Nicolas Biakou — Game Designer Portfolio

PROJECT 01

The Pitch

Fiona Volcano is a roguelite in the tradition of "Digger" games (Dig Dug, Mr Driller, Motherload). The player embodies Fiona, a gold-hungry explorer who ventures into the depths of an active volcano to plunder a dying king's treasures. The environment is made of 100% destructible tiles, every run is unique: manage the heat, collect resources, gear up, and most importantly… know when to run.

Game Loop

Explore

Mine tiles, collect treasures and relics

Survive

Eruptions, heat, escape

Dance

Rhythm game to protect your loot

Gear Up

Hub, shops, auctions

Fiona hitting a chest to retrieve its contents

Character Statistics

Speed

Affects movement speed and item pickup speed.

Strength

Determines the ability to carry heavy items and slightly increases damage.

Resistance

Determines Fiona's heat resistance.

Luck

Increases the probability of finding rare items.

Prestige: A "situational tool" based on equipped gear. High prestige unlocks luxury areas (auctions) but raises prices at basic merchants. Low prestige does the opposite, granting fairer prices but closing the doors of upscale districts.

Eruptions: Environmental Escalation

No UI timer displayed on screen. The volcano communicates danger through organic environmental escalation.

Phase 1: Calm

Distant rumbling. The player freely and serenely explores the galleries.

Phase 2: Tension

Tremors, visible glowing cracks. Often misleading signs maintain doubt.

Phase 3: Danger

Active lava, flying debris, intense music. Seriously consider fleeing to the exit.

Phase 4: Escape

Explosive pyroclastic flow through fissures. Final sprint and rope QTE to reach the surface.

The player never knows exactly when the eruption will strike. The constant doubt creates tension that pushes toward risky decisions: "one more chest… or do I run?"

Fiona fleeing a volcanic eruption

The Backpack: Physical Risk vs. Reward

The backpack lies at the heart of every decision. Each treasure picked up is a conscious bet on your ability to escape.

Weight & Slowdown

Every item has real weight. The heavier the backpack, the slower Fiona flees. She can counteract this with "Bowling Mode", which maintains speed with many items on her back, but at the cost of control.

Backpack Elasticity

Exceeding base capacity drastically increases the risk of the backpack exploding at the slightest impact.

Bowling Mode

A large enough backpack gaining speed becomes a devastating wrecking ball that crushes everything in its path.

Quick Sort

Emergency mechanic: open the backpack in-game to throw loot and lighten the load very quickly.

Bowling Mode: Fiona uses her backpack as a devastating weapon

The Hub: Preparation Zone

Safe zone between each run. It contains several key points of interest essential for preparing the next descent.

The Stash

Permanently store your treasure in a safe place between expeditions.

The Shop

Sells standard common equipment (basic tools, basic backpacks, water supplies).

Gypsy Witch

Buys, sells and identifies magic relics and unidentified items found during runs.

Auction House

Sell very expensive items and buy very rare ones. Access requires a high prestige level.

Auction System: Goals & Flow

The auction system is a social and economic mini-game designed to enrich the experience beyond the core loop: balance the economy by limiting fast enrichment, and control access to end-game items otherwise unobtainable.

Preparation Phase

Before the auction starts, a board displays all items for sale. The player can browse NPC lots and add their own. A key moment to strategically decide what has the most potential today.

Auction Start

Once launched, items are presented one by one. The player can choose to bid to buy, or simply observe reactions when one of their own rare items hits the table.

Bid & Outbid

The player and NPCs take turns bidding. The player can read the room (exclamations, whistles) and target specific collectors. A high prestige score can intimidate competing buyers, pushing them to withdraw.

End of Run: The "Shower of Fortune"

At the end of a successful run, an optional rhythm mini-game triggers. Fiona dances surrounded by her loot to impress the villagers. A successful performance (musical QTE) convinces the delighted crowd to throw tips and rare bonus items directly onto the stage.

Systemic Bestiary

Each dungeon creature has a function that integrates deeply into gameplay. Enemies are not simple obstacles to "fill" the map — they interact with core mechanics (heat, items, treasures) and force tactical choices.

The Golden Chicken

Lays valuable eggs while fleeing. Pushes the player toward greed, luring them into very dangerous zones.

The Ember

Drastically raises the temperature around it, directly interacting with the volcano's lethal heat system.

The Rat

Interacts with treasures by stealing items from the floor. Forces the player to prioritize pickup to protect their precious loot.

The Banshee

Generates deadly glacial cold. Paradoxically, its aura zone can serve as a makeshift refuge during a global heat eruption.

The Mimic

Mimics the appearance of treasures. Forces the player to visually analyze each chest carefully instead of opening blindly.

The Golem

Capable of destroying walls impassable for Fiona. Can be deliberately lured by the player to open a secret passage to treasures.

Design Decisions (Appendix)

Heat management as tension

Without a time or physical constraint, the player mines endlessly. Rising heat forces continuous balance between greed (progress) and fear (survival).

Tool specialization

A single optimal tool made exploration monotonous. The balancing solution: Pickaxes deal +100% on walls, Mallets +100% on chests, Swords +250% on creatures.

