Kritiqal Care

Will Uhl (they/them) is a tabletop game designer whose work explores inter-player relationships, unconventional mechanics, and high drama. We discuss balancing narrative conflict and player safety, providing structure to micro-RPGs, and why card-based systems might be better than dice?You can keep up with Will’s work on Bluesky @raffitheowl.bsky.social‬‬‬, support their work on Comradery, and play their games on itch.Will’s Inspiring Thing to Share- Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2013)- Getting involved with local mutual aid groupsThings Discussed- Chitchat (Will Uhl, 2020)- Mystic Lilies (Will Uhl, 2021)- The Luminous Aviary (Will Uhl, 2022)- Stereo Mixtape (Will Uhl, 2024)- Night Drifters: Second Stage (Will Uhl, 2025)- Delta: A Game of Changing Rivers (Will Uhl, upcoming)- The TTRPG Safety Toolkit- Don't Kill A Bird With A Baseball (Rat Bastard Games, 2023)- The Quiet Year (Avery Alder, 2013)- Wanderhome (Possum Creek Games, 2022)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

q1 (he/him) is a musician, writer, and game developer who makes playful and sometimes haunted tiny games. In this short and sweet episode we discuss the curious social experience of riding the subway, the beautiful limitations of small game engines, and viewing the game creation process like writing a song.You can learn more about q1 on his website, follow him on Bluesky @quewon.bsky.social‬‬, and play his games on itch.q1’s Inspiring Thing to Share- Calling his mom everyday (maybe you should call yours?)Things Discussed- how to use the subway (q1, 2024)- photograph of the sun (q1, 2023)- nonexistence (q1, 2022)- cat food (q1, 2022)- fishtank (Corey Hardt, pancelor, and q1, 2023)- RACCOON LAUNDERING (q1, 2021)- special girls (girl software, 2024)- climbing 208 feet up the ruin wall (Porpentine, 2013)- Agnes Martin’s process of making paintingKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

Sandy Weisz (he/him) is a puzzle designer out of Chicago whose games focus on team-building, environmental clues, and wordplay. This year he began creating the daily puzzle game, RADDLE, and took some time to chat with me about its EnigMarch origins, how to write a good clue, and balancing puzzle difficulty. We also discuss designing puzzles for groups and an elaborate birthday hunt that went terribly wrong.You can learn more about Sandy’s puzzles on his website, follow him on Bluesky @pzlr.org‬, and sign up for his newsletter.Sandy’s Inspiring Thing to Share- His son’s first videogame inspired EP, Not An Album by msczThings Discussed- RADDLE (Sandy Weisz, 2025)- Bracket City (Ben Smith, 2025)- The Mystery League- EnigMarchKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

Claire Morwood (she/her) is an indie game developer whose work explores multimedia interactivity, handmade assets, and introspective narratives. She joined me to discuss her most recent project, Asterism, an interactive concept album about exploring the galaxy. We touch on writing music for play, how creating the game from physical objects impacted its design, and the value of a detailed dev log. Later we remember how good libraries are.You can learn more about Claire’s games on her website and follow her on Bluesky @shimmerglitch.bsky.social.Claire’s Cool Things to Share- Visiting your local libraryThings Discussed- Asterism (Claire Morwood, 2025)- Full Moon dev blog- Mix and Game Jam (2020)- Asterism’s installation at Next Level 2024Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

Terry Cavanagh (he/him) is an Irish indie developer know for games like Super Hexagon and Dicey Dungeons. He joined me on the show to discuss developing ideas out of game jams, being drawn to new tools and platforms, and games as social spaces. Later we dive into his new collection, Terry’s Other Games, which compiles many of his small projects across more than a decade.You can learn more about Terry’s games on his website and follow him on Bluesky @terrycavanaghgames.comTerry’s Cool Things to Share- Anthology of the Killer (thecatamites, 2024)Things Discussed- Super Hexagon (Terry Cavanagh, 2012)- Dicey Dungeons (Terry Cavanagh, 2019)- Climb the Giant Man Obby (Terry Cavanagh, 2021)- Anyone could be struck by lighting at any time (Terry Cavanagh, 2021)- Terry’s Other Games (Terry Cavanagh, 2025)- Roblox (and this People Make Games documentary)- OuyaKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

