https://www.chris-pietrocarli-game-designer.org/showcase daily 0.75 2025-12-04 https://www.chris-pietrocarli-game-designer.org/showcase/rocket-league-current-work-nbq0L monthly 0.5 2025-12-05 https://www.chris-pietrocarli-game-designer.org/showcase/rocket-league-psyonix monthly 0.5 2025-12-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/e8610085-7f8d-484a-9866-a9783901c7bc/NewDirverChallenges.png Showcase of Work - New Driver Challenges and other Seasonal Content (Rocket League) - A very recent highlight of my time, however, is the launch of the revamped New Driver Challenges! Instead of having to reach level 20, players will be able to unlock competitive play via the completion of all four stages of New Driver Challenges. These have been tuned to have increased difficulty and play time compared to the prior release, and the nature of challenges in Rocket League’s backend means that we have levers to easily adjust player access to competitive rankings untethered from XP progress or premium purchases. https://www.chris-pietrocarli-game-designer.org/showcase/lost-boys-interactive-new-world-lyjh5 monthly 0.5 2025-12-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/63a5a40f-d8ef-4c70-9028-2c43dc59648a/WellOfFortune_NW.jpg Showcase of Work - Well of Fortune & Secret of the Spores (New World) - One design that I advocated for in particular is the streamlining of potential loot drops in the PvP zone down to a single currency: Doubloons. Inventory stress is fairly common in looter-type games like New World. In the much more dangerous Free-For-All PvP zone, where death meant losing hard-earned loot, an overencumbered player would become frustrated with the “normal” process of inspecting and dismantling gear, while under duress to keep a watchful eye for other players. This design had the knock-on effect of quickly answering the question “how do we handle players losing infinite combinations of gear on a case-by-case basis?” In short, we wouldn’t need to. If no gear drops, then players can’t lose it, and the tech concerns become that much simpler. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/3b5e7a42-b047-4776-aa71-0bd0dd1cd897/SecretOfTheSpores_03.png Showcase of Work - Well of Fortune & Secret of the Spores (New World) - After many brainstorming and iteration sessions, we settled on the final product: players would be gifted a reusable “bottle” that they would be able to fill with “juice” crafted from spore plants spread across the zone. The resulting potion, when consumed, would give the player either offensive or defensive buffs to make both combat and the loot/crafting experience more rewarding while they explored the revamped area. I was responsible for all non-art aspects of the feature. I created the plant that would be placed in the world by the level design team (and gave feedback as needed for adjustments), I developed the buff/perk system and its technical functions, and I developed the gathering and loot economies for all the new materials and added rewards. https://www.chris-pietrocarli-game-designer.org/showcase/blizzard-diablo-4-dh4mb monthly 0.5 2025-12-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/1a143845-2df4-46ed-a825-4ccc20a373e9/Elias_trailer_close-up.jpg Showcase of Work - Elias Final Encounter (Diablo 4) - Elias’ first fight with the player had already been completed, so I took the opportunity to learn from the designer of that encounter. Elias is a summoner boss; in the first encounter with him, he summons cultists for defense and low-level demons to attack, and he previously gained narrative protection from an immortality spell. The changes I made for the final fight were centered around the player’s story progression up until that point. Elias no longer has access to his protection spell and has been pushed into a corner. Under that premise, I felt that he would expend much more energy to attack the player and become something of a glass cannon as a result. https://www.chris-pietrocarli-game-designer.org/showcase/tony-hawks-pro-skater-78kg3 monthly 0.5 2025-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/840604ee-b416-4c23-9acd-7309c6efe22d/TonyHawkChallenges.jpg Showcase of Work - Challenges (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2) - I built the feature through an iteration feedback loop. I would develop an idea, implement and test its technical feasibility, then share it with the systems team or more broadly for feedback, then make adjustments and take in additional ideas for further iteration. The tool eventually became so modular that it was used in several other areas of the game: shop unlocks based on player level progression, achievements, and even most of the secret content was routed through the challenge system. A noteworthy aspect of the iteration process is the development of the menu’s overall flow. The individual “tiles” of the menu had to be interactable for tracking, rewards claim, and gaining further details. The button assignments and logic for that system went through several iterations based on a balance of the needs for feature utility, the broader UX flows of the game, and what would “feel good” for players. Tracking existed so that players could self direct. “Rewards claim” existed because it “felt good” when a player was able to claim their rewards in rapid succession at one location. All of these aspects had to be balanced in a way that felt intuitive to players. https://www.chris-pietrocarli-game-designer.org/showcase/vicarious-destiny-2-rphsb monthly 0.5 2025-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/eec9f52d-e3db-465a-867d-a023d6a11f25/SleeperNodePreview.png Showcase of Work - Sleeper Nodes (Destiny 2: Warmind) - The system that shipped took more inspiration from my time playing the larger game. Part of the as-yet-unreleased Destiny 2 base game involved a mission that was intended to foreshadow the Warmind DLC, and the diamond-shaped game objects (pictured to the right) present in that mission inspired me to build a more freeform and less encounter-driven experience. In Warmind, players could build “keys” out of components collected from world activities, the key would be randomly generated but tied to a specific Node given via 3 words of increasing location specificity, and players would receive pieces of loot as a reward. https://www.chris-pietrocarli-game-designer.org/home daily 1.0 2025-12-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/a76935c4-9bbe-41cf-900d-0351fe1af78f/GameDevCollage.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/368e3943-df87-4737-a0a7-72ec0c4bf164/CollageOfChris.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69308896b53cf32730c623d4/f542c472-01b3-4b95-aac8-0d891394d86f/Tuck_11162025