indie game garden

Today I’m joined by Osama Dorias, a veteran game designer and one of the co-founders and Creative Director of HeartLoop Games, an indie studio Osama helped bring to life in 2025. Osama has spent more than two decades in the games industry, working at well-known development studios like Gameloft, Ubisoft, Warner Brothers Montreal, Unity, Blizzard, and Brass Lion. He’s also spent years teaching game design at Dawson College in Montreal.

Now, with HeartLoop, Osama is helping create the game he’s always wanted to make: Polyfighter, a single-player roguelike fighting game where players are empowered to step into a ring where every victory rewards them with an opportunity to learn a new move, reshape their fighter’s style, and climb through escalating leagues.

Go play Poly Fighter! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3977340/Poly_Fighter/
And check out HeartLoop's website: https://heartloopgames.com/

Dan DiIorio is the solo game developer behind Luck Be a Landlord, Maze Mice, and What’s the Password? Dan is a generous soul who loves games and sharing in the collective play experiences they have the unique capability of creating.

Find everything we talked about on the show and more on Dan's website :) https://trampolinetales.com

Badger Punch Games was founded by Ricki Sickenger and Henning Ludvigsen back in 2011. Both Ricki and Henning are Norwegian game developer veterans and have worked and had fun together since they met in the Amiga Demo scene way back in 1993. Now they are creating games they love for the retro platforms they grew up with, like the Commodore 64 and Amiga line of computers. They also make modern games, but always with a retro foundation and their own passion and love for the interactive experiences that have been with them throughout their lives. It’s such an honor to have Ricki and Henning on the show today to discuss their newest game, Roguecraft – a turn-based roguelike dungeon crawler with elements of Lovecraftian horror that they first made to run natively on the Amiga and is now getting a Steam release. We’ll also hear more about their origins in games and their longtime collaboration that has become Badger Punch.

Check out the Roguecraft DX Steam page! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3674680/Roguecraft_DX/
Find the rest of Ricki and Henning's collaborative work on the Badger Punch website: https://www.badgerpunch.com/

And follow them on socials :)
https://x.com/badgerpunch

https://bsky.app/profile/badgerpunch.com

https://www.facebook.com/badgerpunch/

https://www.threads.com/@badgerpunchgames

https://www.instagram.com/badgerpunchgames/

Before Scott Christian was making games, he helped bring musical theater productions to life. A composer, pianist, conductor and musical director, Scott built a career across the Canadian performing-arts scene, with credits ranging from Once, Shrek and The Addams Family to original musical theater and work in composition for stage, film and other media. He also trained in piano and composition at the University of Toronto and York University. When the pandemic brought live performance to a standstill, Scott took the opportunity to help found Hilltop Studios. Hilltop’s first game, Lil’ Guardsman, is an award-winning, character-driven comedy built around Scott’s writing and music. Now, with Curse of Resthaven, Scott has taken Hilltop in almost the opposite direction: from bright fantasy comedy into gothic horror, while taking on the roles of studio director, narrative designer, and composer. It’s such an honor to have Scott join me for a conversation today!

Wishlist Curse of Resthaven right freaking now!! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3796150/Curse_of_Resthaven/
And play the demo for free: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4661280/Curse_of_Resthaven_Demo/

Find all the other cool stuff Scott and team are up to at their website: https://www.hilltop.so/

Yann Margan, who is also known by his solo development studio name–Goloso Games– is an independent game developer from France who focuses on making narrative adventure games. His most recognizable character in this genre is Inspector Waffles, a hardboiled cat detective whose games feature creative puzzles, accessible clue-finding missions, and plenty of feline puns. Yann has also expanded the Inspector Waffles universe and genre style over the years, creating Inspector Waffles Early Days (an original GameBoy Color game which tells a prequel story featuring the intrepid detective), Spike II (on Panic’s handheld Playdate console), Chance’s Lucky Escape (another Playdate game), and Waffles’ Cranked Stories (coming soon to Steam). It’s an honor to welcome such an innovative artist onto the show today.

WISHLIST Antenna Dilemma: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3853730/Antenna_Dilemma/
WISHLIST Waffles' Cranked Stories: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4018520/Waffles_Cranked_Stories/

Inspector Waffles! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1055850/Inspector_Waffles/
Inspector Waffles: Early Days https://store.steampowered.com/app/2614580/Inspector_Waffles_Early_Days/
Yann's Playdate Games! https://play.date/games/studios/com.golosogames/
Visit the Goloso Games website to keep up with Yann's great work :) https://www.golosogames.com/

Follow Yann on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golosogames/
& Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/golosogames.bsky.social

Mike Bithell is an independent gamemaking titan who I am absolutely honored to get to talk to today. In 2010, he created the prototype for his breakout game, Thomas Was Alone, which saw a commercial release in 2012. Thomas is my favorite PS Vita game that I still play to this day, a graphically simple and philosophically layered platformer that shows what indie video games can be. When Thomas took off, Mike founded his own studio, Bithell Games, and has been making stellar games ever since. Some of his more recent games that strike a particular chord with me are The Solitaire Conspiracy–a supercharged take on classic Solitaire featuring a narrative of near-future espionage–and John Wick Hex–an outrageously stylish, action-oriented strategy game that was created in close collaboration with the creative teams behind the films. Mike is on today to discuss the announcement of his newest project Vampirium: 1997 and chat with me about his life and work. 

