tea makes games

Photo of tea, washed in blue purple light, with her hair flickering in vibrant hues.

Theia “Tea” Bähr is a game designer and media artist from Germany in her mid 20s. She is known for experimental artistic levels. Most of her games are free.

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The Elision Effect Pixelart: A potted plant in a liminal office. Don't talk about it Pixelart: A guy staring in a cracked mirror, censored eyes. Empteaness Pixelart: A girl sitting in front of a white wall, polaroids floating over her. Brain Activitea Pixelart: Vibrant triangles tracing along the sky. (in)stabilitea Pixelart: A couch in a blue office corridor, a purple vending machine and an alarm clock on a table. do NOT touch a moving chair Pixelart: A misty backyard with glowing red and orange windows. Redolence Pixelart: A door in a moody blue motel corridor. Tune In Tonight Pixelart: A grand piano on a stage, red curtains. In Memory of Humanitea Pixelart: A big brutalist museum sectioned titled CULTURE with exhibits below. Thanatos Pixelart: A gloomy classroom. what we left behind Pixelart: Minimalist concrete shape with harsh lighting. twisted_gravitea_ Pixelart: A geometric room with staircases flooded in green light. Diversitea Pixelart: A closeup of an apartment, showing a couch, radiator and potted plants. Thirstea Pixelart: A skewed futuristic corridor with a dark door at the end. What is a game Pixelart: Lush grassland, trees and sandy mountains in the back. Shelter Pixelart: Three doorframes, one showing a lightblue grand piano, a wine red staircase, and a green flipped room. Stuck in the Broom Closet Pixelart: A Portal styled office with a cluttered desk. Portal 2: Wake Up Pixelart: An overgrown Portal 2 puzzle with a hard light bridge shooting through two portals.

The Elision Effect

Poster design. Elision Effect logo in a doorframe. A potted plant in a liminal office, an oldschool computer on a desk, a bright magenta light and window in the back in front of some more office tables.

The last person finds themselves in an empty office. Not knowing what made everyone abandon these liminal spaces, they look for an exit.

The Elision Effect is a short surreal puzzle game. It's a spiritual successor to (in)stabilitea.

You might be the last one in this office building. Empty halls and locked doors, but you keep trying to find ways to progress. The place seems off. Like it shouldn't exist. It smells of old coffee stains, the fluorescent lights buzzles, and corporate jazz plays on crappy speakers. You long for fresh air. An exit must be near.

Wishlist on Steam Play in the Indiepocalypse Press kit © Theia Bähr 2023
  Don’t talk about it

Don’t talk about it

⚠️ Content Warning (spoiler): Contains content dealing with depression and suicide
  • A gloomy dark corridor twisting space in impossible ways. An oddly highlighted cactus plant embedded into the wall. A window casts big volumetric rays into the room.
  • An atmospheric subway station with brutalist concrete pillars, engulfed into green light. A train is passing. There are a few empty brenches and bins.
  • A very unsafe bridge to a door in a huge brutalist Skyscraper, with a door opening to a cozy apartment with a guy sitting on a couch.
  • A guy staring in a cracked mirror with his face split along the cracks. The room is dark and moody, his eyes are censored.

A five-minute-long interactive short story. It is about something we don't talk about. Not talking about it you are not supposed to read this. Created for the Map Labs competition Companion Piece 2.

Play here

narrative game, walking-simulator, short story game, meaningful choices, atmospheric, surreal, dark, adult, psychological horror, single player, free-to-play

© Theia Bähr 2020
The Elision Effect Empteaness

Empteaness

Shadows settle on the place that you left
Our minds are troubled by the emptiness

—Daughter, Youth
  • A warm cluttered apartment with a girl laying on a couch.
  • A surreal open entrance to a housing block. All lights are in an eerie off-red. A bicycle leans on the corridor inside.
  • The front of an off-red lit surreal apartment block. Burning silhouettes floating against the grey sky. An old car stands under a black tree.
  • A girl sitting in front of a white wall with polaroids floating over her, blending into her silhouette. Next to her, a potted fern plant.

An interactive short about moving out, inspired by the song Youth. Created for the Map Labs Competition TUNE in 2 days, 3rd place out of 28.

