SpielDas!

It’s fascinating where you can meet people these days. I met the CEO of “SpielDas!” Robert in an online forum where people share tips for upcoming crowdfunding campaigns.
When he presented his games, I was thrilled. On the one hand, his games were very diverse and on the other hand, I was surprised how much strategy you can pack into such a good and easy to understand game – a great example is the game “Neue Helden”.
After Robert and I exchanged voice messages that had the length of audio books, I was able to convince him to join our shop for small publishers.
In the meantime, both publishers are working closely together and are even putting up joint marketing campaigns 😉 – we’re looking forward to everything that’s to come!

Why have you decided to create your own game?

I love to immerse people in stories. To draw them into a world that won’t let them go. I’ve been doing that for years in my work as a film and TV director. I also love how much fun and excitement card and board games offer. Since I myself enjoy playing games incredibly much and am very creative and imaginative, it’s very easy for me to come up with ideas for new games. To inspire players with my ideas and love for the games that I develop is simply the greatest feeling one can imagine! 🙂

What interest you the most about developing games/ and what not?

I have fantastic themes and game mechanics in my head – it’s incredibly fun to put them down on paper and create prototypes. Then comes an exciting moment: the first trial game. Adrenaline shoots through my body, I’m tense for hours. But when I see that my idea works and the players enjoy the game, I’m very happy. Nothing beats seeing the excitement of players celebrating your game. Whether it’s during trial rounds, at trade shows, or in the comments and reviews after the game is purchased.
What annoys me most about game development is that I have so little time to turn all the ideas into prototypes, play them on trial and develop them further. And the hardest part is deciding afterwards: Which game has the potential to be published? Because of course you yourself think all your ideas are sensational. 😀

Tell us about the funniest failure or situation that you had as a developer.

When customers told me that I looked like the game designer Michael Menzel. When my girlfriend confirmed that. And I also had to admit that we could really be mistaken for each other. It’s almost creepy, this resemblance. Hopefully this will be of use to me sometime when I’m a guest at KOSMOS 😀

If you had to play only three games for the rest of your life, which games would these be?

Skat and Poker always work, if you have the right players 😉 Otherwise “Isle of Skye”, “Fantastic Empires” and our game “Neue Helden” are great alternatives. I like those games as they are all unique in their own way and are different every new game that you play. In other words, they never get boring, no matter how often you play them. Moreover, these games allow their players to choose their own style of play, as there is not a single strategy that will lead to success.

What makes your game/games unique?

1. An easy introduction. We don’t want to launch games that require an hour of familiarization and long test rounds to be understood.

2. There are always several ways to collect victory points and a gameplay that is different in each game. Also, we like to include various game variants such that players can decide to adapt the game to their liking. At last, we want to attract every type of player: the casual player, the family, and the professional who fancies strategy heavy games.

3. Fantastic game worlds that are fun to dive into. Each of our games has a unique story. You should sink into our game worlds and wish yourself back there at the end of the game 🙂

What was the best moment you had as a game developer?

When you live your dream like I do, there are often special moments. From the top of my head, I would say: When I held my printed games in my hands for the very first time and unpacked them. That was just incredible, like giving birth to your own child – only you were pregnant with it for nine YEARS instead of nine months. *laughs

Especially emotional for me was also the moment when I landed among the five nominees in the young talent competition of the GAME OF THE YEAR jury. Until this announcement, I had great doubts about my abilities. In the end, I came in third.

And I particularly enjoy the moments when I receive praise for my games from strangers – at the very first auditions, at trade fairs and in the social media. 🙂

Games sold: Neue Helden; Magistrar