openindie - An indie dev Podcast

DreamHack is back in Hannover in 2022 (#DHHAN22). Apart from all the great eSports titles, there is also an indie area. 

We had the chance to talk to Mateo Covic, solo-dev from Germany who is exhibitiing his first game Makis Adventure at the DreamHack. It´s a fun little jump and run with a twist - the player can smoothly transition between humanoid and shark form to solve small puzzles, find secets and earn money to spend on powerups and gear.

Makis Adventure is set to release on Steam on January 18th as self published title by Mateo.

As always, have fun listening :) 

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us to help our little indie podcast grow.

Did you ever want to design, build, and program your own working Game Boy? 

I sure did. Maybe like me you are also lacking the necessary soldering, airbrushing and programming skills or simply don’t have the time or the space for a fully fletched electronics workshop. Then you will have a blast with Retro Gadgets from studio Evil Licorice. Iv talked to Marco Di Timoteo, Luca Marchetti and Marco Bancale about their game, how they got into programming and the gaming industry in Italy and Iceland.

As always, have fun listening :) 

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us to help our little indie podcast grow.

Dome Keeper has a lot going for it: stylish pixel art with great atmosphere, resource management, mixed with mining and exploration and a dash of tower (dome) defense and with rogue like elements. It released on Steam released 27th of September 2022. Iv had the chance to talk to indie studio Bippinbits founder and main developer René abouth the road to Dome Keeper, his passion for games development, the situation for indie devs in Germany and future plans and updates for Dome Keeper.

As always, have fun listening :) 

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us to help our little indie podcast grow.

We Stay Behind is currently in development by Backwoods Entertainment. If a town is doomed in a few days, normally, everyone would leave. But the people in this game don't.

Find out, why they don't leave, interview them and get behind this mystery. Marcus Bäumer - Game Designer, Writer and Programmer at indie studio Backwoods Entertainment met us at Gamescom and talked to us about the influences on the game, 

challenges and what parts of the game he´s really proud of.

Today we look at the point´n click-mystery-adventure Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit which mostly takes place in Lithuania.

That east-European country shares a border with Poland, Belarus, Latvia und Kaliningrad and it’s the home country of the indie-dev-studio Tag of Joy, who made the point´n click-adventure Crowns and Pawns.

I’d got the chance t talk to one of the founders Šarūnas Ledas. He told me about why they chose point´n click, (why they worked together with a historian) and how Lithuania is like for indies.

As always, have fun listening :) 

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us to help our little indie podcast grow.

The narrative adventure "Ruth’s Journey" is being developed by three friends who are calling themselves "Nifty Llama Games".

They too are presenting their game at the Dutch indie-event INDIGO. We had the chance to talk to the Creative Director Leander Burger who told us all about their upcoming game and their situation as indie-devs.

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us.

We interviewed two more indie-developers who are presenting their games at INDIGO, an event happening in the Netherlands. 

"Billy Bumbum: A Cheeky Puzzler" is being developed by the solo-dev Jonathan Barbosa Dijkstra who founded a studio called Frambosa. Finally a game with farts in it!

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us.

INDIGO is taking place in the Netherlands - an event where indies come together to present their games and network, like "Studio Mantasaur".

They are currently working on a puzzle game called "All Hands on Deck". It's a game you can play in local co-op with a friend. Both of you play as one hand each and have to work together to solve puzzles. 

The Lead Designer is Manou IJpelaar and Sarah had the chance to chat with her!

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us.

Today we have four special episodes for you! There's a gaming event taking place in the Netherlands called INDIGO where indies gather to present their games and network.

Four dutch indies took some time before the event to talk to us.

The indie studio MIG is first in line!

I talked to the programmer Nathan Nieuwenhuizen, to the environment artist Joyce van der Zon and the character artist Kai Calis.

Their are currently working on "What's Missing" - a surreal puzzle game.

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us.

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 the game but he just needs enough supporters on Kickstarter to get started. 

In this episode we asked Arik how his second beer game will differ from the first and how he started out as an indie dev. 

As always, have fun listening to this new episode of openindie :) 

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us.

