In an inconspicuous office building in Frankfurt’s north end, one of Germany’s largest video game projects is about to be completed this year. More than a dozen people are crowded in front of two screens in a small adjoining room. Two young men play side by side, the others comment, cheer and laugh with them. It’s not about group fun at all, but a technical test. Two programming interfaces are compared, since most video games are not only released for one platform, but for several, i.e. for the computer and game consoles, at the same time.
“Atlas Fallen” is the name of the game that is being created here at Deck13. On a barren, mostly desert-covered planet, the character learns that she can control the sand and thus defeat monsters. Four years of development work went into the project, which around 90 employees of the company were working on at the same time. The development of the game costs between 10 and 20 million euros, but managing director Jan Klose does not want to reveal the exact amount, which is common in the industry.