Bally Wulff Slotgames
Animation and Tech-Art
#animation #code #tech-art
Since mid 2017 I do Tech-Art and Animation for slotgames at Bally Wulff Games & Entertainment GmbH.
So far:
-
11 original games shipped
including Bally Wulff's best performing game in a decade. -
helped to ship 7 additional games
(project completion, localization, conversions) - postlaunch bugfixes.
Animations were made with After Effects and/or Spine.
The company maintains an inhouse game engine.
Bally Wulff is a maker of slotgames and landbased slotgame machines in Germany with a market presence in Spain and online.
TweetTweetJams
Fun Sized Twitter Game Jams
#code #tweettweetjam
TweetTweetJam is about making games in 560 characters of code.
Why 560?
Because you don't always need a ton of code to make something fun.
Because sometimes it's nice to scale back.
But mostly because it's the length of two tweets.
Are these great games? Well no, you can hardly call them games but it's astonishing what you can achieve with such a limited amount of characters. It is a practice in reduction and intentionality. That in itself feels like an achievement.
I used Pico-8 for these games. It is a so called fantasy console (the original one) that you can program with LUA.
SonnenCon
Ongoing Poster Series
#illustration
SonnenCon (SunCon) is an annual roleplay and boardgame convention in Berlin. It's a small but growing local event. Unlike similar cons which oftentimes have a specific theme (e.g. sci-fi, high-fantasy etc.). All genres are welcome and playing groups form around them.
The convention is organised by a non-profit association.
I am supporting these events by making a fresh illustration each year. Due to time limitations my contribution is on a hiatus, though.
The SonnenCon logo is made by Daniel Stephan.
Spiel-Raum
A closer look at our perception of boardgames
#layout #text
I completed my Bachelor of Arts in 2012. My thesis 'Spielraum' which literally translates to 'play-room' means 'margin', 'leeway' etc. But in German, in the right context, it can also mean 'playroom/children's room'.
The thesis mainly deals with societal perception of boardgames and what (German) language has to do with it. 'Spiel' is a remarkably broad term especially for the German language which usually likes to be very precise. The word has many meanings and their connotations can be negative.
Both, the theoretical part (this book) and the practical part (a card game) of my thesis got the maximum total score.
I am working on an updated and revised version in my free time.
#logodesign
Elvenar is a free-to-play browser-based city builder game by InnoGames. The game lets you play as a trader, producer or warlord. It does not force the player into having an agressive play style.
The logo was created in close consultation with the developer. It was a matter of great importance that the logo does reflect the calm and non-violent mood of the game where conflict is a choice.
Of course being set in a high-fantasy setting the logo may not lack epicness and a material look.
Note: The Background of the header does not belong to Elvenar or InnoGames.
WANDERER is about people who never got to know what it means to have a home. In this futuristic vision of an alternative world they wander through the lands – fighting with the cruelty of nature and men.
The comic is set in a world which combines the themes and motives of German Romanticism with unique Sci-Fi visions.
WANDERER is a comic in the making with a team mostly based in Berlin. It is already an ambitious project by itself but considering the still almost nonexistant comic culture in Germany the creators deserve a lot of attention.
The famous Art Deco font 'Bifu' by A. M. Cassendre was used as a base for this logo. One goal was to have a very clear and unmistakenly 'science fiction' look to it. On the other hand it should not lose any of its simple geometric feel.
Die Kunst der Auslassung
Layout for a very interesting book
#layout
While I worked on my Bachelor thesis, I also did the layout for this wonderful book Die Kunst der Auslassung (Art of the Ellipsis) about movie editing.
The Book has over 200 pages with a quiet but certainly non-standard layout. An extensive use of white space and individual design elements for important pages make this book exceptional on the specialist literature market.
The bookcover has been made by the Publisher 'UVK'.
Opening-Book Animation
Perspective Animation with Spine
#animation
This is a perspective animation done entirely in Spine. It fakes the perspective distortion by neatly adjusting the meshes over time. The page flipping is done by chaining bones and path contraints together.
Twisted Tales
A mobile game never released *sadface*
#code #tech-art
Twisted Tales is a mobile card game with heavy focus on competitive multiplayer gameplay and great art. It is set in the world of European fairy tales but with a dark twist.
The gameplay is focused around an expansive interface, crafting and item & resource management.
I worked on Twisted Tales as a technical artist. My main task was to implement the game assets and to communicate between the dev and art department. I also wrote tools that optimized my workflow and helped colleagues with their own resulting in real and measurable time savings.
The game was canceled shortly before its release due to corporate affairs.
Corrupt & Assemble
Glitching TV opening Generator
#code
This is a little 'Processing' sketch that can generate a 'TV opening'-style video from just a few image files.
The idea was to automate the process of making a vast number of glitched jpeg files and put them together to a pseudo animation. The music and the editing would always be the same. Only the images are different. This way a new intro video could be rendered with a few clicks, previewing scenes from its current show.
The name of my imaginary show Corrupt & Assemble reflects what this program actually does. It corrupts the feeded image files and assembles them to something new.
Music by Lain (she music)
Editing is done by Daniel Stephan
RIA Comic Trailers
#animation
In 2012 I joined a small studio that was working on its own comic book series: RIA - the Lightclan Chronicles.
The second book was about to be released and so I made two short animated trailers on an office PC with After Effects on it.
Together with a musician, a senior artist (with classic frame-by-frame animation background) and me as the compositor, we created something beautiful with very limited resources. Although the comic had superb illustrations, it wasn't a big hit on Germany's already small comic market. Book two was also the last one.