Independent game development - FREAKWAVE: Hello World

Hello World

My name is Markus Geiger alias Rayjunx, I´m 32 years old, living in Germany, married and father of a one year old son. I´m working as a machine building engineer but also as game developer of card, tabletop, roleplaying and video games under my brand called FREAKWAVE. In this blog I going to write about game developing, thoughts and crazy stuff, and hopefully my english will not scare the viewers :-D

First of all, I try to explain why I become a game developer.

The passion of creativity

When i was a children - Two sided A3 labyrinth.

I believe everybody have talents if hidden or already discovered. After I played monopoly i take snippets of paper and write my own clone of it. During the first computer science class where we should learn the principles of DOS what I already know, I start programming my first line drafting program and plan my conversion of SPACE HULK ^^

PARANOID programmed in qbasic as I was about 12 years old, with enemy AI and field of vision implementation. Below are two images of STORM a qbasic starship building and battle simulation.

But I guess most developers know that feeling. You love to do something creative but you cannot match to bear up with any game you can buy outside, your games just hand draften, and all your friends maybe just be so kind and try it some times but not to often with you, but most of all they just like to play finish high end games instead of making something them self. So basically all born game developers still making games are the one who survived this phase *lol*

So i start making everything my self, using 3D Studio ( DOS, 386PC ) rendering my first game graphics. I even write games based on EXCEL ^^

If you love making games, even if nobody play it, you keep doing it. And by just follow your dreams you try crazy stuff without taking care about costumers, market etc. So I write table top games with spaceships battles so complex you need 1 hour to play one turn. Absolute unplayable, but the best way to make some border experiences.

Later on after basic and DIV I start writing on Visual C++ using some engine called HGE and start with a space shooter instead of a hello world:

PC 360degree shooter prototyp. Video also available in YOUTUBE keywords "freakwave retro game"

But I still was only dreaming about core gamer nerd stuff so I programmed a really awesome game but a bit to less for the mainstream. Anyway I spend more then one year afternoon working with it and finally I find 3 publishers for it, one german, one of a big TV company starting game business too and even impressed Brian Christian ( he was the head of Interplay´s 14 Degrees East division, and division director of Fall Out Tactics) on the GCDC in Leipzig with the running demo version. But after a couple of fusions on publishes sides and rebounded developer teams I lay this project on ice. Anyway I get some jobs in board game business and released my first interactive audio book "Mila und der Zauberstein" and interactive board game called TARASCON for YVIO.

The startup of FREAWAVE development

After that it was time for a break again, I married my wife and soon later get my wonderful son Ryu gets born. https://socialcam.com/s/7aPiIGOz

But even if the time was reduced my ideas accumulate more and more and so I start making games again. This time I take care about the casual market and realized that awesome games with core gamer potential not have to be complex or incompatible for the casual market.

"Endzeit" board game prototype - gets very popular in TV & media after game fair Essen 2012

The commercial business now runs since about one year and a card game called "MEMOVADERS", and more games i cannot say more in detail at the moment are going to released in future ( it can takes 1-3 years depending on the publisher / manufacturer how long this process takes ). And i have more then one project running with one of the biggest toy company´s worldwide. As soon as something gets released in public I blog more about that.

But the main theme for this blog are going to be IOS games, for iPad first later for iPhone too. Theres about 10 game projects in pipeline and I chose the most interesting to start first. Two of them are already running, one is 80% completed, one is just started. All of this games can be finished in some months and programmed alone with some artists as freelancer.

Even if I cannot say to much about details before i setup the start Buzz and finally release it on app store, theres still a lot to write about, thoughts about the projects, programming, design, gameplay etc.

So be invited to follow this blog, give me feedback, going to be a test gamer and exclusive play test versions, and simply just be good entertained with this blog.