Restricted Area – Where Are They Now? Developers, Interview & Legacy

This page originally hosted an exclusive interview with Jan Beuck, Creative Director of Master Creating, discussing the development of Restricted Area. While that original interview is no longer available here, you can read the complete archived version below. This retrospective article summarizes the key insights from that conversation, provides context about the game’s development, and explores what happened to the developers and studio in the two decades since release.

Read the original 2004 interview in full (Original interview text available in the article)

What Restricted Area Was

Released on October 1, 2004, Restricted Area was an ambitious cyberpunk action-RPG developed by Hamburg-based Master Creating GmbH. Published by multiple regional partners, including Whiptail Interactive, Noviy Disk, La Plata Studios, and Vidis Electronic Vertriebs GmbH, the game attempted to carve out a niche in the post-Diablo era by combining fast-paced action gameplay with deeper RPG mechanics and a dark future setting.

Set in the year 2083, Restricted Area presented a world where mega-cities had consumed the planet, corporations wielded more power than governments, and humanity had embraced cybernetic and genetic enhancements as standard equipment. Players could choose from four distinct characters—each with unique abilities, backstories, and gameplay styles—and experience the same overarching narrative from different perspectives.

The game featured John Johnson (a weapons specialist), Kenji Takahashi (a martial artist with cyber-claws and katana mastery), Victoria (a PSI-powered telepath), and Jessica (a tech expert accompanied by a protective drone). This character diversity was central to Master Creating’s vision of replayability and varied gameplay experiences.

Developed by a small international team in Hamburg using the custom IRIS engine, Restricted Area was notable for its technical performance—the developers proudly claimed frame rates exceeding monitor refresh rates even at high resolutions, resulting in exceptionally smooth scrolling for its time.

Interview Highlights: Development Philosophy and Innovation

Our 2004 interview with Jan Beuck revealed Master Creating’s ambitious goals for Restricted Area. The studio aimed to create an action-RPG that balanced both components equally, offering fast-paced combat while maintaining meaningful character progression, story choices, and world-building.

The Cyberpunk Choice

Beuck explained that the sci-fi setting was deliberate. In 2004, fantasy RPGs dominated the market with new releases appearing monthly, while dark future RPGs remained rare. Rather than compete in an oversaturated genre, Master Creating opted to explore a cyberpunk world inspired by Shadowrun and Mission Impossible, a setting that allowed for creative freedom and fresh mechanics without retreading familiar fantasy tropes.

The year 2083 setting struck a balance: close enough to imagine technological evolution, but distant enough to allow speculative creativity. The developers envisioned a world where smog-covered mega-cities glowed with commercial projections, where wastelands harbored mutant populations, and where human augmentation had become commonplace.

Character Design and Gameplay Variety

Each of the four playable characters was designed to offer fundamentally different gameplay experiences. Johnson was the only character capable of wielding heavy weapons, such as plasma guns and flamethrowers. Kenji’s martial arts expertise allowed him to combine melee combat with firearms, using kicks and cyber-claws alongside traditional weapons. Victoria’s PSI abilities functioned like magic, offering telepathy, psychokinesis, and clairvoyance. Jessica could enter Cyberspace—a separate digital realm where she could hack security systems and navigate virtual landscapes.

The developers implemented a sophisticated skill system, where each character had access to 15 unique skills, in addition to 15 universal skills that any character could learn, resulting in a total of 30 skills per character. This separation between character-specific and universal abilities was designed to avoid redundant or useless skills while maintaining meaningful build diversity.

Technical and Design Innovation

Master Creating developed the custom IRIS engine specifically for Restricted Area, combining pre-rendered graphics with real-time 3D rendering. The result was exceptional performance—the game maintained high frame rates even at 1024×768 resolution with 32-bit color depth. Visual effects included dynamic lighting, multiple shadows, weather systems (such as rain, fog, and dust), reflections, and particle effects for explosions and fire.

The game’s approach to equipment reflected its cyberpunk setting. Instead of traditional armor, players could install cyberware (mechanical implants) and bioware (genetically enhanced organs) that provided similar benefits while fitting the game’s aesthetic. A character could replace their eyes with infrared-capable cybernetic versions, strengthen their skin to resist damage, or enhance their arms for increased strength. However, these modifications came with trade-offs. Victoria, for example, lost PSI power as she replaced organic body parts with cybernetics.