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 openindie Thomas shares his story of how he came up with this unique blend of voice control and atmospheric puzzle game, how he got started as an indie dev and how to make hug sound juuuuuust right.

As always, have fun listening to this new episode of openindie :) 

If you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us.

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 our awesome guests in 2021. Enjoy the holiday season, stay safe, be kind to each other and talk to you next year.

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, if you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us.

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, have fun listening to this new episode of openindie :) 

Also, if you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu and tell your friends (and also your enemies) about us.

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 studio from mobile games to Console and PC.

As always have fun listening to this new episode of openindie :) 

Also, if you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu.

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, if you want to find more info's about this game and our previous guests, visit us at www.openindie.eu.

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-episode of openindie - more Gamescom talks will follow soon.

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 MAGIC: The Gathering Creator Richard Garfield to co-design Roguebook and how it is to develop games in Belgium. As always, enjoy listening to our podcast.

At www.openindie.eu you will find infos about us, the indie devs and games we have covered so far.

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 phase, Hrvoje found the time to talk to Sarah about the history of his studio, their new game and why it is a good idea to develop games in the beautiful country of Croatia.

At www.openindie.eu you will find infos about us, the indie devs and games we have covered so far.

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 Square Thunder, their inspiration for The Lightbringer and gives valuable tips for fellow indie dev´s and those soon to be.

We hope you enjoy our new episode of openindie!

At www.openindie.eu you will find all info's about us, the indie dev´s and games we have covered so far.

Der schweizer Entwickler Michel Ziegler (Studio Hidden Fields) hat grade sein sehr atmosphärisches Spiel "Mundaun" veröffentlicht. Mit Sarah spricht er unter anderem über Motivation als Solo-Entwickler, Einflüsse beim Entstehungsprozess von Mundaun, die Vorteile einen Publisher zu haben und seine Pläne nach dem Release. 

Wie immer viel Spaß beim Zuhören!

Ihr findet unseren Podcast auf Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts und Anchor. Auf unserer Website www.openindie.eu könnt Ihr mehr über unsere Gäste und die besprochenen Spiele erfahren. Um uns zu supporten, geht auf patreon.com/openindie

In der dritten Folge stellen drei Freunde (Sarah, Iv, Ben) Ihre drei Lieblingsspiele vor. Dabei stellen sie fest, dass sich im Spiele Pile of Shame echte Indie Perlen verstecken können.

Gesprochen wird über: Synthetik, Shortest Trip to Earth, Iratus: Lord of the Dead, Into the Breach, Slay the Spire, Darkwood, Hotline Miami und Hades.

P.s.:

Auf Reddit gibt es unter /r/openindie einen Thread zu dieser Folge. Stimmt Ihr unserer Spielewahl zu? Habt Ihr weitere Indie-Perlen die hier fehlen? Wir freuen uns auf eure Nachrichten!

P.p.s:

Unter www.openindie.net gibt´s Infos zu den vorgestellten Spielen (googeln könnt Ihr natürlich auch).

Das war´s jetzt aber wirklich.

Wie immer viel Spaß beim Zuhören. 

Heute ist Steve Crouse von den Pixel Maniacs zu Gast bei openindie. Ihr Partyspiel "Can´t Drive This" hat einen langen Weg hinter sich: Von einem drei Tage Gamejam Projekt, über den unerwarteten Erfolg nach einem Kotaku Artikel, der langen Steam Early Access Phase (damals noch Greenlight), bis hin zum bevorstehenden Release. Puh! - Von den Eindrücken dieser Reise, dem Werdegang der Pixel Maniacs, Förderung durch den FFF Bayern und ihrem nächsten Projekt "Escape the Loop" erzählt uns Steve.

Viel Spaß beim Zuhören!

In der openindie Premiere spricht Sarah mit Stephan Wirth Studio Lead & Co-Founder bei den Gentlymad Studios. Kurz bevor Ihr Spiel Endzone den Early Access verlässt, erzält uns Stephan von den Anfängen des Studios und wie es so ist von einem größeren Publisher übernommen zu werden. 

Viel Spaß beim hören!