Hi there!

I’m RICCARDO,
a Game

Let’s make games together!

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About Me
Me posing with a large, colorful statue of the green dragon Shenron from dragon ball, with yellow horns and whiskers. The plastic dragon is coiled around a display that resembles a comic book cover with Japanese text and the number 1 in a red star. The background features a blue sky with white clouds.

About Me

Hello friends, and welcome to my personal space! I’m Riccardo, a most-definitely-not-Italian-looking Italian with a big passion for games, digital and analog. I’ve spent my whole career being a bridge between the coding world and the pure arts, earning a Ph.D. with Honors studying Players’ psychology in unknown environments and helping gaming companies building cutting-edge technology!

Picture of myself standing in front of the Door to Hell, in Turkmenistan, at night.

For the past 8 years I’ve been working as technical designer and UI programmer, helping many different enterprises build standardized tools and UI systems for their products. The experiences I have worked on often had a strong multiplayer component, ranging from Corporate VR “metaverses” to Arena shooters in the web3 space. And now? I’m looking for my next adventure!

What I can do for your project:

  • Create the front-end UI using Unreal’s UMG or any other custom UI system built on top of that
  • Convert your Figma designs into functioning UI elements
  • Develop UI frameworks to improve your project’s organization, usability and quality
  • Use any type of scripting intermediate language to develop systems/features/quests
  • Create gameplay systems from prototyping to final implementation using Unreal Blueprints.
  • Be the link between your engineers and designers, communicating with both groups as one of their own

Do you think we can build something cool together? Get in touch!

Resume

TECHNICAL DESIGNER & UI PROGRAMMER

Directive Games. remote

08/23 – 02/25

● Expand a custom-built UI system (Both C++ and Blueprints)
● In charge of implementing the UI of two different games (The Machines Arena, Civitas) for PC and Mobile
● UX design and UI implementation for an undisclosed B2B Project
● Design and implement Controller and Keyboard interaction
● Advocate for Inclusive and Accessible design

FULL STACK DEVELOPER

PERCRO Perceptual Robotics Laboratories

08/17 – 05/21

● Full stack game developer for B2B applications. Projects ranged from helping children with Autism learn in VR to digitally preserve and exhibit cultural heritage.
● Maintain a 4-faced CAVE VR system, with periodic updates to both software and hardware
● VR R&D, back when VR was still the first Oculus DevKit

UNREAL ENGINE DEVELOPER

Realworld – One. remote

08/21 – 06/23

● Design VR experiences using a custom multiplayer platform running using Unreal Engine
● Standardize, redesign and implement tools that could be used across hundreds of experiences
● Create a standardized UI that automatically guided players in their tasks

UNREAL ENGINE DEVELOPER

Breda University of Applied Sciences

03/19 – 05/21

● Co-Design of a rapid idea prototyping card game
● Create a remote data collection plugin for Unreal Engine (C++)
● Full-stack Unreal Engine developer on the EscapeTower project

TECHNICAL ARTIST

ARTechs London

01/17 – 06/17

● Remotely guide a team to successfully acquire pictures of a statue in London.
● Use photogrammetry to recreate the statue
● Retopologise the mesh and adjust the texture to display the model

Education

Bachelor Degree in Digital Humanities

Università di Pisa

110/110 with honors

Postgraduate Degree in Digital Humanities

Università di Pisa

110/110 with honors

Ph.D. in Emerging Digital Technologies

Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna

Degree with honors

Portfolio

  • All
  • Design
  • VR
  • UI
  • Code/Blueprint
  • 3D Art
  • Personal Projects
"Logo of The Machines Arena on a pink background. The logo consists of a stylized black letter 'M' above the text 'THE MACHINES ARENA' in black, with 'THE' in smaller font above 'MACHINES' and 'ARENA' in smaller font below 'MACHINES'.

The Machines Arena

"An illustrated character dressed in a cowboy or cowgirl outfit, including a hat and a poncho. The character's face is pixelated. Behind the character, there is a large white logo on a purple background. The logo consists of a stylized letter 'C' with two vertical lines intersecting it, resembling a currency symbol.

Civitas

Silhouette of a person indicating silence, in black. Bright green background!

Project “Nexus”

"A stylized blue butterfly with a gradient of blue shades, transitioning from a lighter blue on the left wing to a darker blue on the right wing. The design is simple and abstract, focusing on the shape and color gradient with smooth, curved lines.

Realworld-one Metaverse

A street sign with two signs mounted on a pole. The top sign reads 'Maze' with an upward-pointing arrow, and the bottom sign reads 'One Way.' The background is a solid blue color.

The Island VR

"An image showing a grid of eight squares, arranged in two rows and four columns. Each square contains a red key symbol. The keys are identical in shape and orientation, with the key bit pointing downwards and the bow (the circular part) at the top. The background of each square is light blue, and the grid lines are dark purple. The overall background of the image is pink.

