The Energy Case: who killed Antward Formic?

Text: Loes Vader

Jeremy Koeleman, Bjorn Klein Ligtenberg, Kris Petrova, Lorenzo Tondo and Maksim Mihaylov are an international group of second-year Creative Media & Game Technology students. "Bjorn and I are from the Netherlands, Kris and Maks from Bulgaria and Lorenzo from Italy," says Jeremy. "Only Lorenzo is following the Honours Programme of our study programme, but we are all working together on The Energy Case."

Cool idea

In the first year, the students could choose from an assignment for a non-existent client. Jeremy, Bjorn, Maks, Kris and Lorenzo chose an assignment on the energy transition from the 'municipality of Groningen'. Koeleman: "We were the first to investigate: who knows the least about energy use and about the energy transition? Students as it turned out. They don't know how much energy they use, what it costs and how polluting fossil energy is. The Energy Case makes you aware of energy consumption and the transition to clean energy." Klein Ligtenberg: "The programme gave us a good assessment of our idea and our prototype. That's where the assignment for school ended, but we got a lot of positive reactions and we thought it was such a cool idea that we continued."

Detective Dec

The Energy Case is a detective shooting game starring Dec, detective Dominic Decker. All characters are robotic insects. Dec is a robot ant. Koeleman: "Robots also need energy to live and we thought that was a nice reflection of reality. The mystery revolves around the murder of Antward Formic, scientist and figurehead of green energy, who has modified his own body to cope with green energy. Who killed Formic and why? Who wants to stop the energy transition? Formic's partner Phila Beelinski, a robot bee, believes there is a plot behind the murder. Dec investigates. By playing the game, you will gain insight into how others think about energy. From people who protest against climate change to people who don't care about it at all. As you solve Detective Dec’s mystery, you'll learn to make choices."

Steam

The students expect to release the game in December 2024. They are still working on dotting all the i's and crossing the t's. Klein Ligtenberg: "The Energy Case is supposed to be released on Steam, which is an online computer platform. You can download the game for a few euros. We're releasing the game in chapters so that we can use the money we make to further develop the mystery."

Novak Studios

The Honours prize comes in handy. "The first 100 euros of our prize will go to the Steam page and we will register with the Chamber of Commerce. We are in the process of setting up a company in games with one purpose: Novak Studios. We hope that we can impress the market with The Energy Case. Our big dream is to make games and make a living from them. And we want to make a difference, to make the world a little more beautiful with our games," Koeleman concludes.

Watch the trailer

Honours Talent Programme

In addition to the regular curriculum, the Hanze also offers honours education. Do you feel you want to, can and dare do more? If so, honours education might be just the ticket for you.