Bachelor of Science at MD.H Berlin

July 8, 2013 by Paul Game Development

MD.H, Berlin

was where I learned the basics of game development and what it means to work on a commercial product with a team. I had the good fortune of being mentored by an ensemble of respected industry professionals, who educated me in game design, production, programming, 2D and 3D art, animation, QA, editing, creative and scientific writing and a number of important other topics, such as communication skills, problem solving and the like. In my three years and various projects at MD.H I advanced my skills as a designer and ultimately producer and project manager.

Beetle Royale

A 3D Battle Arena Game involving up to 4 players, who fight for dominance on a tree stump, separated into various environments, Beetle Royale is a MOBA, which allows players to evolve their beetle-character’s skills and abilities. The arenas natural defenses and hiding spots can be used to one’s advantage and players may choose to focus on ranged or close combat, area of effect or precision attacks. As an added strategic element a massive spider will spawn halfway through a round, and begin attacking nearby players.

In Beetle Royale I took the role of Producer / Project Manager in a team of eight core members. My duties ranged from scheduling and task distribution to regular team internal and external communication and updates as well as the tackling of standard issues and obstacles that appear during game development. It was a very enjoyable project for my team and me, since we had already developed a close bond at this point and to this day I am impressed by what we accomplished in the fairly narrow time frame of two and a half months.

The greatest challenges I faced during this project were ongoing disagreements between our game designers and art department, our limited number of developers and consequent cutting of features, as well as facing all the things I had yet to learn in order to become the type of producer, I am aspiring to be.

Urban Seed

is a 2D Jump-n-Run about the adventures of a Guerilla Planter / Pakour Traceur on a mission to reacquaint his city with nature, while creating a safer environment for its citizens on the side. The game was a project commissioned by the Climate Media Factory and designed to draw attention to Climate Issues. In collaboration with these climate experts as well as consultation and support by Wooga in regards to design choices and similar aspects we created a jump ‘n’ run that sported solid level design in a world that felt alive and active.

My role in this project was that of a game and level designer, later transitioning to more PR focussed tasks, such as communication with the CMF and public presentations of the game. My duties were fairly straight forward, though admittedly taking my first steps in these areas came with its fair set of challenges. Among other things, figuring out how to make movement fun and how to keep my design choices consistent with the overarching themes and messages we wanted to convey with Urban Seed was a fun, if challenging and certainly educational experience for me. I’m very happy with the game as it stands but, if I were to recreate Urban Seed today, I would put a lot more focus on rapid movement and add more levels.