Autumn Greenley (she/they) and Zaozoruzhna (he/him) are two members of the indie game studio, Mortally Moonstruck Games, who for the last few years they have been working on the mushroom girl cultivating game/RPG/visual novel,Mushroom Musume.They joined me for this episode to discuss the game’s origins, how it grew from a game jam experiment to a much larger project, adapting tabletop principles to a videogame, and their favorite mushroom girls. Later, I get some pointers on how to start foraging.You can learn more about Mortally Moonstruck’s games ontheir website and onitch. You can follow Autumn and Zao on Bluesky@autumnotopia [email protected] and Zao’s Cool Things to Share- Going outside and looking for mushrooms- Cooking on a cast iron skilletThings Discussed-Mushroom Musume(Mortally Moonstruck Games, upcoming)-Princess Maker(Gainax, 1991)-All That the Rain Promises and More…(David Arora, 1991)-Pigsquad Summer Slow JamsKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music byDesired. It's available onPocket Casts,Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL onKo-Fi.

Content warning: brief mention of suicide around the 48-51 minute mark. 2024 has come and gone which means it’s time for our annual retrospective episode, where I ask former guests of the show to share their favorite gaming memories of the year. As always the responses were incredibly thoughtful, introspective, and touched on so much more than just the games we play but how they impact our lives. It’s always a joy to produce this episode and I want to give a big thanks to everyone that took part in it. Thanks for joining me for another great year of Kritiqal Care, and happy new year! FeaturingKate Olguin | Alicia and Kiki of Transparency | Andrew of Indiepocalypse | Nicholas O'Brien | Taylor McCue | Colin of melessthanthree | Nilson Carroll | Kat of Pixel A Day | Nathan Blades | Fragile (tipsheda) | Jeff Chiao (Chi Xu) | Adam Le Doux | Lily Valeen | Rose of Domino Club | David Su | Cecile Richard | Xiri | rileylessthan9 Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

Nevyn Holms (any/all) is one half of indie tabletop studio Dinoberry Press, whose games explore collaborative crafts, asymmetric mechanics, and genre adaptation. They joined me to break down what draws them to physical objects as mechanics, creating shared buy in at a table, and the importance of fucked up little guys. You can learn more about Dinoberry’s games on their website and on itch. Nevyn’s Cool Things to Share- Doing game design deep dives on itch projects- Sharkula (Mark Polonia, 2022) Things Discussed- Gun & Slinger (Dinoberry Press, 2021)- Justicar (Dinoberry Press, 2022- You’re In Space and Everything’s Fucked (Dinoberry Press, 2023)- Dinocar (Dinoberry Press, 2023)- User Is Typing // Message Sent (Nevyn Holmes, 2020)- Skel-IT-ons (Nevyn Holmes, 2020)- Dice Souls (Chris Bissette, 2021) Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

Ayu Koyama (she/her), aka sweetfish, is an interactive fiction writer and designer whose work explores religion, history, and digital play. In this episode we chat about what drew her to interactive fiction as a form, how that intersects with her experimental web design projects, and the ways a distant relationship with Catholicism influences her games. In closing we invite you to read old books. You can learn more about Ayu’s projects on her personal website and play her games on itch. Ayu’s Cool Things to Share- The Talented Mr. Ripley (Patricia Highsman, 1955) book series Things Discussed- Night Confessionals (sweetfish, 2023)- Eider Cake (sweetfish, 2024)- Heretic Pride (Laika)- Pentiment (Obsidian, 2022)- Commonplace (Pitter-Patter, 2022)- LATEX, LEATHER, LIPSTICK, LOVE, LUST (LITHOBREAKERS, 2024)- The Neo-Interactives- Weird Web October Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

Content warning: this episode briefly discusses suicidal ideation Kyou System (they/them) is an artist and game developer whose work explores the profound and incoherent world of dreams. We discuss the nocturnal origins of their first game, Remembrance, revisiting and remaking it half a decade later, embracing a more expressionistic writing style, and getting involved in visual novel game jams. Finally, we implore you to consider backgammon. You can learn more about Kyou’s projects on their personal website and play their games on itch. Kyou’s Cool Things to Share- The Menhera VN Jam- Backgammon Things Discussed- Remembrance (Kyou System, 2019)- Permanence (Kyou System, 2020)- THERA (Kyou System, ongoing)- The VN Cup- The Queer Games Bundle- RPG Maker 2003- Ren’Py Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.