This is an in-depth look at how to make anything fun, in particular in games, education and life as a whole. The research is based on the book FLOW by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. My main point is that FUN = FLOW = LEARNING. The best predictor for fun is a good learning environment. In this video I dive deep into implications and practical solutions for game developers and designers, educators and anyone who just wants to have more fun in life, or gain a better understanding of the concept of "FUN". How do we make more fun games? What can education really learn from games (without "cheap" gamification tactics)? What makes for a fun and fulfilled life? I don't have all the answers, bud I do have some pretty FUN theories about it. Enjoy! :) 0:00 - A Quick Introduction to Fun 1:30 - The Explore vs. Exploit Dilemma 4:05 - Learning = Fun 8:06 - Fun vs. Motivation 10:31 - Requirements of Fun/Flow (A Good Learning Environment) 16:44 - The Flow Channel 20:05 - Mental Load Theory (Multiple Flow Channels) 26:53 - When Fun Is Uncomfortable 32:14 - Flow Mixing & How Your Brain Perceives It 33:53 - Getting Others Into Flow 37:26 - Meeting People at Their Skill Level 47:30 - How to Design Fun Decisions & Balancing 54:26 - Fun in Education 1:03:57 - Fun in Life 1:08:15 - Dealing With Boredom & Frustration 1:12:00 - Final Thoughts The games I worked on: ➤ Thronefall: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Will You Snail: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ ISLANDERS: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1046030/ISLANDERS/ For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with the Australian game developer Tommy, co-creator of the tower defense game Gnomes. Thy made it in a custom Rust Engine with just 10 months of time and 0$ marketing budget. It looks like a game anyone could make, but is it? I was curious to learn more. Links to my Guests ➤ Gnomes on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3133060/Gnomes/ ➤ Sea of Survivors on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2347940/Sea_of_Survivors/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 2:29 - Prototyping, Timeline, Demo 6:11 - Next Fest, Early Marketing Wins 8:25 - Early Access and Launch Strategy 12:23 - Switching Teams, Going Solo, Moving to Godot 15:06 - 3D vs 2D: Marketing and Development 22:11 - Solo vs Team Trade-Offs, Is it Luck? 29:16 - Roles, Content Pipeline, Localization 35:05 - Core Loop: Moveable Towers, Guilds, Shop, Endless 38:49 - Game Design: Economy vs Defense 41:45 - Difficulty, Guild Matchups, Swamp Map, RNG, Power Fantasy 47:03 - UX-First Design: Minimal Tutorial, One-Hand UI, Juice, Pacing 52:59 - Constraints, Limits Shaping Design 56:05 - Marketing: Go Narrow/Deep, Reddit, Creators Timing 1:03:20 - Fulfilling Fantasies, Don’t Chase Trends 1:11:18 - Designing Doable but Deep 1:20:49 - Regrets and Post-Launch Changes 1:30:43 - Cheat Mode, Jank, and Nostalgia 1:31:59 - Copycats on Mobile: Kingshot 1:34:29 - Mobile vs Steam and Why Gnomes Isn’t on Mobile 1:39:27 - Life Changes, Workflow, and Team Plans 1:42:32 - Generalists, Triple Threat, and the Coming AI Era 1:48:44 - Nostalgia Sells; You Only Need the Crumbs 1:50:29 - Solo vs Team Itch; Don’t Engine-Shop 1:52:02 - Do You Have to Suffer for your Art? 1:54:20 - Godot Navmesh, Sunk Cost, State Machines 1:55:16 - Trailer-First, Vertical Slice, and Variable Scope 1:57:08 - Testing Appeal: Playtests vs Trailers and Honest Feedback 2:00:30 - Appeal-First vs Gameplay-First 2:04:47 - Build a Playtest Community; Observe Actions, Not Words 2:08:46 - 500 Testers, Steam Playtest vs Keys, Superfans 2:12:40 - First-Time Players Are Gold; Demos and the First 15 Minutes 2:17:40 - Treat Your Demo Like a Launch 2:18:36 - There