Nic Tringali is a game designer and director at Bithell Games, an independent game studio that specializes in sci-fi stories. Nic works at Bithell’s Lunar Division label. They are most known for The Banished Vault, John Wick Hex, and Sun Dogs, and have a particular interest in science fiction, tabletop and analog designs, and rich interactions between players and game systems. Nic’s most recent game, Amberspire, came out on Steam on May 6th. It’s a science fantasy dice city builder in which players are tasked with constructing buildings, managing resources, and building in harmony with an alien ecology atop the ruins of an abandoned moon. It’s an honor to have Nic on the show today to talk more about Amberspire and their perspective on making indie games.

Pick up Amberspire!! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350750/Amberspire/
Keep up with Nic on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:a7fta5rcdchq42rjf7op3p6j

Couldn't find the blog :(

Allen Goode is a co-founder of the startup FloWHOA, the game studio currently making Scallywags, a tactical crew management roguelike inspired by FTL and One Piece, where players quest to become Pirate Legends. Allen helped found FloWHOA in 2023, alongside Mike Schmalz. Although he wears a lot of different hats at FloWHOA, Allen’s main expertise is housed in his position as Creative Director – with over 20 years of experience working on mass-market, AAA, franchises such as Wayfinder, Warframe, Halo, Bioshock, SOCOM, and Company of Heroes.

SCALLYWAGS IS MAKING ITS DEBUT AT STEAM OCEAN FEST RIGHT NOW! Go play the demo and give it a wishlist :) https://store.steampowered.com/app/3770820/Scallywags/

Check out FloWHOA on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowhoa.inc/

Val Hawes is a 3D character artist, game-maker, and community organizer who embodies the exact kind of grassroots joy in games that Indie Game Garden strives to celebrate. Val specializes in stylized animals and creatures for the games that she works on. She’s been working in the games industry since 2016 and is passionate about game jams. So much so that she’s the chair for RVA Game Jams – Richmond, Virginia’s homegrown game dev community. She hosts a number of free games on her itch.io page and for her day job she works at Double Dagger Studio, the makers of Little Kitty, Big City.

Little Kitty, Big City: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1177980/Little_Kitty_Big_City/
Val's game jam games: valociraptor.itch.io

Char Putney is a writer from Dublin, Ireland who is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has quite possibly the most interesting career path I’ve read about to date, having worked for both Google and Facebook in management positions before deciding to leave those jobs to pursue a more creative lifestyle. Since then, Char has worked on Larian Studios’ Divinity series and Baldur’s Gate 3, wrote the award-winning indie game NUTS, and was Story Lead at Die Gute Fabrik, a Copenhagen-based game design studio. Char has lectured university classes on interactive fiction, RPGs and project management and spoken at a number of game conferences and game jams. When she’s not busy with all this cool stuff, she works as a creative yoga teacher and on her own creative writing projects. What’s more, Char recently cofounded the indie game studio NEON AURELIUS with her partner Martin Pichlmair. They're currently working on their first commercial release. It’s called Sparrow Warfare, a roguelite deckbuilder that features beautiful birds alongside Mahjong-adjacent strategy and lots of very weird stuff. It’s a treat. Just like it’s a treat to be talking to Char today.

Go wishlist & pickup & play & review Sparrow Warfare! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/Sparrow_Warfare/
Check out Char's website: alphachar.com
Watch the Sparrow Warfare documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ic-Z1-ya0

Char and Mar's card game preservation efforts! https://youtu.be/A_ZmJlrzVnw?si=enhCSg__jjs_QH1T
Check out Oaken Tower: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3692220/Oaken_Tower_Demo/

Dustin Andrews is the Lead Designer and Artist of HorrorVale, a miraculous and spooky turn-based RPG set in the underworld. The streets are crawling with Vampires, Ghouls, Ghosts, and more, and we’re so excited to have Dustin on for a conversation about horror, JRPGs, and the way pets can inspire creativity.

Go buy HorrorVale right dang now :) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1114650/HorrorVale/
Check out the HorrorVale website! https://horrorvale.net/about/
Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/3GDQJ9D

Dylan Smith founded the Fair Play Collective after being laid off from Epic Games...twice. This experience prompted him to ask the simple yet radical question: what if independent game developers could make a consistent living wage? What if these types of games were patronized by a community of appreciators just like other art forms? We discuss these questions and more on this week's episode. 