Play here

narrative game, walking-simulator, poetry game, short story game, atmospheric, surreal, dark, single player, free-to-play

© Theia Bähr 2020
Don’t talk about it Brain Activitea

Brain Activitea

4K wallpapers watch here

the world will repeat itself over the blank spaces [...]
Shards of colour paint themselves upon the void

—RockPaperShotgun, Natalie Clayton
  • Vibrant shards paint themselves upon the void.
  • Luminous triangles trace colorful smears along the sky.
  • Distorted shapes in brilliant hues melt into the blank space.
  • A tangled mess of forms clutteres the vision, tracing beams everywhere.
  • A graceful impression of triangular noise fills the radiant canvas with life.

An (audio) visual experiment. Created for the Map Labs competition Eye Candy.

⚠️ Photosensitive epileptic seizures warning! A percentage of people may experience a seizure when exposed to certain visual images, including flashing lights or patterns that appear in videogames such as this, please refrain from use if susceptible. Play here

psychedelic, audiovisual, art game, low-poly, experimental, colorful, calm, single player, free-to-play

© Theia Bähr 2020
Empteaness (in)stabilitea

(in)stabilitea

rooms collapse inwards upon themselves.
Broken, haunting, brilliant stuff.

—RockPaperShotgun, Natalie Clayton
  • A gloomy warm office with a red vending machine, couch and door with a potted plant.
  • A cold moody office space with a purple vending machine and a cryptic sign above the door. Something suspicious is peeking out of the drawer.
  • A large purple conference room with a projector casting a presentation onto the wall.
  • A office with an architects table showing an outline of a building. The shiny floor reflects the glowing green vending machine.
  • An emergency stairwell with biting-cold lights casting big flares.

A short surreal puzzle adventure. You backtrack through a dreamy, mysterious retro-pixelated office. Created for the Map Labs competition Back on Track in 4 days, second-best rated out of 19.

⚠️ Photosensitive epileptic seizures warning! A percentage of people may experience a seizure when exposed to certain visual images, including flashing lights or patterns that appear in videogames such as this, please refrain from use if susceptible. Play here

puzzle, exploration, walking-simulator, experimental, surreal, atmospheric, office, liminal space, single player, free-to-play

© Theia Bähr 2020-2022
Brain Activitea do NOT touch a moving chair

do NOT touch a moving chair

  • A courtyard shrouded in blue fog with red glowing windows. Wires hang from the top of the building. It's getting dark.
  • A surreal corridor with a odd blue rectangular hole at the end and a huge black circular hole above. An office chair sits awkwardly on the side. The floor has lights embedded and an electrical box hangs on the wall.
  • A dreamy empty room filled with blue beams, a circular pillar sticks into a circular hole at the ceiling. There's wall opening up to darkness.
  • A distorted backrooms type corridor, a buzzing fluorescent light fills the room with a dim yellow. All the way back, a wall opens to a blue glow.

If you're not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the Backrooms. So don't touch glitching objects!

The backrooms using Portal 1s empty offices. Very liminal space, much Kenopsia

Play here Watch here

surreal, atmospheric, experimental, backrooms, psychological horror, glitch, meta, single player, free-to-play

© Theia Bähr 2022
(in)stabilitea Redolence

Redolence

A shiny elevator door in a fancy blue-wallpapered hotel. At the end of the corridor, a window fills the room with a soft gentle glow.

this map has you truly face the reality of elevator travel in the modern age

—Weyland

Created for the Map Labs Competition ElevatorVille 2 in 2 days.

Play here

humour, short, poetry game, walking-simulator, narrative game, satire, single player, free-to-play

© Theia Bähr 2021
do NOT touch a moving chair Tune In Tonight

Tune In Tonight

A Performance of Noveltea by the talented, virtuous Pianist and Artist Jakob Arctoitea. Created for the Map Labs Competition TUNE in 2 days (in the same timespan as Empteaness).

