The Indie Dev Game Break

YarnCat and Brueh Games (203) - Keep the Heroes Out Hi everyone and welcome to today’s episode of the Indie Dev Game Break Podcast. I’m excited today to introduce our two guests, we have Daniel Snd, the founder of Yarncat Games, and Luis Brueh, Game Designer and Artist. Both hail from lovely Brazil and have found each other in Canada and recently collaborated on digitizing Keep the Heroes Out. Daniel has a growing  list of published games including Garden Paws and Rocket Fist. Luis created the board game Keep the Heroes, and after a successful kickstarter, had the game published in 2022. In Keep the Heroes out  you play as the monsters keeping your loot safe from the Heroes. Keep the Heroes out will be out in 2025. Our conversation included: Board and card games and their conversion to digital Their upcoming collaboration with Keep the Heroes Out! The godot game engine: https://godotengine.org/ Their top 5 games that influenced them including: Pokemon on the Game Boy, Warcraft 3, Ragnarok Online, Constructor, Dominion a Deck Builder, and Dungeon Defenders More on YarnCat and Brueh Games: YarnCat Games: https://www.yarncatgames.com/ YarnCat on Twitter: https://x.com/DYarncat Brueh Games: https://luisbrueh.com/games/ YarnCat Games on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/search/?publisher=YarnCat%20Games Keep the Heroes out on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2592340/Keep_the_Heroes_Out/ Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games / Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca Stray Voltage Games on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2221440/Kip_and_Odosan Stray Voltage Games on Itch: https://strayvoltage.itch.io/

Martin Hanses (202) - Clam Man 2 Headliner Update Martin released Clam Man in 2019 to very positive reviews. Clam Man is a combatless, narrative, stand up comedy RPG. He is currently hard at work on Clam Man 2 Headliner, with a release likely in late 2025 or 2026. We had Martin on the show last season, and are checking in on progress on Clam Man 2 Headliner!!  Our conversation included: How to pitch a combatless narrative stand up comedy RPG! Update on Clam Man 2 Headliner progress. Check out Clam Man 2 Open Mic- a demo / prologue to the game. Pax West Baldur’s Gate 3 and its depth and scale Streetfighter 6 Favourite indie of 2024 - Space Wreck! More on Martin Hanses and Sideby Interactive: Martin’s games on Itch.io: https://marafrass.itch.io/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/clam_team  (@clam_team) Twitter: https://twitter.com/marafrass (@marafrass) Clam Man 2 Headliner Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1278380/Clam_Man_2_Headliner/?curator_clanid=45460250 Clam Man on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000640/Clam_Man/ Clam Man 2: Open Mic on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1278360/Clam_Man_2_Open_Mic/ Clam Man 2: Headliner on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1278380/Clam_Man_2_Headliner/ Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games / Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca Stray Voltage Games on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2221440/Kip_and_Odosan Stray Voltage Games on Itch: https://strayvoltage.itch.io/

Hi everyone, and welcome to today’s episode of the Indie Dev Game Break Podcast. Today’s guest is Kai Oliver. Kai hails from the United Kingdom originally and now moves between Halifax, Nova Scotia and the UK. Kai is a Game Designer and Developer with a range of skills and projects behind him. Kai is also a co-founder of the participatory theater partnership BAGEL+BALLOON. Among his professional pursuits Kai also found the time to enter the Just Play Jam in 2023, focused on themes of justice and accountability, where their team's game Drawing up Dust won an award, and he traveled down to SXSW, Texas to accept and showcase the game.  The recent devastating rounds of layoffs in the game industry has inspired Kai to dig deeper into co-operatives, specifically worker-owned organizations with highly democratic governance, minimal pay gaps, and a focus on growing the working conditions over profits as a metric of success. Our conversation included: Moving to Nova Scotia from the UK His journey into the indie game industry Party games and handcrafted games Interactive theater and VR combined with real world spaces Indie Game Co-Operatives SXSW and his award for the game Drawing Up Dust His trip through the the Dust Bowl of America to SXSW And of course, the top 5 games that influenced him Resource Links: Affinity Photo / Designer - https://affinity.serif.com/ Audacity Audio Editing - https://www.audacityteam.org/ Freesound: https://freesound.org/ Trello Project Management: https://trello.com/ More on Kai Oliver and BAGEL+BALLOON: Website: https://kaioliver.co.uk/ BAGEL+BALLOON: https://bagelandballoon.org/ Drawing up Dust on Itch: https://gradiustheguide.itch.io/drawing-up-dust Twitter or Twitch: @Kraydius Discord: @Kai_McDulover Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games / Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca Stray Voltage Games on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2221440/Kip_and_Odosan

