Enter the Dungeons of Dreadrock

As a computer scientist, game design professor, and software developer, it’s no surprise that Christoph Minnameier is one of this year’s winners at Play’s Indie Games Festival. We chatted to Minnameier about the magic behind his winning entry: Dungeons of Dreadrock, a dungeon-crawling puzzle adventure.

Christoph Minnameier: At its heart, it’s about a sister who defies all odds to save her brother. Mechanically, it’s a puzzle adventure that combines old school mechanics (like grid based movement) with modern game design philosophy.

It’s a deep, immersive, and minimalistic experience that unfolds layer by layer in easily digestible parts.

I’m always making prototypes and, when I made this one, I was lucky to dig into the core idea and find mechanics that enabled far more puzzle variations than I had initially expected.

The biggest challenge actually came from making this in my spare time. I was lucky I made it during lockdown – providing me the room to build the game for almost two years – and that I had the support from my incredible artists Fabian, Dmitry and Tiffany, whose art sparked excitement and kept me going.

I started as a kid with the level editor on Doom. Much later, during my computer science PhD, I made an Xbox 360 game as a side project. After that, I spent a few years in the games industry which, along with my academic career, led me to my current job as a game design professor.

But I’m still hungry, still excited, still creative, and I can’t help but create things whenever I find the time.

Browse the other winners and finalists from the Indie Games Festival 2022 Europe.