Train

I have a fairly long commute by train. Sometimes, the train is really comfortable. Working on the train is peaceful and it is easy to concentrate. The distance is shorter than a few years ago and I have to change trains inbetween which makes it harder to work uninterrupted for an extended period. Last couple of years the train is so full that most of the time I don't get a comfortable table seat for opening the laptop.

Game Dev

I read and watch tv shows and movies during the train rides, but sometimes I want to be more productive. So I am creating small games. For a couple of years I have been using the Godot Engine and it fits my skill level and the scope of my projects perfectly. I prefer 3D because I like using Blender.

Hobby

I seldom make complete games, but mostly prototypes and experiments. Recreating some aspect of a game I enjoy or some idea I had until I get bored of it.

Game Jams

I have been jamming in the Global Game Jam since 2019. It takes place every year at the end of January and it's my favourite time to game dev. I joined Ludum Dare 56 for the first time.

Created during Global Game Jam 2025 at the jam site Leipzig. The theme was Bubble.

My scenes are getting more and more atmospheric. This time I used textures on the room to make it more realistic. Eventually, I want to create textures myself by painting models in Blender.

You can download the game on itch.io.

Fellow jammer Justin created the user interface. Menus include settings, multiple languages and screen sizes. The ingame interface uses viewports to render 3d models onto buttons.

Gameplay is classic tower defense. Waves of enemies come towards you via a convoluted path. Tower placement happens through blowing bubbles containing the towers. Once a tower bubble is at the right place, player pops it to let the tower drop into place. We added a couple of interactions to the game world.The player can change the music by clicking the record player and toggle the candles. A secret key lets the player wiggle their toes.

Using the subdivision modifier I recreated the smooth and rounded look of bathtub toys, This time I wanted to create a space that feels more real than my previous games. That's why almost everything in the room is textured.

Never created so many animations in Blender before. With automatic weights you can get bone animations working quick and dirty. With AnimationTree I played multiple animations in the same model at the same time.

Created for Ludum Dare 56. The theme was Tiny Creatures.

I read an article a while back about Demodex, the genus of mites that live in or near hair follicles of mammals. Fascinating stuff. And then there is the myth of spiders crawling into your orifices while you sleep.

You can play and download the game on itch.io.

I am kind of proud of the tutorial screen where you can crawl around on your own without other creatures. They are spawned once the player closes the tutorial screen. However, you can quickly die right at the start, there is a win condition that is difficult to achieve, and the game is badly balanced. I should have put more effort into improving QoL, but I achieved everything I wanted at that point. The ratings would have been better, though.

I started with a simulation of creatures crawling across a face. Then I added the player controls and the added the basic interactions: Meet a creature of your own species and procreate. Meet another species and kill or be killed.

The basic mechanic of attaching objects to a surface and moving them around was implemented fairly quickly. I am getting more and more comfortable with creating animated 3d models. At some point I want to be able to create sound effects and music myself.

Wanted to create a more elaborate version of Fleet Battles. At the beginning of the skirmish the player can select units or let the computer determine the army composition randomly.

I played the demo of Conquest of a New World a lot back in the day. Not so much the colonization game, but the tactical battles you could jump right into from the main menu.

You can download the game on itch.io.

I used 3d assets from www.kenney.nl. Kenney provides blend-files for all assets which is great, because I had to add additional animations needed in the game. I am especially proud of the deployment animation where dropships come in, the screen shakes and the units appear.

The AI evaluates the current board by attributing values to fields and units based on their position and type. It then collects all possible moves and attacks, simulates each action on the board, and evaluates the new board again. The actions are sorted by the achieved tactical gain. Depending on the difficulty level an action is then chosen from the top, middle or bottom of the sorted list of actions.

For some reason turn-based games are easier to design. I always loved the Jagged Alliance series and X-Com. I don't know why it took me so long to try making turn-based games.

Made this to take a break from my ongoing forever project.

I wanted to produce something small and concrete. Without having to think about game design a lot.

You can play and download the game on itch.io.

Just feels good already knowing every feature that has to go into the game and just making it.

Even the computer strategy was easy as there are strategy guides available online. The difficulty levels range from simple random shooting up to pattern recognition strategy.

Trying out new things, practising with shaders, animations, modelling.

All in all a game I had fun making. Which is enough at the moment.

The theme of the Global Game Jam 2024 was Make Me Laugh. By chance Jan, Markus and I got talking about the theme, discussing humour in games and games that made us laugh. We realized making a genuine funny game is more often than not a swing and a miss. We settled on making a comedy club management game. It fits the theme perfectly without the do-or-die necessity to make the player laugh.

The gameplay loop consists of three phases. In the planning phase the manager hires comedians, purchases beverages and sets prices. The second phase makes up the live show. Provide drinks to the audience and manage the lineup. Replace a comedian with the next if they are bombing. The third phase is kind of an evaluation of your evening with your diabolical investor.

You can download the game from itch.io.

The first phase takes place solely on the manager's laptop. Fellow jammer Jan constructed the entire logic for hiring comedians, buying beverages and setting prices. He also calculated joke quality over time, audience size and responses and even comedy club fame. He also created the Windows 3.1 interface.

