Hello! I'm Vincent, a student of Communication and Multimedia Design, majoring in Game Design at the Hanzehogeschool Groningen. My motto is "Question everything!".
Read more about me by following the link to the about page.
For all of my life, as far as I can remember, I have loved games and also come up with my own ones.
Early on I made my own hand-drawn trading card games inspired by Pokémon and similar card games, in Wario Ware D.I.Y. I created dozens of custom microgames and I used Scratch to make 2D games in a building block style visual programming language.
When I discovered that making games is an option to aim for as a career, I knew I wanted to be involved with making games professionally in the future.
Staying on that path, I kept making games, created some modifications for existing ones, and chose the major Game Design for my study.
I can come up with ideas and suggestions for games quickly, evaluate and communicate them.
I have learnt ways to document and report on game design. Good logical thinking and argumentative ability help me with that.
In my Game Design I have led and participated in many group projects developing games, through which I have acquired more and more relevant skills for game design work.
I can improve games and make new ones. Both on my own or with a team, which I can both manage and/or take part in.
I made a lot of small games of various kinds: card games, board games, video games, and the latter of numerous genres.
Logically, the older I get, the more experience I'm acquiring, and the better the games get.
Below, I showcase some of the games I worked on, where I was heavily involved in the game design or where made them on my own.
As the first game I made in my studies, I chose to make use of the university's makerspace and used wood as the game's material.
After creating and testing a paper prototype of a rotation- and secrecy-based card game, I designed the TAIT cards and tokens in Figma and had them laser-cut.
After several more instances of testing and adjustments to the game rules it arrived at a state in which it was deemed fun and innovative by almost everyone who played it.
I have written a report documenting the design and development of this game, which is available here.
With VRgora we made a VR prototype of a serious game concept we developed to help agoraphobic people and those close to them deal with the condition.
People with specific types of agoraphobia, which are (or are similar to) the one, where they are afraid of crowded or large, open places shall learn motivational strategies through the game, by "coaching" the game's protagonist to get through their struggles with the condition.
Unlike VR-experiences for exposure therapy, our therapeutic approach with the game is therefore one of coach to be coached.
The outside perspective of intuitively adjustable distance provided in the VR prototype allows agoraphobic players to feel comfortable with the game even when it depicts situations they would be afraid of if immersed in them.
Our game Supermarine Air Support is based around a novel concept I came up with, placed into an unusually aesthetically upbeat, apocalyptic scenario.
The core idea of the game is that, while looking similar to traditional side-scrolling platformers, the main character is not actually controlled by the player, but rather a predictable AI, which the player influences by destroying and reshaping parts of the level using airstrikes.
The demo of the game we developed shows off a few implementations of that concept and demonstrates that it may well be an option for a future, more thoroughly developed game of the same genre.
Stellar Transporter represents a mix of traditional elements from games with a cargo trading component, such as Vector Unit's "Shine Runner" and the challenge of space shooter games (a genre as old as video games themselves).
In designing this game I payed special attention to delivering a satisfactory and overall consistent experience despite the game's comparatively small capacity for user agency, and making every action appear and feel impactful.
Coin Conquest is a casino-style minigame based on a Mario Party game, in which the aim of the player is to collect more coins than their AI opponents over a set number of turns.
While I quite obviously did not bring in innovative game design for this project, I did make an academic game design report about it, proving my ability to document systems and game concepts in detail.
I have written more about my experience in team coordination, programming and visual design on respective portfolio pages catering to those roles. Feel free to check them out as well!