My Blog

Lego Star Wars MOC

I know it's been a while since I posted one of my Lego MOCs, but to be honest, it's hard to work on any during the semester since all my Lego is in Munich. But I finally got the chance to spend some time there and put together this Lego Star Wars-inspired MOC, using some repurposed gunship parts and pieces from my collection. I spent about an hour or two on it.

I really think having something where you can express yourself creatively away from the computer screen is refreshing. You can actually feel every brick in your hands, and when the finished model is sitting in front of you or on a shelf, it feels like you've accomplished something, even if it wasn't super ambitious.

By the way, if you're into Lego Star Wars MOCs, I highly recommend the YouTube channel 2bricks:

https://www.youtube.com/@2bricks

He creates absolutely stunning MOCs, and I find myself watching almost all of his videos. He goes into detail about how he designed his builds, how he solved challenges, and more. I wish I had more time to dedicate to building MOCs, but making games is even more fun, so I'm not complaining.

Workshop Concept Art

I took part in a 2-day workshop at my university led by Jonas Wurm, a concept designer at Aesir Interactive. You can check out his work here:

jonas-wurm.artstation.com

He showed us a great method for creating concept art using both 3D and 2D tools. Everyone in the workshop was given the assignment to come up with a vehicle concept and then create it, ideally using the techniques he demonstrated. Above, you can see my work in progress. There's still over a month left until the assignment is due, but I'm not someone who likes to procrastinate.

As you can probably tell, my concept is a combine harvester repurposed as a zombie-killing machine for a video game. The setting is the USA in the 1990s. The image is a direct render from Blender, and I will now start painting over it in Krita, adding details like wear and tear, blood, bolts, and more. I'm really happy with it so far and I'll post an update with a full description of the features and the reasons behind them when it's done. If you happen to see this before July 18, 2025, feel free to email me any feedback you might have :)

Good Explanations in Game Design

I recently read The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch. I'm someone who's very interested in how the world works, especially the vast, mysterious universe beyond our everyday lives. Because of that (and because physics was my favorite subject in school), I read a lot of science books.

You might be wondering what any of this has to do with game design. But if you think about it, making games is a lot like creating your own mini-universes. We invent the rules, build systems, and then watch as entirely new kinds of gameplay unfold.

While scientists strive to make sense of the given, we designers must construct systems whose internal logic will make sense of all that can arise within them, letting the players take the role of the scientist. Any successful game design, whether minimalist, experimental, or narrative-driven, involves designers making choices about why certain elements are included and how they will interact with players to create a desired experience. These choices, implicitly or explicitly, are the "explanations" of the design. If the design works well, the underlying explanations are "good". If it fails, they are "not good enough".

What Makes a "Good Explanation"?

According to Deutsch, a good explanation is both hard to vary and has reach.

Hard to vary means that every part of the explanation is essential. Change one detail, and the whole thing falls apart. In games, an example might be: "Emotional investment in a game's story depends on consistent character motivations, meaningful consequences, and real moral dilemmas." If you remove any one of those elements, the explanation no longer holds. That's far more useful than something vague like "players enjoy compelling stories," which can be arbitrarily tweaked without leading to deeper understanding. This doesn't mean that our designs can't be modular and should collapse with the slightest change, it's about the reasoning behind the design choices.

Reach refers to how broadly an explanation can be applied. A good explanation doesn't just describe one situation, it generalizes. It predicts, it scales, it adapts. This makes it especially powerful when we apply these explanations across multiple games or experiences.

How To Create Good Explanations

Modern game development leans heavily on data and AI to predict what players will do. But as Deutsch points out, predictions without explanations are often parochial when it comes to advancing true understanding. While data and advanced AI can certainly offer powerful predictive capabilities (even from "black box" models), they primarily tell us what is happening or what will happen. They may not always reveal the underlying why.

Data can tell us what players are doing. Explanation tells us why. That's where the real leverage is for human understanding and design improvement. Yet designers often settle for vague or superficial reasoning. They might say, "players quit because they're bored", when a stronger explanation could be, "players disengage when the challenge-to-skill ratio drops outside their optimal flow state". This explanation is hard to vary because it connects key elements like challenge, skill, and agency. It gives us a clearer picture of what's actually going wrong. And it has reach, as it can be applied to multiple games and situations.
Technology can help uncover these patterns, but only if we use it to pursue real understanding. We need to dig deep, drawing on every possible source of information to form an explanation that is both hard to vary and has reach. If it fulfills these criteria, you're likely onto a good explanation.

The Beginning of Infinity

When creating good explanations, we can think of game development as a cycle of knowledge creation. Every design decision is a hypothesis. Every A/B test, playtest, or market result is a potential refutation. When something doesn't work, a feature falls flat, a tutorial fails to teach, it's not a failure. It's a refutation. And that's valuable. It tells us the explanation we were working from wasn't good enough. So we revise, test again, and improve. This isn't guesswork. It's the scientific method, applied to design.

Embracing good explanations transforms game design from a reactive, trial-and-error process into a proactive, knowledge-driven craft. It allows us to build systems with greater depth, flexibility, and longevity and enables us to grow as a community. It helps us understand our players, not just how they behave, but why they behave that way. Of course, the practicalities of game development (tight deadlines, commercial pressures, and the sheer complexity of player psychology) can make consistently digging for perfect explanations challenging. Yet, striving for this deeper understanding, even in the face of these constraints, through post-mortems or dedicated research time, is what makes us grow.

Viewed this way, game development becomes an "infinite game." There's no final form, no ultimate patch, no perfect balance. There's only progress. A continuous loop of conjecture and correction, problem and solution, mistake and insight. To support this, studios need a "culture of criticism": one that rewards debate, encourages testable ideas, and discards easy-to-vary assumptions. It's a mindset of optimism, the belief that with better explanations, we can always improve.

