Insights from the Community 5: Lena Frei

Lena Frei: Why she is planting a garden in the post-apocalypse

When you think of a post-apocalyptic world, you might picture abandoned cities or a struggle for survival. In Lena Frei’s world, a garden grows on the roof of a skyscraper instead.

In her game Skyfarm, players build a small ecosystem. Plants and soil influence each other, while the weather changes the conditions. The cosy gameplay is inspired by permaculture — and by Lena’s own love of gardening.

«I enjoy gardening myself. So it made sense to make a game about something I love.»

At home, Lena mainly has a balcony and a small front garden to work with. In Skyfarm, she gets an entire rooftop garden on a skyscraper.

When Lena asked a permaculture community on Reddit which aspects of gardening should feature in a game, she also received a surprisingly simple piece of advice: she should just go outside and garden instead.

For Lena, there is no contradiction. After all, not everyone has the opportunity to garden themselves. Skyfarm is not intended to replace real gardening, but to offer another way of discovering ecological relationships.

The idea grew out of a research project: how can games make possible futures tangible and communicate complex relationships without oversimplifying them?

Why does mulch protect the soil? What happens when water is lost too quickly? In Skyfarm, players discover these relationships through their own actions.

«In a game, it’s more exciting when you understand the connections simply by doing things.»

Who is Lena Frei?

Lena’s background brings together philosophy, media studies, visual communication and game development. What might initially seem like separate disciplines naturally belong together for her.

«I feel like I still use things from philosophy or media studies almost every day.»

Today, Lena develops Skyfarm largely on her own, collaborates with others on specific aspects and teaches subjects including Game Design at the Basel Academy of Art and Design (HGK). She also works at a startup developing an educational game with AI characters.

Media studies led Lena to game studies. She became increasingly interested in how strongly games shape our culture — and how little attention she feels they receive in research, public debate and cultural funding compared with film or literature. Lena therefore wanted to do both: study games and make them herself.

What would Lena like to share with the community?

Games can do more than you might expect at first glance. They allow people to explore systems, make decisions and experience the consequences. For Lena, this makes them an exciting medium for design and research.

At the same time, she has little time for narrow ideas about who belongs in the gaming world.

«Far more people play games than identify as gamers.»

Whether someone plays on their phone, enjoys board games or likes starting up The Sims, Lena believes you do not need a particular taste in games to belong. Games have long been part of everyday life, even if not everyone who plays sees themselves as part of gaming culture.

What does Lena hope for from BaselTech?

Lena would like support that makes things happen: spaces to meet, help organising events and connections with people beyond her own scene.

Game development has many points of contact with other fields.

«On the one hand, game development is a cultural activity and belongs in the creative sector. On the other, it is also software development.»

For example, one member of the Basel Game Dev Association comes from architecture, creates visualisations and develops games on the side. Universities also offer opportunities to connect: Lena talks about a proposed joint game jam involving art and design, business and computer science.

She points to the Swiss Game Hub in Zurich as a model. It offers coworking opportunities and a connected scene in which studios share their knowledge.

«We see in Zurich how studios benefit from one another — from their expertise and know-how.»

In Basel, Lena wants to build on the exchange that already exists: with support for events, shared workspaces and help setting up studios. This could allow more people to turn game development from a side project into a career.

How does Lena contribute to the BaselTech community?

Lena is helping to build Basel’s game development community. Together with others, she founded the Basel Game Dev Association. At monthly meetups, people who develop games come together to exchange experiences and support one another.

«Especially when I’m working on a project alone, it’s all the more valuable to meet people who do the same thing from time to time.»

Spontaneous collaborations emerged within the first few months. People share their experiences and contribute different skills — for example, when someone can provide music for a game.

And sometimes it simply helps to talk together about why something is not working. This exchange is particularly valuable for people developing games alone or in small teams.

Which challenges have particularly shaped Lena?

When you are making your own game, ideas are rarely in short supply. The harder part is deciding which ones actually belong in it.

«On your first project, you have no way of judging how big the scope can be.»

In game development, this temptation is called “feature creep”: one more function here, another detail there — and suddenly a small addition turns into months of work.

Lena knows this from Skyfarm too. That is why she tries to consciously limit the scope and set concrete goals. Alongside teaching and her startup work, her own project needs realistic boundaries.

Not every intermediate version has to be perfect. Sometimes 80 per cent is enough to move forward. For Lena, learning to estimate her own workload more accurately is part of the development process.

What excites Lena about her industry?

Lena is fascinated by the way games let people discover connections for themselves. Design, technology and questions about the subject matter all come together.

She also enjoys a variety of experiences when playing games herself. Stardew Valley is one of her favourites and has influenced Skyfarm — particularly its cosy atmosphere and the importance of nurturing local relationships.

But she also enjoys a shooter. Lena says she has recently been playing Valorant again. She appreciates big games as much as short experiences that make an impression primarily through their atmosphere.

After all, developing a cosy gardening game does not mean you always have to water flowers peacefully.

A fun fact about Lena

How do you hear about a Basel game development meetup? Sometimes, apparently, while getting a haircut.

«Once, someone came along because his hairdresser had told him we were meeting that day.»

The group has yet to find out who told the hairdresser about it. The connection remains a small mystery. One thing is certain: community networking apparently does not always need LinkedIn.

What lesson would Lena like to share?

Do not wait until you feel completely ready or have met every requirement.

Technology in particular can make people hesitant: do I know enough? Do I need to be able to code? Do I even belong? Lena takes a pragmatic approach to these questions.

«I think you just have to do it.»

By trying things out, you learn what you can implement yourself, where support would help and which ideas might be too ambitious for your current project.

What thought would Lena like to leave with the community?

Basel has people with different skills, universities, creative work and technical knowledge. Lena sees great potential in connecting these areas more closely.

«The game development community is very open.»

Her experiences during the first few months have encouraged her: encounters lead to mutual support and shared plans. For Lena, that is a strong foundation for developing Basel’s scene further and creating new connections.

A final word

With Skyfarm, Lena turns ecological relationships into something you can experience through play. In Basel, she helps people with a passion for games find one another. Both reflect what drives her: trying things out, understanding connections and developing ideas together.

Connect with Lena Frei on LinkedIn and find out more about her work.

Curious? Discover Lena’s game Skyfarm and add it to your wishlist. Or find out more about the Basel Game Dev Association and its meetups.

And if you would like to share your story, experiences or lessons learned with the BaselTech community, we would love to hear from you. Perhaps you will be part of our next edition of “Insights from the Community”.