John A. Bertolini

John's Current Projects

Fate, Deeds, & Glory

A Board Game of my very own design! Currently in the testing phase of production.
May someday become a Digital Game as well (if I can get help with the programming and art and audio and...)
Visit Gamesprout.com and let everyone know that you'd love to see Fate, Deeds, & Glory made into a Video Game.

Play Details:

2-6 Players
60-90 minutes
Ages 10+

Fate, Deeds, & Glory is a diverse board game of strategy and hidden agendas. You can work cooperatively to become the kingdoms greatest band of heroes or you can try to go it alone and grab up all the glory for yourself. Follow your fate toward fame and riches.

The object of the game is to be the first Hero or Group to collect the requisite amount of Glory Points and return to the Castle Gates. You’ll accomplish this goal by fulfilling your Fates, fighting Enemies, accumulating Treasure, and exploring the land along the way.

FDG - Rule Book.pdf

FDG - Master Card List.pdf

Favorite Features:

I love that this game has multiple avenues for victory. A player might pretend to be helping the group and then stab them all in the back and try to hog all the glory for himself.

I'm also looking forward to exploring the modularity of the board and expand-ability of the cards. I've already got lots more ideas for additional settings, characters, treasures, and events. I can see this game being a long-term, ongoing project with plenty of room to grow in the future.

Playtest Demo:

Role Playing Games

I've been playing, running, and creating projects for Tabletop RPGs since I learned to read. RPGs are my biggest leisure time sink and a common outlet for my creative energy. This section is woefully barren... I really need to upload some of the stuff I've done over the years.

Chill RPG - Character Sheet

Artwork

I'm not a professional, but I'm always learning and trying new things.
My DeviantArt page

JOHN'S Past PROJECTS

After finishing the golding of Total Conquest, I enjoyed the opportunity to captain a project of my own from the very beginning.
Over nearly 9 months, I was able to soak up an amazing amount of practical experience in the gaming industry. It was a truly empowering feeling to learn so much while also producing a fun game. I felt incredibly lucky to be a part of it.
As with every project, there were ups and downs. Unfortunately, I had to leave Vietnam and return to the USA for personal reasons before Dungeon Gems was released. The team persevered and I eventually did celebrate with them in spirit if not in person.

I moved to Hanoi, Vietnam to work at Gameloft's studio there and make great games.
My first project taught me so much about what it takes to gold a game. When I joined the project, we were just starting the gold rush and so we logged many a long night and more weekends than I can count to make it happen on time.
The team was incredibly dedicated and I was happy to help provide some organization to the process. The team really made me feel welcomed and they genuinely appreciated the skills I contributed to the team.

The Banned4Life Project Documentary

Filming Internet and TV spots to help raise awareness for a great cause.

Banned4Life Kickstarter

So I've stepped a little outside my realm of expertise to lend my Project Management skills to the world of film. A film Producer is in many ways similar to a game Producer, but the differences are enough to notice.

Here is one of the promo spots we shot just a few weeks ago. The shoot was done right here in Orlando, but the Banned4Life crew is currently touring the country to deliver its message of awareness. The other promo shoot is still not public yet, but I'll be certain to post it here when it's ready to be seen.

The experience has certainly been a great one; I love working with creative people of all walks and being on set reminded me of all the wonderful times I had working in Theatre. The validation is the same though whether its games, film, or stage; when the project is completed, there's an awesome sense of accomplishment and pride.

I hope to be involved more with Banned4Life and with film projects in general.  We'll see what opportunities arise in the future.

Bullet Train (Video Game)

A western style, fast paced, FPS where you defend a train full of cargo from scores of environmentally based enemies.

Bullet Train is (so far) my magnum opus. It was completed over a 5 month time as my Capstone Project for my Game Design Masters Degree from Full Sail University. 2 of those 5 months were pre-production, and that's when the majority of this document was constructed.

Bullet Train - Design Doc.pdf

Of the 207 pages in the Design Doc, I'm only really responsible for the first 129. The rest is the Technical Document that was completed by the Programming team. Likewise, much of the art throughout the document was created by the Art team as concept. Then there's the Asset list, which was a beast. Again, I didn't do the art, but I organized and edited the heck out of this constantly for 5 months.

Bullet Train - Asset List (1of3)

Bullet Train - Asset List (2of3)

Bullet Train - Asset List (3of3)

I was one of two Project Managers on this game and we both really rocked it. My partner was of a technical background, so he communicated more with the programmers. I shifted into the role to better facilitate the artists and also to handle more of the creative and documentation work. We both shared the scheduling and budget issues.

