Adriaan de Jongh, gamedesigner.

Email me at 'my first name –at– my first name –dot– games'.

Games

Secret Shuffle (in development) - trailer - websitewurdweb (2021) - trailer - websiteHidden Folks (2017) - trailer - websiteSchakelaar (work for hire, 2017)Jelly Reef (Game Oven, 2014) - trailerBounden (Game Oven, 2014) - trailerFriendstrap (Game Oven, 2013) - trailerBam fu (Game Oven, 2013) - trailerPlanet Challenge (work for hire, 2013)Fingle (Game Oven, 2012) - trailerVogels! (student project, 2010) - trailer

Initiatives & events

Midgame Fund (2021) - linkDutch Game Industry Directory (2019) - linkplaydev club (2015) - linkcontract( ) (2015) - link

Biography

Adriaan de Jongh is a Dutch game designer best known for his work on the indie game hit Hidden Folks, a hand-drawn interactive searching game, and for designing experimental games like Bounden and Fingle, which move people out of the normal space of video games by challenging players to dance together, touch hands, or share other social interactions. He's also an active community member, as a board member of the Dutch Games Association, or as organiser of initiatives like Midgame Fund to fund game projects.

At the age of eighteen, Adriaan taught himself to code to turn his ideas into prototypes. One of those prototypes stood out and led him and a colleague to found Game Oven in 2011. For almost four years, Adriaan designed and marketed all the experimental games the studio released. When Game Oven closed doors, Adriaan continued to make prototypes and find the right collaborators for each project. In February 2017, Adriaan released the hand-drawn interactive searching game Hidden Folks together with illustrator Sylvain Tegroeg, which was received overwhelmingly positive by players and critics. He is currently making the headphone party game Secret Shuffle and the Scrabble-like puzzle game wurdweb.

Beside making and selling games, Adriaan actively tries to help the Dutch and international game industry. Among his side projects are: Midgame Fund, a group of Dutch game developers reinvesting their success in other Dutch games; docontract.com, a free plain-English agreement generator for game developers; playdev.club, a Dutch meetup for playtesting each others games in progress; and dutchgameindustry.directory, a directory that aims to list all games and companies in the Netherlands. Adriaan is currently board member of the Dutch Games Association and advisor for the Flanders Audiovisual Fund, and has been part of many juries and committees in the past, such as the Creative Industries NL's Digital Culture Fund advisory committee and the Independent Games Festival's Nuovo jury.

Awards & recognition

Secret Shuffle - A MAZE: Human Human Machine Award nominee, A MAZE, 2020playdev club - Best Community nominee, Game Bakery Awards, 2020Hidden Folks - App Store: iPad Game of the Year winner, Apple, 2017Hidden Folks - IMGA: Jury's Honorable Mention winner, San Francisco, 2018Hidden Folks - Anifilm: Best Game for Kids and Teenagers winner, Trebon, 2017Hidden Folks - BIG Indie Pitch San Francisco winner, San Francisco, 2016Hidden Folks - The Game Awards: Best Mobile Game nominee, Los Angeles, 2017Hidden Folks - Google Play: Indie Game Contest nominee, London, 2017Hidden Folks - Golden Kalf: Best Interactive nominee, Utrecht, 2017Hidden Folks - Unity Award: Best Mobile Game nominee, Austin, 2017Hidden Folks - Golden Leeuw: Best Interactive Media nominee, Amsterdam, 2017Hidden Folks - Gamekings: Best Dutch Game of 2017 nominee, Amsterdam, 2017Hidden Folks - Golden Joystick: Mobile Game of the Year nominee, GamesRadar, 2017Adriaan de Jongh - Dutch Game Industry Ambassador 2019 nominee, Game Bakery Awards, 2020Adriaan de Jongh (& Sylvain Tegroeg) - Best Indie Developer, Mobile Games Awards, 2018Adriaan de Jongh - Game Designer on the 30 under 30 list by Forbes, 2016Bounden - European Innovative Games Award winner, €10.000, Frankfurt, 2015Bounden - Ind13 Best Mobile Game, ind13.com, 2015Bounden - Games for Change Innovation Award winner, New York, 2015Bounden - IMGA Excellence in Innovation Award winner, San Francisco, 2015Bounden - IGF Nuovo Award nominee, San Francisco, 2015Bounden - GDCA Innovation Award nominee, San Francisco, 2015Bounden - Dutch Game Award for Best Co-Production winner, Utrecht, 2014Bounden - Dutch Game Award for Best Mobile Game nominee, Utrecht, 2014Bounden - Dutch Game Award Industry Award nominee, Utrecht, 2014Bounden - Cinekid Best New Media Production Award winner, €7.500, Amsterdam, 2014Bounden - Pocketgamer BIG Indie Pitch winner, San Francisco, 2014Bounden - GDC Experimental Gameplay Workshop selection, San Francisco, 2014Fingle - IGF Nuovo Award nominee, San Francisco, 2012Fingle - IGF Best Mobile Game honorable mention, San Francisco, 2012Fingle - Dutch Game Award for Best Mobile / Handheld Game, Amersfoort, 2012Fingle - Dutch Game Award for Best Casual Game, Amersfoort, 2012Fingle - Dutch Game Award for Best Original Game Design nominee, Amersfoort, 2012Fingle - Dutch Game Award for Control Industry Award nominee, Amersfoort, 2012After all it's just sheep - Global Game Jam Winner, Leeuwarden, 2015After all it's just sheep - Best Audio Award, Leeuwarden, 2015Vogels! - Festival of Games Diamond Trophy Winner, Utrecht, 2010Vogels! - Dutch Game Award Special Award winner, Amersfoort, 2010Vogels! - Dutch Game Award for Best Student Game nominee, Amersfoort, 2010