State of Unreal 2025

The opening showcase for Unreal Fest 2025 just wrapped, and UE5.6 looks to be all about optimization, which really shines in what they've done with The Witcher 4. That game looks absolutely insane! I've never seen a game with such high visual fidelity. The demo was apparently running on a base PS5, which is incredibly impressive. I can only imagine how high-end PCs will turn this game into an experience where you'll just want to stop at every corner and soak in the environment. Since it was a tech demo, not much gameplay was shown, which is what interests me most, but that will come soon enough.

Next, they showcased a bunch of games using UE5 to power their creative vision, with Expedition 33 being the standout. I think this game is a huge indicator of where our industry is headed. I personally believe that AAA experiences won't just be delivered by large studios anymore, but by smaller teams as well. With the advancements in AI and the tools Epic is providing developers (like MetaHuman), a lot more work can be done by fewer people. So, I expect to see more small studios forming and our industry diversifying exponentially in the coming years.

Then came the UEFN showcase. As a Fortnite Creator, the new features coming to UEFN are particularly interesting to me, especially things like the Persona NPCs. These NPCs use LLMs to react to what the player is saying or doing, creating a unique experience with every playthrough. While it was a bit goofy in the showcase, we have to remember that this is just the beginning. AI today is the "worst" it will ever be.
But I also think generating dialogue is the least interesting part of AI in video games. There are so many possibilities for how you can use it as a dungeon master, worldbuilder, and much more, which is something I'm actively exploring in my master's degree.

Another interesting, though predictable, feature was the AI Verse code assistant. Until now, no AI was able to generate Verse code because the language was too niche and inaccessible for LLMs to pick it up. That's why my portfolio projects still feature code snippets, as this is code I've written to showcase my understanding and application of the language. I think being experienced in Verse will still be useful, but with the AI Verse code assistant, I'll be able to create more, faster.

As I've said in a previous blog post, I believe it's going to become much more important to think about what to create instead of how to create. Being able to identify and envision good ideas will become increasingly valuable in a game designer's skillset, and I'll certainly keep up-to-date and adapt to our rapidly changing industry.

Formulate

I've been working on a new game called Formulate, a strategic math-building roguelike where you construct mathematical expressions to achieve target scores. It's been a great way to put into practice what I wrote about in my previous article on using AI for game development prototyping.

Core Concept:
In Formulate, you build mathematical expressions by combining numbers and operators from your hand. The goal is to reach target scores that increase with each level, but there's a twist - longer expressions and strategic use of operators can significantly boost your score. The game features a unique scoring system: (Result + 2×Length) × Upgrades, which encourages creative expression building rather than just finding the highest possible result.

Development Process:
Following the process I outlined in my AI prototyping article, I started by clearly defining what I wanted to achieve. I knew I wanted to create a game that made math engaging and strategic, rather than just educational and I wanted to use the Balatro framework as I think it fits this game well. Using AI, I was able to quickly prototype the core gameplay loop using Pygame. The AI helped me implement features like the expression validation and scoring logic, which would have taken much longer to code manually. What you see in the video above took about 2 hours of implementation and iteration. It is still very basic, but it's enough to test my ideas.

I'm still working on polishing the game and adding more features, but I'm excited about how it's shaping up. It's a great example of how AI can help bring complex game mechanics to life while maintaining the creative vision and design decisions that make a game unique.

Using AI for Game Development Prototyping

AI is rapidly changing game development, and I'm always looking for ways it can help designers like me get ideas working faster. I've personally used AI to make prototypes in a fraction of the time, like my Phaser-based Beatwitch game, which went from idea to playable in just hours. You can find it further down in my blog. This way of working is super helpful for quickly testing game mechanics and ideas.

But there are some really important things to keep in mind. This article will show you how I use AI for prototyping, give you essential tips, and explain how to get the most out of it.

My AI Prototyping Process

1. Know Exactly What You Want
Before you start with the implementation, you need to know exactly what you're trying to do. Let's say you're building a double jump in UE5. First, write down everything you want it to do. This might sound obvious, but being specific here is key. The more detailed your prompt, the better the AI's result will be. For more complex tasks, like making a procedural planet, do your research first to get rid of any false assumptions and to get a better understanding of the task yourself. Gemini's Deep Research is a great tool for this.

2. Let AI Help You Plan
Once you have a clear goal, let the AI help you figure out how to get there.

• Understand the Scope: Ask the AI for a basic overview of what your goal needs and any limits or pitfalls you might encounter.
• Get Recommendations: Have the AI suggest the best ways to build it. This lets you choose the best approach for your project.
• Make a Detailed Plan: Ask for a step-by-step plan to reach your goal. You can basically have the AI create a plan for another AI to implement it. This gives you a good prompt out of the box.
• Check the Plan: Before you proceed, carefully read over the AI's plan to make sure it matches what you want.

3. Build with AI (and Understand the Code)
After you have a solid plan, have the AI execute on it. Even though AI can code for you, it's really important that you understand how it works and the overall structure. The cool thing is, you can use AI to explain code and concepts to you in a way that fits your experience level. You can also ask it for specifics it should focus on. It's usually a good idea to focus on why it's doing something and how it's doing it, not just what the code is doing. This helps you learn and makes you better at directing future projects.

4. Improve and Refine
With the current models, the first code the AI writes, no matter how good your prompt was, will probably have bugs or act in ways you didn't expect. This is where you keep making it better.

• Test Thoroughly
• Write Down What Needs Fixing: As you test, make a specific list of things you want to improve, fix, or change.
• Ask for Changes Smartly: Current AI models work best with two or three changes per prompt. If you give them a list of ten, they'll likely miss things.
• Let AI Suggest Solutions: If you're not sure how to fix a problem, ask the AI to suggest a solution. This can even be done for design decisions.
• Start New Chats for Big Features: For more complicated things, it's a good idea to start a new chat now and then. This stops the AI from getting confused or making up things because it loses track of the conversation.

