For my 2D pixel art game engine in C/C++ I needed a way to separate the rendering from the game logic. On the project page for 'Pixelboy Game' I've talked about how I wanted to achieve a way to have the game logic separate from the platform layer. I wanted to do the same for the graphics API.

Recently I have had , due to some unfortunate circumstances, a lot more free time on my hands than anticipated. I have, due to that sudden increase of free time, considered which project I would like to spend more time on. Regarding engagement, potential for success and the amount I would learn from the experience. PixelBoy is that project.

Enschede is one of the great places to be at when attempting game design. This near foreign city at the border between The Netherlands and our German neighbors houses many game design-related studies. Game sound design at the conservatory, School of Art at the ArtEZ with many talented crafters and painters, the Saxion which houses not one but two game design studies: Game Engineering and Game Design & Production and last but not least the University of Twente which delivers great Computer Scientists and Creative Technology students. All of which didn’t work together. Like, at all.

MY ROLE IN THE COMPANY

• Art creation
• Game design
• Animation
• AI
• Gameplay programming
• Public Relations

WHAT SKILLS I USED

• (Gameplay, AI & Tools) Programming
• Art creation

Random Abductions was a company which Siewart van Wingerden and I set up to create independent video games with and develop video game related technologies. It was a practice in entrepreneurial development for us both.

The company accepted freelance jobs between 2013 and 2015 and grossed +10 000 euros in gross revenue in that period. During this time the interaction and animation for a web-game was developed for Transavia and Wirelab; an animation was developed and designed for DNV-GL, NEN and ENEXIS; and small web projects for other companies were done.

For the company a graphical language was created including a logo, font and color scheme. An image of the old website can be seen in the header. The company also participated in a bunch of game jams including Ludum Dare. These games are just prototypes, but we were hard at work to change that.

The first retail game that was to be developed by the company from the money earned was Pipe. A randomly generated first person shooter with rogue-like elements and a pixel-art Wolfenstein 3D-like aesthetic. The game was developed in Unity 3D with the art, AI and tile systems developed by me. Siewart was responsible for creating the level generation algorithms.

The game is currently in development limbo as the company was dismantled in late 2015 due to changes in interest for developing games in the team. A very early screenshot of PIPE can be seen below.