Mattéo Palombo
Terraforming Mars
It's time to take on the Red Planet!
Companies are competing to turn Mars into a habitable planet: each one is spending tons of resources and using innovative tech to raise the temperature, create a breathable atmosphere, and make the oceans liquid. As terraforming progresses, more and more people will come to settle on the Red Planet from Earth.
In Terraforming Mars, you lead a corporation with unique characteristics. Play Project cards, boost production, place your cities and green spaces on the map, and compete for rewards and objectives!
The Colonies expansion is coming soon, adding a whole new system for trading with other planets!
Personal intention for the project :
I was able to find this freelance mission right after my internship at the end of my studies. This mission was my first experience in a large studio and allowed me to discover multiple facets of the video game industry, notably the fact of having a client.
I worked on an expansion for Terraforming Mars called Colonies, which was very interesting because I was given free reign to figure out how to translate the real-life version of the game into the existing video game. So I had to find solutions to preserve the spirit of the game while adding new gameplay elements.
For this project, I mainly created design mockups explaining the necessary intentions to be respected, as well as regularly monitoring progress to ensure the game's clarity.
The Colonies expansion will release in early 2026.
Context
Freelance - 2025 (Colonies extension) / Artefacts Studio
Role : Game Designer
Genre : Board game 2D
Platform : PC, Mobile
Team Size : 5 (During my mission)
Duration : 2 months (My intervention)
Engine : Unity
My contribution
Game design
- Definition of new achievements
- Explanation of game rules, including 1 complete tutorial
- Definition of new available actions and design proposals to implement them
- AI behavior for each new action
- Definition of important special cases to be taken into account for programming
- Establish a clear glossary to ensure the correct use of official terms in the game
- Monitoring of implementation to ensure that design intentions are preserved
UI Mockups
- Concrete gameplay elements, their function, and how to represent them
- Overall layouts and interactions
- Design solutions for special cases
- Specific feedback on new elements
- Mobile transcription of the game
Others
- Management of new sound feedback
- Drafting of intent document for the client
If you would like to see some of the product mockups to have an idea, click here:
Gallery
