Robert Schmieder: Game and Software Developer

Technologies:

Unity Engine
Code: C#

About the App

Sea Feed is another - hopefully - fun casual mobile game of the endless-runner type.
Navigate a very hungry little fish through the endless ocean while feeding on plankton as much as you can. Over time become big fish - but beware: The waters are perilous for small and big fishes alike!

Technologies:

Plattform independent .NET-MAUI-App using an SQLITE-database
Code: C#/XAML

About the App

.NET-MAUI-App, written in C# using an SQLITE-database

E-Citera is a reference administration software that helps users to keep track of all the literature (books, papers and articles etc.) they read and need for their academic work and private purposes and interests as well of course.

• E-Citera allows users to create a database in which all of the titles of interest to them are stored according to the needs of complete bibliographical detail needed for academic research - although it is of course possible to keep it as simple as just saving the title of a work for future reference.


• Furthermore users can not only store titles with detailed bibliographical information they can also assign collections of titles to reference lists related to a specific topic or bibliography for one of their own academic works, papers or books.


• Finally, E-Citera allows users to convert the bibliographical information of a single title or a whole reference list according to the needs of a specific academic citation style, like Harvard referencing, Chicago- or MLA (Modern Language Association)-style and simply copy the created citation directly into your foot- or end notes or a reference list at the end of one of their own papers without the need of formatting the citation themselves.
  But, they are not bound to widely used citation styles because E-Citera let's them actually create and store as many citation styles as they like. So users could easily adapt to the requirements of a small journal for publishing one of their papers without the need of manually (re-)writing all the titles cited.

Technologies:

2D casual mobile game made with Unity
Code: C#

About the App

Tiny Tinkle Tigers is a fun casual game for mobile devices, playable time and time again. In Tiny Tinkle Tigers you subscribe to the mission of getting more and more little kittens house trained. To accomplish this end your have to gently point them in the direction of their destination: the cat tray. But, be vigilant! The kittens arriving on the map still do not have very much control over their bladder… Gather experience points (XP) as you swipe away one puddle after another and send more and more little kittens to the cat tray. Enjoy the increasing kitten madness as their numbers rise and the obstacles in the way!

Technologies:

2D-Space Shooter made with Unity
Code: C#

About the App

Trouble in Andromeda VII game is designed to be a nice little space shooter of the classic type. A minigame, perfect for playing in between and taking five minutes off: Shoot some asteroids or alien space ships – enjoy watching them explode… When players finished a level or two they might just turn off the app and switch back on later. As players progress in the game they get more powerful weapons and collect more powerful boosters (health, energy and shield) because – of course – enemies and level hazards become more dangerous.

Background of the Game

This one started off as a little side project when I had just finished the basic features of my D&D-character-sheet-App, had cleaned the code and had written comments for publishing the code on GitHub. After a lot of commenting I felt the urge to do something more splashy.* Of course there are already thousands of space shooters out there. The concept is surely far from being a genuine new idea. But hey: space shooters are still fun anyway. To be honest, in the beginning that was the main the reason to make this little game. But, soon after starting the development process I realized this was a project within a practicable scope for a single person to finish in a reasonable amount of time. So I thought this would be probably a good way to demonstrate the skillset required to develop with Unity until the larger projects have progressed further on.

Have fun trying it out!

Technologies:

Windows Desktop App (WPF)
Code: C#/XAML

About the App

This is an app for the pen & paper fantasy roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons. Pen & paper means that everything happening in the game - including results of dice rolls and calculations - would usually be written down on sheets of paper. The digital Character Sheet app virtualizes these processes and automatizes game mechanics. (see below for further details)

Details on what the app does:

The rules for the game are quite complex, it works with differents types of dice, a serious amount of values describing the capabilities of the different types of characters, a lot of items – weapons, armor, tools etc. – and hundreds of spells for some of the character classes.
Usually, you would write them down on sheets of paper, do a lot of calculations based on the values of your character in combination with the dice role results or shuffle through the rule books – e. g. to find the price of an item or the mechanics of a 'spell' (magic some characters are able to do) etc.
This app is designed to make the life of players (users) easier and helps them to focus on having fun because the app does all the calculations automatically and users neither need physical dice nor do they need to know which die to use in which case – because the app does and lets them roll on the interface, already adding and substracting the values for them.
The app also comes with databases for items and spells. Players can comfortably buy items & add them to their inventory from the digital 'merchant-store' as well as equip weapons and armor in the Inventory Window.
You don‘t have to know which spells are available for your character because the app automatically presents a limited selection from the database based on the class of your character.
Finally, you can of course save & load your accomplishments as a player: progress in level & skill, treasure in your inventory as well as notes on the development and experiences of your character and the story in general.

