A few years ago I read an article about game development. As a passionate gamer myself, I was fascinated. I had just completed vocational training as a juggler, but was more interested in a career with a secure outlook. There was no specialized course of studies for game development so I decided to study Computer Science in Media and work as an intern for several Berlin-based game developers.

After completing my course of studies I quickly found a job at GameDuell where I program online games in Flash. The games we make are "casual games". The time it takes to develop them is, compared to that of hard core games (with complex worlds), rather short. Since money can be won on GameDuell, our highest priority in the development is the secure and error-free programming of games. Because of this, the games are all exhaustively tested by the Quality Assurance Team before being released to the public. It's also important to design the game in a way that users can quickly understand and ideally immediately begin playing - without detailed instructions.

The following process is used when a new game is to be created for the web site: my colleagues from the Product Team develop the concept and graphics. When they're finished, the project is handed over to me and I can concentrate all of my efforts on programming.

When a small bug (technical error) has to be found it's not always a joyful experience. Finding the bug can be like searching for a needle in a haystack - you need endurance and a good feeling for the material. But when the game is finally online and is played by hundreds of thousands of people each day, the it's just a great feeling.

What I like most about GameDuell is the working atmosphere and the friendly coworkers. The small things also mean a lot to me, like the fresh fruit and müsli everyday. You also cannot help but notice the great coffee machine that freshly grinds the beans before it's brewed - the result is a great-tasting coffee like in Italy. When it's someone's birthday the entire company sings "Happy Birthday" and there is cake. I've never experienced anything like this before.