Professional Projects
Jected Rivals
Currently in development
Jected Rivals is an action packed extreme sports/racing game where 18 players compete against each other in a multi round game show format with multiple different game modes. The core feature of the game is the smooth transition between two main movement modes: Driving and aerial character movement. In a multitude of game modes from normal races with hidden aerial shortcuts, over distance jump competitions, jet wing races, to crash derbies players can test their skills. The game focuses on keeping your momentum while avoiding obstacles and finding creative ways to beat your competition.
In this project I worked on almost every aspect of the game, starting from concepting and pitching, to 3Cs for both movement modes, concepting, prototyping, and implementing new game modes as well as working on auxillary systems like designing the game show format, and player progression. I was also involved in designing some of the maps in the game as well as balancing the character and vehicle systems. I also worked on the first time user experience to help new players get an understanding of the unique controls of this game.
Link: click here
MisBits
Shipped 2020
From January 2020 to May 2020 I worked as Game Designer on the fast paced action multiplayer brawler “MisBits”. In this game the player is playing as a toy head that can attach to the bodies of multiple different toys, granting them different skills and abilities. It consisted of multiple game modes like classic death matches, Kick-Brawl (a soccer style game mode), or Toy Hunt (a variation of King of the Hill, only you had to control a special toy which other players tried to steal from you). The game also included a powerful editor with which players were empowered to create their own maps and even new game modes.
In this project I was involved in the monetization, level design, and combat balancing.
Link: click here
The Guild 3
Shipped 2017
From May 2018 to January 2020 I worked on the Game Design of ‘The Guild 3’ as part of my role as Junior Game Designer at Purple Lamp Studios. The game was released into Early Access in September 2017 and I was brought on to the team to furter iterate and improve on the overall balancing of the game as well as design and help implement new features for the continued development of the game. During my time on the project I was involved in reworking the economy system, enemy AI, as well overhauling the production system and UI.
The Guild 3 is the 3rd part of the “The Guild” franchise of medieval economy and social sim games. The series is known for its unique mix of genres, making it a very special challenge to design and allowing for a lot of creativity in the process of coming up with new features. Due to the ongoing Early Access phase of the project, I was also in close contact with the game’s community, processing feedback and answering questions for them.
Link: click here
Sherlock of London
Shipped 2017
Online Slot Machine Game developed at Rabcat for win2day.at, Austria’s biggest Online Casino. I was the main programmer for the HTML5/JavaScript front-end of this game. My main challenges on this project were making sure everything runs smoothly in a multi-platform environment. Supported Platforms include all widely used desktop browser (Chrome, IE, Firefox, Edge, Safari) as well as Android, iOS, and Windows Phone devices of the recent years. The game was very well received by the audience and was voted Game of the Year 2017 by win2day’s users.
Link: click here
Cleopatra’s Gold
Shipped 2018
Just like Sherlock of London this is an Online Slot Machine developed at Rabcat for Austria’s biggest Online Casino. I was the main front-end developer for this game. A lot of the already established framework had to be rewritten for this Project since some main mechanics like reel size and win evaluation changed in comparison to other productions.
Link: click here
Other Professional Projects
Since starting at Rabcat in April 2017 I have been the main programmer on a number of original gambling games as well as responsible for ports of older Flash games to HTML5. I also was involved in planning and design phases of new projects as a tech-oriented link between Rabcat and our clients.
Personal/University Projects
Project Icarus
This is a short VR experience I created for the Jumpcube of the Technical University Vienna (www.jumpcu.be). The assignment was to create a short experience that can be shown at conferences and events. The whole game should not take longer than around five minutes and should give the people trying out this technology a feeling of free flight while trying to avoid the usual problems that come with movement in VR. The game was created in Unreal Engine and the version for the Jumpcube also communicates over the network with a servo motor for simulation of G-forces and two fans to simulate wind. Main design constraints were on the unique way the user will hang in the air in the Jumpcube, also assets had to be mostly free under Creative Commons license or self made. This Project taught me a lot about what works and what does not in a VR environment. I experimented with several forms of input (e.g. motion tracking with gyro meter, controller) before settling for a view direction based control. Below you can download a version that was adjusted for a seated use, to get a feeling for the full experience take a look at the Jumpcube Homepage and at the video below.
Download:
Click here
Hamster on the Run
This is an Android game I created to teach myself how to make Android apps in Java. It is inspired by early day smartphone games like Doodle Jump. You play a little hamster who fell onto the production line in an industrial bakery and have to avoid obstacles and collect power ups with increasing level of difficulty. The game is controlled by tilting your phone left and right.
Subject XIII
Subject XIII is a prototype of a horror game I made for a university course. The assignment was to create an OpenGL 3.3 graphics engine and make a short game with it in the course of roughly three months in a two man team. We went for a mix of escape the room and horror genres. The engine is written in C++, assets and the map have been created in Blender. The tight time schedule was the main design constraint. To create a working game engine and make a short game for it within three months was quite a challenge for two people who never did 3D programming before. We’ve learned really soon that a lot of our ideas for puzzles might have been interesting but we would not have been able to implement most of them within the deadline. That is why we decided to narrow it down to two main concepts. The flash light had a black light function with which the player was able to read hidden messages on the walls and the puzzles consisted of finding object A and bringing it to object B without getting caught by the monster. The messages on the walls were hints for the player with some additional nonsense messages so that it wouldn’t be too easy. For our project we were rewarded with the “Best Game” Achievement by the lecturers out of 40 projects that were able to meet the deadline.
Thomas Fritz - Game Designer 