Christophe De bont 
30/05/2017In the world of games quality is often valued over quantity. But what if you can have both at the same time? Enter Bart Bonte, the Aalter based independent game designer that creates four games a year.
Since 2005 he created around 50 web browser and mobile games. Starting out with The Bonte Room, a point ‘n click escape room, his impressive portfolio features more abstract puzzle games like Furiosity, a clever parody on Peter Molyneux’ Curiosity, and physics based puzzle games like Sugar Sugar, a Lemmings-like where you have to guide sugar grains instead of green haired gnomes.
Most of these games can be played for free, yet Bonte has been able to make a living off his game designs for almost 8 years now. He’s able to give them away for free thanks to minor advertising in and around the games. He also sells licenses to games websites and customises his games to match the branding of clients.
It’s a strategy that pays off. His games are played by a ton of people and often get raving reviews from both players and press. His latest creation Yellow, released less than a month ago, has already hit the 100k download mark on the Google Play Store. Last year’s What’s Inside the Box? even hit the milestone of 1 million downloads. Impressive stuff!
When we talk about succes stories of the Flemish games industry we often point to Larian Studios as the usual suspect. Bonte’s work goes to show you don’t need a multi million dollar budget and a huge developer team to make a career out of games in our region.
Want to find out more about this inspiring game designer? Follow him on Twitter and check out his blog for more interesting mobile and browser games.