is a Playbook and a Splash of Luck 2:20:07 - Outro My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with Ricard Pillosu, an industry veteran with over 20 years in both AAA and indie teams, currently working as Co-Founder at Epictellers a 30+ head team working on the CRPG Starfinder: Afterlight. Links to my Guests ➤ Starfinder: Afterlight on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/3245640/ ➤ Epictellers Website: https://www.epictellers.com/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:21 - Why Big Success Can Be Dangerous 3:31 - Luck Is 70% 6:13 - The Hardest Part of Building a Studio: People 7:57 - Ric’s Journey so Far 9:45 - Becoming a Lead and Manager 12:30 - How Does AAA Build Games? 16:02 - Prototyping Rituals in AAA 18:29 - Pre-Production and Messy Realities 20:41 - Scrum Era, Sub-Teams, and the Human Factor 22:50 - Charisma, Toxic Positivity, and Milestone Negotiations 26:51 - Reputation Traps in Big Teams 29:19 - Is Experience Overrated? 30:56 - Culture Clashes and the Timeline Fallacy 32:49 - Wisdom Over Experience 39:12 - Choose Simple Solutions 41:55 - Enforcing Pipelines 42:26 - From Overengineering to Readability 46:24 - When Copying Is Okay 47:18 - Don’t Pre-Architect 49:18 - Pick Patterns Per Problem 54:16 - Be Nice to the CPU 55:45 - Why Godot? 58:40 - Signals, Call Stacks, and Deferring Work to the Frame 1:00:37 - Queues and Frame-Slicing 1:02:43 - Start From the Game: Feature Wishlists 1:04:24 - Why Decoupling Matters 1:05:46 - Turn Manager Example: Building Layer 0 1:12:06 - Layer 1 Orchestration: Game States and Combat Manager 1:14:18 - Syntactic Compression 1:17:47 - Micro-Managers: Mouse and Targeting Systems 1:20:48 - What Makes a Great Gameplay Programmer 1:22:56 - Anti-Patterns: Ego, Overcomplication, Blame 1:24:39 - Coding Into a Corner: It’s Part of the Journey 1:28:49 - Jonas’s Background and Goals 1:31:18 - Coding Mastery vs Commercial Success 1:34:02 - Path to Mastery: New Engines, Teams, and Contexts 1:35:22 - Reuse and Scalability Myths 1:36:10 - Why Build Multiple CRPGs: What Really Transfers 1:37:48 - Boredom and Scope Creep 1:41:42 - Why Second Games Take Longer 1:42:53 - Everyone Should Build an Engine 1:48:20 - Why Unity/Unreal Feel Bloated 1:50:49 - Godot’s Incentives: Smaller, Developer-First 1:52:11 - Will Godot Grow? “Fighting the Engine” Metric 1:56:41 - When to Pick Godot, Unity, or Unreal 1:57:05 - Closing Thoughts My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with my game dev friend and former collegue Friedemann Allmenröder. We created ISLANDERS together, he then went on to make many more fantastic indie games such as Pizza Possum, Summer House and recently Slots & Daggers. In this conversation with dive into the philosophy of game dev creativity and I try to understand more about how Fridemman's process for making hit games looks like these days. Links to my Guests ➤ Slots & Daggers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3631290/Slots__Daggers/ ➤ Summer House on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2533960/SUMMERHOUSE/ ➤ Portfolio Website: https://allmenroeder.com/ ➤ Twitter/X: https://x.com/Friedemann_A Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Better At Games, Worse At Advice 1:20 - Appeal × Retention As Core Formula 3:35 - Beyond Visuals: Many Kinds Of Appeal 5:05 - “Make Something Almost Too Small” 6:35 - Finding The Fresh but Familiar Twist 8:19 - Useful vs Pointless Innovation 11:07 - Why Clear Formulas Break Down 13:20 - Intuition As Compressed Rules 15:05 - Training Taste With Good “Data” 18:30 - Creativity As Remix, Not Creation 20:07 - Labeling What You Like And Why 22:22 - Missing Discourse On Creative Work 23:56 - Ideas vs Execution In Modern Dev 24:35 - Origin Story Of Slots & Daggers 27:21 - Why So Many Gambling-Like Games? 