openindie - your indie game podcast

Welcome to another dev talk episode of openindie! In this session, host Sarah sits down with Leo, the Creative Director at 6side Studio, to dive into the development of their debut commercial title, Dawn of Defense.If you've ever wondered what happens when you mash up tower defense, real-time strategy, and roguelite mechanics, this episode is exactly what you need. Leo shares the fascinating origin story of the project, from sketching out territorial grid patterns on a whiteboard to securing state funding in Cologne by weaving an Asterix and Obelix-style Roman invasion into the game's core lore.Throughout the talk, we get a highly transparent look at the indie development pipeline. Leo discusses the studio's massive Steam demo success which pulled in an impressive 30,000 players and how analyzing player feedback ultimately led to a complete economy rework and the introduction of hero units. He also opens up about the daunting world of pitching, sharing the story of their fateful road trip to Hamburg's "Pitch Level Up" event and how putting their pitch deck in front of industry professionals changed the studio's trajectory forever.Packed with technical insights, clever design workarounds, and solid networking advice, this is a must-listen for strategy gamers and aspiring devs alike. Dawn of Defense is aiming for a Q4 2026 release, so be sure to go check out the demo on Steam!Episode Timestamps:Intro: 0:00Mixing Genre: 2:07TD Fans: 5:15Idea for the Game: 9:17The Release: 12:00Dev Progress: 14:07Managing Complexity: 19:53Gameplay and Art Style: 25:55Demo: 29:14Feature to be proud of: 34:10From Bug to Feature: 35:33Dev Moment: 37:42Publisher Search: 40:35openindie Sidenote - Episode about publishing agreements: 45:536side Studio - Founding Story: 47:10Indiegame scene in Germany: 53:01Best and Worst part in being indie: 56:36More advice for indie devs: 1:00:54Next up for Leo: 1:02:34Listen to & Support Us: 1:05:52Outro: 1:07:22As always, have fun listening! If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about us.

You've poured your heart into developing your game, a publisher shows interest, and suddenly you're staring at a contract full of terms you've never heard of. Our guest today is there to help you in that situation.To kick off our brand-new format Behind the Build, Sarah sits down with René Otto, attorney and founder of Deviant Legal, a law firm built entirely for the games industry. René works with over 300 developers and publishers, and he's written a free, 20,000-word guide to help indie devs actually understand what they're signing.You can get the guide here - no strings attached: https://deviantlegal.com/guide/game-developers-guide-publishing-agreements/They break down the clauses that matter most: royalties, recoupment traps, perpetual licenses, and the confusing world of first negotiation, first refusal, and last refusal. René explains not just what these terms mean, but how they quietly work together and why a deal that looks fine on the surface can cost you everything.Plus: the publisher who hid Easter eggs in their contract template, the developer who lost both their money and their game in a single deal, and why some publishers get suspicious when you don't negotiate.A must-listen for any indie dev who's ever received a publishing offer, dreamed of one, or just wants to know what they're getting into before signing on the dotted line.Episode Timestamps:Intro: 0:00Guest Intro: 1:38Topic Overview: 5:48Guide for Publishing Agreements: 12:26Typical Red Flags: 15:08Typical Legal Terms: 19:55Important Sections in the Guide: 27:30Owning IP Rights: 33:27Negotiating Money: 36:05Crafting Milestones: 42:33Dealing with License Fees: 46:26Handling Marketing: 49:28Community Questions: 54:56Example of a Great Publisher: 1:06:04A Guide for Devs Worldwide: 1:09:24Making Contracts More Accessible: 1:10:29How René Became a Video Game Lawyer: 1:12:21René's Law Firm: 1:19:48The Pros and Cons of Being a Lawyer: 1:28:24Sending a Message Back in Time: 1:31:25Memorable Career Moments: 1:35:03Advice for Devs Looking for a Publisher: 1:39:41René's Next Steps: 1:42:31Outro: 1:44:59As always, have fun listening! If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about us.

