Jeremy "Jerry" Flammang

playgrounds.lu is a community and commune-curated list of playgrounds with rating and feedback system.

The goal was to make it easier for people to find new playgrounds, as well as inform communes when maintenance was necessary.

There is now a very similar project: https://spillplaz.lu/, but not from me.

In my project:

• Backend was in development, I guess monolithic Laravel
• Frontend, don’t remember -> Probably was blocked by technical issue

The old spillplaz.lu already existed as a simply maintained (and very incomplete) list of some playground entries. At the same time I really needed to scout some good playgrounds for my first son. I decided to improve the concept but never managed to establish contact with the Author . I then wanted to develop an interactive map and some other special stuff based on the data I collected on my own. That was definitely pre-covid. Today, we don’t even have a car anymore. So most of the project is obsolete anyway.

I’m still full of regrets that I didn’t have the right way to communicate this project. Looking at how playgrounds.lu turned out, I can’t help but wonder if this was just the natural evolution of the project, or if my concept made its way to the right ears ? Still sad that I didn’t get to publish something I considered absolutely worth doing.

Large, interconnected (Metroidvania style) digital pinball game with building elements. Maybe even RPG

Currently being developed in Unreal Engine (as of March 2024).

• Working on simulated physics that feel good and controllable
• Working on generic game mechanics
• Theme of the first table is already defined, currently being illustrated

A side-scrolling mech game where you protect a mobile city as you fight your way through a post-apocalyptic Eurasia.

Combined elements of strategy for the city building, RPG interactions with different story paths, and tactical combat with lots of different equipment.

This project was a continuation of a different project, in which the player would directly control a walking city, shoot asteroids and let your tiny workers collect scrap from the ground.

With Armored Core 6 scratching most of those itches, I don’t even try to continue this project.

Already since my studies, I had an idea for bridging into a new way of thinking about UIs and context (at least for me). This was part of my “not so great” first bachelor work, during which I got completely distracted by technical issues. On top of that, I poorly documented my original ideas, so they were overshadowed of a prototype in php that was way too static for its intended purpose.

Only years later, I realize that I focused on the wrong thing during this project.

Nowadays, I hear there are already speculations about UIs becoming dynamically adjusted to the user through the usage of “AI”/ “Machine learning” / “Statistics” / whatever. So I thought it’s time to reactivate that project, and be on the lookout for opportunities.

Just a concept for now

My new line of thought goes towards some sort of layoutable canvas in which components stream in and out, creating a fluid context. This contradicts the traditional way of identifying an app as a set of different “Views” or “Pages”. Information can “evolve”, moving between different levels of complexity depending on the required context.

There will be a spectrum of choices as a designer, and a few challenges to make such a system intuitive and not confusing. Hybrid solutions with other Design Systems are possible.

The fluid UI can be manually or algorithmically triggered by various inputs. Traditional Components can act as a gateway towards the “Streaming UI”. I will call such gateway components “MetaComponent”.

Realistic spaceship battle game in which each component is simulated and destructible. At the same time, the player needs to deal with the realities of newtonian physics, meaning that most ship-to-ship encounters on different orbits would last only a few milliseconds.

(Few years later, the games “Nebulous: Fleet Command“, and “Children of a Dead Earth” make my concept obsolete)

When my first kid entered the school system, I started developing an app that would allow communication between educators and parents. Parents would have their own account and be able to “manage” their children, exchange information and communicate with teachers.

My idea was to digitalize processes regarding school-parent communication. I also aimed at improving some shortcomings of the national school system.

Some features:

• Manage children
• Comunicate with teachers
• Sickness leave
• See grades
• See course content
• See materials
• etc…

This is also a “frustration” project. I even pitched it to some people, but in the end I thought the project was too ambitious.
I didn’t even know schools were already looking for a solution. Nowadays, schools are using the app “Schoolfox”, rendering my project mostly obsolete.

Wouldn’t touch this project without substantial (financial) support again.

Another app I started developing to simplify life as a parent.

This one was aimed towards socializing children by helping to organize play dates.

The project is still relevant and I don’t know of an alternative, but the Covid lockdown made me lose interest. When I have time, motivation and support, I might look into it again.

A sandbox strategy, rpg, business management game set in a fantasy world with magic.

I’m usually not a big fan of high fantasy, but I decided to spill all my ideas into this project. I came up with an interesting genetic/coded magic system around which there would be an in-game economy. Exploration is also a big deal, as the player can search for resources, exploit them and build their business on top of it.

Features:

• A highly creative code-magic system
• Controllable strategic avatars
• Hex tiles for simplification and Carcassonne – like flavour
• etc…

The prototype covers the game world as well as some interactions such as avatar steering, building, traveling, village generation, etc… . At some point I realized the project might be too ambitious for my own good, so I’m on a break from it now.