Check out Fair Play Collective's website! https://fairplaycollective.org/
Join Fair Play Collective's discord! https://discord.gg/2yNQVxDxtu
Read the "Manifesto" that started it all: https://fairplaycollective.org/manifesto

VICE article on FPC: https://www.vice.com/en/article/finally-a-manifesto-i-can-get-behind-the-fair-play-collective-looks-to-give-power-to-players-and-developers/
Support the journalist we mentioned in the episode, Shaun Cichacki: https://linktr.ee/shauncichacki

John Lansing’s solo development studio is called Eggplant Apps. John stepped away from his job as a staff software engineer at Uber because he had been tinkering with a prototype for a game that he just couldn’t get out of his head. That game, which would combine the classic turn-based tactics of Final Fantasy Tactics with the sport of Football, is called Fantasy Football Tactics – and, friends, it is a banger. The Football in this game is a fusion of the earth sports we know, combined with magical powers and turn-based action that makes the loop of the game feel astounding for sports-inclined nerds like me. It’s an honor to have John on the show to discuss gamemaking, sports, and the elegance of translating feelings into mechanics.

Wishlist Fantasy Football Tactics TODAY! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3035460/Fantasy_Football_Tactics/
Download and play the OUTSTANDING demo! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3958090/Fantasy_Football_Tactics_Demo/

Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games: https://www.youtube.com/@sora_sakurai_en

Jeremy Jackson’s game development process is all about joy and flow. His solo dev studio is aptly named JoyFlow Games, and he’s currently all in on making STAR SPARK, an anime tournament roguelite in which powerful characters unleash devastating combos and collect skills to topple their opponents in a series of turn-based battles. In STAR SPARK, Jeremy combines the mechanics of fighting games, roguelites, and JRPGs to create a product that is as engaging as it is unique. Beyond this commercial release, one glance at Jeremy’s itch.io page (jeremyjackson89.itch.io) shows how much whimsy and joy he brings to game development and collaboration with his peers. It’s such an honor to have Jeremy on the show today.

GO WISHLIST STAR SPARK! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3639950/Star_Spark/

dbz legendary super warriors longplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs48C67I81g
the game developer community Jeremy mentions: www.devpods.gg

Ryan Marr is a founding member of the startup FloWHOA, the game studio currently making Scallywags, a tactical crew management roguelike inspired by FTL and One Piece, where players quest to become Pirate Legends. Ryan helped found FloWHOA in 2023, alongside Allen Goode and Mike Schmalz. Before that, Ryan spent over 15 years at Digital Extremes, working his way through QA, QA management, System Design, and consulting. During that stint, he worked on games like Bioshock 2 and Warframe. In his spare time, Ryan is a hobbyist developer who has created hundreds of prototypes over the years. He’s also released some solo mobile games about goats. Ryan is a self-taught engineer and passionate creative. He embodies the values we love to celebrate here on Indie Game Garden by letting his joy and creativity blossom from his professional work all the way through to his family life. He even wrote a kid’s book and makes tabletop RPGs to play with his kids.

WISHLIST SCALLYWAGS!! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3770820/Scallywags/
Check out FloWHOA's Instagram for updates: https://www.instagram.com/flowhoa.inc/ (@flowhoa.inc)

Read Jason Schreier's book... https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/press-reset-jason-schreier/1137602697
Derek Yu and Klik & Play: http://gamemaker.io/en/blog/derek-yu-gm25
play domino grove... https://ezra-szanton.itch.io/domino-grove

Ezra Szanton is a joy to speak to. A game developer with a clear vision for elegant systems and the joy within them, Ezra is currently making Mr. Magpie's Harmless Card Game. It's a Minesweeper-esque horror rogue-like where you sit across the table from an office mascot that will kill you if you don’t fulfill your quota in the allotted time. I saw Ezra himself pitch the game on Bluesky as “Severance meets Inscryption.”

Please support Ezra and his games. He's one of the most insightful folks I've spoken with for the show to date and a true gem of a human.

Wishlist Mr. Magpie on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3616280/Mr_Magpies_Harmless_Card_Game/
Ezra's itch.io page! https://ezra-szanton.itch.io/

The Frank Lantz talk Ezra references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioSqEyZPkfs
Retromine: https://cicidigital.itch.io/retromine
Royals: https://ashervo.itch.io/royals
Holder of Place: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3464970/Holder_of_Place/
UFO 50: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1147860/UFO_50/