Sarah & iV sit down once again for a cozy chat about the indie games they really enjoyed playing in 2025 and the games they're most looking forward to in 2026.If you're looking for great indie games to play, give the ones mentioned here a shot. We're pretty sure you won't regret it.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━EPISODE TIMESTAMPS━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━TypInc.: 0:25Blue Prince: 10:03Keep Driving: 20:48Dredge: 29:46Vikings on Trampolines: 37:51Shroom and Gloom: 41:50Outro: 46:52━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━GAMES FEATURED━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⌨️ TypInc.Developer: Game Game GamesGenre: Deckbuilder Typing Gamehttps://store.steampowered.com/app/3230090/TypInc/👑 Blue PrinceDeveloper: DogubombGenre: Strategy Roguelike Puzzle Adventurehttps://store.steampowered.com/app/1569580/Blue_Prince/🚗 Keep DrivingDeveloper: Y/CJ/YGenre: Management RPGhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/2756920/Keep_Driving/🎣 DredgeDeveloper: Black Salt GamesGenre: Mystery Fishing Strategy Adventurehttps://store.steampowered.com/app/1562430/DREDGE/🛝 Vikings on TrampolinesDeveloper: D-Pad StudioGenre: Co-op Party Gamehttps://store.steampowered.com/app/748810/Vikings_On_Trampolines/🍄 Shroom and GloomDeveloper: Team LazerbeamGenre: Card-based Roguelike Strategyhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/3271280/Shroom_and_Gloom/━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━What were the games you loved in 2025? Did our recommendations help you discover your next favorite game? We'd love to know!If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about our show!

In this episode, we are trying something new! Instead of our usual developer interviews, Sarah and iV are sitting down to give you a dedicated review and deep dive into the unique indie gem, Cryptmaster.We spent 30+ hours snooping around dungeons, typing frantically, and laughing at the Cryptmaster’s insults so you don't have to (but you definitely should).Episode Timestamps:The Cryptmaster is back: 0:00Why this episode: 0:46What is Cryptmaster: 1:30The devs: 2:02Gameplay mechanics: 2:45Typing for treasure: 6:38What makes it special: 8:18Developing Cryptmaster: 11:06Magic moments: 13:44Conclusion: 17:48Your thoughts: 19:33The New Format: Why we are shifting gears to talk gameplay and personal reviews.The Mechanics: How playing a game only with a keyboard (no mouse!) creates a frantic, fun, and immersive experience.Real-Time vs. Turn-Based: The stress (and joy) of typing "HIT" or "ZAP" before a mosquito bites you.Behind the Scenes: The fascinating story of how Cryptmaster originally started as a pirate game.Voice Acting: How developer Lee Williams ended up voicing the sarcastic Cryptmaster himself.Magic Moments: How not to Tomb RaidGame Info:Game: CryptmasterDevelopers: Paul Hart & Lee WilliamsGenre: Dungeon Crawler Puzzle AdventurePlatforms: PC & ConsolesLinks & Resources:Full Interview with Developer Lee Williams: Episode #42Find us hereHave you played Cryptmaster? Type your favorite word in the comments.If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about our show!

Sarah sits down with Lee Williams, one half of the duo behind Cryptmaster, the word-based dungeon crawler that mixes 80s gamebook visuals with dark humor into one of the year’s most original RPGs.Lee talks about his journey from teacher to game writer, voicing the Cryptmaster himself, and collaborating remotely with co-developer Paul Hart across time zones. Expect behind-the-scenes stories such as the placeholder voice that became permanent, a bug that turned into a sea witch summoning feature, and a collectible card game that unexpectedly became a fan favorite.He also offers advice for fellow indie developers, and gives a sneak peek at what is next: a wizards’ tower simulator packed with puzzles and twisted humor, along with possible updates for Cryptmaster including a New Game Plus mode.Episode Timestamps:Intro: 0:00 How Lee feels about the release of Cryptmaster: 1:12 The gameplay of Cryptmaster: 2:07 How Paul and Lee came up with the idea: 5:39 The voice and character of the Cryptmaster: 10:34 Why talking with the Cryptmaster feels natural: 15:17 Choosing the art style of the game: 23:12 Lee's favorite feature: 26:03 It's not a bug, it's a feature!: 29:38 How Lee got started as a game developer: 33:41 Magic moment in game development: 41:05 Best part / worst part of making your own game: 42:05 Lessons learned while being a game developer: 44:37 How Paul and Lee organize their work together: 46:17 Are there plans for a game studio?: 49:48 Game development scene in the UK: 51:38 How the Cryptmaster found its publisher: 53:27 Lee's advice for fellow game developers: 55:45 First details about Lee's and Paul's next game: 57:27 Outro: 1:00:32As always, have fun listening! If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about us.