Play here

short, poetry game, humour, satire, single player, free-to-play

© Theia Bähr 2020
Redolence In Memory of Humanitea

In Memory of Humanitea

  • Two human replicas, one leaning against a white wall the other sitting on an elevated block. Next to the exhibit a sarcastic description of humanity as arrogant inventors.
  • A replica of a tree at the top of a spiral staircase. Against a brickwall is a description of this extinct species that had the purpose of being turned in furniture.
  • Surreal white architecture with a helicopter hanging from the ceiling. A description on the wall describes this pitiful attempt to overcome gravity for war.
  • A big brutalist exhibit room with a minimalist white staircase, titled CULTURE on huge concrete blocks. Below are exhibits like a info_player_start that is submerged in a blue liquid.
  • A pitch black room with a glowing replica of the milky way on the ceiling. In the center is a golden disc. The wall reads a description of the golden record. Behind is a door leading to the other exhibits.

nailed the "condescending alien asshole" vibe

—YouTube Comment

A satirical exhibition about the extinct homo sapiens. Made a lot of people upset (sorry). I have since replaced my climate-anxiety-induced edgy misantrophy with class consciousness (and you should too). Created for the Map Labs competition Eye Candy.

Play here

narrative game, ludic essay, art game, exhibit, exploration, atmospheric, satire, single player, free-to-play

© Theia Bähr 2020
Tune In Tonight Thanatos

Thanatos

A short appendix to Don’t talk about it.

  • Light spots centered on a sand castle pyramid with a playground swing behind. The sky is burning with an overwhelmingly intense orange. A sparse tree frames the picture.
  • A gloomy classroom with plenty chairs and tables on a shiny tile floor. The vast windows show a surreal vibrant outside. Something is written on the black board.

Made in ~16h together with Matt Hustead.

Play here © Theia Bähr 2020
In Memory of Humanitea what we left behind

what we left behind

  • A minimalist concrete shaped room with harsh lighting. Framed with black bars in square format.
  • A staircase leading to a glowing white doorframe, which casts light into this desolate room. Framed with black bars in square format.
  • A spiral staircase going far down over a black abyss. One side is dangerously missing a railing. Framed with black bars in square format.
  • A wide open courtyard in simple brutalist shapes, a square-pipe leads down and has a bit debris sprinkled below. A large minimal lantern in the back. Framed with black bars in wide format.
  • A room flipped on the side, framed with huge concrete blocks, with staircases leading up to the ceiling. Glowing doorframes fill the room with light. Framed with black bars in wide format.

Alone in strange architecture. A short walking simulator playing with aspect ratio. Created for the Map Labs competition CromulentVille 2.

Play here © Theia Bähr 2020
Thanatos twisted_gravitea_

twisted_gravitea_

This level sends players on a stroll across the floors, walls, ceilings, and in-betweens of this abstract, Portal-like course.

—Map Labs

Created for the Map Labs Competition Blockout in 3 days, 2nd place out of 13.

Play here © Theia Bähr 2019
what we left behind Diversitea

Diversitea

You just moved in, get to furnishing. An interactive short about moving in. Featuring lots of cool jazz music by Thomas Brach and Nils Wogram. Created for the Map Labs Competition 1,000,000,000 Units.

Play here © Theia Bähr 2019
twisted_gravitea_ Thirstea

Thirstea

An abstract brutalist platformer with lots of blades. Created for the Map Labs competition Blade in a single day.

Play here or for Portal 2 © Theia Bähr 2019
Diversitea What is a game? - An essay

What is a game? - An essay

An interactive essay analyzing the concept of a video game. It starts with nothing and gradually adds video game aspects until you could call it a game.

Play here © Theia Bähr 2019
Thirstea Shelter

Shelter

Enter a world of floating, confusing and broken dreams. An atmospheric puzzle adventure.

Play here © Theia Bähr 2016
What is a game? - An essay Stuck in the Broom Closet

Stuck in the Broom Closet

I can't get out

—a player
Play here © Theia Bähr 2016
Shelter Portal 2: Wake Up

Portal 2: Wake Up

Pretty good, fun to play.

—Anna Mieke, Prism Game Studios

A Portal 2 mod that puts you in the shoes of a new test subject named Suki. The mod works with the testing elements from Portal 2 and has some puzzles in new settings. It is about half an hour long and was created together with Lily, our first proper modding experience.

Play here © Theia Bähr & Lily Posse 2016
Stuck in the Broom Closet Sutsuru

Sutsuru

A small 3D simulation of an office. You can walk around and discover hidden treats. Created together with Lily, first time we dipped our toes in 3d game development.

Play here © Theia Bähr & Lily Posse 2015
Portal 2: Wake Up