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GIADA ZAVARISE

Freelance Writer | Narrative Designer | Cheerful Goth

Giada Zavarise is a narrative designer, writer and former journalist with ten years of experience in the games industry.
Currently working at Paradox Interactive, but always open to freelance work.

Games

Commercial titles on PC and console.

Afterworld

Content Designer



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Fallen London

Writer



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Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

Guest Writer



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Stellaris

Content Designer



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Monster Loves You Too!

Narrative Designer



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Conglomerate 451

Narrative Designer



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Selling Sunlight

Creative Lead



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Mobile Games

No longer downloadable; gone but not forgotten.

Market of Miracles

Sponsored Writer



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Cthulhu Chronicles

Content Writer



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More games

Jam games, twines, experiments. For a complete list, head to Itch.

Moebius' Well

Writer and artist



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Daemonstration

Writer/programmer/designer



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He Sold The Sun

Solo developer



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No means No

Solo developer



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Articles

Rock, Paper Shotgun columnist. Bylines at PC Gamer and Eurogamer.

Selected articles

  • Four days in the fields of Pure Farming 2018
  • Confessions of a teenage asset ripper
  • The criminal who killed 9.5 billion people in Elegy for a Dead World
  • How to (not) save your boyfriend: examining gender roles in Mystic Messenger

Other Publications

Yes, I write too much

Nonfiction

  • Make the world your main character - The Game Narrative Kaleidoscope
    100+ Essays on the Craft of Game Writing, collated by Jon Ingold

Short Stories

  • I like bread - Cast of wonders (2018)
    A story about a depressed teen vampire. I swear it's better than it sounds.

Tabletop Games

  • Violaceous Gash - 100 Maps of Fantasy Islands

Comics

  • Limited edition - art by Chiara Boscaro
    Special mention at the Treviso Comics Book Festival's International Contest (2015)

Interviews and Talks

  • A chat with: Giada Zavarise - Save State
  • Survival Storytelling - LudoNarraCon 2023
    With David Dunham, Julián Quijano, Raphael van Lierop, and Tanya X. Short
  • Design: HTML5 UP
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Afterworld

Role: Content Designer

  • Creating, writing and implementing content in-engine using a proprietary scripting language
  • Leading multi-disciplinary feature teams
  • Designing and refining game systems
  • Onboarding and mentoring freelancers and new designers
  • Assisting producers with scoping and content production plans

STEAM PAGE

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Fallen London

Role: Writer

  • Wrote the monthly Exceptional Story "Tired of London"

SITE

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The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

Role: Guest Writer

  • Designed and wrote branching storylines for side-content

STEAM PAGE

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Stellaris

Role: Content Designer | Full-time | On-site

  • Designed, documented, implemented and tested content in-engine using a proprietary scripting language
  • Designed new system and features, with a focus on the interactions between narrative and gameplay
  • Coordinated multi-disciplinary teams to implement new features

STEAM PAGE

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Monster Loves You Too!

Role: Narrative Designer | Contract Work | Remote

  • Worked with a team of designers to plan and write the game plot
  • Implemented dialogue in-game using proprietary tools

STEAM PAGE

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Conglomerate 451

Role: Narrative Designer | Contract Work | Remote

  • Planned and wrote the story campaign mode
  • Wrote all the in-game random events
  • Italian localization

STEAM PAGE

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Market of Miracles

Role: Sponsored Writer | Contract Work | Remote

DOWNLOAD THE APP (iOs only)

Market of Miracles is an interactive novel about nuns behaving badly. It's hosted on the mobile app Tales: Chose your own story.

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Cthulhu Chronicles

Role: writer | contract work | remote

  • Pitched and iterated new story ideas following the IP's style guide
  • Wrote the game's text (branching narrative with simple skill checks)
  • Implemented the text in Google Sheets with associated design work and code links

Android (beta)

iOS

Can you navigate your way through Arkham City and survive with your sanity intact?
How will you fare against eldritch magic, insidious plots and the Elder Gods themselves?

Cthulhu Chronicles brings the terror and thrill of Chaosium’s award-winning role-playing game Call of Cthulhu to life on your mobile device. It emulates the tabletop experience, giving you choices to make, enemies to fight and mysteries to uncover. Mystery, intrigue, horror, and madness await your investigator, who can gain insights and lose sanity as they chart their way through Arkham City’s various interactive stories. Each story presents its own challenges and also plays a part of a larger campaign, which unfolds around you as you play. It is a great way to introduce yourself to the thrill of Call of Cthulhu, or, if you are already a player, to dive into a game and get a touch of Mythos on your own!

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Selling Sunlight

Role: project lead

  • Wrote the lore bible and all the game's dialogues
  • Designed, prototyped and iterated the game's mechanics, developing innovative RPG mechanics focused on bartering and communication
  • Designed and coded a custom dialogue system to handle all the game's dialogues and cutscenes
  • Organized and promoted a successful Kickstarter campaign

Play the demo

In narrative RPG Selling Sunlight, you are a wandering merchant whose face got stolen by the Sun. To get your identity back, you'll have to explore a strange, hand-painted world, befriend other travelers, trade goods and information and conspire against the Sun Himself.
Will you ask for His pardon, or try to defy Him?

Selling Sunlight is a role-playing game with no fights, many bees and too many words, focused on interpretation and atmosphere.

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Moebius' Well

Role: writer and artist

Moebius' Well is a narrative game made in 48 hours for the 30th GameMaker Jam.
Programming: Juju Adams
Sound and music: Interloper


JAM SCORE
Overall: 5th place
Sound: 2nd place
Art: 2nd place
Atmosphere: 1st place

Play
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Daemonstration

Role: writer/programmer/designer

Daemonstration is a short game about a witch taking an exam.
Made with Miles Äijälä for the Failbetter Jam.

Become a witch
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He Sold the Sun

Role: solo developer

He Sold the Sun is a twine game made for the subQjam 2019. It ranked fifth by popular vote.

Play
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No means no

Role: solo developer

No means No is a short game about devil summoning and consent. Made for the 1 button game jam.

Play