Double Jump Example in UE5
Let's use this process for our double jump in UE5 that I mentioned earlier:

1. List Requirements: Write down exactly how the double jump should work: what buttons to press, what constraints it has, what parameters should be exposed, and so on.
2. Set Up: Make a new C++ class in UE5 and open it with your favorite AI-powered code editor (I like Cursor).
3. Ask for a Plan: Tell the AI your requirements and goals, and ask for a plan to build it. (For something simple like this, you probably don't need to ask extra questions or do more research.)
4. Review the Plan: Carefully check the AI's plan to make sure it's good and will do what you want.
5. Get the Code: Tell the AI to write the code into your C++ class. It usually explains how it works afterward, but if not, ask it to. At this point, understanding the code is super important, so you know how to use it and can check it for bloat or overengineering which can harm your game and make the code harder to understand for other people.
6. Test and Tweak: Compile the code and test the double jump in UE5. If it works, great! If not, or if you want to change things you can't tweak directly, make a list of changes and ask the AI to improve the code. Keep doing this until you're happy.
7. Finish Up: For more complex features, this is when you'd clean up the code, write documentation, and so on.

C++ vs. Blueprints
It's pretty interesting how AI + C++ has mostly taken the place of Blueprints in my quick prototyping, even though Blueprints are supposed to be for designers to build things fast. I find that AI + C++ is not just quicker, but it also gives me a lot more freedom in what I want to do and actually makes my game run better. It's a win-win.

One important thing: If you're mixing C++ and Blueprints, decide early on what goes where. If you don't make this clear, the AI will put everything in C++, and it can be a real headache to untangle things you wanted in Blueprints later.

Keep Learning
I'm still actively learning C++ using learncpp.com, which I've found incredibly helpful and would recommend to you too. Like I said, understanding the code and knowing the language you're writing in is essential for really getting good at prototyping with AI.

My process will definitely change as AI tech gets better and I learn more about game development. But I think this approach is a solid starting point for anyone who wants to be more effective and get more prototypes done.

Slide & Solve - Game Concept

I really enjoy physical games like sliding puzzles, but I wanted to create something that could bring multiple players together around this classic mechanic. That's how Slide & Solve was born. It's a competitive sliding puzzle game where players race to recreate patterns as quickly as possible.

The Core Design Challenge:
Traditional sliding puzzles are solitary experiences that can feel boring rather than fun. My goal was to transform this into something social and exciting. The key was shifting the focus from solving a complex image to quickly matching simple, colorful patterns. This made the game accessible to players of all ages while maintaining the satisfying puzzle-solving experience.

Game Components and Mechanics:
Each player gets a 3x3 sliding puzzle with 8 colored tiles. The magic happens with the pattern cards, a deck featuring various arrangements that players must recreate. I designed two types of cards: white template cards for standard play, and black event cards that introduce unique twists like "Mirror Mode" or "One Hand Only."
The core loop is simple: draw a card, everyone starts at the same time, and race to match the pattern. The first player to finish places their puzzle in the center of the table. If it's correct, they earn a point. You need three points to win the game. But if you place an incorrect solution, you lose a life. Lose all three lives and you're eliminated.

Event Cards - Adding Variety:
The event cards were necessary for keeping the game fresh. Each one changes the rules in a meaningful way, from physical constraints like using only one hand, to perceptual challenges like matching a mirrored pattern or only matching a certain color. These cards prevent the game from becoming a pure speed contest and give different types of players moments to shine.

Player Feedback and Iteration:
I've only tested this game with my family so far, but it was a lot of fun. It turned out to be surprisingly tense during the rounds, with everyone sneaking glances at each other's puzzles to see who was ahead or how someone was solving a particular template. I also realized that sliding puzzles can be pretty challenging, especially for kids, but I noticed everyone getting better as the game went on. It's definitely something you improve at with practice. I'll need to test it with more people to see how well it holds up.

Slide & Solve was a fun little challenge. Taking a familiar concept and finding new ways to make it social, fun, and endlessly replayable is something I really enjoy. Having a 3D-printer allows for some quick experiments like this, and I'll definitely be using it more in the future.

Master's Project Progress

I just wanted to share a quick update on our Master's project at the university. Our artists are hard at work creating concept art and developing the game's art style. While I can't show anything just yet, the project will eventually have its own section under the University Project tab, where you'll be able to take a detailed look once everything is finished.

The game also has a name now: They Sent Us Both. Here's a quick recap of the logline: They Sent Us Both is a 2-player co-op game where you travel to a distant planet to save its inhabitants from extinction while building up and managing a small, evolving settlement that depends on your collaboration, strategy, and empathy to survive.

Right now, I'm working on setting up the inhabitants. I'm still figuring out the code architecture, since this is my first time handling such a large-scale project. I'm focused on keeping the codebase maintainable and well organized. I'm also thinking a lot about how to connect various features and how to give our designers the tools they need to tweak and balance the game effectively.

It's been really interesting not working as a game designer for once, but instead being on the other side of things as a programmer. Not only is programming a lot of fun, but it has also given me new insights into the relationship between designers and programmers. There are many things that seemed simple to me as a designer, but I now realize how time-consuming and complex they can be to implement. This experience is helping me better understand the technical impact of design decisions, and I think these are lessons I'll carry with me in my future work as a game designer.

How do you study live-service design?

My previous post on this blog got me pondering more about how to study games effectively. I was especially thinking about live-service games, when I remembered a quote from Richard Carrillo's book, The Role Of A Great Game Designer (2021): "For game designers, spending one hundred plus hours on the same game should not be seen as a badge of honor; instead, it represents missed opportunities." (P. 187). This means that Carrillo suggests you should play a bunch of different games to broaden your horizons instead of spending a lot of time on one game. But that immediately makes me wonder: how do we then understand live-service systems, where the whole point is for gameplay to be exciting for hundreds, or even thousands, of hours?