How the game works:

In Dungeons & Dragons every player assumes the role of a character with special skills in a diverse team of adventurers: They specialize e. g. fighting, healing, sneaking or magic. Players work together as a team and their different skills complement each other. The digital Character Sheet app virtualizes these processes and automatizes game mechanics. (see below for further details)
Finally, a special kind of player, the so called 'Game Master', tells the story, describes the environment and assumes the role of all characters other than the players – Non-Player-Character's (NPC's) – as well as the role of the enemies of the players. (She or he does what the code in a computer game would do.)
The band of adventurers (the characters of the players) travel through a fantasy universe – usually a more or less medieval setting – fight monsters or evil persons and organizations and collect treasures along the way.
Last but not least while doing so, players experience complex storylines in which they interact with friendly or hostile NPC's, usually to the end of solving a quest. A quest is a task given to them by one of the NPCs occuring in the game. This can involve all kinds of things, but for example they have to find long lost relatives, set out for a rescue mission or procure a powerful item for somebody hidden in long forgotten ruins or the lair of deadly monster.

Game Teaser

It is a bright day… You enjoy the morning sun tickling your nose while you tend to the fields after you already fed the animals at dawn. As the smell of the ripe tomatoes reaches your nose and you glance at the reflections of light dancing on the growing plants and blooming flowers and you think to yourself: ‚What a wonderful world!‘
Then a different scent creeps into your nostrils.
The revolting sweet stench of rotting flesh.
– You can already hear the buzzing of the bluebottles.
Seconds later a twiching thing of blue and green appears in the periphery of your sight.
There behind the fence…
One of them…
As you take a closer look, you can behold it in all its ghastly form…
Now you remember…
It is more than remarkable that you can actually forget – even for a short moment:
The world already ended…

Game Concept

Farm of the Dead is a farming and a survival game at once – but with the focus on farming, building, crafting and gathering of resources: When the game begins the player assumes the role of a survivor of yet another zombie apocalypse. While fleeing from some of those gruesome fellows the character stumbles upon an abandoned farm. What in this very moment is no more than a – hopefully – relatively safe shelter for the night quickly becomes a new home. As players take a look around they will realize there are not only – potentially dwindling – supplies left here but a lot of tools, seeds that could bear fruit, a well for fresh water and in the basement… even a generator for electricity. If they would repair some of the fences and install a few security barriers they could actually endure in this place – at least for a while. And there is the goal of the game: build a relatively safe home for yourself – and if you ever meet a living human being again – maybe even others…

Game Concept

“The Double Treason” is a small scale single player 3D-Adventure game situated in the Caribbean in the “Golden Age of Piracy”. It takes many elements of classical “Point & Click”-adventures and transfers them to 3D-setting.
The player assumes the role of Mary Read, famous pirate and companion of Anne Bonny and another notorious corsair by the name of Calico Jack. When the game commences the latter two are in a dire straits: They are held captive by a turncoat pirate by the name of Benjamin Hornigold who works for the British crown (again) and is in the process of extraditing Anne and Calico to the governor of Jamaica where a death sentence awaits them.
The only way to avert this is to bail them out of Hornigolds hands by paying a huge ransom. Luckily, the three pirates (Mary, Anna and Calico) have accumulated enough riches for having enough gold to do so.
One problem is: Mary doesn’t know where the other two have hidden the booty since they separated ways a while ago when Mary went on a mission on her own. And the other problem is: Mary has to be faster than Charles Vane, another pirate, famous for his ruthlessness and cruelty. Vane has also betrayed Calico and Anne recently as he made a deal with Hornigold and is now heading for the treasure.
A treasure hunt commences in which players have to find eight key quest items enabling them to find the stash.
The game focuses on the story to be told and is mainly about gathering clues and solving puzzles with a few elements of battle on the side.

Game Concept

Descent to the Elders is a 3D rogue-like, “hack & slay”-RPG inspired by classic titles such as Diablo Series, Grim Dawn or Path of Exile. It is based in a medieval setting but infused with Sci-Fi elements.
Besides the classic Hack&Slay-fun, the collection of treasure and increasingly powerful items player characters may alter the environment to their own advantage and use mutagenic pollen to enhance their physical and mental capacities.
From a base of operations, a small, remote village by the name of “Derryn-Torm” and a few other unchanging places in its surroundings player-characters will venture ever deeper into procedurally generated dungeons on their mission find to find living representatives of an ancient, long forgotten race: “the Elders”.
According to six sages on the lookout for the “Elders” these powerful entities are the only ones who might know a remedy against the curse that has befallen the world since a giant orb has crushed onto its surface. The celestial body brought something with it which causes species to mutate into horrible monsters and even reanimates the dead.
The players characters will be the champions of one of six sages each conducting the search to a different end. Two of them seek power, two of them seek wisdom and two of them seek salvation.
Whose champions be it then?! Whose champions will bring the ancient wisdom necessary to end the horror or... to control it for their own benefit…