29:20 - Randomness, FOMO And Accessibility 32:07 - Farm Game, Weekend Prototype, Publisher Test 36:10 - Six-Week Jam To Seven-Month Project 41:46 - What “Execution” Really Means 45:36 - Sculpting Ideas And Minimalism 49:55 - First Prototype And Sketchy Pixel Style 52:24 - Unity Lighting, Bloom And Cheap Coherence 55:28 - “Everything Must Animate” Philosophy 1:00:22 - Fast Polish With DOTween 1:02:36 - Sound Design, SFX Packs And Screen Shake 1:05:22 - Visual Feedback Instead Of Text 1:08:06 - Reused Tech, Wiggly Leaves And The Famous Glass 1:10:27 - Building A Strong Tabletop Vibe 1:15:25 - Color, Post-Processing And Mood Swaps 1:18:53 - Dangers Of Overdoing Post-Processing 1:22:01 - Marketing Starts With An Appealing Game 1:24:45 - Publishers, Demos And Next Fests 1:30:17 - No Secret Hacks, Just Good Basics 1:35:11 - Is The Indie-Pocalypse Real? 1:38:47 - Dopamine Farming And Attention Economy 1:42:10 - Will Quiet Games Come Back? 1:43:56 - What To Make After A Loud Game 1:44:47 - Game Recs: Rainy Season And Eastshade 1:48:43 - Outro And Future Catch-Ups My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with Danny Weinbaum from @EastshadeStudios, the creators of one of my favorite roleplaying games, Eastshade, currently working on a new game called "Songs of Glimmerwick". How do you make successful adventure game? What makes for good quests? How to write peaceful games and bring them to satisfying conlcusion? How to craft beautiful environments? Links to my Guests ➤ On YouTube: @EastshadeStudios ➤ Eastshade on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/715560/Eastshade/ ➤ Songs of Glimmerwick on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1706510/Songs_of_Glimmerwick/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:00 - Leaving Lyndow 3:30 - From AAA to indie 6:12 - Eastshade in a nutshell 8:52 - Designing a living world without combat 11:13 - Appeal vs fun; discovering the painting loop 15:43 - The “walking sim” problem 18:06 - Explainer trailers 19:50 - Grizzly Games team size and roles 21:20 - Market research, scraping Steam 27:32 - Eastshade sales and budget breakdown 28:55 - Full voice acting 31:18 - Environment art fundamentals 36:03 - Performance strategy 43:35 - Composing “hero shots” 44:40 - Unique landmarks, modular tilesets 49:41 - tiny open worlds; Glimmerwick’s world 51:11 - What makes a good quest 54:29 - Case study: the island mystery 56:03 - Glimmerwick’s budget, team, and timelines 57:35 - Glimmerwick’s origin and the “one captain per game” rule 59:49 - Positioning in the witchy/magic-school space 1:03:00 - Early reception: wishlists, betas 1:06:41 - From free camera to fixed 1:13:58 - Prototyping adventure games 1:20:02 - Locks and keys done right (Outer Wilds) 1:26:18 - Magic systems in Glimmerwick: spells, farming, potions 1:28:31 - Tech art pipeline and approach to writing 1:31:38 - Marketing; word of mouth 1:36:20 - Time system innovation: “event pucks” 1:40:57 - Why time makes worlds feel alive 1:43:21 - YouTube strategy: audience, impact, and shorts 1:49:12 - Turning illustrations into worlds 1:53:48 - Where to start with an adventure game 2:04:07 - Replacing combat: a merchant-driven adventure idea 2:11:06 - Glimmerwick status: wishlists, demo, conversion 2:12:22 - Show the verbs: improving the store page 2:16:37 - Marketing plans and development status 2:18:10 - Designing satisfying non-combat endings; Eastshade’s farewell 2:22:48 - Glimmerwick’s ending approach: reunion and nostalgia 2:25:26 - YouTube ROI and streamlining devlogs 2:31:10 - Thumbnails, hooks, and careful advice 2:32:42 - Game quality vs marketing; reading Steam’s middle class 2:34:18 - Game show idea, “friend slop,” trends vs art, and co-op 2:38:38 - Wrap-up My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