If you read my last post, you'll remember I suggested that playing isn't the only way to study games. You can also watch playthroughs, reviews, and livestreams. And while this works for many aspects of games, I realized that something that's very hard to understand by watching or reading is long-term engagement. What actually compels players to spend hundreds of hours on a single game? Especially now, when live-service games are among the most successful titles out there, I think it's crucial to deeply understand what truly drives and motivates players to commit their time to one game.

Now, Carrillo's point about playing lots of different games is certainly valid. I agree that you should broaden your horizon. However, if you want to design for live-service (which, again, lots of games these days are), then, in my opinion, you should have experienced what makes the live-service loop tick. You need to understand what motivates you to keep coming back, to develop a deep understanding of the retention systems, and to really grasp what truly matters to players over the long haul.

To illustrate this point, let's look at my own experience. As I really enjoy shooters, my most played live-service game is Destiny 2. While I haven't played it in over a year, I've sunk many hours into it during the pandemic and I honestly believe I could have read a dozen books on the subject and not gained the same wholistic view and depth of knowledge on what makes a live-service game work. I got to see not only what motivated me, but also what motivated my friends, their perspectives on why they kept coming back, and what made Destiny 2 stand out to us as our preferred live-service shooter.

I'm definitely not saying you need to invest thousands of hours in a single game to learn this. Instead, I'm suggesting you should commit yourself to a game for an extended period to truly understand what motivates you and what keeps you returning. This commitment looks different for everyone: some prefer MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, others gacha games like Genshin Impact, and some looter shooters like Destiny 2 or MOBAs like League of Legends. I genuinely believe that having played at least one of these games with the intent to study its long-term retention will significantly improve your understanding of live-service design and help you refine your own systems. The key is to approach these games with the intent to study them and to know when you've gained the insights you need so you can move on. That's very important to keep in mind. Don't just mindlessly play. Take notes and learn from other people's work. In the case of live-service design, I found this to be the most effective way to improve.

Watching vs playing a game to study it

I want to take a bit of time to talk about watching vs playing games as a way to study them. Many game designers will tell you that you have to play a lot of games to become a proficient designer. While I agree with the idea behind this, that you need to experience a wide range of games to understand what works and what doesn't, I don't think it's always feasible, especially for someone like me.
As a student, my budget is very limited, and spending 60-70€ on a game every other week just isn't realistic. Game Pass mitigates this issue a bit but there are still a lot of games that are not on it. Another issue is that games are made up of many different systems and elements. While it's important to see how these systems interact, it's often more effective to focus on one specific thing you want to learn or analyze, rather than trying to absorb everything at once. For example, if you're playing God of War and you're interested in boss design, you'll need to get through hours of unrelated content before reaching those fights.

My solution is to watch games being played. I don't hear many people recommending this. It's usually "you have to play it yourself." But I don't entirely agree. In many cases, watching someone else play can be more effective for studying a game.
First, it solves the two problems I mentioned earlier. It costs nothing to go on YouTube or Twitch and watch a playthrough, and you can easily skip to the sections that interest you.

But the benefits don't stop there. Watching others play allows you to compare your opinions with those of other players. It's easy to dismiss a design as unsuited just because you think it doesn't fit, only to find that many others really enjoy it. Seeing reactions from Let's Players, Twitch chat, YouTube comments, or reviews helps you put your opinion into perspective.
Another benefit is seeing how different people engage with the same content. This goes beyond just checking opinions. It lets you observe how players handle tutorials, which parts they spend the most time on, where they get frustrated or excited. It allows you to study not only the game itself, but also the emotional responses it generates and how effectively it communicates its experience with different players.

Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't play games yourself. You absolutely should. There are certain aspects of game design, like controls and game feel, that you can only truly understand by playing. Feeling how a game responds, where it flows well or where it frustrates, is something watching alone can't fully replicate.
That said, you don't have to play every game that interests you. We have the internet at our fingertips, and I believe we should use the tools it offers to broaden our perspective and adapt to our individual situations. Watching others play can often be just as valuable, especially when you're looking to focus on specific mechanics, observe player reactions, or compare different playstyles. It's not about replacing firsthand experience entirely, but about studying smarter with the resources available to you.

PS: The reviews on this blog are called reviews, not studies, for a reason. When I review a game, I've played it and I'm giving my personal opinion. When I study a game, or a specific part of one, I often turn to online playthroughs, other people's reviews, articles, and more. I find this approach more effective for learning than playing the game myself, where I might get too immersed in the experience to analyze it objectively or don't have the time to play through it.

Cult of the Lamb - Review

As I'm working on my master's project, a game where you manage a small population on a planet, I wanted to check out how other games handle similar setups. I was especially curious about what makes interactions with NPCs and groups of NPCs feel meaningful and engaging. So, I took a closer look at Cult of the Lamb.

What Works:
One thing that stood out immediately, and that I also mentioned in my LET IT DIE impressions, is that there's always something to do. You can interact with your cult, decorate your base, play Knucklebones, fight your way to a boss, etc.. And all of these systems feed into each other. None of them feel pointless.
I also love how the game lets you choose your own pace and focus. Whether you want to dive into combat, spend time managing your cult, or just decorate your base, the game supports your playstyle. That kind of freedom makes it appealing to a wide range of players.

What Doesn't:
There's not much I'd criticize, but the roguelite part of the game feels a bit too shallow and repetitive. The four areas you explore to find and defeat bosses may look different, but they play and feel pretty similarly. I get that when a game offers this much variety, not every element can be super deep. Still, I think the roguelite side could've used more attention, maybe at the expense of some of the effort that went into the decorations, which felt a bit excessive. Since combat is where you spend a lot of time, it would've been great to see more variety there.

Standout Moments:
Most of my favorite moments came from interactions with cult members. There was always something going on, and some of the quests were genuinely funny.
The final boss fight also stood out. After lots of similar combat encounters, it felt fresh and exciting. It was a strong way to wrap things up.