Level Design: Procedural Generation & Rewarded Curiosity

Every descent into the volcano is unique. The terrain is generated by a multi-layer procedural system based on stacked Perlin Noise, combined with hand-crafted levels ("presets") that are weighted into the grid.

Generation Pipeline

Room & Temple Placement

Defining spawn points for hand-crafted structures (treasure rooms, temples, corridors). Each preset has a weight (0 to 1): at 1 the tile is placed as-is, at 0 procedural generation takes over.

Biomes (4 Noise Maps)

Four noise parameters combine to determine the biome: Depth (linear gradient), Porosity (clearings), Temperature (magma) and Humidity (water). Examples: Humidity + Temperature = Hot Springs, Porosity + Humidity = Underground Forest.

Treasures & Creatures

Smart placement based on generated topology. Treasures are placed where they reward curiosity: isolated caves, dead-end corridors, islands in lava lakes, behind hard rock walls.

Rewarded Curiosity: Points of Interest

Treasure placement is not random. The system analyzes generated terrain topology to identify points of interest (dead ends, isolated cavities, obstacle-surrounded islands) and concentrate rare rewards there. Players who explore beyond the obvious path are systematically rewarded.

Treasure Rooms

Hidden rooms with high treasure concentration. The goal is to find them.

Challenge Rooms

Precious treasures surrounded by water, lava or monsters. High risk, high reward.

Corridor Rooms

An almost guaranteed treasure at the end of each long corridor. Perseverance is rewarded.

Temple Rooms

Near-impenetrable walls, traps, and a cruel choice: taking one item locks out the others.

Demo: Preset Creation

Creating a level preset in the editor

PROJECT 03

Gamified Personal Assistant · Godot 4 + Python + Gemini AI

Tama.exe

The Pitch

FocusPals is a gamified productivity assistant. An animated 3D character (Tama) lives on the user's desktop, helps them work through timed sessions, reacts vocally via AI (Gemini Live API), and syncs between desktop and mobile. A project fusing game design, AI and UX.

Demo

Game Design & Gamification

The application relies on pure game design mechanics to turn procrastination into a playful experience and reward sustained effort over time:

The A.S.C. Engine

The AI (Tama) evaluates you in real time via 3 gauges: Alignment (are you on task?), Suspicion (are you doing something else?) and Trust. If you get distracted constantly, Tama's Trust decreases: her Suspicion will rise almost 2x faster and she'll become much less forgiving. A real dynamic tension gauge!

Progression System

Work time and completed tasks feed a long-term memory (calendar heatmap). You unlock Achievements and earn new exclusive Titles. This tangible feedback creates an engagement loop and gives a strong sense of progression.

Technical Architecture

Frontend (Godot 4)

Animated 3D character (AnimationTree, Gaze System, Spring Bones)
Radial menu with visual feedback
Desktop + mobile synchronization

Backend (Python)

Gemini Live API integration (real-time voice conversation)
Behavioral system (mood, suspicion, alignment)
Bidirectional WebSocket communication

Design Decisions

The character as interface

No classic window. Tama lives on the desktop, the user interacts with a 3D character, not an app. Game design serves UX.

Instant feedback

Tama appears immediately when called, independently of the backend. The visual must never wait for the network: responsiveness first.

Emergent personality

Tama's mood decays organically. No script: behavior emerges from systems (alignment, suspicion, mood decay).

Welcome

What I create

Fiona Volcano

Hide Attack

FocusPals

The Pitch

Game Loop

Character Statistics

Speed

Strength

Resistance

Luck

Eruptions: Environmental Escalation

Phase 1: Calm

Phase 2: Tension

Phase 3: Danger

Phase 4: Escape

The Backpack: Physical Risk vs. Reward

Weight & Slowdown

Backpack Elasticity

Bowling Mode

Quick Sort

The Hub: Preparation Zone

The Stash

The Shop

Gypsy Witch

Auction House

Auction System: Goals & Flow

Preparation Phase

Auction Start

Bid & Outbid

End of Run: The "Shower of Fortune"

Systemic Bestiary

The Golden Chicken

The Ember

The Rat

The Banshee

The Mimic

The Golem

Design Decisions (Appendix)

Heat management as tension

Tool specialization

Level Design: Procedural Generation & Rewarded Curiosity

Generation Pipeline

Room & Temple Placement

Biomes (4 Noise Maps)

Treasures & Creatures

Rewarded Curiosity: Points of Interest

Treasure Rooms

Challenge Rooms

Corridor Rooms

Temple Rooms

Demo: Preset Creation

The Pitch

Trailers: Gameplay & Cinematic

Core Mechanic: Music

Music ON

Music OFF

Game Loop

Design Decisions

Co-op + Competition simultaneously

Non-resetting power gauge

The cooperative bomb

Beat Sabers: rhythm = power

Tama.exe

The Pitch

Demo

Game Design & Gamification

The A.S.C. Engine

Progression System

Technical Architecture

Frontend (Godot 4)

Backend (Python)

Design Decisions

The character as interface

Instant feedback

Emergent personality

Experience & Education

Unreal Engine Technician

Environment Artist