I turned the Steam into a video game. Can you guess how successful a game is just by looking at its store page? This is my Chrome plugin "Review Guesser" where you have to guess the number of reviews of random games on Steam. I added a new game mode and open sourced it on GitHub for all of you to try. Get my Review Guesser Chrome Extension on GitHub: ➤ https://github.com/LooveToLoose/Jonas-Review-Guesser Listen to my game dev podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with @zoroarts8930, a young solo dev who managed to land an indie hit with his co-op game Paddle Paddle Paddle. We talk about that success, how to potentially replicate it and also about the role of luck. Links to my Guest ➤ YouTube Channel: @zoroarts8930 ➤ Paddle Paddle Paddle on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3570070/Paddle_Paddle_Paddle/ ➤ Makis Adventure on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1843110/Makis_Adventure/ ➤ Rogue Jungle on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2352850/Rogue_Jungle/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:09 - Path Into Game Dev 4:49 - Maki’s Adventure Postmortem 9:15 - Building a Level Editor 15:40 - From Rogue Jungle to Paddle Paddle 17:59 - 3-Hour Prototype and Viral Validation 20:21 - Two-Week Demo, Streamers, and Early Momentum 21:39 - Publisher Deal, IGN Feature, and Wishlist Velocity 24:00 - Shipping in 4 Months; Reviews and Netcode 25:21 - Graphics vs Gameplay: Stylized Jank 26:54 - Capsule Art and Voice-Over Trailer That Converted 28:46 - Playtesting and Bug-Free Launch 30:58 - Handling Hate and Prioritizing Fun 33:13 - Networking: Photon Fusion, Shared Boat, Prediction 39:24 - Passion vs Business: Making Games for a Living 41:57 - Balancing Heart and Market 48:45 - Future Plans: Small Games and a 3D Sequel 49:50 - Sales Momentum, Regions, and a Major Update 51:44 - Working With Assemble and Filtering Spam 54:20 - Pitching Devolver, Publisher vs Self-Funding 56:23 - Investing in Audio: Composer Plans, Budget, and Impact 59:28 - Influences: Pokémon OST; Learning From Others 01:07:24 - Can You Repeat a Hit? 01:11:14 - Luck: How Much It Matters and How to Reduce It 01:18:43 - Early Flops, Iteration, Strong Steam Pages, and Being First 01:22:25 - Launch Day: Hitting Publish, Friday Strategy, and Early Sales 01:27:03 - When the Right Game Markets Itself + Next Steps 01:31:20 - Rogue Jungle 01:39:52 - Outro My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

I turned the Steam into a video game. Can you guess how successful a game is just by looking at its store page? This is my Chrome plugin "Review Guesser" where you have to guess the number of reviews of random games on Steam. It's surpisingly interesting and highly educational for game developers. Enjoy! Get my Review Guesser Chrome Extension on GitHub: ➤ https://github.com/LooveToLoose/Jonas-Review-Guesser Listen to my game dev podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with Stephen Huang from @isto_inc. They made games such as "Get to Work" and "Atrio: The Dark Wild", each game more successful than the last. Sptephen tells his story and shares his best advice on how to grow your game dev success long term. Links to my Guests ➤ On YouTube: @isto_inc ➤ Get to Work on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2706170/Get_To_Work/ ➤ Atrio: The Dark Wild on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1125390/Atrio_The_Dark_Wild/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 0:52 - From Microsoft to making the first game 2:49 - Disjoint’s gameplay 4:28 - Paid mobile launch flop 6:25 - $30k total; hard lessons and humility 10:45 - Starting Isto Inc; choosing automation-survival (Atrio) 13:50 - Why picking a good idea