What I Learned:
This game is a masterclass in player retention and gameplay variety. Its ability to appeal to so many types of players is impressive.
What I focused on most, though, were the cult interactions. I learned what makes those moments engaging, and what it takes to make players genuinely care about their NPCs. The way it uses procedural generation and multiple mechanics to deepen those interactions is something I'll definitely take into account for my master's project.

Final Thoughts:
Great game overall, and there's a high chance it'll appeal to you. It's a rare mix of flexibility, charm, and depth. Definitely worth checking out.

Blind Auction - Game Concept

This game was inspired by an episode of the Think Like a Game Designer podcast featuring Reiner Knizia. Before this interview, I had never heard of so-called "auction games", and I was immediately intrigued. It sparked my creativity, and I sat down to brainstorm what my version of an auction game could look like.

The Blind Auction is an auction-style game where three players bid on concealed objects of varying values over 10 rounds. The player with the most wealth at the end of the game wins.

Game Components:
Every player starts with 21 bills of different values that add up to a total of 6,800. The funds of each player are visible to everyone. There are 10 objects that players can bid on: 3 high-value objects worth 1,000 each (yellow), 3 medium-value objects worth 500 each (purple), and 4 low-value objects worth 250 each (blue). The game also includes extra 200-value bills that players receive each round starting from round 2.

How It Works:
Each round, one player selects a face-down object to auction. Bidding proceeds clockwise, with players either placing a bid or passing. The auction ends when all but one player have passed. The highest bidder wins the object, surrenders their bid to the void, and the object's value is revealed and added to their wealth.

The core tension comes from risk assessment - do you bid high on an object that might be worthless, or do you let it go and potentially miss out on a valuable prize? Players must balance aggressive bidding with resource management across all 10 rounds.

I created this prototype using parts from an old Monopoly game and some custom 3D-printed pieces. When I playtested it with friends and family, some fascinating dynamics emerged. Players naturally gravitated toward different strategies: some played it safe, bidding low at the start and saving for the later rounds, while others took big risks, spending heavily in the first round. What's interesting is that both styles can work, depending on a mix of luck and how well players plan and read each other. As the rounds progress, the tension builds. Not just from the stakes themselves, but from watching those strategies unfold and collide.

This little design exercise taught me a lot about creating meaningful choices with limited information, and how uncertainty can drive player engagement. While I don't have immediate plans to publish this, it was a valuable exploration of auction mechanics and player psychology.

My Last Week at Edurino

This week marks my final week as a Game Designer at Edurino as I've made the decision to shift my focus fully back to my studies. While I've absolutely loved my time there and would have ideally juggled both, it's become clear that I need to dedicate my full energy to finishing my degree right now.

Working at Edurino, and creating games that genuinely have a positive impact on our next generation, has been incredibly rewarding. I've had a fantastic time working alongside such a talented and supportive team, and I've learned an immense amount from them and my Design Lead. I've also made some truly great friends there that I'll definitely keep in touch with.

I'll miss the team and the unique atmosphere at Edurino, but I'm also really looking forward to the road ahead.

Master's Project Progress

We have, for the most part, decided together what kind of game we want to make. To sum it up, we want to make a game where two players with asymmetrical roles arrive at a distant planet to help the inhabitants survive a major catastrophe which is endangering their lives. We have outlined the rough core pillars that are important to us and on which the rest of the design will depend:

2-Player Co-op Dynamic:
Both players have different roles but are dependent on each other to manage resources, progress, and win. Selfish playstyles lead to consequences.

Democracy System:
The planet's inhabitants should play a central role. Players have an effect on the inhabitants, and the inhabitants have an effect on the players.

Accessible for Casual Co-op Gamers of All Ages:
The game should be accessible to everyone interested in video games and should match the average gamer in terms of both difficulty and hardware requirements.

Learning Effect:
The central game systems, such as democracy and resource management, should show players what an ideal interaction with a planet's population can look like and what consequences negligence or selfishness entail.

In preparation for this, I have set up a couple of C++ classes that will allow us to create procedurally generated planets and place buildings on a grid on that planet. This took me like 5 days to get up and running, but I learned a lot about Goldberg polyhedral and basic procedural generation.

Marathon Impressions

Marathon has been teased and rumored about for a while now, but today we finally got official gameplay trailers and hands-on impressions. Right off the bat, I have to say that I'm very excited for this game. I think the visual style and gunplay are exactly what I like, and the PvPvE aspect looks promising. I must admit, I've never played an extraction shooter, since to me they look like games you have to invest a ton of time into to get even remotely good, but I'm more than willing to give this one a try. From what I've seen, Marathon is trying to make the extraction shooter genre more approachable and add the Bungie DNA into the mix. So, as a former D2 veteran, I would consider myself the prime target audience for this game.

But of course, it's not all sunshine and roses. I've heard some of the bounties can get pretty boring and repetitive, and that encounters with other players are a bit too rare. But most importantly, players report that the game is just not that engaging. It's missing that tight and fun core loop which is at the heart of every good game. I guess we'll have to see how the Alpha goes.

Like I said, I'm really excited for this and definitely willing to give it a shot, even if it's a premium game. That said, I can only really share an opinion once I've actually played it, so I'll post my thoughts after the game launches and I've had some time with it.

Lies of P - Review

With Lies of P Overture approaching fast, I finally sat down to play this game and see what it has to offer. I finished my playthrough in around 25 hours, and have to say my overall impression is very positive.

What Works:
The combat is good and approachable, even for people who haven't had any experience with Souls-like games. The difficulty is fair, and I love the addition of the Specter, giving new players a bit of help when they're struggling with a certain boss. The prosthetic arm is well designed and often helped me defeat some of the tougher bosses like Walker of Illusions or Nameless Puppet. But where the game really shines is the story - Lies of P nailed it when it comes to telling a story without making it too on the nose. Unlike traditional Souls games where I'm forced to watch 30-minute videos to understand what happened, this one was clear and engaging throughout.