AI and Combat Systems

The artificial intelligence system was designed with complexity in mind. Enemy behavior varied based on perceived threat levels, with some opponents intelligent enough to flee when players drew more powerful weapons. This “visible strength” mechanic meant that switching from a pistol to a plasma gun could cause enemies to reassess the situation and retreat—a feature the developers believed was a first for computer RPGs at the time.

Combat emphasized modern weaponry and tactics. Range weapons dominated the arsenal, complemented by the cyberpunk setting’s advanced technology. The realistic approach incorporated factors such as weapon accuracy, character reflexes, target distance, height differences, lighting conditions, weather, and movement speed, all of which affected hit probability.

Audio and Atmosphere

Master Creating invested heavily in production values beyond graphics. The soundtrack was composed by three award-winning international composers, each bringing their interpretation of the game’s themes. The industrial music style shifted between dark wave, electro, and drum and bass, incorporating epic choral elements depending on the mission context. Sound effects were produced by an Academy Award-winning Hollywood company, a significant investment for an indie studio’s debut commercial title.

Where the Developers Are Now

The story of Restricted Area is inseparable from the partnership between Jan Beuck and Martin Jässing, two friends whose collaboration began long before they founded Master Creating.

The Early Years: From Chess Club to Game Development

Beuck and Jässing met at age nine in a chess club in Hamburg. When Jässing received a Commodore 64 shortly thereafter, their shared path was set. What began as playing games evolved into understanding how games worked, then into creating their own projects. Influenced heavily by Nintendo titles from the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly The Legend of Zelda, the pair spent their youth developing hobby games and learning programming.

By 1989, they had founded Master Creating as a hobbyist venture. The company evolved slowly over the next decade, focusing on freeware games, developing the PureBasic programming language, and releasing budget titles, such as Krakout Unlimited 2. In 2001, Master Creating was officially formalized as Master Creating GbR (later GmbH), and the founders decided it was time to develop a “real” commercial game.

The Master Creating Era: 2001-2009

Restricted Area represented Master Creating’s first major commercial release, the culmination of two and a half years of development by a team of nine people. The game debuted on October 1, 2004, to generally positive reviews. PC Games and PC Action both awarded it 82% scores, and it received the Gamigo.de Award with an 8.6/10 rating. For a small indie studio’s first major title, the reception validated the founders’ years of investment.

The success of Restricted Area gave Master Creating the confidence to pursue more ambitious projects. Their next title, Legend: Hand of God, was released in 2007. This fantasy action-RPG featured an open game world, extensive character development, and the continued evolution of its engine technology. The game won Best RPG at the 2007 German Developer Awards and saw release in North America via THQ in 2008.

During this period, the Master Creating team remained small but international, with members from Sweden, Russia, the UK, and Germany. The core team—including Beuck, Jässing, Thorsten Rohmann (level design), Hannes Beuck (level design), and Andreas Franck (QA lead)—operated like a close-knit family according to interviews from the era.

The Pivot to Browser Games: Playa Games (2009-2018)

In 2009, Jan Beuck and Martin Jässing founded Playa Games GmbH, marking a significant pivot from traditional PC game development to browser-based gaming. This transition reflected their recognition of changing market dynamics and the opportunities emerging in the free-to-play browser space.

Playa Games’ flagship title, Shakes & Fidget, became a massive success. The cartoon-style MMORPG, available on both browser and mobile platforms, attracted over 70 million registered players globally. The game’s humorous take on RPG tropes and accessible gameplay made it one of Germany’s most successful browser game exports.

The company operated profitably from its first business year—a rarity in the game development industry. By 2018, Playa Games had released five games and established itself as one of Germany’s leading developers of casual strategy games. The success was built on the same foundation that had characterized Beuck and Jässing’s entire career: a small, dedicated team (more than half of whom had known each other since school) focused on quality and innovation.

In 2016, Playa Games demonstrated continued technical leadership by developing proprietary software that converted Flash-based games to HTML5—addressing the industry-wide challenge of declining Flash support in modern browsers.