Our Production duties included (among sundry others): Feature Prioritization, Scheduling, Capacity Planning, Capacity Tracking, Risk Management, Issue Logs, Internal Milestones, Project Charter, Tracking daily 'Turbo Team' (SCRUM) meetings, Testing, Marketing, Pitches... and more. Anyhow, here's the big fancy Hansoft output that details the entire schedule of the project. Happy reading.

Bullet Train - HanSoft.xps

The result is (in my opinion) one of the best darn projects that GP Games has ever released. Given the constraints that we weren't allowed to use any 3rd Party apps except for DirectX and Fmod for audio and that we built our own engine from scratch, I'd say it's one of the better accomplishments out there. Needless to say, I'm so proud of this team and what we've produced.

Shopping Cart Derby (Video Game)

A wild vehicle combat game that takes place in a supermarket.

Shopping Cart Derby is the second game I worked on during my time at Full Sail. It was a fun and challenging game to make, but the experience was ultimately a stepping stone to better things. The team with whom I worked was an absolute pleasure.

SCD - Design Doc.pdf

This was my first time using HanSoft, so there were speed bumps to overcome on the technical side. Ultimately, I grew to love it for its easy UI and I'm happy the GP Games made the switch. Now that I've used it (but sadly no longer have access to it), I'm sad when I have to go back to Microsoft Project and Excel. I'm also sad that I don't have the Hansoft file for that project, so here's a feature list instead (better than nothing, right?).

SCD - Feature List.xls

We encountered technical difficulties from day 1 with this project. Notably, the team had technical troubles with the both the AI and physics of the driving mechanism. Development on those systems was grueling and only compounded the issues that arose from our trying some experimental techniques (the technical vocabulary of which is still known only to a few of the programmers on the team).

Needless to say, I learned several things from this experience:

1) The job of a Producer is to Ship The Title (sometimes, even if that means he doesn't get to go with the team to the finish line).

2) Development time shouldn't generally be used for learning new things if you expect to remain on schedule.

3) It really helps to talk with an expert about technical issues that are over your head.

Sheeple (Video Game)

A humorous look at conformity, merging a beat-em-up with map navigation strategy.  We like to say it is a meaningful social experiment, with deeply poignant life lessons to be learned along the way.  Ultimately though, it's really about having fun by slapping around a bunch of silly people.

This was my first real video game project and it felt like being thrown to the sharks.

We didn't have access to Hansoft so I utilized Microsoft Project and Excel for most of the documentation.

Sheeple - Gantt Chart

We had a small team and ambitious goals, and tons of issues getting the AI right. Still, for all of the hurdles, I learned so much and became utterly enamored with working in the industry. 12 hour days were the norm, but even the 16 hour days didn't seem that bad because we were doing amazing work. I figured I'd finally understood the old adage, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life." Yeah, I like that plan.

Designing this game was a blast. We felt that it was so unique that we could really do a lot of interesting things and push the boundaries of what Full Sail had seen before. Of course, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs (so to speak) and the necessities of Game Development inevitably reared their hydra-like heads. We ended up cutting lots of features that we thought might have been cool, and instead implemented many features that were a compromise for the sake of scope. Overall though, the result did achieve our goals: it was innovative and fun.

Sheeple - Design Doc

The Found (Video Game)

Play as either a savage werewolf or a pitiable human in this deadly multi-player game of hide and seek.

For Global Game Jam 2013, I created this Design Document over less than 48 hours.

The Found - Design Doc.pdf

This second time around, I learned a few more things:

1) To better understand team strengths and weaknesses

2) To test early and often

3) To better focus on Core Gameplay Mechanics

Yoatl Coatl Racing (Video Game)

Navigate a jungle race track and amass power to arrive at the Sun God's temple.

For Global Game Jam 2012, I created this Design Document over less than 48 hours.

Yoatl Coatl Racing - Design Doc.pdf

Working in this environment taught me a few things:

1) To better estimate scope

2) To better prioritize features

3) To focus on Core Gameplay Mechanics

This was my first experience with a Game Jam, and it was frantic, exciting, and amazingly worthwhile. I certainly made some mistakes with over-scoping, and as a result the game changed rapidly as the final hours drew closer. In the rush to make the game playable, many features were cut and short-cut. The result was a playable game, but one that did not accomplish the goals that the team had set forth at the outset.

Email John