Your host Iv sits down with solo developer Sydney, the creator of Qualia, a text-based philosophical game where players must figure out which of two participants is human and which might be AI. Built in the Twine engine, Qualia uses a retro computer interface, atmospheric sound, and embedded video to create an experience that questions consciousness, identity, and artificial intelligence.Sydney talks about how her background in film shaped Qualia's distinctive aesthetic, blending text and visuals into a world that feels clinical and unsettling. We get into her move to full-time development, the realities of working solo, and her choice to release Qualia for free to build an audience and gather feedback.We also dive into some behind-the-scenes stories, including the "CSS coin flip" coding challenge, the accidental educational features players love, and the story behind her studio name, CMY2K, a clever nod to color printing and tech anxiety.If you are into interactive fiction, AI storytelling, or are curious about how narratives change when you mix filmmaking with game design, this episode is for you.Episode Timestamps:Intro (0:00)Meet Sydney & CMY2K (1:06)Feelings on Releasing Your First Game (Happy Enough) (1:36)Gameplay, Atmosphere, and Aesthetics of Qualia (3:33)Engaging with Philosophical Themes and finding Easter Eggs (8:14)Sydneys Favorite Feature (15:33)The Strategy Behind Releasing Qualia for Free (18:49)Most Memorable Moments as a Game Developer (27:56)Lessons Learned from developing Qualia (33:01)What's in a Name? (The Origin of CMY2K) (36:11)Funding, Community Support, and Future Projects (38:48)Are You Active in the NYC Indie Scene? (40:35)The Vision for Qualia's Future (42:55)Outro (45:52)As always, have fun listening! If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about us.

Your host Sarah sits down with Norwegian brothers Erlend and Kay, the duo behind Skogdal, a roguelike deckbuilder set in a '90s small town where everyone’s slowly losing their minds. With hand-drawn art, a quirky card system, and a love letter to strange corners of Norwegian life, this is their first game together—and it’s already something special.They discuss how the idea came to life on an 8-hour car ride, Kay’s hand-drawn “slacker style,” and combat followers like “Pizza Friend” (who serves Swedish banana slices). We also get into what it’s like building a game as siblings, killing your darlings, and how a placeholder death animation accidentally became canon.If you’re into Slay the Spire, comic books, Magic cards, or games with a strong point of view—this episode’s for you.Episode Timestamps:Introductions: Meet the Brothers (0:00)Development Status & Dev Feelings (2:46)Skogdal Deep Dive: Gameplay World & Mechanics (4:41)Art Style: Hand-Drawn Slacker Style & Naming (8:30)Inspirations & Influences (15:49)Favorite Feature in the Game (21:12)It's Not a Bug It's a Feature! (22:59)Playtesting Feedback (25:01)Post-Release Plans & Vision (28:11)Origin Story: How the Collaboration Began (32:08)Magic Moment as Game Developers (38:22)Challenges & Joys of Indie Dev (As Brothers) (39:40)Lessons Learned During Development (45:32)Advice for Aspiring Gamedevs (49:37)The Team & Future Studio Plans? (52:14)Funding Community & Norwegian Scene (58:40)Outro (1:04:31)As always, have fun listening! If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about us.