Markus programmed the beverage distribution mini game during the live show. There are different kinds of beverages and quick reaction results in higher tips. Markus also created the 2d art.

I integrated the different systems and and connected them to the gameplay loop. I also made the 3d models of the comedy club and the underground and the various animations. We did try to inject some dark humour by involving a deal with the devil and comedian sacrifices. The audience animations were intended to provoke laughter as well but it's difficult to get right.

The theme of the Global Game Jam 2023 was Roots. I wanted to make a game where some objects become connected by growing roots between them. The challenge would be to find the necessary resources and place them strategically to create connections.

I have been experimenting with third-person cameras over the last year. The camera is in this game is pretty ok, but there are still cases, where the player has to align the camera manually. That is part of the gameplay though. The player has to check where he is in relation to other objects in the 3D space in order to solve the puzzles.

You can download the game from itch.io.

I like making 3D games more than 2D. I spent the entire first night creating the main character since the player will see it in the middle of the screen for most of the gameplay. Later, I added this solar-powered chopper which the player unlocks at the end of the game.

Fellow jammer Justin created the menus. It was his first Jam and the first time he used Godot Engine. We added instructions, input options and translations to the game.

This is the fourth time that I used the Godot Engine during the Jam. I am getting more comfortable with handling cameras and importing animations. This character is from an asset package. I added the wave animation.

A year later the game appears briefly in the keynote of Global Game Jam 2024. Somebody must have played it or at least watched the trailer. Cool.

The theme of the Global Game Jam 2021 was Duality. I came up with some concept involving silence and spoken words. That's why the overworld is silent when the player is close to a monster. Since rhymes often turn up in pairs I thought that fit well into the duality theme. I didn't like this theme as much as the other ones.

The game has two layers. The overworld is where the player explores ruins and encounters monsters. And another layer where the player fights the monsters similar to the battle systems found in some RPGs. To beat the monsters the player has to discover the lost rhymes scattered throughout the world by exploring ruins and other landmarks. Sadly, the world is rather empty and exploring isn't particulary interesting.

I wanted to try a rhythm game for this jam. On the technical side, getting the timing to match the music was difficult and I didn't get a satisfying solution. On the design side, creating that vibrating rhythmic flow that makes these games so entertaining is not easy. I could have researched a bit more what makes rhythm games work.

As in other rhythm games, the player must react at the right moment with the right action. In this game, the player has to counter the words "played" by the monster by countering with the correct rhyme. It adds a cognitive challenge to the rhythm gameplay: The player has to read the word and identify the right rhyme.

The theme of the Global Game Jam 2020 was Lost and Found. In this game everything came together perfectly: Gameplay, story, graphics and audio.

Gameplay

Story

Graphics

Audio

The theme of the Global Game Jam 2019 was Repair.
I decided to make a game about mending relationships by matching up people by their comments. It's called Amelie because I stole the premise from that movie.

My goal for this jam was to get familiar with the Godot Engine. I was completely new to the engine and when I look at my skill level today, it's crazy how much more I get done with Godot compared to that first try. But Godot has also evolved and is much more efficient today than it was 2019.

I wanted to recreate a Parisian neighborhood which the player can explore and mend relationships between people. I spent a lot of time in Blender creating the level. I got the 3d characters from asset maker kenney.nl.

The theme of the Global Game Jam 2018 was What home means to you


My first game jam where we used the Unity engine. It's a two player cooperative/competitive game of catch. The parent character takes care of the child character by earning money and providing toys and housing. The child character tries to leave. Both characters grow older until the parent character dies or the child leaves the play area. At that moment the child becomes the parent and the cycle begins anew. Despite the thought-provoking theme and serious overtones, play sessions proved to be hilarious.

A programming puzzle game for Android. I wanted do produce something quickly. This game was done in a few weeks. The player analyzes at the level and then selects the appropriate commands on the bottom row. When the play button is pressed, the robot executes the commands one after another.

I created all the pixel art and animations with Aseprite.

It used to be on the play store, but I didn't see the point of keeping it up to date with all the Android versions. Android Studio was also a pain to work with. I stopped making games for Android shortly after.

I made a level editor for it with C# and Winforms. I could create levels of varying size. I had planned to release updates with new commands and new levels, but I didn't see the point, got bored with it and wanted to make something new.

I thought my kids might like it, but it wasn't the type of game they were interested in.

I remade Paipa for Android.

Video

Unfortunately, it is not available on the play store anymore.

I made this game for the Indie Games Channel on the XBox 360.

Video

You can download the game from itch.io.

Pirates are cool.

I restarted this project several times. With OpenGL and Java on mobile, with Unity, and now with the Godot Engine. I also tried different themes like the carribean, above the clouds, on Mars.

Capture traders and steal their cargo. But beware of other pirates and pirate hunters.

Find maps and hunt for treasures. The islands are created dynamically and so are the treasure maps. Figuring out how to put the grid-based islands on the treasure map model was a lot of fun and super satisfying when finished.

Build a pirate utopia. I like games like the Anno series and Settlers a lot. It gives the player something to do with all the resources and treasure they collect.

Gallery of past projects

Screenshots and videos of projects, tests and experiments I worked on at one point in the past few years.