is so hard 15:29 - Atrio architecture (Zenject) 17:58 - COVID, starting the YouTube 19:56 - Early Access launch 21:54 - A lucky break: Atrioc and the Xbox exclusive deal 23:58 - 1.0 goes a bit better 25:04 - Atrio postmortem: hook too abstract 26:06 - Art/style didn’t signal the automation audience 27:32 - "We didn’t validate early" (and why that hurt) 30:06 - Learnings for next time 34:36 - From Atrio to Get To Work; the key‑remapping fiasco 36:42 - Building Isto Core: reusable systems 40:35 - Pitching Atrioc: data, strategy, and a rage game idea 44:49 - How they got Atrioc to care (Reddit bits, rapport) 46:43 - Standing out in easy‑to‑make genres 49:44 - Get To Work explained: a flowy rage platformer 54:32 - Story focus and landing CDawgVA 01:02:06 - Skipping Next Fest for streamer momentum 01:05:55 - Wishlists via YouTube and what streamers value 01:12:00 - Launch plan: hold Atrioc; run a speedrun contest 01:14:36 - Designing the Hat sequence for streams 01:18:37 - Many paths to success; regional surprises (KR/China) 01:21:11 - 3‑part postmortem framework 01:25:57 - YouTube vs Steam 01:27:16 - Engineering the speedrun comp—and the viral video 01:32:33 - YouTube as insurance; leveraging big videos for sales 01:35:55 - Build your channel vs courting creators 01:47:08 - Short‑form vs long‑form videos 01:48:34 - The “Idea Gap”: from “cool” to “I must play this” 01:50:52 - Pivoting the next game; streamers as partners 01:54:25 - The four most streamable genres 01:58:58 - Next up: online co‑op multiplayer 02:01:17 - Think long‑term; add one big skill per game 02:05:28 - Closing My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with Julian Colbus from DigiTales Interactive, the creators of Lacuna and Between Horizons. We talk about regrets from their last game, how to succeed with story based games and how to make it as an indie game developer. Links to my Guest ➤ Lacuna on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1364100/Lacuna__A_SciFi_Noir_Adventure/ ➤ Between Horizons on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1921980/Between_Horizons__A_SciFi_Detective_Adventure/ ➤ The Great Sassanelli on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2195490/The_Great_Sassanelli__An_Interactive_Novel/ ➤ Unburied Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1911240994/unburied?lang=de ➤ DigiTales Interactive (More Links): https://digitales.games/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:01 - Building Without Marketability in Mind 2:04 - Making “Detective” Readable at a Glance 3:33 - The Market Shift: 2021 vs 2024 4:24 - 3D vs 2D: Cost, Detail, and Personality 6:20 - Modernizing Point-and-Click 7:57 - Growing Team and Scope (and Losing Creative Control) 12:23 - Elegance Over Features 14:24 - Lessons from Cheap Horror Hits: Nail the Hook, Skip the Fluff 15:11 - The Essence of Detective Games 17:38 - Solution Inputs That Resist Guessing 20:33 - “Choices Matter” 24:16 - Semi-Open World Detectives: Combinatorial Explosion 26:46 - What Makes a Good Story in Games 28:00 - Selling Story Games via Setting; Be Oddly Specific 34:05 - Design by Committee vs Strong Vision 36:57 - Studio History and Team Scaling 39:49 - Becoming a Publisher 41:26 - New Business Plan: Smaller, Cheaper, More Frequent Releases 42:18 - Stepping into Survival Horror (and Why) 43:30 - Survival Horror’s Proven Formula and Feel 45:20 - Disempowerment and the Illusion of Scarcity 49:45 - Next Detective Game 52:09 - The Second-Game Slump: Causes and Fixes 56:45 - Don’t Make Direct Sequels as an Indie (Most of the Time) 01:00:50 - Steam Cross-Promotion: “From the Creators of…”, Bundles, Discounts 01:03:59 - Writing Better Dialogue 01:10:27 - Make the Story the Gameplay 01:14:57 - Hidden Mysteries and Multiple Active Cases 01:17:53 - Open-Ended Inputs vs Bespoke Reactions 01:21:48 - Dialogue System: Custom Tool, Booleans, and Logs 01:29:40 - Make It Obvious: Premise, Key Art, and Core Loop at a Glance 01:31:44 - Descriptive Trailers and Demos That Filter Buyers 01:36:45 - Screenshot Best Practices 01:39:22 - Design for Trailer Moments 01:41:36 - Budgets and Team Sizes: Why Mid-Size Struggles 01:44:53 - Indie Math: Real Costs and Platform Cuts 01:49:29 - Scope Discipline: Focus Saves Money and Quality 01:50:25 - Team Composition: Be Selective 01:52:31 - Work with Equals or Better; Pragmatic Dev Beats Over-Engineering 01:55:42 - Know What’s Possible (and Where AI Helps) 01:59:21 - Marketing in the For-You Era: Authenticity and Hooks 02:06:09 - Creator Outreach That Works (and Tools to Do It) 02:11:30 - Wrap-Up and Plugs: The Great Sassanelli, Socials, Unburied My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with Kathrin Radtke from Spellgarden Games, the tiny development team behind Sticky Business and Ritual of Raven. We talk about making successful cozy games, scope, marketing and more. Links to my Guests ➤ Sticky Business on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2303350/Sticky_Business/ ➤ Ritual of Raven on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2066520/Ritual_of_Raven/ ➤ Spellgarden Website (Social Media links etc): https://spellgardengames.com/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 0:41 - Why People Play Cozy Games 2:28 - Cozy Games on Steam: Size and Growth 5:06 - What Makes a Game Cozy? 7:08 - Spellgarden Origins and Sticky Business in 5 Months 10:20 - From Idea Board to 3‑Week Prototype, TikTok Devlogs 12:38 - Finding Ideas in Trends, Hobbies, and ASMR 14:09 - Designing Stickers with Stickers + Low‑Pressure Creativity 17:12 - Steam Page, Viral Tweet, and Finding a Publisher 19:51 - TikTok Strategy: Language, Algorithm, Results 22:36 - Turning Social Posts into Wishlists 24:31 - Why Simple Concepts Market Better 27:05 - Smaller, Clearer Projects and When to Share 30:05 - Will Spellgarden Stay in Cozy Games? 32:05 - Why “Work” Simulators Feel Relaxing 34:13 - Designing for Intrinsic Motivation (Not Scores) 40:01 - Ritual of the Raven: Automation and Coding 43:52 - From Concept to a Big Narrative 45:28 - Managing Scope Under Publisher Milestones 47:31 - Progression Across Regions, Tutorials, and Pacing 49:20 - Marketability vs Vision and What’s Next 51:11 - Crafting Ritual’s Art Style with One Artist 52:54 - The Pacing Problem in Automation Games 55:20 - Making Designs Click and the Cost of Lock‑In 59:46 - Advice for Aspiring Cozy Devs and Testing Interest 01:03:35 - How They Playtest Cozy and Creative Games 01:07:44 - Marketing Cozy Games: Platforms, Demos, Events 01:11:04 - Sticky Business DLCs: Why, How, and Backlash 01:17:29 - DLCs vs Early Access and Player Expectations 01:22:51 - Post-Launch Support and Cozy Recommendations 01:26:26 - Outro My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a conversation with Timo Falcke and Zwi Zausch, two of the devs at Toukana Interactive, the developers of Dorfromantik and Star Birds. This is a game dev success story with some theory crafting about how to potentially reproduce an outcome like this. Links to my Guests ➤ Star Birds on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2719750/Star_Birds/ ➤ Dorfromantik on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1455840/Dorfromantik/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 0:35 - Meet Toukana Interactive & Dorfromantik 1:28 - Founding the studio and shipping Dorfromantik in a year 4:17 - Early Access launch: Next Fest momentum, streamers, and the Steam algorithm 7:46 - The itch prototype and Ludum Dare origins 8:27 - Expectations vs reality on launch day 11:45 - Prototyping many