What Doesn't:
I said that the difficulty felt fair, which it did overall, but I think you can become very powerful early in the game, which makes many of the bosses in the early to mid-game feel underwhelming. However, my biggest gripe is with the normal enemies in the late game. Most of them are so tanky that fighting them feels pointless. I often found myself running past enemies in the later levels just to reach the next boss, where the game really shines again.
What ties into this is that it feels like the scaling isn't as well thought out as it is in games like Dark Souls, where the power curve feels appropriate to enemy scaling throughout the game.
The weapon crafting system is fine, but it doesn't add much value compared to simply finding and upgrading weapons. The options felt limited and didn't support the kind of buildcrafting I was hoping for.
One last thing: when I encountered Alidoro and repeatedly refused to let him come to the hotel, only for him to show up there anyway, it felt like a betrayal by the game. I understand he's an important NPC, but if my decision doesn't matter, then don't present it as a meaningful choice.

Standout Moments:
In my opinion, the Walker of Illusions and Nameless Puppet boss fights were incredible. They really tested my mastery and felt like proper skill checks. Also, the way the story unfolded led to some really surprising and emotional moments.

What I Learned:
This game taught me a lot about accessible difficulty design. The Specter system, for example, is brilliant. It provides help for the ones who want it without undermining the core challenge. I also learned how effective clear storytelling can be in this genre without sacrificing the mystery that makes Souls-likes compelling. Especially the balance between guidance and discovery is something I want to apply to my own designs.

Final Thoughts:
Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed this game thoroughly. I think it's a perfect entry point for anyone trying to get into Souls games and not knowing where to start. I'm looking forward to the Overture DLC and would definitely recommend this to both newcomers and veterans of the genre.

TLAGD Podcast

Today, I finally caught up on all the episodes of the podcast "Think Like a Game Designer" by Justin Gary. I ended up taking over 100 pages of notes from interviews with amazing designers like Richard Garfield, Eric Lang, Ben Brode, Alex Seropian, and many others. They offered invaluable advice and insights for anyone looking to get into game design or the games industry. I learned so much from every episode and can highly recommend it to any game designer or creative. I'm really thankful to Justin Gary for conducting these interviews and hosting the podcast for free, which is incredibly generous and means a lot to the community.

Start of my Master's Project

Last semester I finished my Bachelor's degree in Interactive Media at the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg and this semester I'm continuing my specialization in game development with the Master's program Interactive Media Systems, which is a direct follow-up on my Bachelor's program. The core of this is a two-semester Master's Project where we will develop a game in a team of 9 people, with each team member choosing their specialization. In my case, this is game design and programming. I'm not seeking to primarily be a programmer, but I think it's a really good opportunity for me to hone my skills in programming in UE5 and getting to grips with C++. I think this is important for creating prototypes and having a deeper understanding of what's going on under the hood. I will be looking into things like optimization, maintainability, code structure, and much more. I will share some progress and highlights over the coming year.

"Blink" Gameplay

Here are 60 seconds of gameplay from the prototype I showed in a previous post. As you can see, it's Five Nights at Freddy's meets On Observation Duty. The game is all about paying close attention to your surroundings while managing your blink and flashlight resources.

From the start, the player's vision becomes blurry over 15 seconds. If the player does not blink within that time, they die. This means blinking is essential for survival, but each blink gives the puppets around the room a chance to move closer. If they get too close, the player dies. However, the player has a flashlight to defend themselves. With every blink, the player has three uses of the flashlight before it runs out and is recharged with the next blink. Flashing an enemy sets that enemy back to its original position. The puppets can approach from many different angles and many puppets can be active at once, so keeping them in check is crucial.

I'm continuing to work on this game and here are a few features I still want to add:

1. A second enemy type called the Stalker, which will come through the vents at the back of the room.
2. The option to pan the camera left and right to increase the angles from which the puppets can come.
3. Different poses depending on where a puppet currently is (for example, clinging to a table leg, standing, or crawling).

I also shared this with some fellow students at the university, and one of them expressed interest in creating art for the game. I'll need to finish the implementation and test it several times before accepting that offer, though. But if it works out, we can probably put the game on itch.io for everyone to play.

The Role Of A Great Game Designer

I just finished another book on game design, or more specifically, on what goes into being a great game designer. It was considerably shorter and less in-depth than Tynan Sylvester's Designing Games, yet it still provided incredibly valuable insights. I have applied the idea of inspiring the team rather than simply explaining the design to my work as a working student in game design at Edurino, and it has made a big difference. When the team is inspired, great ideas and the will to put them into action come from every team member. Particularly in the art department, the artists I work with often have fantastic suggestions for the visuals of each mini-game. By allowing them to take ownership while still ensuring their ideas fit the overall goal we set, they create something amazing every time.

Another important takeaway is the question "What problem are you trying to solve?" This helped me tremendously when random feature requests came in or when I caught myself adding something to a game just because I thought it might be fun. It is one of the most important questions to ask yourself when examining a new idea, even if it may not always make sense during the brainstorming phase for a new experience.

Overall, a great book. I am currently reading Justin Gary's Think Like a Game Designer and will share some of the insights that stood out to me once I finish that as well.

"Blink" Prototype

I'm currently working on a game called "Blink". It's a horror-survival game where blinking is a vital resource. Players must manage their vision, balancing the need to blink with the risk of enemies moving or the environment shifting in their brief moments of blindness. Keeping eyes open for too long leads to hallucinations and eventual death, while blinking too often accelerates danger. Players must observe, blink strategically, and react quickly to threats, using a limited flashlight to fend off enemies and secure vents. I'll post another update when I progress further and the enemy AI is fully implemented.

More Car MOCs

As you might have guessed from my previous Lego MOCs, I really like building cars. Here are three MOCs I have made over the last couple of weeks.

