I build things that teach by making you play them.

The Run — press play
01 / 14 · 2018
LVL 01 · XP 0000 · ◆ 0/5
  1. ◆
    2018–2022 · Venture
    UrbanBees
    Co-founded an eco-gamification app that turned everyday green actions into rewards.
    ★ EY Recoding Smart Cities — Winner
    co-founder · design + marketing
  2. 2019–2022 · Craft
    Game-jam years
    Jam titles as lead designer and artist — The Ant of War, Veiled Ascend, Fénix, Megabite — all on itch.io.
    lead design + artPLAY ▸
  3. 2020–2021 · Venture
    Strategia
    Co-founded a game-dev education program using income-share agreements to help students break into games.
    co-founder · curriculum
  4. 2022 · Jam win
    Duck Paradox wins Pixel Game Jam
    A 48-hour prototype — a bouncing-bullet precision platformer — wins Pixel Game Jam 2022 and becomes the seed of the commercial game.
    ★ Pixel Game Jam 2022 — Winner
    48 hoursOPEN ▸
  5. 2023 · Games
    Sword of Meaning
    A short action game that builds real cognitive-behavioral-therapy principles into its mechanics.
    browserPLAY ▸
  6. 2024 · Studio
    magigam — the studio
    Founds an independent studio built on games that are more than games — teaching through play, not instruction.
    founderENTER ▸
  7. 2024 · Commercial
    Duck Paradox ships on Steam
    The prototype becomes a full commercial precision platformer, published by Midwest Games.
    ★ PAX East 2024 — Game of Show
    23,377 players · SteamOPEN ▸
  8. 2025 · Exhibit
    IQ vs KI — museum exhibit
    An interactive game teaching kids how AI works, built for the Kinder-Akademie Fulda's "Künstlerische Intelligenz" exhibition.
    museum · playablePLAY ▸
  9. ◆
    2025 · Recognition
    Duck Paradox on the world stage
    Honorable Mention for Best Student Game at IGF 2025, and two Game-of-the-Year nominations at Gamescom Latam 2025, where I spoke on a design panel.
    ★ IGF 2025 — Honorable Mention
    read the interviewREAD ▸
  10. 2025 · Research
    B.Sc. Applied Computer Science: Digital Media — 1.3
    Graduates from Hochschule Fulda with a thesis on learning through play: roguelike design for teaching evolution.
    grade 1.3READ ▸
  11. 2026 · Recognition
    F.R.O.G.S wins the Ideenwettbewerb
    An evolutionary-survival roguelike that teaches natural selection through play takes First Prize at HS Fulda's 2026 Ideenwettbewerb.
    ★ HS Fulda Ideenwettbewerb — 1st Prize
    learning through playREAD ▸
  12. 2026 · Games
    GOOPED
    A real-time multiplayer browser .io game, built end-to-end with agentic AI in a 10-day jam.
    browser · multiplayerPLAY ▸
  13. 2026 · Studio
    Makinon
    Launches an AI-automation studio that builds custom software to take repetitive work off people's plates.
    AI automationOPEN ▸
  14. NOW · You are here
    Building the next one
    A persistent multiplayer evolutionary arena where players steer creatures through survival and adaptation — learning through systemic play.
    in developmentFOLLOW ▸
S
RUN CLEARED
1710 XP · ◆ 5/5 · 14 milestones · 8 years
Games I've made
All my games on itch.io →
Research — learning through play
Games that teach by making you play the system.

My B.Sc. thesis at Hochschule Fulda (grade 1.3) argues you can teach a real system — evolution — through roguelike design, so understanding comes from playing, not reading. The same idea drives a playable museum exhibit.

Kinder-Akademie FuldaIQ vs KI — a human-vs-AI arcade exhibit (2025 "Künstlerische Intelligenz") Hochschule FuldaVom Hörsaal zur Gamescom — from student to game developer
In the press
Midwest GamesMagic Games launches Duck Paradox (publisher announcement) Temple of GeekThe Journey Behind Duck Paradox — an interview with Diego Leñero Osthessen-Zeitung„Spielen statt Pauken": Diego Leñero gewinnt Ideenwettbewerb Osthessen NewsGaming statt Schule: Informatikstudent begeistert mit Lernspiel Fuldaer ZeitungAbsolventen der HS Fulda entwickeln Online-Game Hochschule FuldaMagic Games: Praktikum im selbst gegründeten Unternehmen

Let's build something.

Email me