Norman Henges | Games. Media. Informatics.

Games

Loving Games Since 1992

Growing up with playing games as my primary and definitely longest-lasting hobby, the idea of creating my own games has always been the perfect perspective to me. Until I started making games, when it became more than just a perspective.

Wanting to gain more in-depth information about the process of game development, I started studying Media Informatics (B.Sc.), followed by Media and Games Conception (M.A.). Now understanding its behind-the-scenes procedures, the concept of interactive media is as fascinating to me as ever.

Unknown Ocean

Endless Deep-Sea Shoot'em Up

An endless deep-sea Shoot'em Up, where your goal is to upgrade your submarine in order to face the mysterious creatures in the depths of the Unknown Ocean.

Dynamically generated waves of enemies make each run play differently. 27 unlockable mods enable you to adjust the submarine to your personal play-style. Combined with lots of different enemy types they make Unknown Ocean a highly replayable experience.

As part of nine-student game studio Handmade Sushi, I took the role of both Creative Director and Programmer to help bring my vision of the game to life. Unknown Ocean is still under development in an early beta phase.

World in Words

Experimental Adventure Game

What if the world around you consisted of only words describing the things you would normally see? 'World in Words' is an experimental Adventure Game for Android devices, which tries to test just this.

Instead of showing regular graphical images, the game simulates different 3D environments as collections of letters floating in front of single-colored backgrounds. Each word describes an object within the room, trying to achieve a suitable look-and-feel with varying fonts and colors.

The player's movement within the game world is limited to turning around 360 degrees and interacting with objects. Doors and similar objects allow entering different rooms. The inventory system allows for more complex puzzles.

The NarraMyd

Showcasing Narrative Techniques

How can you provide a story or gameplay-related information within the medium of video games? Based on my theoretical work about analyzing different methods of conveying narrative context, this practical project aims to showcase some possible techniques as well as their effect on the player.

Trying to uncover the mysteries of a newly spotted ancient pyramid, the player sets off to solve several puzzles in order to proceed. The necessary information is scattered around four separate Narration Levels, each representing another narrative technique, namely Exposition, Dialogue, Collectibles, and Environment.

As Evan Skolnick puts it: 'Telling' a story is almost always the weakest way to convey it.

Students working together with pen and paper to collect ideas for a tabletop game — **My Tasks:** Content Selection, Teaching and Guiding (Team Project)

Analog Game Development

Leadership of a University Workshop

During Project Week 2016 at Hochschule Harz, five students of Media and Games Conception (M.A.) volunteered in preparing and offering a two-day workshop about the development of tabletop games, also called 'analog games', contrasting the more digital nature of the regular course of studies.

As part of this group I helped to research and presenting a theoretical introduction to the topic, demonstrating the numerous similarities in conception and regulations that exist between tabletop and video games.

Following this lead-in lecture, the participants got the chance to practically try making analog games in three exercises as well as the workshop's main part during day two. Creating these tasks, supervising their execution, and guiding the students through the process were also part of the master students' tasks.

Media

Creating From Diversity

'Media' is a term much too diverse and interpretable to give a concrete definition of what it includes here. Which at the same time makes it the perfect example of the maxim 'Show Don't Tell' to get a glimpse of what it could potentially mean.

From print to film to web sites, from graphic design to audio to video - media have established a huge variety of forms. Versatility is key to this colorful business, as well as it has always been the foundation of my studies and previous work. Having a general overview about lots of things allows combining them to create something different.

medieninformatik.de

Media Informatics Blog

After the relaunch of the Hochschule Harz (Harz University of Applied Sciences) website in 2013, the study program Media Informatics was in need of also redesigning its online presence to fit the new corporate identity.

For this purpose, a group of six students was appointed to create a modern blog website replacing the old Media Informatics page. Work started by defining concepts in agreement with responsible university lecturers, which were subsequently implemented using technologies based on Wordpress.

This task further included developing a redesigned visual appearance for the Media Informatics program, adapting the university's new color scheme. This process also resulted in a new Media Informatics logo.

Image from Limbo animation, showing a silhoutte boy being chased through a dark forest by a giant spider — **My Tasks:** Idea, Storyboard and Animation with Adobe After Effects (Solo Project)

Animated Limbo

After Effects Animation

A boy running through a gloomy forest landscape, being chased by nightmarish creatures, narrowly escaping the dangers surrounding him - this animation aims to summarize the events and story of the silhouette boy's never-ending journey told by the game.

Trying to capture and recreate the look and feel of the original Indie Game 'Limbo', this animated short was the result of a post-production workshop at Hochschule Harz.

Informatics

Making It Move

Probably a direct consequence of my passion for games, I developed an early interest in programming concepts, trying to make my ideas move with tools like 3D Gamestudio or Game Maker.

Beginning my studies of Media Informatics some years later, I then managed to acquire a more professional approach to IT topics when I was introduced to the world of Java, Scrum and Software Design Patterns.

My fascination of creating something with a single line of code is still unabated and also continues on to recent technologies like Web, Apps or Web Apps.

PersonyPrime

Interface Re-Design and Bachelor Thesis

Accomplished during an internship at CodeFrog IT GmbH in Brunswick, this project featured a complete user interface overhaul of the existing employee management software 'PersonyPrime', developed internally at CodeFrog.

The application's previous user interface suffered from several usability issues, which were addressed within the context of my bachelor thesis.

Following the theoretical analysis, a practical approach was also part of the process, in which I created various mockups aiming for an improved user experience and implemented parts of the interface for a prototype. After completing my thesis I further accompanied CodeFrog in both UI design and implementation during its follow-up project 'FrogPool'.

Two screens from LineByLine app on Android, showing the text input and share functionality — **My Tasks:** Conception, UI Design, Java Programming and Testing with Android Studio (Solo Project)

LineByLine Response

Android App Development

LineByLine Response is an app for Android devices designed to make answering long messages with several topics and paragraphs easier.

After inserting a message from the clipboard, the app will split it into segments and offer a simple user interface to allow typing in answers for each one individually. Once all segments have been answered, LineByLine reassembles them to create a single answer that can easily be copied or shared to use within other apps.

LineByLine runs on Android Smartphones and Tablets with Android 2.3 or higher. It was built especially with Android 5 in mind and follows Google's Material Design Guidelines.

Games. Media. Informatics.