IndieSider - indie video game developers interviews

This past Sunday, for the first time since before the pandemic, I had the opportunity to share a panel with attendees of PAX East! Demakes Decoded: From HD to 8-Bit In an age of HD remasters, demakes buck the trend by reimagining a modern game for a more primitive console. Ever wanted to play Silent Hill 2 on the NES, Disco Elysium on Game Boy, or Portal on N64? Now you can! But how much of a game’s core gameplay is dependent on technology? What features are important to preserve, and how do you adapt the rest? Is it really the same game — and do the original copyright owners think so? We’ll chat with four demake devs about their projects, inspirations, and challenges, exploring how they balance modern innovation, technical constraints, and retro nostalgia. Featuring: Ken Gagne (he/him/his) [Editor, Juiced.GS] James Lambert (he/him/his) [Developer, Portal 64]  Jasper Byrne (he/him/his) [Designer, Superflat Games]  Colin Brannan (he/him/his) [Developer, Disco Elysium: Game Boy Edition] Animal Planet (they/them) [Developer, PicoWars] The audio from this panel is presented as a bonus episode of the <a href="https://www.gamebits.net/2017/07/01/ending-in

The tenth annual PAX East was held last month, and I was honored to host two panels of brilliant speakers. One, “The Art of Craft: Inspiring Game Creations”, can be seen and heard on the Polygamer podcast. The other was “The Return of Couch Play”, looking at offline multiplayer as an alternative to online games such as Fortnite, PUBG, and Tetris 99. Steam, PS+, and Xbox Live make it easier than ever to get matched online — yet gamers are increasingly rediscovering the appeal of local, offline play. What are the unique challenges and opportunities of taking a game offline? How do you design a game for competitive or cooperative gameplay on the same screen? We’ll look at how to innovate this ancient tradition and design a game that makes the most of couch play. Featuring: Ken Gagne [Digital Content Developer, Gamebits] Tanya X. Short [Creative Director, Kitfox Games] Christoffer Holmgård [Director, Die Gute Fabrik] Danny Silvers [CEO, Lantana Games] Zachary Johnson [Code / Design, Space Mace LLC] Tommy Sunders [Art / Design, Space Mace LLC] Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, <a href="https://www.pandora.com/podcast/indiesider

CRYPTARK is a 2D sci-fi roguelike twin-stick shooter in which players pilot mechs charged with salvaging alien technology from derelict spaceships. Technological defenses remain active on these procedurally generated abandoned hulks, and players must shut them down and shoot the core if they hope to escape with enough artifacts to sell and fund their continuing expeditions. CRYPTARK is available from Alientrap for PS4 and Steam (Mac, Windows how the game fared in early demos at PAX East 2016; the challenges of creating a game with procedurally generated levels; and the CRYPTARK’s time in Steam Early Access — a first for Alientrap — and the one-week delay between its Steam release and its arrival on PlayStation. Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-indiesider-indie-video-ga-74530006/" data-w

Old Man’s Journey is a 90-minute puzzle through the hero’s memories. After receiving a letter, he sets out on a journey across rolling landscapes that the player can reshape, allowing the old man to leap from foreground to background, making his way across obstacles. At the end of each level, he reminiscences about his past, unraveling a tale of love, hope, and regret. Old Man’s Journey by Clemens Scott and Felix Bohatsch of Broken Rules is available for iOS, Android, and Steam. In this podcast interview, I chat with creative director Clemens Scott about how two young developers felt qualified to tell and old man’s story; whether the game should make us feel bold or hesitant to make life-changing decisions; how the gameplay could be a metaphor for the narrative; and if a game’s marketability influences its game design. Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, <a title="Listen to IndieSider online" href="http://tunein.com/radio/IndieSider

Kona from Parabole is a first-person exploration game set in the cold northern reaches of Canada in the 1970s. A private investigator has been hired to investigate some petty crimes but soon stumbles into a larger mystery hidden in the supernatural cold. What secrets lie within in this chilly interactive tale? In this week’s IndieSider, I speak with Jean-François Fiset, community manager for Parabole. We discuss how Kona evolved from a snowmobile simulator to an episodic adventure to its current form; why mystery games seem to be set before the advent of cell phones; how one builds community around an adventure game; the use of the term “walking simulator” as a pejorative; whether Firewatch‘s success influenced Kona’s development; how to communicate a delay to one’s Kickstarter backers; and how to survive working at the same company as your brother. Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, <a href="https://pca.st/indiesider" title="IndieSider - indi

Future Unfolding is a top-down exploration game set in a pastoral world. Without direction or tutorial and with very little written text, the game invites players to go whichever direction they wish as they discover secrets in the woods, make friends and foes of the fauna, and solve puzzles. A rustic palette, rich mythology, and soothing soundtrack complete the ensemble. In this week’s IndieSider, I speak with Andreas Zecher, one-third of the development team Spaces of Play. We discuss the poem from which the game draws its name; the benefits of developing their own game engine over using Unity; the melding of procedural generation and hand-crafted design; the ways in which Future Unfolding is inspired by The Legend of Zelda and Journey; and how sales of their previous game, Spirits, informed the release strategy for Future Unfolding. Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, P

