Adriaan de Jongh, game designer
Email me at 'my first name –at– my first name –dot– games'.
Games
Get an email when a new game I worked on comes out.
- Rift Riff (in development) - demo trailer - website
- Secret Shuffle (2022) - trailer - website
- wurdweb (2021) - trailer - website
- Hidden Folks (2017) - trailer - website
- Schakelaar (work for hire, 2017)
- Jelly Reef (Game Oven, 2014) - trailer
- Bounden (Game Oven, 2014) - trailer
- Friendstrap (Game Oven, 2013) - trailer
- Bam fu (Game Oven, 2013) - trailer
- Planet Challenge (work for hire, 2013)
- Fingle (Game Oven, 2012) - trailer
Initiatives & events
- Midgame Fund (2021) - link
- Dutch Game Industry Directory (2019) - link
- playdev club (2015) - link
- contract( ) (2015) - link
Biography
Adriaan de Jongh is a Dutch game designer best known for his work on the indie game hit Hidden Folks, a black & white interactive searching game. Adriaan is also known for designing experimental games that move people out of the normal space of video games by challenging players to dance together, touch hands, or share other social interactions.
At the age of eighteen, Adriaan taught himself to code. He co-founded Game Oven in 2011 and designed and marketed all the experimental games the studio released for almost four years. After Game Oven closed, Adriaan collaborated with different people for different projects, gaining more experience in programming, business, and marketing. This led to the release of Hidden Folks in 2017, which was received overwhelmingly positive by players and critics and has allowed Adriaan to continue to work on various projects. Adriaan is currently making the tower defense game Rift Riff.
Beside making and selling games, Adriaan actively contributed to the Dutch and international game developer community. Among his initiatives 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; and the Dutch Game Industry Directory, a directory that aims to list all games and companies in the Netherlands. Adriaan was board member of the Dutch Games Association and has been part of many juries and committees, such as the Creative Industries NL's Digital Culture Fund advisory committee, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund advisory committee, and the Independent Games Festival's Nuovo jury. Adriaan is also a sponsor of the Godot Foundation.
Talks (selection, YouTube links)
- Making Games: prototype, playtest, collaborate - link
- Playtesting: Avoiding Evil Data - link
- Midgame Fund: money for indies, by indies - link
- Hidden Folks: A Mess of Art and Business - link
- Playlist with all available talks - 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 Magazine
- 2015 April - “The Secret Ingredient for Better Games? Make People Dance” with Eli Bierman, The Creators Project
Awards & recognition
- Secret Shuffle - Dutch Game Award for Best Game Design winner, Hilversum, 2023
- Secret Shuffle - Dutch Game Award for Best Innovation winner, Hilversum, 2023
- Secret Shuffle - Dutch Game Award for Best Audio nominee, Hilversum, 2023
- Secret Shuffle - IndieCade Live Action nominee, Los Angeles, 2023
- Secret Shuffle - SXSW Innovation Award nominee, Austin, 2023
- Secret Shuffle - Very Big Indie Pitch winner, Pocket Gamer Connect, 2023
- Secret Shuffle - A MAZE: Human Human Machine Award nominee, A MAZE, 2020
- Adriaan de Jongh - Best Indie Developer nominee, Mobile Games Awards, 2023
- Adriaan de Jongh - Dutch Game Industry Ambassador 2019 nominee, Game Bakery Awards, 2020
- Adriaan de Jongh (& Sylvain Tegroeg) - Best Indie Developer winner, Mobile Games Awards, 2018
- Adriaan de Jongh - Game Designer on the 30 under 30 list by Forbes, 2016
- wurdweb - Dutch Game Award for Best Technology nominee, Hilversum, 2022
- playdev club - Best Community nominee, Game Bakery Awards, 2020
- Hidden Folks - App Store: iPad Game of the Year winner, Apple, 2017
- Hidden Folks - IMGA: Jury's Honorable Mention winner, San Francisco, 2018
- Hidden Folks - Anifilm: Best Game for Kids and Teenagers winner, Trebon, 2017