EscapeTower

An open treasure chest filled with various valuable items, including numerous gold coins, a golden crown, a string of pearls, and a sword with a jeweled hilt. The chest is wooden with metal reinforcements and a lock on the front. The background is a solid purple color

Autismo VR

Two theatrical masks, one orange and one purple, representing the classic symbols of comedy and tragedy. The orange mask is smiling, while the purple mask is frowning. The masks are framed by decorative black swirls and lines. The background is light beige, and the image has a green border

Modern Theatre in VR

Three cartoon-like characters sitting at a table, each wearing large headphones and engaged in a card game. Various cards with numbers (5, 2, 3, 7, and 4) are laid out in front of them. The characters are colorful and stylized: the one on the left is green, the one in the middle is yellow, and the one on the right is purple. The background is a solid pink color.

User Generated Stories

A stylized representation of the Earth with a yellow Mobius strip looping around it. The Earth has blue oceans and white continents, while the Mobius strip is a continuous loop that twists and turns around the globe, symbolizing interconnectedness and continuity

Game Jams

An intricate symbol resembling the astrological sign for Taurus. The design features a circle with two horns on top, with ornate patterns and a metallic appearance, giving it a decorative and elaborate look.

UO Venus

An illustration of a person dressed in historical or traditional clothing. The individual is wearing a blue garment with long sleeves and a white head covering that drapes over the shoulders. The head covering has a brown triangular section at the top. The background is a solid bright yellow color

Muravagando

The hilt of a sword against a bright pink background. The hilt includes a metallic and rounded pommel, a textured grip, and a straight crossguard. The sword's blade is partially visible, extending from the crossguard. The bright pink background contrasts sharply with the metallic and brown tones of the sword, making the hilt stand out prominently

Study on Photorealism

The word 'DigiPal' in large, stylized text with a yellow background. The letters 'Digi' are in red, and the letters 'Pal' are in black. Surrounding the word 'DigiPal' are several small, rectangular images of what appear to be fragments of old manuscripts or texts, each containing a few letters or parts of words. These fragments are bordered in orange.

DigiPal

A statue of a seated figure with a blurred face, made of a material resembling marble or jade. The figure is dressed in traditional robes and holds a scroll or piece of cloth with some markings on it. The background is a solid red color.

Netsuke 3D

The image contains text on a bright green background. The text is in two different fonts and reads: 'MONGOL RALLY Stories

Mongol Rally Stories

A dark, abstract sculpture with a smooth, curving form made of reflective material, possibly metal. The sculpture is set against a solid blue background and has an organic, flowing shape suggesting movement or fluidity. Its circular base supports a modern and minimalist design, making the sculpture intriguing with the way it plays with light and shadow.

Digital “Mother and Child“

Academia

In my previous life, before deciding that games were all I wanted to do, I spent a few years working in the academic world, pursuing a Ph.D in Emerging Digital Technologies and being a Teaching Assistant in a Virtual Environments class. It feels like a lifetime ago but some people at Uni are still using some of my slides for their courses, and I’m happy to keep hosting them for our future colleagues!

Selected Publications

What makes a circuit likeable and how different input devices can influence the perception of tracks in racing games

Galdieri, Camardella and Carrozzino

Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3, 2021: 100072.

Users’ Adaptation to Non-standard Controller Schemes in 3D Gaming Experiences

Galdieri, Haggis-Burridge, Buijtenweg, Carrozzino.

In International Conference on Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Computer Graphics, pp. 411-419. Springer, Cham, 2020.

Exploring Players’ Curiosity-Driven Behavior in Unknown Videogame Environments

Galdieri, Haggis-Burridge, Buijtenweg, Carrozzino.

In International Conference on Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Computer Graphics, pp. 177-185. Springer, Cham, 2020

Natural interaction in virtual reality for cultural heritage

Galdieri, and Carrozzino.

International Conference on VR Technologies in Cultural Heritage. Springer, Cham, 2018.

A comprehensive list of publications can be found on my Google Scholar profile.

Teaching

2021

Virtual Environments Course

2019

Unicorns and Dead Ducks, a Practical Workshop in Accelerating Game Design Concepting (Develop:Brighton)

  • Slides (By Thomas Buijtenweg)

Intro to Blender

2020

Science! A semi-serious introduction

From Zero to hero – How to prototype in less thana a Jam Time! (UniTBv)

2018

Controller-free grasping in virtual reality

Virtual Environments

Contacts

Let’s build worlds together!

I am on all social media, trying to actively stay away from them all. If you want to get in touch with me – sending me an email is definitely the best way to catch my attention.

You can find me at [email protected]

For work inquiries, LinkedIn works too!