Improving Drawing Fundamentals

Since I was just writing about drawing practice in my previous post, I want to share two more tips. I'm not a pro artist or anything, but these helped me improve more quickly. The first is tracing basic shapes like squares, circles, and triangles to get a feel for how to draw them, especially circles. You can use the circle tool in Krita to place perfect circles on the screen, then trace over them and try to stay as close to the original as possible. After that, try drawing some without tracing.

The next tip is a bit more personal. Since I have a 3D printer, I printed a few "Dummy 13" figures, which you can pose however you like. This helped me with gesture drawing and improving my flow when drawing humans or human-like creatures like robots. If you don't have a 3D printer, you can just buy one of those drawing mannequins and it will work just fine. But with Dummy 13, you can print your own accessories and customize it however you want.

Back to the Basics

For me, the best way to improve my fundamentals in drawing, like line and shape practice, is through graffiti. I study alphabets and pieces from famous artists, trying to learn from each one by incorporating certain elements into my own work. Graffiti is great for practicing clean lines of different lengths and really tests your understanding of shapes. I used to do graffiti on actual walls, but since a can of spray paint now costs around 6-7€, and you go through them pretty quickly, it has become too expensive for me. Still, I enjoy doing digital graffiti or just grabbing a marker and sketching in my sketchbook.

Designing Games

I recently finished reading Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester, and I found it to be an excellent resource for anyone interested in game design. The book offers a wealth of valuable insights into the collaborative process of creating games, as well as a deep dive into the elements that contribute to a great design. Additionally, it provides clear definitions of many key terms, helping me better put abstract concepts into words. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking to break into the field of game design or to elevate their existing skills to the next level.

Claude 3.7

I've been playing around with Claude 3.7 since it just came out, and I have to say, I'm impressed. It can create fully functional programs and apps, often in just one shot. You should try it out for yourself. Every couple of months feels like five years' worth of progress in AI.

Pixel Art Practice

I'm continually working on improving both my concept art and pixel art skills. Lately, I've been creating character 360-degree spritesheets to get a better feel for proportions and perspective. I'm also storing these assets, as they might come in handy for future game prototypes.

Steins;Gate - Review

I played Steins;Gate over the course of this week, and while I don't usually play visual novels, I wanted to revisit this franchise since I watched the anime about 10 years ago. I couldn't remember much about it, partly because a lot of time has passed and partly because I was too young to fully understand everything Steins;Gate has to offer. But one of my fellow university students made a visual novel for their bachelor's project, which drew me back into the genre.

What Works:
This game deserves its reputation as one of the highest-rated VNs ever. The storytelling is absolutely phenomenal. Some of the best I've seen so far. The game hooked me and pulled me in like very few others have. I actually felt like I was living through Okarin's experiences and was part of the Future Gadget Lab. The characters are incredibly well-developed, and the time travel mechanics are handled with remarkable care and intelligence, which makes the story feel believable.

What Doesn't:
The game does have some pacing issues, especially at the beginning where it can feel slow. Games like DDLC, for example, handle this a lot better in my opinion.
I also feel like the email-replying mechanic is poorly communicated. If the game had made it clearer that your responses were meaningful decisions, I would have actually cared about them. I thought it was just a fun gimmick with no real impact, so I got the Suzuha ending first because I didn't understand I could manipulate the D-Mails. Looking at other reviews, this seems to be a common issue.

Standout Moments:
The moments when the true nature of the time travel consequences becomes clear were genuinely shocking and emotionally devastating. Okarin's madness during the Suzuha path, for example.
Reaching the True Ending after getting Suzuha's ending first was an incredible payoff that made me appreciate the depth of the branching narrative. The final sequences where everything comes together and is resolved had me completely invested and left me with a good feeling that's hard to describe.

What I Learned:
This taught me how powerful slow-burn storytelling can be when done right. Even with the pacing issues, the overall experience makes it easy to overlook flaws when the core narrative and characters are this strong. I also learned about the importance of clear communication when it comes to mechanics. When players don't understand the significance of their role and their choices, it diminishes the impact of branching narratives.

Final Thoughts:
It's a really excellent game, and I can recommend it to anyone interested in a great story who has about 25 hours to spare. The emotional investment and narrative payoff make it worth experiencing, even for people who aren't typically into visual novels. El Psy Congroo.

My Own AI Code Assistant

This was a fun little code experiment. I downloaded a program called LM Studio, which lets you download and run different LLMs locally and host a local server that can be accessed via API. I used it to create my own Visual Studio Code extension as a challenge since I always wanted to know what goes into making an extension like that.

I'm currently using a 14B distilled version of Deepseek R1 since my hardware doesn't support higher-quality versions. The extension is still in its infancy, but I want to experiment and see what I can do with it. I'll probably continue development whenever I have time to work on it.

Ludus AI

There's a project called Ludus AI that aims to help developers create content in Unreal Engine 5. I downloaded the plugin and experimented a bit, but I couldn't get it to work. It seemed like the servers were down at the time or there were some issues with the API. If you want to see what it can do, I found a video on it that you can watch above. I highly recommend checking it out since it's not just about Ludus AI but also explores what a game entirely made by AI looks like. Really interesting. I'll be keeping my eye on this plugin and try it out again another time.

Printing And Painting Figurines

I picked up my first 3D printer from Bambu Lab a while ago and have mostly been printing practical things like boxes, clips, and stands. But recently, I got a lot more interested in printing miniatures and figurines. I subscribed to a group of artists on Patreon called Bulkamancer and printed one of their many awesome figurines.

After tweaking the settings, printing, and assembling all the parts, I painted the figurine with simple acrylic paints and quickly realized I have a loooong way to go when it comes to painting miniatures. Still, it's a really fun hobby, and I plan on printing and painting a lot more to decorate my otherwise pretty barren room.