- Hidden Folks - Big Indie Pitch winner, San Francisco, 2016
- Hidden Folks - The Game Awards: Best Mobile Game nominee, Los Angeles, 2017
- Hidden Folks - Google Play: Indie Game Contest nominee, London, 2017
- Hidden Folks - Golden Kalf: Best Interactive nominee, Utrecht, 2017
- Hidden Folks - Unity Award: Best Mobile Game nominee, Austin, 2017
- Hidden Folks - Golden Leeuw: Best Interactive Media nominee, Amsterdam, 2017
- Hidden Folks - Gamekings: Best Dutch Game of 2017 nominee, Amsterdam, 2017
- Hidden Folks - Golden Joystick: Mobile Game of the Year nominee, GamesRadar, 2017
- Bounden - European Innovative Games Award winner, €10.000, Frankfurt, 2015
- Bounden - Ind13 Best Mobile Game winner, ind13.com, 2015
- Bounden - Games for Change Innovation Award winner, New York, 2015
- Bounden - IMGA Excellence in Innovation Award winner, San Francisco, 2015
- Bounden - IGF Nuovo Award nominee, San Francisco, 2015
- Bounden - GDCA Innovation Award nominee, San Francisco, 2015
- Bounden - Dutch Game Award for Best Co-Production winner, Utrecht, 2014
- Bounden - Dutch Game Award for Best Mobile Game nominee, Utrecht, 2014
- Bounden - Dutch Game Award Industry Award nominee, Utrecht, 2014
- Bounden - Cinekid Best New Media Production Award winner, €7.500, Amsterdam, 2014
- Bounden - Big Indie Pitch winner, San Francisco, 2014
- Bounden - GDC Experimental Gameplay Workshop selection, San Francisco, 2014
- Fingle - IGF Nuovo Award nominee, San Francisco, 2012
- Fingle - IGF Best Mobile Game honorable mention, San Francisco, 2012
- Fingle - Dutch Game Award for Best Mobile / Handheld Game winner, Amersfoort, 2012
- Fingle - Dutch Game Award for Best Casual Game winner, Amersfoort, 2012
- Fingle - Dutch Game Award for Best Original Game Design nominee, Amersfoort, 2012
- Fingle - Dutch Game Award for Control Industry Award nominee, Amersfoort, 2012
- After all it's just sheep - Global Game Jam winner, Leeuwarden, 2015
- After all it's just sheep - Best Audio Award winner, Leeuwarden, 2015
- Vogels! - Festival of Games Diamond Trophy winner, Utrecht, 2010
- Vogels! - Dutch Game Award Special Award winner, Amersfoort, 2010
- Vogels! - Dutch Game Award for Best Student Game nominee, Amersfoort, 2010
Juries & committees
- 2021—2023 - Entertainment Games Advisor for Flanders Audiovisual Fund
- 2020—2022 - Dutch Games Association board member
- 2019 - A MAZE Awards Grand Jury
- 2019 - Anifilm Awards Jury
- 2019 - NZ Games Festival Awards Jury
- 2018 - Independent Games Festival (IGF) Nuovo Jury
- 2017—2018 - Digital Culture advisor for Creative Industries Fund NL
- 2015—2016 - Gamefund advisor for the Creative Industries Fund NL and Dutch Mediafund
- 2016 - Independent Games Festival (IGF) Nuovo Jury
- 2016 - IndieCade Awards Judge
- 2015 - Independent Games Festival (IGF) Judge
Small & non-commercial games
- Mark Ellis (Train Jam, 2015) - trailer
- Petit Prix (Major Bueno, 2015) - trailer
- After all it's just sheep (Global Game Jam, 2015) - website
- 14 seconds (Train Jam, 2014)
- Trainfinity (Global Game Jam, 2014) - trailer
- 52 (Fuck This Jam, 2012) - commentary
- Vogels! (student project, 2010) - trailer
- What The Faql?! (Global Game Jam, 2010) - trailer
Talks
- 2024 March - “Indies Can Do Stuff Big Studios Cannot“ at Huawei's Unraveled Gaming Event
- 2023 December - “Playful Games“ at Role of Play Book Presentation
- 2023 October - “Let's talk TikTok“ at Dutch Game Day
- 2023 August - “… and suddenly, your hands touch“ at SomaFest
- 2023 June - “Midgame Fund: money for indies, by indies“ at INDIGO
- 2021 October - “Making Games: prototype, playtest, collaborate” at Playgrounds Blend
- 2021 October - Co-host of the Dutch Game Awards 2021
- 2021 October - “Indie Business & Funding” at BUAS
- 2021 June - “Panel: Road to Funding” at INDIGO
- 2021 June - “Midgame Fund Pitching Workshop” at INDIGO
- 2021 May - “Indie Development - A Reality Check” at SUBOTRON
- 2021 April - “How to Pitch to Midgame Fund” at HKU
- 2018 April - “Hidden Folks: A Mess of Art and Business” at A Maze Berlin
