Portfolio – Shipped Games
Passing By – A Tailwind Journey
About the Game
Set in a whimsical world of floating isles and endless west winds, Passing By – A Tailwind Journey lets you play as Curly, a young balloonist on a mission to deliver a mysterious letter.
This unique blend of 2D puzzle-platformer, survival, and adventure invites you to explore at your own pace, travel by balloon ship, solve puzzles, and manage resources to survive.
Are you ready for a memorable journey through the clouds?
About the Project
We started developing the game during a course in the Master’s program Computer Game Science at University of Bayreuth. After submitting it for grading, we polished the prototype in September 2020 and published it on itch.io. At that point, we thought the project was finished and planned to refocus on our studies.
However, the itch.io release received overwhelmingly positive feedback from players, which encouraged us to submit the game for awards.
In 2021, we won two major awards and an Honorable Mention in Germany. This success inspired us to found Studio Windsocke and resume development on the game.
At Gamescom 2022, we held meetings with several publishers and ultimately signed a contract with Dear Villagers. With their support, we professionalized our approach, began working full-time on the game, and even hired two artists to give the project a polished look.
My Roles in the Development of Passing By – A Tailwind Journey
Game Design
As is typical for a student project, I wore many hats during the production phases. In the beginning, I created the initial game design document as part of the course assignment.
Game design was always a collaborative process for us—decisions were made democratically as a team. Over time, we iterated and expanded the design based on that initial document.
Production
I took on various production responsibilities. Early on, we didn’t have a dedicated producer, which is common in small student teams.
Tasks were distributed among us, but as the project progressed—and especially after founding Studio Windsocke—I became increasingly involved in administrative work.
Level Design
I worked on several levels throughout development, starting with The Isle of the (Broken) Hearts and Cove of the Confused Seagull. Both islands had strong narrative concepts (spoiler alert!):
The Isle of the (Broken) Hearts explores family relationships, with the child having to fix the island to encourage their parents to fix their problems.
Cove of the Confused Seagull puts a humorous twist on the classic tale of a shipwrecked sailor. The sailor fears cannibals but doesn’t realize his only company is an overly enthusiastic theme park architect. This level received a major revision from our level designer and artist, Antonia, to make it more compact and engaging.
In the final production phase, I added two new levels: Cosmo’s Outpost and Den of the Courteous Spiders.
Den of the Courteous Spiders was designed as a narrative-focused level with minimal puzzles. Later, we added a side quest to give it more depth.
Cosmo’s Outpost introduced a multi-stage circuit puzzle and brought some sci-fi flair to the game. Implementing this level required our programmer, Marius, to update the state machine scripts. This level added variety to the game world, including a robot NPC.
Sound Design
Sound design was an entirely new experience for me. Initially, I took on the role for practical reasons—my roommate Michael composed the music and wanted to experiment with interactive audio using Audiokinetic’s Wwise, so I also had the chance to explore this software.
I started with simple tasks like implementing character footsteps and gradually improved my skills throughout production. By the final stages, I had polished most of the game’s sounds. Early groundwork from our university course (e.g., creating audio asset lists) and Wwise’s training materials helped me manage memory and CPU usage effectively through sound bank management.
Technical Narrative and Level Design
One of the most challenging but rewarding tasks was what I’d call technical narrative and level design. For Cosmo’s Outpost, I delved into the state machine scripts to make the level functional, taking some workload off our programmer.
This hands-on experience gave me a better understanding of the game’s systems. In the later stages, I could implement mechanics and narrative elements in new levels independently—at least to a functional prototype stage. I then collaborated with Marius and our level designers to refine the systems or adjust the design to ensure smooth implementation.
Portfolio – Game Jams
Game Jams are always a lot of fun! They provide opportunities to connect with other developers, make new friends, and challenge yourself with new and sometimes completely unfamiliar tasks.
Here are some projects I had the pleasure of working on:
Nano Mixture
Spring Game Jam 2020 at Universität Bayreuth (01.05.2020 – 03.05.2020)
Theme: Telepresence
Game description: Guide an AI-driven nanobot through obstacles to reach the level goal by luring it with candies.
My role: Level and UI Design
Timeline Unstable
Global Game Jam 2020 at Universität Bayreuth (31.01.2020 – 02.02.2020)
Theme: Telepresence
Game description: Guide an AI-driven nanobot through obstacles to reach the level goal by luring it with candies.
My role: Level and UI Design
Orbital
Franken Game Jam 2019 at Universität Bayreuth (28.06.2019 – 30.06.2019)
Theme: Back to the couch
Game description: Orbital is a 2-4 player game where teams compete to capture and hold planets by navigating their orbits. The key to success lies in mastering the gravity of each planet to move strategically, dodge and shoot asteroids, and claim as many planets as possible!
My role: Sound Design, Art
Leave me a message
Interested in collaborations or have questions about my portfolio? Feel free to contact me!