Celso Riva (born c. 1974) is an Italian independent video game designer of several critically acclaimed games, including The Goalkeeper, Universal Boxing Manager, Magic Stones, the Heileen and Vera Blanc series, Bionic Heart, and the Loren the Amazon Princess.

Life and game design career

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At the age of twenty, Riva began his career, designing small-scale games for the Italian market. He took a seven-year sabbatical until 2003, when he discovered the shareware distribution model and created the sports management video game Universal Soccer Manager using BlitzBasic.

He moved to C/C++ language and published 10 more games under the Winter Wolves label, then opened a new company, Tycoon Games, on which he has published 6 games: the space war game Supernova 2: Spacewar, the dating sim game Summer Session, the visual novels Heileen and Bionic Heart, College Romance: Rise Of The Little Brother, and Spirited Heart. For the games Summer Session and Heileen, he moved away from C/C++ to embrace Python programming language and in particular the tool Ren'Py.

The stories of The Flower Shop: Summer In Fairbrook and The Flower Shop: Winter in Fairbrook were written by Ayu Sakata from sakevisual. Starting from 2020, some of his games were ported and published to consoles by Ratalaika Games.

Awards

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In 2004, both his games The Goalkeeper and Universal Boxing Manager were nominated among the 5 top Sports Games of the Year [1] by the online magazine Gametunnel. In the 2011 Best Ofs from VNs Now!, Winter Wolves was named "Studio/EVN Circle of the Year".

Games

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Release Date Title(s) Genre(s) Platform(s)
2003 Universal Soccer Manager Sports management Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2004 Spin Around Puzzle game Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Ignazio The Frog Pac-Man clone Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Universal Boxing Manager Sports management Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Quizland Quiz game Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
The Goalkeeper Simulation video game Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Supernova: Galactic Wars Strategy video game Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2005 Magic Stones Card game, Role-playing video game Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2006 Universal Soccer Manager 2 Sports management Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2007 TV Station Manager Simulation video game Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2008 Supernova 2: Spacewar Strategy video game Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Summer Session Visual novel, dating sim Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Heileen: Sail Away Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2009 College Romance: Rise Of The Little Brother Visual novel, dating sim Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Spirited Heart Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Bionic Heart Visual novel Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Heileen 2: The Hands of Fate Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2010 Card Sweethearts Card game Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
The Flower Shop - Summer In Fairbrook Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Vera Blanc: Full Moon Visual novel, detective game Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Vera Blanc: Ghost In The Castle Visual novel, detective game Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2011 Love & Order with Christine Love Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Planet Stronghold Role-playing video game, visual novel Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Always Remember Me Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Spirited Heart Girl's Love Expansion Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
The Flower Shop - Winter In Fairbrook Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2012 Loren The Amazon Princess Role-playing video game, visual novel Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Loren The Amazon Princess: The Castle of N'mar Expansion Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Heileen 3: New Horizons Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2013 Heileen 3: Sea Maidens Expansion Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Bionic Heart 2 Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Nicole Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2014 Roommates Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf Role-playing-game, visual novel Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2015 Bad Blood Expansion Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2016 Planet Stronghold: Colonial Defense Visual novel, card game video game Android, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
C14 Dating Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Heirs And Graces Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Queen of Thieves Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Never Forget Me Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2017 Amber's Magic Shop Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2018 Cursed Lands Role-playing video game Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
Love Bites Visual novel, dating sim Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2019 Corona Borealis Visual novel, dating sim Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
2020 Planet Stronghold 2 Role-playing video game, visual novel Linux, Microsoft Windows
Volleyball Heaven Visual novel, dating sim Linux, Microsoft Windows
2021 Tales From The Under-Realm: Hazel Visual novel Linux, Microsoft Windows
At Your Feet Visual novel, dating sim Linux, Microsoft Windows
Summer In Trigue Visual novel, dating sim Linux, Microsoft Windows
Love Notes Visual novel, dating sim Linux, Microsoft Windows
2022 The Curse Of Mantras Card game, role-playing video game Linux, Microsoft Windows
Tales From The Under-Realm: After Midnight Visual novel Linux, Microsoft Windows
2023 The Beastmaster Princess Visual novel Linux, Microsoft Windows
Save The World Visual novel Linux, Microsoft Windows
Tales Of Aravorn: An Elven Marriage Role-playing video game, visual novel Linux, Microsoft Windows

References

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Interviews

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