ideas and choosing Dorfromantik 16:49 - Building a unique look: trees, outlines, and shader tricks 18:44 - Visual inspirations and tips for finding your art style 21:31 - Iterating the rules: rotation, edges, lakes, and quests 27:15 - Performance war stories: PC instancing to Switch optimization 38:07 - Early Access strategy, 1.0 launch, and getting featured 41:50 - How Steam featuring works (Steam reps and slots) 43:15 - Hiring after success and staying small by design 45:52 - Turning Dorfromantik into an award-winning board game 53:37 - Why the board game works (campaign, accessibility, depth) 57:48 - Partnering with Kurzgesagt and choosing Star Birds 01:06:20 - Who did what: Toukana vs Kurzgesagt on Star Birds 01:09:41 - Tech art & pipeline: 3D that looks like 2D, procedural asteroids 01:14:13 - Designing systems: logistics across asteroids and big economies 01:16:07 - No fail-state: keeping it chill and puzzle-like 01:19:13 - Scoring without time pressure (and the most hated achievement) 01:23:39 - Why Early Access again and the plan for Star Birds 01:26:44 - Community feedback, roadmap, and lots more content 01:29:53 - Moving launch for Silksong and the pricing debate 01:34:10 - Can success be reproduced? Sequel vs new IP 01:36:55 - What gets attention now: polish vs recognizable "trash" 01:39:00 - Two big levers: Steam visibility vs content creators 01:40:56 - Familiarity vs originality and making it readable at a glance 01:45:40 - Marketing realities, scope choice, and staying a lean team 01:49:49 - Our workflow: prototype, evaluate, refine, decide 01:54:04 - Appeal prototyping vs gameplay prototyping 01:55:54 - Appeal, player fantasy, define intrigue early 01:58:03 - Star Birds' appeal vs Kurzgesagt's high-tension vibe 02:01:03 - Narrative vs systems, constraints, and "polish what matters" 02:04:40 - Wrap-up My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

How do you make a successful indie game that actually sells on Steam? I claim that you don't need a gameplay hook for your game. Here is why and what you need instead. 0:00 - What I Mean With "Hook" 1:00 - Experience Over Hooks 3:34 - Why Hooks Are Dangerous 5:23 - Four Pillars of Game Dev Success 7:20 - The Actual Problem 7:54 - Some Solution Ideas 14:28 - Focus on The Correct Problem Listen to my game dev podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Cory Darby, a indie games strategist / profissional min-maxer and the co-creator of Click & Conquer, a game that with just 400 hours of work managed to turn over 100K in profits. We talk about how to optimize your Steam launch for maximum visibility and where the indie games industry on Steam is going. Links to my Guest ➤ No cost 30-Minute consultation: https://tidycal.com/ckdarby/biz-game-dev ➤ Cory on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThornityCo ➤ Click and Conquer on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3267900/Click_and_Conquer/ ➤ Analytics page Cory mentioned for Steam Stats: https://www.gginsights.io/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:11 - The 72-hour test: what the dataset shows 3:35 - Conversion is king: Steam’s fair-shot test and early thresholds 6:56 - Designing for conversion: page, trailer, and pricing 8:41 - Launch discounts and price psychology (40% for two weeks) 10:35 - The controversial post-launch price drop and “is it sleazy?” 