- 2018 March - “Takeaways from Bizarrely (Un)successful Emails” at GDC '18
- 2017 November - “A game design deep dive into Hidden Folks” at Control Conference
- 2017 November - “The making of Hidden Folks” at Game Developer Sessions
- 2017 October - “Microtalk: Playtest more!” at IndieCade Europe
- 2017 February - “Playtesting: Avoiding Evil Data” at GDC '17
- 2017 February - “Failure Workshop: Closing Down Game Oven” at GDC '17
- 2016 November - “An indie in the Netherlands” at Bright Day
- 2016 June - “Why gamification is a lie” at ADCN
- 2016 May - “Game Design: a craft beyond the game” at Campus Party
- 2016 May - “A game industry community - why care?” at Indievelopment
- 2016 May - “Using docontract.com” at Indievelopment
- 2016 April - “Bodies in games” at Now Play This
- 2016 February - “Play” at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment director conference
- 2016 February - “Panel: Is technology alienating us?” at the Ziggo Conference 2016
- 2016 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 Amsterdam
- 2015 September - “How the Gamefund brought Bounden together” at Control Conference
- 2015 September - “Game design workshop: ideas are cheap” at Headstart
- 2015 August - “Game design WTF?!” at Headstart
- 2015 August - “Touching relationships with games” at JOIN local multiplayer summit
- 2015 Juli - “Games mainstream media never told you about” at PechaKucha
- 2015 May - “Why Game Oven shut doors” at Indievelopment
- 2015 April - “Game mechanics & social interaction” at Games for Change
- 2015 April - “Topics for game designers & risk takers ” at NYU Game Center
- 2015 February - “Skin in the game” at Screenshake Festival
- 2014 December - “An overview of game development” at Apple Store Amsterdam
- 2014 November - “Emotions in Games panel” at IMPAKT Festival
- 2014 August - “Making Your Own Video Game Genre” at GDC Europe
- 2014 August - “Why Bounden?” at the GDC European Innovative Games Showcase
- 2014 August - “It’s not about local multiplayer” at JOIN local multiplayer summit
- 2014 March - “Bounden” at the GDC Experimental Gameplay Workshop
- 2014 Febuari - “All Your Games Are The Same” at the Nordic Game Jam
- 2013 June - “A new multiplayer paradigm” at the Local Multiplayer Picnic
- 2013 January - “Fingle Post Mortem” at the Utrecht School of the Arts UNRAVEL workshop
- 2013 January - “Folk games” at De Mus
- 2012 November - “Creative musts” at Creative Mornings Utrecht
- 2012 May - “Designing games that go beyond the screen” at Clash of Realities
- 2012 May - “Selling a game nobody wants to play” at Indievelopment
- 2012 March - TV appearance explaining Fingle at Koffietijd
- 2012 March - “Luck based game design” at ThisHappened - video (in dutch)
- 2012 January - “Fingle in 5 minutes” at Amsterdam Ignite 14
- 2012 January - “Graduating like a Boss” at the HKU UNRAVEL workshop
- 2011 December - “Silent proof of Fingle’s awkwardness” at Control Gamelab #1 - picture
Recurring collaborators
- Sim Kaart
- Yero Pharaoh
- Sokpop's Aran Koning
- Céline Veltman
- Sylvain Tegroeg
- Gilles van Leeuwen
- Bojan Endrovski
Recurring tools
- Godot (game engine)
- Unity (game engine)
- Visual Studio Code (code editor)
- Affinity Photo (photo editor)
- Affinity Designer (vector editor)
- Slack (team chat)
- Discord (community chat)
- Notion (to-do's & collaboration)
- Fork (git client)
- GitHub (git hosting)
- Dropbox (file sync and backup)
- Google Sheets (administration)
- Amazon AWS (S3, CloudFront, SES)
- Sendy (newsletter software)
- DreamHost (webhost)
- ForkLift (FTP client)
- Time Out (break reminders)
- HEY (email)
- Final Cut (video editting)
- HandBrake (video conversion)
- Audacity (audio recording & editting)
- ImageOptim (image optimisation)
- Loopback (audio rerouting)
- OBS (streaming)
- Screenflick (screen recording)
- Terminal (environment handling)
Speaker assets
- Square photo - preferred / alternative
- Portrait photo - preferred / alternative
- Landscape photo - preferred / alternative