Our guest today is Heidy Motta, Operations Manager from Extremely OK Games, based out of Vancouver, Canada. With the success of Celeste, Extremely OK Games was formed in 2019, bringing the entire Celeste team under one company and to one location in their new head office in Vancouver, BC. The same team of course, also made the popular local multiplayer game TowerFall, which many first learnt of from the Ouya. Towerfall has since made its way to all major consoles and Steam with many updates and new content. EXOK Games are working hard on their next major release after Celeste, Earthblade. A 2D explor-action game in a seamless pixel art world coming in 2024. Our conversation included: Moving to Vancouver, Great Blue Herons and Capybaras Her journey into the indie game industry Launching Celeste, that experience, and EXOK Games Luck and accepting opportunities in life International Relationships and working globally Operations Management, Social Media and Community Management Tips Just how hard finishing is! Great stories and creating connections Press kits and localisation And of course, the top 5 games that influenced her Resource Links: Twine Game Engine - https://twinery.org/ Press kit link - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/87lycjzncb0o9ns/AACcA3s5Uyzkeicn3-26qLBWa?dl=0 More on Extremely OK Games: Website: exok.com Earthblade on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239640/Earthblade Celeste on steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste Towerfall on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/251470/TowerFall_Ascension Celeste on Nintendo: https://www.nintendo.com/en-ca/store/products/celeste-switch Celeste and Towerfall are on all major platforms Twitter or Twitch: https://twitter.com/heidy_km Discord: https://discord.com/invite/xuwy39H Heidy on Itch.io: https://heidymotta.itch.io Heidy’s website: heidy.page Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games / Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca Stray Voltage Games on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2221440/Kip_and_Odosan

Our guest today is Martin Hanses from the Studio Team Clam. Currently based out of beautiful British Columbia, Team Clam makes narrative driven role playing games among other interesting genres. Their game Clam Man on Steam, released back in 2019, as well as their free prologue Clam Man 2: Open Mic, both enjoy a Very Positive rating on steam and feature a unique non-combat, narrative driven RPG style of game play. Martin hails from Finland originally, and has a series of narrative driven games on Itch.Io as well to enjoy. He has recently secured funding and is working full time on Clam Man 2: Headliner. Our conversation included: Being a chef Philosophy and kindness in games and writing Making youtubers cry...in a good way Writing and creating unique game experiences Tools and the process in writing a narrative driven RPG And of course, the top 5 games that influenced him Resource Links: Unity - https://unity.com/ Pixel Crushers Dialogue System for Unity - https://www.pixelcrushers.com/dialogue-system/ Adventure Creator for Unity - https://adventurecreator.org/ Construct 2 / 3 Game Engine - https://www.construct.net/ More on Studio Team Clam: Martin’s games on Itch.io: https://marafrass.itch.io/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/clam_team  (@clam_team) Twitter: https://twitter.com/marafrass (@marafrass) Clam Man on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000640/Clam_Man/ Clam Man 2: Open Mic on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1278360/Clam_Man_2_Open_Mic/ Clam Man 2: Headliner on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1278380/Clam_Man_2_Headliner/ Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca

Skull Commando Labs (107) - Single Screen Platformers, Pushing Pixels, and Indie World Order Our guest today is Raul Martinez, known as Skull on Twitter. His ominous sounding Studio, Skull Commando Labs, is based out of beautiful El Salvador. Raul is very active in the indie game community. He is a co-founder of the Indie World Order and runs the SideScrollerMagazine, an online magazine featuring indie games. As well Raul is part of the IWOCon team, a virtual gaming conference hosted by the Indie World Order. Raul himself has published several games in the 1 bit retro pixel art style including Mouse and Cheese, a precision single screen platformer and Dr. Brown an arcade arena shooter. He is currently working on a new single screen precision platformer dubbed Gusanito Joe - which translates roughly to Little Worm Joe, in English! Our conversation included: Side Scroller Magazine and Indie World Order Pixel Art Improving from game to game Learning Unity and entering game development The Indie Community and giving back Whiteboarding! And of course, the top 5 games that influenced him. Resource Links: Unity - https://unity.com/ Indie World Order - Discord: https://discord.gg/jgmNWtan Indie World Order Web - https://www.indieworldorder.com/ IWOCon on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2212710/IWOCon_2/ Side Scroller Magazine - check out Twitter - #sidescrollermagazine How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself: 10 steps, just you and a computer, by Matt Hackett (can find in most bookstores) Playmaker - Visual Scripting for Unity Piskel (Pixel Art) And from the Episode here is the whiteboard of Skull’s prototype game still in progress! Concept art ala whiteboard. Amazing. More on Skull Commando Labs: Skull Commando’s Games on Itch.io: https://skull-commando-labs.itch.io/ Twitter: @labsskull ( https://twitter.com/LabsSkull ) Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca

81monkeys (106) - World of Anterra, Kickstarters, and Mobile Our guest today is Stephane Cotichini, the CEO and Founder of the game studio 81monkeys. 81 Monkeys is a mobile and now desktop and console game studio located on the West Coast of Canada in Port Moody, British Columbia. Their mobile games include the popular Sudoku Scramble, holding a 4.1 star rating on iOS, and the Chore App which gamify’s chores for the whole family. In August 2022 Stephane and the team launched a very successful Kickstarter for their upcoming game, the World of Anterra. World of Anterra is an open world, non-linear, retro inspired RPG. With almost 6000 backers they have raised just under $400,000, and are building towards launch on all major platforms! The game was in development for three years prior to the kickstarter campaign and looks impressive in both game play and scope! Our conversation included: Their kickstarter campaign and what it is liking working with a larger team after a successful kickstarter. Mobile games and how mobile gaming has changed. His journey into video games and his move from retail to gaming. His studio’s upcoming game World of Anterra. Procedural vs design and content creation for a large game. And of course, the top 5 games that influenced him. Resource Links: Unity - https://unity.com/ World of Anterra on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/81monkeys/world-of-anterra CanadaGameDevs on Twitter: @CanadaGameDevs - Covering the videogames made in Canada & the people who create them. (World of Anterra Runner Up for Most Anticipated Game 2022 Award) More on 81monkeys: 81monkeys - https://www.81monkeys.com/ Twitter: @81monkeysStudio Web: www.worldofanterra.com Discord: https://discord.gg/world-of-anterra Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca

Myke Wills (@enfenyx) is a solo indie developer with Enfenyx Games and headquartered in the lovely Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia Canada. Enfenyx creates 2d and 3d games for the PC and has several titles under their belt including Devastation: Annihilate the Alien Race and its 3d sequel Devastation 2: Repatriation, both are available on steam. Myke’s current project is Virvius, a first person horror shooter. Our conversation included: His journey to writing indie games, being left handed, and building fake laptops. His toolchain and the technology involved in creating his steam games, including his 3D Assets and Sound Design. His love of First Person Shooters. Building games while raising young kids. Early game building and floppy disks. His top 5 games that influenced him, including some Id classics. Resource Links: Probuilder for Unity - https://unity.com/features/probuilder - allows for building 3 models easily Masters of Doom book - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/96382/masters-of-doom-by-david-kushner/9780812972153 RPG Maker 2000 - https://store.steampowered.com/app/383730/RPG_Maker_2000/ Landstalker on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/71118/Landstalker_The_Treasures_of_King_Nole/ Adobe After Effects & Photoshop - www.adobe.com Magix Music Maker - https://www.magix.com Halcon - Halifax Comic Con (Nova Scotia, Canada) - https://hal-con.com More on Myke Wills: https://www.michaelwills.net Steam Page for Devastation - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1227040/Devastation__Annihilate_the_Alien_Race Steam Page for Devastation 2 - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1464090/Devastation_2__Repatriation Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca

Tomas Guinan is a full time indie developer with Spoony Bard Productions headquartered in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Spoony Bard specializes in retro games. They have released an original NES game on physical cartridge and digitally for NES and Steam through their successful kickstarter called Eskimo Bob in 2017. They shipped a sequel in 2019, called Alfonzo's Arctic Adventure, backed by a second successful Kickstarter. This was published as an NES ROM, and was later published on the Switch and XBox One as well. Spoony Bard and Interabang collaborated on the 2020 release, Jay and Silent Bob, Mall brawl for the NES. This game is now ported to most platforms and Tomas is currently working on a new title with Interabang targeting modern consoles and Steam titled Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch with a target release date of late 2023. Our conversation included: His journey to writing indie games including his flash animated show. His toolchain and the technology involved in creating his games. Q-Basic The retro NES / game scene. His kickstarter campaigns. His top 5 games that influenced him - an NES, Gameboy, and SNES set of favorites! Resource Links: CC65 - C compiler for 6502 systems - https://www.cc65.org/ Limited Run Games - https://limitedrungames.com/ Interabang Entertainment - https://www.interabangent.com/ YY-CHR - Sprite utility - https://w.atwiki.jp/yychr/ NEXXT - https://frankengraphics.itch.io/nexxt More on Spoony Bard Productions: Spoony Bard Productions - www.spoonybard.ca Twitter: @SpoonyBardToma Jay and Silent Bob - Mall Brawl - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1087440/Jay_and_Silent_Bob_Mall_Brawl/ Eskimo Bob Starring Alfonzo - https://store.steampowered.com/app/651360/Eskimo_Bob_Starring_Alfonzo/ Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1170170/Alfonzos_Arctic_Adventure/ Spoony Bard on Itch.Io - https://spoony-bard-productions.itch.io/ Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca

Max Inferno is a two person indie game studio out of Halifax, Nova Scotia consisting of Anne Macmillan and Lukas Steinman. Their first game A Little to the Left, started in 2020 as a 48 hour game jam entry, and has since evolved into a major release for Steam and Nintendo Switch.. The game's commercial success has allowed the pair to make game creation their full time gig! Our conversation included: Their experience in the game jam and interest that followed. Wholesome games and their showcase. Mythic Quest Selecting and working with a publisher. Completing games and that last 20%. Their top 5 games that influenced them - an interesting mix of puzzle and exploration games! Resource Links: Unity - https://unity.com/ Wholesome Games - https://wholesomegames.com/ Secret Mode - https://wearesecretmode.com/ Mythic Quest - https://tv.apple.com/us/show/mythic-quest/umc.cmc.1nfdfd5zlk05fo1bwwetzldy3 Dark Quiet Death Episode Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dark-quiet-death-w-katie-mcelhenney/id1571535707?i=1000527959557 Justin Karas - Composer involved in the project and mentioned in the podcast. Paul G Hammond - Key art - https://www.paulghammond.com Una Di Gallo - Additional character animation - https://unadigallo.com More on Max Inferno Productions: Max Inferno Studio - www.maxinferno.com Twitter: @MaxInfernoGames A Little to the Left on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1629520/A_Little_to_the_Left/ Indie Dev Game Break Podcast Links: Join our newsletter and follow us on substack - https://indiedevgamebreak.substack.com Anchor.fm - https://anchor.fm/indiedevgamebreak Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IqmIBrbUudh0rSzem9b9w iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indie-dev-game-break/id1660382228 Follow Stray Voltage Games on Twitter: https://twitter.com/strayvoltageca Correction Notice: On the Podcast Lukas correctly indicated the Dark Quiet Death Mythic Quest episode was inspired by Sierra Systems. The host suggested it was Ubisoft. This episode was based on Sierra Systems real life couple Ken and Roberta Williams. The series Mythic Quest itself is loosely based on Ubisoft and produced by Ubisoft Entertainment.