© Copyright Julia Bourdin 2024
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Who am I ?
Hello! I'm Julia, a French game design student, currently in her 5th year at Rubika. I discovered this path quite late in my schooling, but I was immediately attracted to it. Indeed, it gathered most of my passions and what I dreamed of doing: video games and writing of course, but also the possibility to make someone experience a story, a universe, to immerse them completely.
On this page, you will be able to discover the projects I had the chance to do during my schooling and outside and what they taught me. At the beginning, I tried to touch everything to know what I liked and so I acquired a certain versatility, but I especially ended up developing a great affection for narrative design and for live-ops design, working on existing games or licenses.
Today, I'm looking forward to discovering the industry with professionals to learn their methods and improve myself.
Click here to download my CV in the desired language:
Professional experiences
For just over two months, I worked on Suite Studio's new project: designing escape games. It was an enriching experience both in game design and storytelling.
For one summer, I was able to work for the online newspaper GamAlive which talks about and tests video games, movies, literature, and pop culture in general.
For one month, I worked for the escape game La Prophétie des Horloges. I helped with the management of the rooms but also designed a tabletop game.
Graduation Project
Project concluding my master's degree
One year to make a vertical slice in a team of 12. Status: Unknown is a sci-fi hack'n'slash in which you can tinker your equipment and so, your entire playstyle. At the beginning, it was my concept and I was lucky enough to see it selected.
My contribution :
The initial concept
Development of the universe
Writing of the storyline and side quests
3C design
UI design
Some work on the UX (onboarding, HUB, etc.)
Proof of Concept
Project closing my first 3 years of study
In order to highlight my interest in live-ops and narrative design, I chose to design an extension for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online. You can find pages of websites imitating the presentation of the extension to potential buyers: characters, scenario, places, and gameplay...
Key points :
A project very much involved in the narrative
As close to the lore and intentions of TES as possible
A complete documentation with characters, quests, skill line, equipment sets, detailed map and more...
A website presenting the expansion based on the original
Games
Games made over school semesters in groups
A difficult and nervous boss rush on PC
A cooking and management simulation game on mobile
My contribution:
Writing the script and characters
Writing and implementation of dialogues
Design and implementation of a boss
Documentation writing and maintenance
UI research
My contribution:
A GDD to think and produce quickly
A large amount of system design to manage progression
Easy to learn mini-games
A very difficult UI to manage because of the support
Management of a team of 7
The marketing
A Zelda-like game on PC featuring a little girl on Halloween night
My contribution:
Lead Programmer in C# and responsible for the graphic integration
Dialogue and quest system
Controller and AI of the monsters, including the boss
Management of the items and the in-game shop
Scene change management
Writing documentation for GD tools
School projects
School projects that had an impact on me
In teams of 3, we had to make a Risk game based on the TV series of our choice. We chose Stranger Things and made the documentation presenting the interest of the series, the gameplay, the board, and a typical turn.
As a team, we had to make the documentation to adapt a movie faithfully into a video game. We chose to make a life simulation game and deliveries on Kiki’s Delivery Service dedicated to the Switch.
My contribution:
Contextualization and analysis of the license
The monster faction playable by all
Special monsters, a threat managed by the system
The concrete implementation of the hero system imagined by a teammate
My contribution:
Presentation and contextualization of the license.
Scenario and quest of sequence 0, the tutorial
Ideas for additional content
Research of references for the art direction
Proofreading and correction of the final document
We had to do a genre analysis. I chose Hack 'n Slash but after researching and discovering that this genre was divided into two sub-genres I chose to look specifically at Diablo-likes.
We had to imagine and document an Assassin's Creed game in a small group. We chose to make one set during the Spanish Civil War.
Key points:
Gameplay analysis of a corpus of 18 games
List of key elements
History of the genre
Analysis of Minecraft Dungeons' place in the genre
My contribution:
Historical research
Addition of famous characters
Development of the relationships between the characters
Scenario
Ideas for additional content
For one day we had to imagine a game concept inspired by Michal Karcz's photos.
Key points:
A game of survival and space exploration
Horrific biological elements
Plot twist on the origin of the latter
Personal projects
What I do outside of class
A heroic fantasy campaign with the HERO System. Inspired by the Birthright universe for Dungeons and Dragons, it proposes to my players, adventurers, to become nobles and to rally the neighbouring countries one by one to become powerful leaders.
As I no longer have the opportunity to write novels, I sometimes write a few short stories. This one, my most accomplished, tells the childhood of Dahlia, a character I play in an RPG campaign.
A campaign set in the Humblewood universe. The player of this campaign plays a policeman, the head of the only police station in the Roots, the district at the bottom of the big tree that serves as the capital. This politically neglected area has many problems, including a high crime rate.
Contact
00 33 6 95 91 44 31