Open Sorcery is a cyberpunk hypertext adventure. You play as BEL/S, a fire elemental who has been bound by C++ code to serve as a firewall. Your job is to scan the local environment and detect any other elementals or poltergeists who could be interfering with your creators or neighbors. As you identify their material and motive, you will learn more about the world around you and gain sentience — possibly posing a threat yourself. In this episode of IndieSider, I chat with Abigail Corfman about her first published game. We talk about how she used Javascript to expand the Twine game engine used in Open Sorcery; how the game evolved from open source to mobile to Steam, and the code bases she merged to make it happen; why hypertext is a natural evolution of text-parser adventure games; the difference in exhibiting at GaymerX East vs. PAX East; why Abigail’s games, despite having dark qualities, focus on emotional connection and gentleness; the emotions she was experiencing that led her to create both this game and her webcomic, A Moment of Peace; and what we can expect from the game’s sequel, Open Sorcery: Sea++. Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, <a href="https://pca.st/indiesider" title="IndieSider - indie video game developers intervi

Circles is an abstract puzzle game for Mac and PC that uses only mouse control. Each level consists of circles that behave in different ways but all of which must be avoided to reach the level’s end. As the game uses no written or spoken language and offers no tutorial, it is up to the player to decipher each level’s mechanics to manipulate and navigate the shapes. In this podcast, I spoke with Jeroen Wimmers of Illusive Games, the sole developer of Circles. After working on the Adult Swim game Westerado, Wimmers spent years creating Circles and responding to feedback he received at PAX East and Gamescom. I asked him about the hardest part of developing Circles; whether he toyed with adding written words, and the benefit to not doing so; why the game was developed for mouse input and not touch; how much code he was able to repurpose for the game’s free online demo; how working on his own compared to working on a team; and the indie game dev scene in the Netherlands. Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-indiesider-indie-video-ga-74530006/" data-wpel-link="external" target=

Warlock’s Tower is a 2D puzzle game with a retro Game Boy aesthetic. Tim the mailman must scale the wizard’s tower, but each step he takes costs him a hit point. Players must carefully plot their course through each room to overcome such obstacles as zombies, slimes, barriers, conveyor belts, and more. Warlock’s Tower is developed by Midipixel, a Brazilian studio consisting of Ygor Speranza and Werther Azevedo, and published by Whippering. In this week’s IndieSider, I speak with Speranza about Warlock Tower’s retro color palette; developing using the LÖVE game engine; the controversial humor of the antagonist’s broken Engrish; the involvement of Gregory Love at Whippering; and the game development scene in Brazil. Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, <a title="Listen to IndieSider online" href="http://tunein.com/radio/IndieSider-p654099/" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="e

Induction is a time-bending puzzle game from Bryan Gale. A veteran of such AAA studios as Electronic Arts, Gale’s first indie game employs temporal mechanics to create time loops. The only way to pull levers and cross bridges is if a player can be in two places at once — as long as they don’t cause temporal anomalies. The geometric art style is complemented by a soundtrack from Tim Shiel, resulting in an experience that challenges players to rethink their concept of time. In this week’s IndieSider, Gale and I talk about the time-travel books, movies, and video games that inspired Induction; the mathematical concept for Induction and the physics underlying this game; how working for EA prepared him to be an indie developer; the development and feedback opportunities Gale enjoyed at Stugan and EGX; and what other platforms we’ll be seeing Induction on. Watch the video above, or download the audio edition below or from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, <a title="Listen to IndieSider online" href="http://tu

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Tin Man Games brings Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's original 1982 Fighting Fantasy novel to life.

David Board of Stage 2 Studios breathes new life into the PS4 port of Lifeless Planet.

Russ Pitts is crowdfunding a video documentary series about Chicago's indie game developers. Here's why.

An Xbox 360 musical puzzler returns for a new generation

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An isometric puzzle-platformer in the style of Solstice & Equinox

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A real-world point-and-click detective adventure with mature themes

A narrative adventure where battles are resolved through typing

Duck Duck ANTIGRAVITY

Six Irrational Games alumni banded together to create an Oregon Trail roguelike.

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It's real—Lumino City is a physical set hand-built and digitized for the game.

One of Steam Greenlight's first games makes it Wii U debut.

The return of an Apple II classic

Remember AIM?

What a fungi.

A chromatic puzzler for iOS

Infiltrate enemy headquarters in this modern update to Elevator Action and Impossible Mission.

Wait… How is Pac-Man indie??

Take flight in this peaceful avian expedition.

The first Kickstarter game makes its Wii U debut

Is there still a market for text adventures? Apparently!

Featuring guest host Sabriel Mastin!

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Keep your cubs alive—there is no greater imperative.

On the founding of the Boston Festival of Indie Games

Shakespeare's Hamlet, reimagined as a choose-your-own-adventure novel

As you get stronger, the dragon awaits.

So many cubes — so few moves