Blog | Philo Stuff

April 19, 2015 by Philo

Playing, talking, listening

In the morning I joined Diego and René for another playtesting session. Diego reworked the card layout and a few mechanics. I think the game is more understandable now

After lunch, Martina, Alice and me met up with Nora from the NZZ campus magazine for a quick interview. We had a funny conversation/discussion on the roof-deck

At the incubator it was all about financing models today. Was nice to see examples from other fields and I learned about some new cultural funding institutions.

in Uncategorized 0 comments

April 19, 2015 by Philo

Martin on the roof and board games everywhere

Spontaneous playtesting with Stefan and Isa.
Everyone is making board games lately! Had a great time trying to let the opposing player starve >=D

Shorty after, I met up with Martin Egger, former executive producer at Shardline. I’m really interested in the experience he gained during the build-up of their game company and so we chatted on the roof-deck. I invited him to join the Advisory Board I’m currently building up for my master thesis. He agreed and I’m super happy about it \ ^_^ /

The evening was spent supporting indiegames.ch with organisation/marketing for their screening of “Game Loading – Rise of the indies” on the coming weekend. And SGDA stuff, mostly preparing news letters and Fantasy Basel planning.

in Marketing 0 comments

April 15, 2015 by Philo

Bachelor presentations, Gobo Games & Board Game Feedback

In the morning I joined the game design “technical prototype” bachelor presentations. Lots of interesting projects, can’t wait to see them all finished
As usual the teachers were harsh but gave some good feedback.

Next point on the list was our weekly visit at the ETH. This week: Studio Gobo told us about their new studio in Zurich and showed us their portfolio which includes developing games for Disney Infinity.

Since the day was so nice and sunny, we went for a drink in the university bar. Diego brought the board game he’s developing for his master thesis and we discussed the new layout of the board pieces.

in ETH GameLab Collaboration / Master Theory Lesson 0 comments

April 14, 2015 by Philo

Pro Helvetia Pitch

The finale of the Call for projects Swiss Games by Pro Helvetia had come. A big day for both Niche and Tower Offense.
I was quite nervous before our pitch and therefore forgot to take any pictures xD
The finale (consisting of a 5min pitch & 10min question and answer round) took place at the Colab in Zurich. Both our presentations went quite well I think and I can’t wait so receive the results! Our pitches were filmed and I will share them with you soon.
Cool: I got to meet Jana Reinhardt from Rat King

After the pitches, the Niche team went over to Severins (our 3D artist) place. We worked on the game all day and had lots of cool ideas.

in Niche - a genetics survival game / Tower Offense 0 comments

April 9, 2015 by Philo

Pitch training

In the morning we analysed the mechanics of Tennis for Two, the first videogame of history. I was a bit too quick to say that I understand how the mechanics work and our teacher René punished me by making me the others playball
(Pictures says it all)

After that we analysed the ETH game projects. Taking on another groups project, we had to come up with level designs and alternative concepts and present them.

After the pitch training for the “Call for projects” last week, we decided that we want to run a second round. The ZHdK Incubator was so kind to offer us their office space, listen to our presentations and provide us with feedback. The event was entierly open to the public and we had quite a few guests. Now I feel well prepared!

in ETH GameLab Collaboration / Inkubator / Niche - a genetics survival game / Tower Offense 0 comments

April 7, 2015 by Philo

ETH game & Niche test

We met up at the ETH today to work on our multiplayer party game. I got to make some lowpoly art

In the evening the Niche movement rework kept me busy. It’s really getting somewhere!

in ETH GameLab Collaboration / Niche - a genetics survival game 0 comments

April 4, 2015 by Philo

PolyLAN

Let’s start with a confession: In the morning I wasn’t very keen to leave my bed and travel all the way from Zurich to Lausanne to attend the PolyLAN. I have never been there before and in the train I constantly asked myself: Is it really worth the 2 x 3h trainride? Markus accompanied me and helped carrying all the equipment, thank you again ^^!

