochi) entered the final list of the Spiel des Jahres.
1995 and 1996, Kaleidos and Category Game, both published by Editrice Giochi, won the French As d'Or award in the "party game" category.
2004, Coyote, published by Kidultgame, entered the list of the suggested games by the Jury of the Spiel des Jahers. The reprint of this game, titled Pow Wow and published by Ravensburger, won in 2006 the Austrian "Spiele Hits für viele" award.
In the following pages you can find a brief description of some of my games published in all these years. It's not intended to be a sort of "official and complete ludography" (I published more than 100 games, most of them for the italian market), but just a short list that I will keep updated (when I'm not working on a new game project).
A game designer is someone different than a "game author".
While a game author is more interested in the game concept, a game designer must always think about a game as a whole project made by rules, but also by components, boxes, gaming pieces, artworks and so on. Thinking about a game as a project means taking in consideration a lot of small details and this needs specific knowledge. From the kind of paper used to print the cards to the size of the box, everything concerning the production of a game is part of the project, not to mention the specific needs of the publisher. You can't design a good game if you don't understand the point of view of the publisher.
If inventing a game is "just" a matter of creativity, designing a game needs a lot of technical knowledge. You need a good idea, but also the know-how for understanding what can be really printed and what's the manufacturing cost of your idea. Sometimes game authors make the mistake to present brilliant game concepts that need too expensive components to be accepted by the publishers. Sometimes game authors create games that need a specific number of certain components that are incompatible with the production standards and this become an extra cost for the publisher. This is the reason why many game concepts are rejected, simply because they need too much changes to fulfill the production standards.
In my career I've followed the development of dozens of games (more than 200 right now), from RPGs to party games, not only as an "author" but also as a Production Manager. Most of them have been created by me, but I also used to work as game editor for great authors like Alex Randolph, Niek Neuwaahl, Leo Colovini, Roberto Fraga, Reiner Knizia, and many, many more. I've been in charge for the Italian edition of Dungeons & Dragons for 10 years as Director of the Research and Development office of Editrice Giochi, the Italian leading boardgame manufacturer, which I've developed most of my games for, like all the expansions of Risiko, the Italian version of Risk, and dozens of games under licence (including many games for children based on the most popular characters, from Disney's to Warner's). Thanks to this experience, I learned how important is to take in consideration all the small details that make the difference between a talented author and a game designer and editor.
As a game designer I've won many awards, locally and internationally. The most prestigious are:
1995, Kaleidos (published by Editrice Giochi) entered the final list of the Spiel des Jahres.
1995 and 1996, Kaleidos and Category Game, both published by Editrice Giochi, won the French As d'Or award in the "party game" category.
2004, Coyote, published by Kidultgame, entered the list of the suggested games by the Jury of the Spiel des Jahers. The reprint of this game, titled Pow Wow and published by Ravensburger, won in 2006 the Austrian "Spiele Hits für viele" award.
In the following pages you can find a brief description of some of my games published in all these years. It's not intended to be a sort of "official and complete ludography" (I published more than 100 games, most of them for the italian market), but just a short list that I will keep updated (when I'm not working on a new game project).
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