Bling Bling: Indie games from Karlsruhe

The games industry is growing. In 2021, the gaming market in Germany achieved record sales of around 9.8 billion euros, according to the Market data from Statista show. Trend: rising.
A lot has also happened in the industry in recent years: the days when video games could only be successful with a budget of millions and with the help of large publishers are over. Teams of developers who are independent of major financial backers are shaking up the market with their increasingly popular indie games. An indie games scene has also developed in Karlsruhe. One of them is Bling Bling Games, which was founded in 2017 and whose game Idle Ant Colony was nominated for the German Developer Award in the “Best Casual Game” category last year. We spoke to CEO Thomas Hofmann about the latest games trends, the day-to-day work of a games designer and Karlsruhe as a location.

For Thomas Hofmann, it was already clear after studying computer science: he wanted to go into the world of games. He knew from his lecturers that Karlsruhe in particular offers the best conditions for digital innovations as a digital location. Karlsruhe is also considered a gaming hotspot alongside the German games capitals of Hamburg and Berlin. The Karlsruhe-based company Gameforge, for example, is one of the 25 largest game developers in Germany.

“I think for people who work in Karlsruhe and want to set up a small indie games studio, everything is actually there,” Hofmann said in an interview with TECHTAG. And so he founded his company Bling Bling Games here more than five years ago. Since then, the team has grown considerably: more than 11 programmers and games designers provide new ideas here.

Games industry has some catching up to do when it comes to diversity

Gaming is a hobby in which – at least virtually – people of the most diverse identities and backgrounds come together. According to the annual report of the German games industry published by the Association of the German Games Industry, almost the same number of women (48%) and men (52%) played computer and video games in 2020. Nevertheless, the industry behind is not yet particularly diverse. At the Karlsruhe-based start-up , however, an untypical number of women work on the development of the latest games. This is also important to founder Thomas Hofmann: “I do pay attention to that, of course it’s not the only criterion, but if everything else fits, then that helps us.”

Agility as a success factor

And how that helps! The company was recently nominated for the German Developer Award at . To keep up with the market, the team uses agile working. Hofmann explains: “We work in two-week cycles and then see what we have achieved. Did everything go well ? We don’t make an annual plan or anything like that, but constantly improve our processes”

The team specializes in so-called economic simulation games for mobile use on smartphones. In , players have to build colonies, achieve economic goals, solve problems and handle digital money. According to Hofmann, these types of games have already had their peak, but are still widely used. He hopes that they will continue to be in high demand in the future. However, he sees the future of the industry as uncertain: “There are currently a lot of innovations – despite the crisis, which is partly due to the federal funding. There are currently still many small studios and vacant positions, but who knows how long that will last.”

Entry into the games industry

If you want to take advantage of the ongoing growth of the gaming industry and realize yourself in this professional field , Hofmann advises you to go to game jams first. These are events, at which game design enthusiasts present their ideas, self-coded designs or finished games to each other. Interested parties can find an introduction to the scene, learn a lot and meet new people.

If you don’t want to try your hand at game design but still want to try out new games, you can now apply to be a beta tester at Bling Bling and try out the latest game. This much can already be revealed: it’s about cars! Simply send an e-mail to info@blingblinggames.com and off you go.

Cover picture: Bling Blinges Games