Your host iV sits down with Juan (Pirijuamps), the writer and narrative lead, and Pablo (Tucky), the 3D artist from Recurring Dream, to discuss their upcoming game, Desktop Explorer. This detective-like puzzle game lets players explore a recreated '90s operating system, uncovering a mystery hidden within cryptic files, chat rooms, and nostalgic mini-games.They discuss the challenges of recreating the eerie charm of old-school computing, from OS-based puzzles to late '90s-style 3D environments. We also dive into the game’s storytelling, particularly its unique Chronolog, which slowly reveals past users' lives as puzzles are solved.Beyond the game, our guests open up about indie development struggles, including self-promotion and the pressure and joy of creating something truly special.Episode Timestamps:Intro (0:00)The Current State of Desktop Explorer (2:05)Desktop Explorer Release Date and Features (3:07)Inspirations for the Game (4:53)Gameplay of Desktop Explorer (6:29)From Childhood Puzzles to Desktop Explorer (8:08)The Dev's Favorite Feature (9:50)How Does Player Feedback Shape the Game? (14:21)Post-Release Plans (18:28)It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature! (19:18)How Did You Get Started as a Game Dev? (21:22)Magic Moment as a Game Developer (24:33)Challenges and Victories of Developing Your Own Game (28:37)Lessons Learned While Developing Your Own Game (33:38)Advice for Fellow Game Devs (34:39)Who Is Recurring Dream? (36:58)Funding, Community Growth, and Publishing (37:32)Are You Active in the Indie Scene? (39:24)Recurring Dream's Vision for Desktop Explorer (41:52)Outro (45:04)As always, have fun listening! If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about us.

Sarah sits down with game dev and content creator Emily, aka SonderingEmily, to talk about Lily’s World XD—a psychological horror game that turns early 2000s internet nostalgia into something far more unsettling. Set entirely on a young girl’s cluttered desktop, her game brings back the days of AIM chats, personal blogs, and art created in MS Paint—only this time, someone’s watching.Emily shares how her own internet memories shaped the game, from digging through old blog posts to revisiting the charm of early social media. They discuss the joys (and struggles) of solo game development.A must-listen for anyone who ever lived through the golden age of ICQ and AIM, spent way too much time on their Myspace layout, or felt like the internet really knew them before social media took over.Episode Timestamps:Intro (0:00)The Current State of Lily's World XD (2:09)What is Lily's World XD? (3:11)Inspirations for the Game (5:13)Emily's Favorite Feature & Feedback (9:02)It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature! (12:52)Plans for Post-Launch Support (14:10)Emily's Journey into Gamedev (16:26)A Magic Moment as a Game Developer (21:24)Challenges and Victories of Developing Your Own Game (24:34)(Mostly) Solo Dev – Who's Helping Out? (27:03)Lessons Learned While Developing Your Own Game (27:58)Advice for Fellow Gamedevs (30:06)Story Behind the Name SonderingEmily (32:32)A Taste of the Past – Emily's Previous Game (34:44)How Emily Finances Her Game Development (39:16)What’s Unique About LA’s Indie Dev Scene? (41:28)Emily's Vision for Lily's World XD (43:52)Outro (47:50)As always, have fun listening! If you like what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about us.

Episode 37 of openindie is a treat for 2D Platformer fans! iV sits down with professional Graphic Designer gone Indie Game Developer Shphrd from Creative Waste Studio to talk about the ups and downs of solo game development. After a decade in graphic design, Shphrd is now tackling his biggest creative challenge yet: making a cosmic horror-inspired pixel art platformer, "The Old One." Expect stories about an old wizard with bad knees who gets around using a clever teleportation mechanic, the rollercoaster that is Kickstarter, and the daily chaos of being a solo dev. Shphrd shares his passion for creating a 2D adventure, balancing deep combat with eerie atmosphere—all while keeping his sanity intact. If you're into indie games, game development, or just enjoy hearing people talk about things they love, this episode has something for you. Episode Timestamps: Intro (00:00) The Current State of The Old One (01:24) What is The Old One? (04:35) Inspirations for the Game (07:02) Shphrd's Favorite Feature & Feedback (08:59) It's not a Bug, it's a Feature! (13:15) When will we get a Demo? (15:10) Why Did Shphrd Want to Become an Indie Dev? (16:36) Magic Moment as a Game Developer (18:18) The Best Part of Developing Your Own Game... (23:58) ...And the Most Challenging Part (26:11) Lessons Learned for the Kickstarter Re-Launch (28:46) Story Behind the Name "Creative Waste Studio" (32:29) Indie Games Community (34:50) If You Are Looking for a Talented Designer, This Chapter Is for You (35:49) Shphrd's Vision for His Game (37:15) Advice for Fellow Game Devs (39:56) Outro (41:58) As always, have fun listening! If you enjoy what we do, tell your friends (and enemies) about us.