13:38 - Pricing pitfalls: overpricing kills and you can’t A/B test 15:39 - Are prices trending down? Incremental economics 18:32 - When deep discounts backfire on perception 20:16 - Tags as targeting: choose the right seed audience 24:51 - Appeal and instant connection vs “just make a good game” 25:37 - Copy what works, add a twist (Cory’s approach) 28:47 - Picking a war theme via asset packs—and the backlash 31:57 - Mechanics and pacing by the numbers (Click & Conquer) 34:33 - Foot-pedal playtesting and auto-edited feedback 37:54 - Scaling with collaborations and purpose-built tools 44:58 - Riding trend waves: incrementals, co-op, and shop sims 48:42 - Co-op lineage (Lethal Company, etc.) and theme waves like trains 50:49 - Plotting by tags and where the data comes from 52:27 - Don’t be late: spot waves early (Gavin’s advice) 54:31 - Trend-chasing vs passion; blending genres and risk 58:28 - Building a 400-hour game: roles, hours, and timeline 01:00:37 - Why short projects lower risk and speed learning 01:04:31 - After the wave: adjacent bets and using reviews/AI 01:09:11 - Find genres with volume but mixed reviews; “Professional min/maxer” 01:13:55 - AI is already changing dev: agents as co-devs and toolbuilding 01:19:59 - Agents that use computers and play games; the inequality gap 01:29:04 - The upside: accessibility and the internet analogy 01:31:50 - Hot take: game dev shifts business-first; why AAA struggles 01:35:07 - A new model: many small AI-boosted teams (and acquisitions) 01:37:33 - Jonas’s stance: avoid AI art, use AI for code/tools; playtesting bottleneck 01:41:19 - AI as sounding board: design aid (color theory) and more 01:43:16 - “Soulless” vs soul: min-maxing as a creative pursuit 01:44:15 - Wrap-up My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Tyler F. Cloutier, co-founder and head of Clockwork Labs, who are building their MMO, Bitcraft Online, entirely in a database. They are making this database available for other developers under the name SpacetimeDB. It's a real time relational database that promises to massively simplify infrastructure required for both applications and games alike, almost like an operating system for the cloud. I'm very on board with their vision. Can it actually hold up? Let's have a look. Links to my Guest ➤ SpacetimeDB: https://spacetimedb.com/ ➤ Unreal Version is Out as well: https://github.com/clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB/releases/tag/v1.4.0 ➤ Bitcraft Online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3454650/BitCraft_Online/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:27 - What is SpacetimeDB? 7:24 - How SpacetimeDB is different 11:06 - Best use cases and limitations 15:55 - How it works: modules, reducers, transactions 19:34 - Publishing and hot-swapping server code 20:21 - Client model: reducers for writes; live queries and permissions 25:52 - Scaling and memory 28:40 - Per-match databases and the actor model 31:21 - Performance: reducer duration, locks vs MVCC, and offloading work 37:48 - Starter projects and analytics; community dashboards 41:12 - Authentication: OpenID Connect, Spacetime Auth, and Steam 46:07 - Platform philosophy: generalized vs specialized 51:25 - UGC and user-generated logic 55:05 - Origins, team structure, and optimization milestones 57:27 - Full history/time travel and postmortems 59:14 - Scaling by game type; video calling experiment and event tables 01:02:42 - Make it easy & LLM-friendly 01:07:48 - Comparing Firebase/Supabase/Vercel; why we built it 01:12:09 - Scheduled reducers, tickless servers, and timers as tables 01:13:57 - Matchmaking with SpacetimeDB (Underdogs VR, Postgres wire) and libraries 01:17:58 - Asynchronous multiplayer and efficiency 01:21:53 - Business model: self-hosting, Main Cloud free tier, licensing 01:26:48 - Avoiding vendor lock-in (SpatialOS lesson) 01:27:28 - BitCraft origins and vision 01:32:11 - Learning from veteran reviews; OSRS vs WoW philosophy 01:36:12 - Building costs, biggest design challenges, and live updates 01:39:43 - Core identity: simulating civilization, community, and expectations 01:42:35 - Outro My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