Making The Spell Brigade: The Power of Self-Imposed Constraints
Constraints often get a bad rap — as if they only hold us back. For the development of The Spell Brigade, we deliberately embraced constraints.
The result? A faster development cycle and a more successful game.
In this talk, I’ll walk through the specific constraints we chose (and some we didn’t choose), how they changed our process, and why I now believe thoughtful limitations are a game developer’s best friend.
Speaker Bio
Hans Jacobs is the CEO and creative director of Bolt Blaster Games, a Belgian indie studio of seven developers.
After starting out in the world of serious and educational games, the team shifted focus to entertainment, releasing their debut title, GAZZLERS — a roguelite VR shooter — in 2023 across Steam, PlayStation VR2, Pico and Meta Quest.
Now, Bolt Blaster Games is working on their second game, The Spell Brigade, which launched in Early Access on Steam in September 2024.
Games worked on:
GAZZLERS
The Spell Brigade
