Buraco Jogatina
Android, iOS | Trick-Taking Card Game
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Challenge: Managing a 12-year-old product with no mechanics beyond its core loop, targeting a majority audience over 50 years old—loyal, highly retained, but resistant to change.
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Goal: Diversify monetization without compromising the original game experience that players were accustomed to.
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Action: Added systems for economy, progression, and short- to long-term purpose.
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Results: With the introduction of IAP and rewarded video (RV) sources, revenue, LTV, and perceived player value increased.
Dolmen
PC / Consoles | Soulslike 3D
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Challenge: Join a large-scale project that had been in development for 3 years, ensuring fidelity to the original design while enhancing and scaling existing mechanics and systems.
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Goal: Balance equipment, character attributes, economy, and battles, while introducing new progression points and boss encounters.
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Action: Conducted a full review of documentation, created balancing spreadsheets, and worked closely with Level, Narrative, and UX Design teams.
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Result: Improved the player’s onboarding experience, enhanced inventory UX and equipment management, and refined boss battles, raising the overall consistency and quality of gameplay.
Spookyard
PC | Brawl Party Game
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Challenge: Responsible for creating the design and coordinating the team in developing a viable-scope title within just 6 months.
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Goal: Develop a game with strong Brazilian representation, combining native fauna with a fantasy-spooky theme in a complete and fun Party Game experience, to be showcased at the SB Games 2017 competition.
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Action: Structured production stages, prioritizing essential mechanics and elements in each version.
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Result: Achieved 2nd place in the “Best in Show” category and received an honorable mention for soundtrack.
Player to Developer
A brief history
Leonardo Gonçalves Malavasi, Game Designer
Graduated in Digital Media Design from PUC-Rio, I built my career in the game industry with a focus on Game Design, covering systems, gameplay, and liveops.
At Buraco Jogatina, one of the most relevant mobile titles in Brazil, I worked on creating and balancing mechanics, developing content, and defining liveops strategies, gaining experience in sustaining and expanding a long-term product in a highly competitive market.
This experience provided me with strong skills in metrics analysis, player experience optimization, and process improvement, while also reinforcing my ability to communicate and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.
In the development of Dolmen, a sci-fi soulslike for PC and consoles, I contributed to the design of combat and progression systems, as well as actively supporting the game’s narrative by aligning storytelling, Level Design, and QA with the atmosphere and pacing of the experience.
Inspired by classics such as Final Fantasy, Pokémon and The Legend of Zelda, as well as indies like Stardew Valley, Cult of the Lamb and Hades, I channel my passion for RPGs, cozy, and adventure games into creating experiences that evoke emotion and meaning in players, while fostering strong bonds between team and community as we overcome challenges together.