So, the plan was to get there and exhibit Tower Offense, two games made by Kobold Games and Niche who are all part of my “Game Promotion” master thesis. There was a mail floating around that invited indie game developers to the event. I signed up for it, because Tower Offense has a strong E-Sports aspect and Switzerlands biggest LAN is definetly the place to be!
We arrived at the infodesk and were immediately welcomed warmhearted with: “Ah yes, the developers, so nice that you’re here”. First impression: This event is bigger than we expected and the people are really nice!

Stéphane (who is organizing the PolyLAN together with Niels) showed us our exhibition space. It was pretty much in the heart of the event and there was a HUGE TV standing there, waiting for us. Overwhelmed we started setting up the games. People started gathering around our booth and asked us lots of questions about the games and what being an indie game developer is like. A lot of people joined our Tower Offense Alpha Tester base.

Stéphane hurried to and fro to assist us in every possible way and also offered us to join the PolyLAN tournament system. We wanted to run a little Tower Offense tournament anyways so this was perfect! The tournament was quickly added to the schedule and players could compete to earn points. All the points from all tournaments are added up in the end and the winner gets a big price.
And so it started!

The battles where fierce and fun! And here we have our winners! Congrats!!
From left to right:
2. ZabZab
3. Blueur
1. Torrix
4. 69th

The PolyLAN even sponsored prices for them. Sooo nice

Well, let’s come to a conclusion:
The PolyLAN is totally, absolutely, incredibly AWESOME! If I had known what a great day was waiting for me, I would have jumped out of bed in the morning. Thank you so much for having us and all your time and effort to help us!
We will definitely be back and hope that we can build up a whole “Swiss Games corner” next year.

Good news: The PolyLAN is still running!
You can head over and exhibit your games until MO, 06.04.2015.
Let me know if you’d like to get the contact email

in Kobold Games / Marketing / Tower Offense 0 comments

April 4, 2015 by Philo

Pitch training

The Fantasy Basel and the Swiss Online Marketing Expo are coming closer and closer. That means lots of stuff to organize for the SGDA
I used Mail Chimp for the first time and like it a lot! Makes sending out mails to many people easier and is pretty intuitive.

After lunch I joined Robin and Dominic at the Capsule Games office. The day was mostly spent preparing the Pro Helvetia “Call for projects” pitches for Niche and Tower Offense. And then is was time!
At 19:00 we headed over to the ZHdK to pitch our games to the other finalists. Livio had the idea to practice our pitches together so that we’re well prepared for the real deal next Wednesday. So we listened to each other, simulated the question and answer session and gave feedback. Helped a lot, thanks everyone!

in Uncategorized 0 comments

April 4, 2015 by Philo

Kairos Playtesting & Niche movement rework

The day started of with a theory input lesson by our teacher Ulrich. For me it was mostely repetition but I think the new students learned a lot.
In th afternoon we playtested Diego’s boardgame “Kairos”. We gave him LOTS of feedback, let’s see wath he’ll make out of it

After the testing session I headed over to the Inkubator for our first monthly meetup. There were only few people present, so we discussed our progressions and gave each other feedback for improvements. I mostely talked with Ettore, who is building up his business ROBBIANI, about web design and brand identity.

Late at night the urge to work on Niche overcame me. I decided to try out a different approach for the movement inputs.

in Inkubator / Master Theory Lesson / Niche - a genetics survival game 0 comments

April 1, 2015 by Philo

The List

Theory lesson today was quite alright. Topic was writting.

The game design students keep skipping afternoon classes because of our collaboration with the ETH xD
Our presentation at the ETH went quite well, our game concept is taking shape.

During the theory input I had an idea. Lots of people are currently talking about or even already making lists of the Swiss Games Industry. Instead of just working all by ourselves and have many unfinished/outdated lists or survey that don’t contain all important questions, we should join together. So if you’re up to helping us, head over to the discussion group.

in ETH GameLab Collaboration / Master Theory Lesson / SGDA 0 comments

« Previous