The Stillfront Acquisition (2018)

On December 11, 2018, Swedish holding company Stillfront Group AB acquired 100% of Playa Games for up to €45 million (€20 million upfront in cash and stock, plus up to €25 million in earnout payments). At the time of acquisition, Playa Games had generated approximately €7.7 million in net revenue from January through September 2018, with a remarkable 55% EBIT margin.

Beuck and Jässing remained with the company as key management following the acquisition, continuing their roles as CEO and CTO, respectively. The acquisition represented validation of nearly two decades of game development work—from humble hobby projects on a Commodore 64 to a multi-million euro exit.

Transition and Current Status (2021-Present)

In January 2021, Playa Games underwent significant leadership changes. Thorsten Rohmann, who had joined the company in 2011 and served as COO, was promoted to CEO. Jan Beuck (CEO), Martin Jässing (CTO), and Hannes Beuck (Co-CEO) departed the company they had built.

In a statement at the time, Jan Beuck reflected on the transition: “Our studio had its best business year ever. Martin, Hannes, and I have spent over a decade developing Playa Games, and we are confident that this is the right time to pass the torch. Thorsten has made many of our successes possible over the last nine years, and we are all very pleased that he is taking this opportunity and becoming the new CEO.”

Since their departure from Playa Games, the public activities of Beuck and Jässing have been limited. Jan Beuck’s IMDB profile lists involvement in a 2024 project titled BROKE. ALONE. A kinky love story, though details about this project are scarce. The founders’ current professional endeavors remain largely private.

Restricted Area’s Legacy and Impact

Restricted Area occupies an interesting position in gaming history. Released during a period dominated by fantasy action-RPGs following the success of Diablo II, it represented one of the few attempts to translate that gameplay formula into a cyberpunk setting. While it didn’t achieve blockbuster status, the game demonstrated that small European studios could produce technically impressive, design-forward titles that competed with larger productions.

The game received a review score of 82% from major German gaming publications, reflecting genuine appreciation for its ambition, technical execution, and unique character-driven approach. For fans of cyberpunk settings and action-RPGs, Restricted Area offered an experience that few other titles provided in 2004.

Influence on Future Work

The DNA of Restricted Area clearly influenced Beuck and Jässing’s subsequent projects. Legend: Hand of God retained the action-RPG formula while returning to fantasy, but maintained the emphasis on technical polish, strong character development, and atmospheric world-building that had characterized Restricted Area.

Even the transition to browser games, as seen in Shakes & Fidget, reflected lessons learned from their PC game era. The emphasis on character progression, replayability through different play styles, and attention to technical execution remained constants throughout their career.

Modern Availability

Unfortunately, Restricted Area has not been re-released on modern digital distribution platforms. A GOG.com wishlist entry exists where fans have requested the game’s availability, but no announcements have been made regarding digital preservation or re-release. For those interested in experiencing the game, finding original physical copies or archived versions remains the only option.

The game’s absence from modern platforms is not unusual for titles from smaller studios of that era—licensing complications, lost source code, or simple economics often prevent older games from receiving modern re-releases. However, the game remains a noteworthy example of early 2000s indie ambition and German game development during a period when the country’s gaming industry was experiencing significant growth.

Reflecting on Two Decades

Looking back at the 2004 interview, several elements stand out. The developers’ enthusiasm for their project is palpable, as they discuss technical achievements, design philosophies, and creative choices with genuine passion. The ambition was unmistakable: a small team in Hamburg attempting to create a complete action-RPG with multiple playable characters, branching narratives, sophisticated AI, and cutting-edge technical performance.

What’s perhaps most remarkable is the arc that followed. Beuck and Jässing didn’t treat Restricted Area as a one-off success or fade from the industry after their debut. Instead, they continued to develop games, evolving with changing platforms and business models, and ultimately built a company successful enough to warrant a €45 million acquisition.

Restricted Area may not be widely remembered today, but it represents an important stepping stone in the careers of two developers who would go on to create one of Germany’s most successful browser games. For the indie development scene, it stands as a reminder that ambitious small teams can punch above their weight—and that success in game development can take many forms across many platforms.