This is part two of the retrospective of my AdvJam project. Let’s get right to it.
How did I go about building the game?
Motivation
The first day of the jam went great. I was very productive.
After that I plunged into a hole. When I looked online, I saw all those fancy graphics and could only imagine what games were behind it. It semed like a lot of people were ac...
These past months I spent a lot of time pondering questions of autonomy and earning a living. I thought about the decisions I made and those that just happened to me and why. I thought about where I was and where I wanted to be. I didn’t have an answer to that last question. For a while I lost faith that there could be a place for me that felt right.
Unless we’re talking about creative work...
2021-06-08 05:58:09 +0000 UTC View Post
In the last post I talked about doing a post mortem on my AdvJam project. When my wife read the article, she found it strange. How can you do a post mortem on something that is not dead, but rather that’s just starting to grow?
She is right. So let’s call this a retrospective instead.
What is the jam about?
When the jam began, I thought about what the focus of this...
2021-06-03 15:08:07 +0000 UTC View Post
What a bumpy ride! Thank you to the people who organized AdvJam and all who contributed. AdvJam21 is now officially over and I’m still sorting my thoughts about the experience. I didn’t get to write more about it beforehand, but I will write more about these past two weeks. Sort of like a mini post mortem.
I’m still sleep deprived. As I’m used to a strong routine, it’s always difficul...
2021-05-22 08:05:57 +0000 UTC View Post
AdvJam21 has started on 7th May and I’m happy to take part. Within 14 days I’ll give my best to let Exodus terram take shape.
»Project ExodusTerram sent ships to colonize Mars. You’re the last man on earth, teaching an AI what it means to be human.«
That’s the log line so far.
Don’t worry, the apocalyptic setting is just one aspect of it. There are plenty of other ing...
In 2018 I took part in my first Adventure Game Jam. It was a great experience, even though I had very little time next to my stressful day-job. I did it anyway. I didn’t end up with anything playable, but it reminded me of what I love about game dev.
A year later I did it again, this time with a playable visual novel-type game based on one of my first short stories (of 13 years earlier).
It ...
I was four years old when I got my first computer, a Commodore 64 that was previously owned by my brother. It was a magical machine to me. Like any first computer would have been.
Playing games was fun, but most games were too difficult and couldn’t grab my attention for long. I think the idea of playing games was more fun to me than the activity itself. Of course there were some games I enjoyed...
To raise some money for my game development, I decided to part with my spare Atari Jaguar CD unit and put it up for auction. It’s in great working order.
I originally bought it as a replacement, but only used it a few times. It was never necessary as my main drive I used as a developer always worked.
I’m also including a very rare demo of the adventure game Ee...
2021-03-09 08:51:58 +0000 UTC View Post
We are already halfway through February. Can you believe it?
Due to popular demand I want to share with you some more treasures from the past.
I’ll start with my Jaguar CD releases, which also include the Jaguar demos of my Eerievale game.
Ocean Depths
This was my first CD release back in 2004 and the first homebrew CD release to be encrypted, meanin...
This post will not just be talk on how I establish my creative routine, but you can join me in some simple exercises to get creative yourself.
Okay, let’s start with the following premise: You just decided to take on your creative dream. You have the day ahead of you. Where do you start?
(Or if you have a day job and have to leave for work, try to get up early and do at le...
To show my appreciation that you’re here with me on this journey, I open my vault and give you an exclusive look at a piece of unreleased video game history.
Without further ado here is the latest Windows prototype of my graphic adventure game Eerievale in first person view and from June of 2005. A time when creating your own games meant building pretty much everything yourse...
2021-01-12 13:45:17 +0000 UTC View PostIf 2020 made one thing very clear to me, it’s the importance to look after yourself.
If you don’t do that, chances are you slave away in a dayjob that you think you need, but that doesn’t need you and if you get sick and can’t perform anymore, nobody will thank you for it. Few people will probably even listen to you if you say something has to change. You may realize it too late when you burned yourself out for nothing.
If you see someone doing just that, ask if they are okay an...
Looking around, everybody seems to be happy that 2020 is over.
The new year lies right ahead and I wish you all the very best.
I hope 2021 will be a better year for you and I’ll do my best to contribute to that.
Thank you so much for taking this journey with me.
I have a lot of ideas and of course there will be many small things coming your way.
But to give you an clue of the big picture: I have decided on a writing project and a game project to persue in 2021.
The Fantastic Cases of Robert Fox : Novel
I will translate my steampunk detective novel into English. It will be split into seven parts which will be combined again whe...
2020-12-08 10:58:22 +0000 UTC View Post
[Here is a Sample of my Patron-exclusive posts to come …]
I am aware this won’t be easy, but taking the easy path has never lead me anyhwere worth going.
This is a leap I actually have wanted to take for over ten years, since I got my Bachelor’s degree. Yet I never did. I didn’t have the courage. My family urged me to play it save. Patreon didn’t exist back then.
2020 was a disaster on many levels. But 2021 is not yet written.
Disasters can lead to rebuilding a better tomorrow. You can do it!
Grab your favorite pen and hold on to it for your life!
Go write a better 2021 for yourself!
2020-12-06 08:34:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Who I am
Hi and welcome to my Patreon page. I go by the nickname of Starcat on the web.
I am a writer of speculative fiction and an indie game developer from Germany. I write Steampunk, Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy, Mystery and I create Narrative Games with retro aesthetics.
The world is in a crazy place right now and it h...
2020-12-05 11:43:57 +0000 UTC View Post