Especially for our Patrons in Tier 2 and 3, we have made another Indie Dev interview! Consider joining us on Patreon in Tier 2 or Tier 4 for as little as $3.00 a month and unlock it all!
This time our developer interview is with Dittmar and Rob at GAMEDIA. Here at LadiesGamers, we love a good puzzle game and GAMEDIA, based in the Netherlands, have developed a few games that take care of our puzzle cravings. We have reviewed two of their latest puzzle games, HIX: Puzzle Islands and Treasure Temples on the Nintendo Switch.
Of course, LadiesGamers is always about the personal story in an interview, so we asked them how GAMEDIA was founded, what’s the story behind the Gouden Televizier Ring and what cool games we can expect in the future. Plus, they have some tips for aspiring developers!
GAMEDIA
Who are the people behind GAMEDIA? Can you introduce yourself to our audience?
Dittmar: Hello, I’m the founder of GAMEDIA. Nowadays, I more or less handle all of the boring stuff that needs to be done in the office and take care of the business side of things. I think I still contribute a bit to each game as well.
Rob: Hi, I am one of the programmers at GAMEDIA. I also jump into some non-programming roles from time to time, including the mechanics and level design for Treasure Temples, something I’ve enjoyed very much!
What’s behind the name of your game studio?
Dittmar: I started my working career at Lostboys (which later turned into Sony Guerrilla Games), where I was a programmer on multimedia projects and games which I liked a lot. In 2007, when I founded my own company, I couldn’t choose between making multimedia projects and games. So I mixed them together. I thought it was snappy when I would let the words GAME and MEDIA melt together into GAMEDIA.
Well, it turns out it wasn’t as obvious as I believed, because I must have explained it a million times over the years. Also, many people hear “Gay Media”, my first pitch in the US didn’t go so well because of this. The multimedia part was less fun, but it paid the bills. After two years the games started bringing in enough money and I focussed on games since then. Later the name turned out quite well because we’ve been doing a lot of TV-related games.
Gouden Televizier Ring
We couldn’t help but notice the prize you got for the Gouden Televizier Ring, and read on your site that you create games and apps for TV shows. We’d love to hear more about that.
Rob: We’ve worked on a number of interesting projects for TV shows in the past. It started with the quiz app “Een tegen 100” (the Dutch “1 vs. 100”), which has seen a lot of play. After that, we developed two apps for another network: the brain trainer app “MAX Geheugentrainer” and the recipe app “Heel Holland Bakt” (the Dutch “Great British Bake Off”). This last app had very little to do with gaming but won us the Gouden Televizier Ring for digital impact.
Dittmar: Working with the biggest TV shows is loads of fun and we can reach millions of players within seconds. I’m pretty proud we’ve managed all this extreme traffic without any failures. During the years we’ve won multiple awards for our innovations, the most fun project was a live interactive VR show with multiplayer aspects. I still think this was one of the most challenging projects we ever did.
Journey in the Games Industry
How did you start as a game developer/publisher?
Dittmar: My father instilled my interest in computers and games at a young age. We played games on our own homemade computers and we made some simple games. I studied computer science and electronics. During my studies I blew up a lot of hardware and almost burned down the school building with my trial and error approach. This became an expensive hobby, so I started programming, which was less devastating.
Rob: I studied Computer Science, always trying to focus on creative applications and finally doubling down on game development with a master’s in Game and Media Technology. I managed to get into the games industry via a job as a game/web developer at WeardBeard (most famous for its game Tricky Towers) and ended up at GAMEDIA after that.
Want to read the rest of the interview too? About where they get their inspiration for the puzzle games, what other games GAMEDIA has in store for us and about the challenges in porting a mobile game to the Switch. Rob and Dittmar tells us what brings them most joy in their job and how they try to maintain a good work-life balance and what advice they have for aspiring developers.
Keep reading and become a patron in Tier 2 or 3!
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