It’s still a prime candidate in case I manage to set up a development team with a an artist and perhaps a shader specialist.

I’ve self-produced a few dozen songs from start to finish, some have been released on spotify.
https://soundcloud.com/synth-f

I’m not rich and famous yet.

But I mostly do it for fun anyway.

A mix of Game / Website in which the player explores a world with sentient UI elements.

Similar to Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley and the likes, but with much simpler graphics and more convoluted digital rooms and mini-game oriented gameplay.

The concept was ripe, but when I started developing I got distracted by some other things. I even had some music ready for the project. Technically, my goal was to do everything using standard web technologies (HTML, JS, Css), and create complex, interactive web components with personalities, quests, etc… . However, I got into a dilemma when I was thinking about how awesome it would be to combine this with Large Language Models.

Might get back to it if I feel like it.

A deep learning model that detects whether your room is clean / tidy or not.

I trained it on data collected from search engines. It wasn’t super precise (0.7 score was my best I could achieve on a train/test set).

After I started adding more complex features to improve accuracy, such as object detection and positioning, it got too complex for a project that I started just for fun.

The cool thing about information / data and having an open mind is that you can really “navigate” multidimensional information spaces and discover cool approaches. However, it’s near impossible to explain things in a way that can be universally understood.

Dulingva is a bigger project and business idea that I’ve developed up to the first prototype.

It’s a match making system that helps communication in multilingual environments. I had multiple use cases and strategies prepared for usage in office, tourism, cultural integration and commerce.

There’s analog and digital equipment, as well as a website. I lack the budget to further develop the business but I’m convinced it would be very useful in Luxembourg and other multicultural cities.

Game Creators is a community / meetup of game developers, artists, amateurs, professionals, etc… in Luxembourg and the Greater Region.

We were quite active in the years before 2020, and met once a month in the city with peak attendances of up to 12 people, averaging out on 4-5. After the Lockdowns and the birth of my second son, I had to change the format so now it’s more passive and digital only on discord. There’s a suggested time slot on friday evenings for newcomers.

I’m not actively taking part in the live meetings anymore, but I’m always on the lookout for people who are motivated to help with moderation and help this community thrive.

https://www.meetup.com/game-creators-group/

This was a concept that I didn’t even prototype.

The protoplant can measure environmental data and check which plants could do well in the current environment. It also helps detecting disease, or can be used like a plant-tamagochi.

The Protoplant could be a cyborg-plant with organic cells. Don’t know enough of Bioengineering to pursue this project.

Although I would qualify myself as “photophobic” and LEDs are my natural enemy, I do actually work with them a bit. I did a few prototypes, just to test basic patterns on RGB Leds.

I’m not that much interested in their utility as Lighting tool, but rather in various subjective effects the LEDs evoke. With closed eyes, for example, one could engage with a low-dimensional video game that gracefully helps falling asleep when someone struggles with insomnia.

Also, the “LED entrancer”, built like an armillary sphere rotating around one’s head, available as fixation for office and gaming chairs. In combination with sound this would be a truly remarkable experience.

There were several more ideas, both thought as “art installations” as well as “commercial equipment”.

I want to explore what emotions other humans expose when they encounter such objects. At the same time, I want to find real world applications and perhaps make a coin out of it. This project is one of my favourites, and is where my artistic and curious nature shows up. It’s also quite challenging and expensive. Without funding and a proper workshop, I need the right motivation to work on it.

The project covers:

• Learning electronics
• Learning various eletronic platforms
• Plan concept as a whole (use cases)
• Plan individual items
• Design and test circuit
• Prototype
• ???
• Tell and show

This is my take on social networking apps. Mostly conceptual, the development didn’t get further than bootstrapping . It is meant to promote social integration rather than social exposure.

I wanted to be able to connect people who don’t know each other, myself included. The centerpiece are the interests and hobbies of a person – as well as any emergent tasks or requests. It’s basically a local, digital blackboard on which you see things that fit your interests. You can form “clusters” / “groups” with other people which helps building a network of people in reach.

Comparing it with Linkedin and Facebook/Meta, my application was more lightweight and transparent. It could actually solve social problems and work around some issues I have with the big social platforms. It’s a digital tool that helps making analog social networks.

The idea for the network came up during the pre-bachelor work -“Jahresarbeit” I think it was. I ended up having to choose an other project because this was too big. The idea persisted and was made more relevant in the last few years.

An action-roguelike for up to 4 players.

Up to 4 heroes of different, synergizing classes travel with a platform to the bottom of the deepest pit of the world. Styled like borderlands (handpainted textures), wild and adrenaline-pumping like Doom.

The concept was standing, and I even started developing. However, something distracted me from the project, and I later had to discover I didn’t push that last commit… . Briefly said: my motivation for this project reached the bottom of the pit.

However, all is not lost. The concept still stands and could be reused in a new project.