Hochschule Darmstadt (2015 - 2018)
So, where did you graduate from?
I graduated from the University Of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt, Germany, and have a bachelor's degree in Animation & Game.
What was it like to study there?
Where much hands-on. We worked on a new project each semester. It was fun!
The following university projects are featured here:
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Graffiti Rush (2014)
Join a crew and use graffiti to fight an oppressive and ruthless regime.
The first game project I have ever worked on was "Graffiti Rush". It is a Jump'n'Run stealth game.
But it has a twist: You can paint on your environment...
Story
The game is set in a not-too-distant future.
A formerly prosperous democracy has slowly been turning into an authoritarian police state. Technology has seen significant advancements used to control and oppress the people.
Surveillance cameras have been upgraded to immobilize targets on sight, and the police use drones to hunt down the opposition.
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You begin as a talented graffiti artist who wants to make a name for herself and is looking to join one of the major graffiti crews in town.
After witnessing another graffiti sprayer being executed, you begin to fight back against the government and its propaganda.
Gameplay
The game's genre is best described as a 2,5D Jump'n'Run Spray'N'Hide stealth game.
Graffiti works in two different ways:
Firstly, you can freely paint on everything in your environment using different colors and caps. Secondly, you can paint complex graffiti bombs and pieces by completing mini-games.
Spraying and other activities grant you 'Nitro', a resource that can then be used to perform advanced actions, for example, "Rush". Rush lets you run faster and jump higher for a time, enabling you to reach otherwise unreachable places and survive otherwise deadly situations.
While all these mechanics are present in our prototype (see gameplay video below), our concept for the game is more ambitious.
The core gameplay revolves around evading capture and graffiti, but the game would also allow you to take down enemies by non-lethal means if necessary.
The further you progress in the story, the more tools you'll find. You can distract enemies by throwing items, blocking enemy lines of sight with smoke bombs, or using physics to destroy police drones.
You will also constantly add more (customizable) graffiti to your black book and earn street credibility with every piece you paint. The riskier, the better.
Project History
We made the game in our 3rd semester at the University Of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt in 2014.
After presenting the prototype and the concept and receiving very positive feedback, we explored the idea further. So in 2015, we decided to continue working on the concept, the technical and the organizational challenges within a free elective.
Year:
2014
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My Roles:
Game Design, Story, Programming, Effects, Modeling
Build:
Prototype
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Team:
Tobias Fischer, Eva Kaup, Jasmin Mustaha
Platforms:
Windows
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Sound Design:
Marco Pawski, Robert Connan
Languages:
English
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Voice Actors:
Anna Zhu, Al, Andreas Braunnagel, Felix Barton
VR Flush (2015 / 2018)
You are sitting on a toilet when you are abducted and beamed up to an alien spaceship, where you have to convince an A.I. that you really are an intelligent life form.
During our 5th semester, we wanted to try out something completely new:
Virtual Reality
The Oculus Rift DK2 had just come out. It was one of the first VR headsets and motion controllers weren't available back then.
So we decided to create a cinematic sitting experience and chose a setting everyone is very familiar with...
The story of this one didn't end after one semester. After my graduation, I finished the game on my own and released it on steam.
This is why VR Flush has its dedicated project page here!
A Sunny Day (2016)
Experience an outbreak of war from the view of a civilian in a wheelchair.
During our 6th semester, we worked on another VR sitting experience:
"A Sunny Day".
But unlike our last project, we wanted to go for a more serious tone and allow the player to move around - in a wheelchair.
Concept Trailer
Gameplay Trailer
Story
You are in your wheelchair and live in a small apartment that you share with your friend Dan.
There is no electricity. Money isn't worth much anymore. Food is hard to come by. You are running out of gasoline, which you need for your emergency generator. Everything in your apartment runs on gasoline now.
The war hasn't reached your city yet, and you hope it never will. There is hope.
You are looking through the balcony window. Your friend Dan is out there somewhere, searching for gasoline and food.