Mortal Kombat 11 - Review

I picked up Mortal Kombat 11 recently and played through the entire campaign in one sitting. The only other Mortal Kombat game I played was Mortal Kombat X, but I never touched the campaign, just local 1v1s against friends. So, even though I had no idea about the lore or story, I still found myself really enjoying MK11's campaign.

What Works:
The campaign felt like playing an interactive action movie in the best possible way. The cutscenes and gameplay were paced really well, with only a few small exceptions. The dialogue and characters were exactly what you'd expect from an action movie, and they delivered on every front. The combat feels insanely good. The punches are meaty, and the animations are brutal. But the biggest props have to go to the sound designers who did an amazing job making every punch and kick feel like they got a weigth to them, while also giving the cutscenes and characters extra impact.

What Doesn't:
I'm by no means a fighting game expert, so I can't nitpick the finer points of the mechanics. But as an average gamer who dabbles in fighting games from time to time, I honestly don't have many negative things to say about this game. Some cutscenes felt too long, and I caught myself thinking, "Please just let me play the game!". But aside from that, it was exactly what I expected and wanted.

Standout Moments:
The opening cinematic immediately set the tone and pulled me in with its production values. Several of the fatalities were really creative and impressive from an artistic standpoint. And the final boss felt like a proper climax to the story. All around, a really great game.

What I Learned:
This game taught me how effective it can be to lean fully into your game's identity rather than trying to be something you're not. MK11 knows it's an over-the-top action spectacle and commits to that vision completely, which makes it work so well.
The sound design showed me how crucial audio feedback is for making combat feel impactful. It's not just visual effects that sell the power of attacks.

Final Thoughts:
Overall, it's a really great game that succeeds at being exactly what it wants to be.

Paperswithcode

I came across a website called paperswithcode.com today. It has a lot of recent research and scientific articles on machine learning. I browsed through some of the papers, and there's some really interesting stuff in there. If you're into the latest developments in AI and machine learning, it's definitely worth checking out.

Google Genie 2 Creating Games

While researching how AI can be used to create games more efficiently, I came across a video that does an excellent job of summarizing the progress Google DeepMind has made in using AI for game development. It's amazing to see how far we've come and where this is headed. I believe the focus is shifting more toward what we create rather than how we create it. As mentioned in the video, this is the worst it will ever be. And it's advancing pretty rapidly.

DeepSeek R1 and Game Dev

DeepSeek just released their new R1 model with API access, enabling it to work with the Cline extension for VSCode. This opens up the possibility of using R1 to create games without having to pay 200$ a month for OpenAI's O1. I'm still experimenting with it, but I believe I can develop an efficient workflow to create prototypes and maybe even incorporate R1 into some of my games.

Sci-fi Car MOC

I designed a cyberpunk-style car with a black and red theme that functions as an air/ground hybrid. It has extendable wings which are equipped with laser cannons. This MOC took me about one evening to build. Maybe you can guess which set I got the windscreen from. ;)

Witch's Groove

As I mentioned in my Slide & Solve project, I wanted to explore Phaser a bit more to see if it's something I'd use for future projects. So, I decided to make a small rhythm game called Witch's Groove, where you pop bubbles in sync with the song. Took about two days to make, including the music, sprites, code and level maps. It was interesting learning how to handle input delays and use .json files as level maps, but while Phaser is definitely a great framework for getting these sort of games up and running quickly, I still prefer Godot for creating my web games because you're not just looking at code all the time.

Spritesheet Automation

I created a Lua script for Aseprite that lets you preview an animation from a spritesheet. Simply select all the sprites you want to include and run the script. It opens a new file where you can play and adjust the animation without having to stack a lot of frames in your main file. You can download it below!

LET IT DIE - Early Impressions

I started playing LET IT DIE today, and five hours flew by like nothing, so I had to talk about it.

What Works:
The game-within-a-game concept adds a great dynamic between the characters in the arcade and those inside the game itself. It feels like you're part of two separate but interconnected worlds, which is a brilliant and unique design choice. The gameplay is genuinely fun and strikes a solid balance. It's challenging but not unfair, since you get plenty of chances to return to your safe room and restock supplies. The progression feels rewarding, and it's clear there's a massive amount of content to explore, even without spending any money.

What Doesn't:
As someone just starting out, the systems can feel overwhelming. There are a lot of mechanics to learn, and the game doesn't always explain everything clearly upfront. I also really dislike having to read through multiple pages of text just to understand the core systems and mechanics.

Standout Moments:
Beating the first big boss and escaping the tunnels to reach the surface was incredibly satisfying and probably my biggest highlight so far.
I also really enjoy the Japanese touch this game brings. Japanese games always seem to have this distinct, unique flair that makes them feel fresh to me. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I want to figure it out.

What I Learned:
Even though I haven't played much yet, this game has already taught me about the power of meta-narrative and how breaking the fourth wall can enhance immersion when done right. More importantly, the layered progression systems showed me how to keep players engaged with multiple reward loops.

Final Thoughts:
I'll have to see if I can make the time to really dive into this one. It has so much to offer that it's a bit daunting, but if you're looking for a game with a unique personality that you can truly grind, this one's definitely worth checking out. The five hours I spent playing flew by like the wind, which isalways a good sign.

Tumbler MOC

Here's a Mini-Tumbler MOC I put together using some spare parts left over from another build. For the wheels, I used the ones that come with the Lego Speed Champions set. Took me about two hours to complete.

My New Blog

Happy New Year!!! As part of my 2024 reflection, I realized how nice it would be to have my own blog. I've been working on plenty of projects that don't make it onto the front pages of my portfolio, but I still want to share them. I used to rely on platforms like X for this sort of thing, but the character limit is frustrating, and without being verified, it feels like no one sees your posts anyway. So, I wanted to create a space where I can write as much as I want, adjust posts to my needs, and share everything with you, including non-game-related stuff. My goal is to post updates every 3-5 days. Hope you enjoy!