Derpy Conga

Date: Apr 2019 - Feb 2022
Category: Game Design, Level Design, Prototyping

Derpy Conga is a physics-based puzzle-platformer about the importance of friendship, available for PC and Nintendo Switch.

In a faraway galaxy, a small planet is endangered by an asteroid; when their only defense system fails, its quirky inhabitants are left with only one option: embark on a trip to the nearby planets to retrieve the repair parts!

Starting alone, players will soon find and rescue many folks, which will join them forming a long chain that gets harder to control as it grows. On the other side, a longer chain is the key to overcome the obstacles found along the way.

The game features three different worlds, inhabited by different alien types; each of these worlds introduces new mechanics centered around its inhabitants’ special abilities.

Derpy Conga started as a Ludum Dare prototype among a group of friends, but then evolved into a more ambitious product that we kept developing in our free time.
Eventually, we were able to go full time on the project thanks to a grant from the German Land of North-Rhine Westphalia; this allowed us to start a studio with the goal of releasing the game on the Nintendo Switch and Steam.

As the designer of the core game concept, I was in charge of designing the game mechanics, the level setup and progression. I also took care of the 3D art production and integration pipeline as well as writing the custom shaders needed to achieve the desired look and performance.

You can try the demo of Derpy Conga on Steam and on the Nintendo eShop.