Three Questions to: Unechte Sachen

This April 2022 interview from Gamecity Hamburg's news section profiles Unechte Sachen, a young studio of university friends who met at Hochschule Darmstadt and relocated to Hamburg to develop the VR sandbox title "Puppet Play." The game lets players create their own small movies and experiment creatively. Lukas Hort, the team's spokesperson, answers three questions about location, startup challenges, and future plans.

Hort, originally from Hamburg, chose the city because of its established studio landscape, networking events, and support from Gamecity and the Kreativgesellschaft. Pandemic conditions limited in-person contact, so early community interaction happened mostly on Discord, where the team received tips and feedback. Hamburg studio Monstrum gave them access to its office and VR systems, allowing testing across all relevant headsets.

The biggest startup difficulty was not bureaucracy, though company formation was tedious, but sustaining motivation while working from home without meeting industry peers or attending conventions. Steam Next Fest served as an online substitute for live showcases, and internal deadlines kept development on track. Choosing Puppet Play was straightforward: it began as a university project in early 2020 with a working prototype, offered a compelling vision of helping people realize ideas, and its sandbox design kept scope manageable for a small team.

Looking ahead, the team will continue improving the game in Early Access on Steam to realize its full vision. Hort also notes that the studio operates under a generic placeholder name, chosen to save scarce budget on trademark protection, and renaming it is a near-term goal. Beyond that, the team wants to make a new game, though nothing concrete exists yet, and to finally connect with Hamburg's developer community in person.