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...

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 ‬ ‬...

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 terr...

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....

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...

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...

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....

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...

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....

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. F...

Content warning: this episode briefly discusses blood imagery rileylessthannine (it/its) is a multimedia artist and game developer whose work explores the tension between abrasion and hope. In this episode we chat about its collage visual style, getting emotional over code, and the absurdity of people trying to ignore trans representation in itch games. Elsewhere, we collectively stare in befuddle...

Kasey Ozymy (he/him) is an indie RPG developer whose work draws from 16-bit classics and deep cuts. In this episode we chat about what interests him about RPGs, the design and writing philosophy behind modern classic Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, and how the upcoming Hymn to the Earless God will be an even more complex project. You can learn more about Kasey’s games on Steam , and follow him on Tw...

Xiri (he/him) is the creator of the sublime BL visual novel series, HITME , among other games exploring queer relationships and the end of the world. He took some time away from the upcoming HITM3 to chat with me about transitioning from music videos to games, how film influences his work, and a world where everybody is gay. You can learn more about Xiri’s games on itch , and follow him on cohost...

Austin Ramsay (he/him) is a tabletop RPG designer best known for Beam Saber , a Forged in the Dark game about mech pilots fighting an endless war. He joined me on this episode to talk about going from writing “imagination games” as a kid to 400+ page RPGs, creating rules that encourage player/GM collaboration, and how fun it can be to have a character go AWOL. You can learn more about Austin’s gam...

Sylvie (she/her) is a prolific creator of challenging platformers, action RPGs, and games about cats. She sat down with me to discuss her design philosophy based in constraints, games as conversations, and her esoteric entry into the year of bump combat. Later, she 1CCs an arcade cult classic. You can learn more about Sylvie’s games and writing on her website , and follow her on cohost @sylvie . S...

Meredith Gran (she/her) is a comics artist and game designer, best known for her webcomic, Octopus Pie and the adventure game Perfect Tides . She sat down with me to talk about her experience coming to games from a comics background, how Perfect Tides’ mechanics where influenced by teenage naivety, and why the 00s are such a rich period for coming of age stories. Finally, we wrap up with a teaser...

For the first Kritiqal Care bonus episode, returning guests Colin (he/they) of melessthanthree and Kevin Wong (they/them) join me to discuss their recently released action RPG, Death of a Wish . A more aggressive sequel to Lucah: Born of a Dream , Death of a Wish follows ex-antagonist Christian as he embarks on a revenge mission against the christofascist Sanctum. We discuss where the idea for a s...

Cecile Richard (they/them) is a graphic designer, writer, and game developer known for their playful Bitsy projects and hypertext fiction. They joined me to discuss cyclical stories, the risk/reward of collaborating with close friends, and how cool underground tunnels are. We also take a moment to proselytize about editors, and I learn about a new, extremely fake sounding sport. You can play Cecil...

David Su (he/him) is a musician, audio programmer, and game designer who explores interactive music and performance art. He took some time off from his ballooning schedule to discuss how he got interested in making games from an audio background, the challenges and rewards of centering your game around sound, and the playful earnestness of a cloned sheep’s lament. Later, we wander into a video sto...

It’s New Year’s Eve, which means 2023 has come and gone, bringing in closing our annual end of the year show. As is tradition, I reached out to past guests of the show to ask what their most impactful gaming memory was from the last 12 months. As this year has been particularly brutal to folks in and around games, I opened the prompt up to not exclusively focus on good memories, hoping instead to...

Domino Club is a pseudo-anonymous internet collective that makes weird, horny, and genre perverting videogames. In this episode I’m joined by Domino Club card carrying members Emma (she/her), Nat (she/they), and Rose (she/her) to chat about the group’s origins, its unconventional approach to anthology projects, and how all these games are secretly just for them. We also dive into their latest jam,...

Sam Machell (he/him) is half of indie game studio Sand Gardeners, known for provocative and unconventional games like Dark Kitchen , Memphis, Bubbleland , and Brownie Cove Cancelled . We chat about the studio’s origins as a webcomic collaboration, designing hostile environments, and the tragedy and possibility of unarchivable games. Later, Sam gives a brief eulogy for the Wii U, sadly taken from u...

Lili Zone (she/they) is the experimental game designer behind works like Crypt World (2013) and Crypt Underworld (2023). She took some time to chat with me about Crypt World’s origins, the nearly decade long development of Underworld , and what she has planned for the future now the crypts are behind her. We also dig into the evolving conception of indie games, the “small games matter” PR amnesia...

Canvas (he/she), aka bighandinsky, is the creator of crunchy, narrative driven scifi games A Forgetful Loop (2020) and A Day of Maintenance (2022). He’s collaborated with fellow writers and indie devs Freya Campbell and Elliot Herriman , and joined me on this episode to chat about integrating dense narration into mechanics heavy games, writing casual and circuitous conversations with robots, and t...

Leah Case (she/her) is a writer and game developer who specializes in absurd Twine hacking. In our chat, she digs into why she loves Twine so much, how she approaches writing branching interactive fiction, and how collaborating as part of snotwurm lets her focus in on system building (in Twine, of course). She closes the show out by teasing a forthcoming visual novel strategy game, and recommendin...