Daniel JohnsenFounder & CCO, Rapidfire Games
Ibuildworlds worthgettinglostin.
Sixteen years in games. Forty shipped titles and three billion installs across them. Dungeons, heroes, and legendary loot, designed to be explored.
Denmark
Hello, I'm Daniel.
A digital designer from Denmark who has spent a career turning ideas into games people keep playing. I started in 3D, moved into Tech Art and Game Design before leading studios as Creative Lead and co-founded Rapidfire Games. But do not worry, I still open Photoshop and Unity most days.
Worlds packed with intriguing events, enemies with exciting abilities, and thrilling legendary loot.
I love building systems that stay interesting after the hundredth playthrough, art that tells a story, and building teams that ship.
Now
Rapidfire Games
The mobile studio I co-founded with a bunch of game-loving veterans. We make free-to-play strategy games with deep systems, built by a small team in Denmark. Dream. Play. Master.
Backpack Brawl
A 1v1 inventory auto-battler. Buy, craft, and merge items, then place them in your bag so they feed each other. Every hero plays differently, and every match is against a real opponent with the same chances as you.
rapidfire.games ↗Prototyping
From nothing to live, in six steps.
Every game I have shipped went through the same loop. Start small, find the fun early, and keep the game alive long after launch.
- 01Spark“Inspiration can come from anywhere.”One sentence, one reference, one hook. If the pitch does not excite the team in a minute, it goes back in the drawer.
- 02Grey-box“An idea is worthless without execution.”A playable build on the phone within days. Boxes and placeholder art. Only the core loop matters here.
- 03Find the fun“First make it exist, then make it good.”Playtest, cut, and tune. Most prototypes stop here. The ones that survive have a loop people come back to.
- 04Vertical slice“Build something and keep improving.”Art direction, the meta game, and the first economy. One polished piece that shows what the finished game is.
- 05Soft launch“UA is the real barrier to entry.”Test markets, real players, real numbers. Retention and monetisation decide when the game is ready for the world.
- 06Live ops“50% of the development happens after release.”Events, seasons, balance passes, and new content. Launch is the start. The game grows with its players.
UnityThree.jsReact NativeExpoCapacitor
Personal work
Dungeons
Four dungeons designed as a tribute to World of Warcraft Forever. 30 boss fights, 19 quests, and every map is an interactive design document.
Region 01 Elwynn Forest The Hollow Hill
A kobold hideout of wax, candles, and one very old evil.
Region 02 Hillsbrad Foothills Jadefin Grotto
A hidden murloc clan, a silent grotto, and a darkness rising below.
Region 03 Un'Goro Crater Elemental Sanctuary
Where the elements run loose and a man is trying to become a god.
Region 04 Winterspring Ruins of Nel'thoria
Elven ruins, corrupted furbolg, and the demons behind the firewater.
Item design
The Loot
Two item design sets. New drops, new reasons to roll need. Or roll your own with the item generator.
Process
Find the gap, then fill it.
The dungeons did not start as maps. They started as a spreadsheet: where are the empty level bands, and which slots does every class still need?
Every Classic dungeon plotted by monster level, and every zone marked with candidate spots. The empty bands are where the new dungeons go.
Each boss table planned slot by slot and weapon by weapon, so no class leaves a raid without a reason to come back.
Let's nerd out.
Studios, publishers, press, and fellow world builders: my inbox is open.