You are invited for a piece of Taart! Get the Taart to the table and make sure to save a piece for yourself. To share or not to share…

Grand Award winner at Global Game Jam Antwerp 2022 

Taart (translation: ‘strawberry’ cake/pie) is made with visuals made from watercolor pieces. Each part is hand-painted, scanned, and then cleaned up digitally! 

Play the game here: https://sandervanhove.itch.io/taart (PC only)

The image above is how I pitched the idea, it’s fun to see that the finished game still holds the same essence! I got Sander on board and that’s when Team Taart was born. 

The inner workings of Team Taart

Sander and I both knew what to do. The decorating (Art) was for me and the construction of the taart (Development) was for Sander. He was very willing to listen to my ideas and concepts, and he showed me how it would look together. The Friday evening was used for planning and sketching. The style was something I had total control of and asked Sander if he liked it, he did! 

How it all started: 

I went to Antwerp to join the Game Jam there (thank you Pepijn, the organizer, for inviting me!) and it was the first time I traveled alone to another country, from The Netherlands to Belgium. 

I wanted to make a game where I could use my favorite technique, painting with watercolors and colored pencils. After hearing the theme Duality we did brainstorm sessions with all the participants after that we had time to pitch our idea. I wanted to make something about food, and about sharing or not sharing food

Saturday was a day full of painting, scanning, and editing. I wanted to challenge myself with making traditional works for a digital game, and this turned out in our favor. The digital painting would have taken me longer, you have so much time to retry your strokes. But doing it traditionally you can see the imperfections and embrace them. All the textures that bloom with watercolors just embrace the feeling of the game.