openindie - your indie game podcast

This episode takes us to INDIGO , where indie game developers from the Netherlands come together to showcase their work. We sat down with four studios to learn about their current projects. Billy Bumbum (00:30) Solo developer Jonathan Barbosa Dijkstra from Frambosa Studio introduces his puzzle game that adds a humorous twist - finally a game that dares to embrace the power of farts! All Hands on D...

Today’s game is all about music – No, not Guitar Hero or Lets sing – it’s a simulator where you’ve got to plan, organize and host your own festival! It’s called “ Festival Tycoon ” and it’s out now for PC. The developer of this game is Johannes Gäbler , he’s from Austria and “Festival Tycoon” is his very first game.  He designed that while still studying! How he managed to develop this management...

What's your favorite beer? Just don't you dare to say craft beer! In the point and click adventure " Dude, Where Is My Beer? " you just want to drink a honest pilsner but everyone just wants to serve you overprized craft beer - what a nightmare!  Now the Norwegian developer Arik Zurabian wants to continue this quest with "Dude, Where Is My Beer? 2: A New Hop". He already has some ideas for th...

Sometimes adventure can be only one wrong dialed number away. Imagine receiving a voicemail from two strangers urging for help. Time to pick up your phone and get to work. Thomas Keane is the founder and creative director of England based godolphin games . His upcoming game Unknown Number: A First Person Talker utilizes a little explored tool for interaction - your voice. In this episode of openin...

2021 is almost over. Time to slow down, get some rest, spend quality time with your loved ones and (of course) play some games. If you are still looking for some recommendations, Sarah, Ben and iV have you covered. In this special episode we tell you about our favorite indie games of 2021 and which ones we are looking forward to in 2022. Thank you for your amazing support by listening and to all o...

With their upcoming game Frank and Drake the Spanish dev studio Appnormals Team covers a story of two roommates who are as different as day and night. Inaki Diaz took the time to talk to Sarah about the unique story, art style and player feedback during a demo of the game. If one game wasn´t enough they are also developing a second game in parallel ( Terracotta ) that is a pixel-art action puzzle...

If the pandemic doesn't let you go on a road trip, the indiegame Road 96 does! Alicia Magistrello from the french indie-dev-studio DigixArt tells us the story of how the game was made! Even though Alicia is a 3D-Animator, she told Sarah why acting skills were also important while working on the game.  As always, have fun listening to this new episode of openindie :)  If you want to find...

Łukasz Korzanowski from the Polish dev studio Eremite Games sits down with Sarah and chats about their Beaver City Builder Against the Storm . They also discuss why it can be dam nice to be indie, their approach to player feedback in the early access phase of the game (available on Epic) and what challenges they face.  As always, have fun listening to this new episode of openindie :)  Al...

Per Fornander is the CEO of the Swedish indie dev studio Carry Castle . Sarah and he discuss his studio´s upcoming game Source of Madness , how development is going, why elephants are an important factor for the studio and why it makes sense to have some skills in semi-professional wrestling when working as a developer. As always, have fun listening to this new episode of openindie :)  Also,...

Since SimCity we were able to build the cities of our dreams. But what if you could re-design the city you live in to give it your personal note? Enodo Games give you this chance with their current game The Architect Paris . Raphaël Reynes talks with Sarah about the motivation for the game, how they incorporated feedback from players and why France is a good country for indie developers. As always...

I ain´t cleaning that up! But we know some guys who will... for a price. Jacek Głowacki and Krzysztof Szczudłowski from the polish studio Draw Distance talk to Sarah about their upcoming game Serial Cleaners . They share lessons learned from their first game in the series Serial Cleaner (singular), how the story and gameplay mechanics will be expanded in the sequel and the transition of their stud...

Sycoforge puts Skyrim, Lord of the Rings, and Hellblade into a blender and creates their own story driven universe in their upcoming game Return to Nangrim . Lukas Nowak took the time to talk with Sarah about the idea behind their game, how development is going and about the changing landscape in the swiss gaming industry. As always have fun listening to this new episode of openindie :)  Also...

ONDE is a indie title being developed by studio 3-50. One of the dev´s ( Grhyll ) shares his favorite scene from the game and also his "don´t judge a book by it´s cover" moment at the start of his career as developer.

Help each other to thrive and survive - not as an individual, but as a community. That is the motto of Alambik Studio ´s game Diluvian Winds . Kilian Dufour and Arthur Schmitz set the mood for their upcoming game and share their most memorable moment as indie devs.

Nura´s Wish is the debut project from team Young Wolf Interactive .  Dev Rene Rathmann describes how a cute red panda brings light into the darkness. He also shares his story of how attending a gamesjam at the beginning of his dev career substantially influenced his path.

How about some Tower Defense?  Daniel Bonrath from Clockwork Origins sure is and currently develops Elemental War 2 . With Sarah he talks about the TD genre, the game and the road to publishing. Ready your defenses.

The panflute is mightier than the sword! That´s the idea of Hanging Gardens Interactives upcoming game Sonority .  The devs Ralf Neubauer , Vlad Trutniev and Willi Schorrig talk about their idea for the game and what moment in the recent past will echo in their memory like the soothing sound of a panflute in the wind.

Toby and Lars from Hexagon took the time out of their busy Gamescom schedule to talk to Sarah about their upcoming game Sphere Flying Cities and about the meaning of the word Feierabend when you are an indie dev doing what you love.

Imagine having a newsletter and over night the subscriber count jumps by almost 8000 % from 500 to 40.000. This happend to indie dev Niki Crisci ( PartTimeIndie ). He is currently working on his new game School of Magic which aims to replace Diablo´s endgame grind with deck building. Still he found the time to talk to Sarah during Gamescom 2021.

In the second interview during Gamescom 2021, Vlad Calu from the indie dev studio Those Awesome Guys tells us why their upcoming game Deepest Chamber can not only scratch that Slay the Spire itch but also aims to re-shuffel the deck of card builders. Enjoy this first mini-episode of openindie - more Gamescom-Talks will follow soon.

What better time to launch season 2 than GAMESCOM2021?  In the season premiere, we take the chance to talk to devs and publishers of upcoming indie games.  In our first interview Sarah speaks with Paul Redetzky from the German studio Emergo Entertainment . He is currently pitching his atmospheric game Fireside to publishers. Ready for a casual talk at the Fireside? Enjoy this first mini-...

If you are looking to scratch that Slay the Spire itch, Roguebook will be right down your alley. A few days before release Jean-Michel Vilain who is the CEO of the Belgium based Indie Studio Abrakam Entertainment, took the time to talk to Sarah about the upcoming release of their second game. They also discuss the lessons they learned from their first game release in 2017 Faeria, how they got MAGI...

A great austrian actor once said "Get your Ass to Mars". That´s exactly what the indie dev team Ironward did in their game series The Red Solstice. Hrvoje Horvatek is the CEO of this Croatian Indie Studio. At the time of the recording, Hrvoje and his team are putting on the finishing touches to their next game The Red Solstice 2: Survivors . Even though they are in the often hectic pre-release pha...

This time around, Sarah talks to Janusz Tarczykowski, CEO of the polish indie studio Rock Square Thunder. We have two premieres in this Episode: Janusz and his team are currently working on their debut title The Lightbringer and it´s our first English spoken episode (to make openindie more accessible to all of our non German speakers our there :)). Janusz talks about the starting days of Rock Squa...