That used to be your job - before that stupid accident. Only two more weeks and you'll be able to help him again...
Then your walkie-talkie, which is attached to your wheelchair, beeps, and you hear Dan's Voice:
"Yo, Jon, can you hear me? ... Don't tell me you've fallen asleep again."...
Gameplay
A Sunny Day is a sitting title for Virtual Reality. But since you sit in a wheelchair, you are free to explore your apartment.
The experience uses snap-turn mechanics and slow acceleration to minimize motion sickness symptoms when moving.
You can interact with most of the items in your environment and complete different tasks given to you by your friend Dan over the radio. The interaction gameplay is mostly physics-based.
You communicate with Dan over the radio, and in most cases, you'll have two dialogue options to choose from. Since this experience was designed to be story-driven, there isn't a significant emphasis on gameplay.
Project History
We made the game in our 6th semester at the University Of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt in 2016.
Screenshots
Year:
2016
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My Roles:
Game Design, Story, Programming, Effects, Recording, Some Materials, Some Animations
Build:
Prototype
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Team:
Lenz Monath, Philipp Grote, Eva Kaup, Tobias Fischer
Platforms:
Windows, VR
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Sound Design:
Pascal Heimroth, Partick Keßler, Fabian Deiss, Kevin Peruano
Languages:
German
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Voice Actors:
Florian Tappeser,
Philipp Grote, Anna Zhu
PyroPhysics (2017)
Survive in a world of physics-based challenges using fireworks and time manipulation, and help your talking motion controllers escape from Virtual Reality
My final project during my time at Hochschule Darmstadt was the one accompanying my bachelor thesis.
"Pyrophysics" is a concept and a prototype I developed to examine the boundaries of player interaction in VR...
...and to have an excuse to play with fireworks, explosions, and physics.
Story
The story is told through the VR representation of your motion controllers, which are also the two main characters. Imagine them like two small, very useful, and entertaining robots you hold in your hands.
Their names are Raze and AID.
As they keep reminding you, you are not their first owner. They have had countless owners before you, and apparently, all failed before being able to complete the game. Some got killed by enemy rockets, and others fell to their deaths or just gave up. But, as they tell you, most really just blew themselves up. Fireworks are dangerous...
While Raze has become a bit sarcastic over time, Aid still genuinely tries to help and hasn’t given up hope.
Because there is one thing that both want more than anything else: They wanna see the “real world”. Escape from their fake virtual reality.
And they believe that the final portal, the one hidden in the last level, will get them there.
But to reach it, they need YOU.
Gameplay
Your goal is to overcome different challenges to reach the portal and advance to the next level.
Challenges can be obstacles, traps, puzzles, enemies, or simply how to get somewhere. These will behave differently depending on whether you are in a regular or zero-gravity environment.
Your Tools are your controllers. Both controllers can pick up, throw and launch objects and light fuses.
Usable Objects are fireworks, for example, new year rockets and bangers, but also smaller physics-enabled building blocks within the level and other items.
While controller 1 (“Raze”) can teleport you through the level, controller 2 (Aid) has no unique ability in the beginning.
Later in the Game, AID will learn to slow down time temporarily. Significantly slowing down time for a moment will enable you to handle more action-packed sequences in the game without having to move too quickly.
AID's ability is also essential to overcome particular challenges, like, for example, Automated Rocket Launchers. While time is slowed down, it's even possible to grab incoming rockets in mid-air and then redirect them.
Project History
I made the prototype as a part of my bachelor's at the University Of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt in 2017.
There is also a 60-page concept for PyroPhysics. Since I would like to realize this game in the future, the concept and scripts for the game are not public.
Year:
2017
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My Roles:
Almost Everything
Build:
Prototype
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Team:
Me
Special thanks to Philipp Grote
Platforms:
Windows, VR
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Sound Design:
Patrick Keßler
Languages:
English
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Voice Actors:
None