Juries & committees

2021–present - Entertainment Games Advisor for Flanders Audiovisual Fund2020–present - Dutch Games Association board member2019 - A MAZE Awards Grand Jury2019 - Anifilm Awards Jury2019 - NZ Games Festival Awards Jury2018 - Independent Games Festival (IGF) Nuovo Jury2017–2018 - Digital Culture advisor for Creative Industries Fund NL2015–2016 - Gamefund advisor for the Creative Industries Fund NL and Dutch Mediafund2016 - Independent Games Festival (IGF) Nuovo Jury2016 - IndieCade Awards Judge2015 - Independent Games Festival (IGF) Judge

Small & non-commercial games

Mark Ellis (Train Jam, 2015) - trailerPetit Prix (Major Bueno, 2015) - trailerAfter all it's just sheep (Global Game Jam, 2015) - website14 seconds (Train Jam, 2014)Trainfinity (Global Game Jam, 2014) - trailer52 (Fuck This Jam, 2012) - commentaryWhat The Faql?! (Global Game Jam, 2010) - trailer

Articles

(Dutch) Tips voor subsidieaanvragen voor games bij Digitale Cultuur - linkClosing Game Oven: numbers and struggles - linkDeveloping games, for non-developers - link

Interviews (selection)

2019 January - “The Making Of Hidden Folks” with Jen Simpkins, Edge Magazine (view pdf)2017 March - “Games Are About People” with Chris Priestman, Paste Magazine2015 April - “The Secret Ingredient for Better Games? Make People Dance” with Eli Bierman, The Creators Project

Talks

2021 October - “Making Games: prototype, playtest, collaborate” at Playgrounds Blend2021 October - Co-host of the Dutch Game Awards 20212021 October - “Indie Business & Funding” at BUAS2021 June - “Panel: Road to Funding” at INDIGO2021 June - “Midgame Fund Pitching Workshop” at INDIGO2021 May - “Indie Development - A Reality Check” at SUBOTRON2021 April - “How to Pitch to Midgame Fund” at HKU2018 April - “Hidden Folks: A Mess of Art and Business” at A Maze Berlin2018 March - “Takeaways from Bizarrely (Un)successful Emails” at GDC '182017 November - “A game design deep dive into Hidden Folks” at Control Conference2017 November - “The making of Hidden Folks” at Game Developer Sessions2017 October - “Microtalk: Playtest more!” at IndieCade Europe2017 February - “Playtesting: Avoiding Evil Data” at GDC '172017 February - “Failure Workshop: Closing Down Game Oven” at GDC '172016 November - “An indie in the Netherlands” at Bright Day2016 June - “Why gamification is a lie” at ADCN2016 May - “Game Design: a craft beyond the game” at Campus Party2016 May - “A game industry community - why care?” at Indievelopment2016 May - “Using docontract.com” at Indievelopment2016 April - “Bodies in games” at Now Play This2016 February - “Play” at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment director conference2016 February - “Panel: Is technology alienating us?” at the Ziggo Conference 20162016 February to 2017 July - “Monthly: games as art” at Radio 1's 'Het Allerbeste'2015 December - “Why Games Belong In Museums Too” at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam2015 September - “How the Gamefund brought Bounden together” at Control Conference2015 September - “Game design workshop: ideas are cheap” at Headstart2015 August - “Game design WTF?!” at Headstart2015 August - “Touching relationships with games” at JOIN local multiplayer summit2015 Juli - “Games mainstream media never told you about” at PechaKucha2015 May - “Why Game Oven shut doors” at Indievelopment2015 April - “Game mechanics & social interaction” at Games for Change2015 April - “Topics for game designers & risk takers ” at NYU Game Center2015 February - “Skin in the game” at Screenshake Festival2014 December - “An overview of game development” at Apple Store Amsterdam2014 November - “Emotions in Games panel” at IMPAKT Festival2014 August - “Making Your Own Video Game Genre” at GDC Europe2014 August - “Why Bounden?” at the GDC European Innovative Games Showcase2014 August - “It’s not about local multiplayer” at JOIN local multiplayer summit2014 March -“Bounden” at theGDC Experimental Gameplay Workshop2014 Febuari -“All Your Games Are The Same” at the Nordic Game Jam2013 June - “A new multiplayer paradigm” at the Local Multiplayer Picnic2013 January - “Fingle Post Mortem” at the Utrecht School of the Arts UNRAVEL workshop2013 January - “Folk games” at De Mus2012 November - “Creative musts” at Creative Mornings Utrecht2012 May - “Designing games that go beyond the screen” atClash of Realities2012 May - “Selling a game nobody wants to play” at Indievelopment2012 March - TV appearance explaining Fingle at Koffietijd2012 March - “Luck based game design” atThisHappened- video (in dutch)2012 January - “Fingle in 5 minutes” atAmsterdam Ignite 142012 January - “Graduating like a Boss” at the HKU UNRAVEL workshop2011 December - “Silent proof of Fingle’s awkwardness” at Control Gamelab #1- picture

Speaker assets

Square photo - preferred / alternativePortrait photo - preferred / alternativeLandscape photo - preferred / alternative

Links

LinkedIn - linkTwitter - linkPrivacy Policy - link

Games by Adriaan

Web Name: Games by Adriaan

WebSite: http://www.adriaan.games

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