WISHLIST VAMPIRIUM: 1997 – https://store.steampowered.com/app/4035190/Vampirium_1997/
Find all of Mike's important links: https://linktr.ee/bithellgames
Sign up for the mailing list to read the novela! https://mailchi.mp/bithellgames/thenextgame
Read the back issues of Mike's novella set in the Vampirium universe: https://www.bithellgames.com/thelastportrait
North Star Rising, Mike's radio play: https://www.northstarcrew.com/
For all your other Bithell games needs, visit their site! https://www.bithellgames.com/

Doot is an indie game dev working on small cute games. He and his partner Blibloop are the developers behind Froggy’s Battle, Minami Lane, Kabuto Park, and the upcoming Milki Delivery, in addition to many more freeware games. In Milki Delivery, the player is tasked with rebuilding a community alongside their pet cow Milki. To do so, players will gather resources and upgrade their barn, then bike along dirt paths, breezy meadows, and seaside cliffs to bring fresh milk back to the sleepy countryside. This kind of lyrical, cozy description only begins to describe Doot’s delightful style, a mixture of message-driven cuteness and mechanical delight that filters throughout all the interactive experiences that he makes. It’s such a joy to have him on the show today!

WISHLIST Milki Delivery on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4259360/Milki_Delivery/
Check out the rest of Doot's commercial catalogue: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44914288
And links to everything else you can imagine: https://linktr.ee/dodoot

Melanated Game Kitchen is a co-op studio and collective of BIPOC game creators focused on the creation and curation of unique interactive experiences revolving around culture. Fittingly, they run a game jam series called "Culture Bytes.” Every quarter they host the jam, and the theme of each jam is something that is relevant to members of the connected diasporas they represent. It’s an honor to have Creative Director Timothy Staton-Davis on the show today to discuss MGK’s mission, goals, and outlook on games and the folks that create them.

Join MGK or Inquire About Business Opportunities! https://mgamekitchen.notion.site/About-Us-Services-27fdf32a14aa801fbb9ad48b56701270

MGK on Itch! https://melanatedgamekitchen.itch.io/
MGK Newsletter! https://itch.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=b4ca6cd4e18b897a9b55ffd37&id=1c86b86412

Tim's personal site: https://beacons.ai/timstatis
MGK on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dh46nqnxce2azkpmkcgozyda
MGK on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOB_265ZPEAHwLJglYNiZGg

Clock Out at 2 on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3235690/Clock_Out_at_2/ (produced by Borderless Studios, a studio that got started at the Game Kitchen and is part of their collective)

More games from MGK to check out!!
Duppy Detective Tashia: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1958800/Duppy_Detective_Tashia/

Beatdown City Survivors: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3383040/Beatdown_City_Survivors/

Ourlands: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2074470/Ourlands/

Gravity's Edge: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4353210/Gravitys_Edge/

Francisco González has been making adventure games since 2001. His Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator series became a cult hit on AGS forums and beyond, and once he finished the series in 2012, he decided to make games professionally. His first game, A Golden Wake, was published in 2014 by Wadjet Eye Games. He released his second game, Shardlight,  in 2016. In 2018, he released Lamplight City, published by Application Systems Heidelberg. His most recent release, Rosewater, is a thrilling western tale set in the world of Lamplight City. It includes strange technologies alongside classic western tropes while simultaneously stretching said tropes to new heights. It’s such a great example of what an adventure game can be, made by one of the foremost champions of Adventure Game Studio and the adventure game community at large. It’s such an honor to have Francisco on the show to talk about his life and work.

Play Rosewater! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1226670/Rosewater/
Check out the rest of Francisco's fantastic work on his website: https://www.grundislav.games/

Meredith's Gran's blog is dope: https://meredithgran.com/
Shout out Jay Tholen! https://jaytholen.net/
Gabriel Knight Games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Knight
The Animator's Survival Kit: https://archive.org/details/TheAnimatorsSurvivalKitRichardWilliams/mode/2up

Return of the Obra Dinn: https://store.steampowered.com/app/653530/Return_of_the_Obra_Dinn/
The Case of the Golden Idol: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677770/The_Case_of_the_Golden_Idol/
The Roottrees are Dead: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2754380/The_Roottrees_are_Dead/

Perfect Tides: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172800/Perfect_Tides/
Perfect Tides–Station to Station: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2088810/Perfect_Tides_Station_to_Station/
The Drifter: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1170570/The_Drifter/
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1182310/The_Excavation_of_Hobs_Barrow/

The Curse of Monkey Island: https://store.steampowered.com/app/730820/The_Curse_of_Monkey_Island/
The Day of the Tentacle: https://store.steampowered.com/app/388210/Day_of_the_Tentacle_Remastered/
Leisure Suit Larry 7: https://store.steampowered.com/app/765890/Leisure_Suit_Larry_7__Love_for_Sail/
Foolish Mortals: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1848440/Foolish_Mortals/

Julia Minamata is an artist and solo indie dev. She’s best known for The Crimson Diamond, an EGA text parser mystery adventure game where you play as mineralogist/reluctant detective Nancy Maple as she investigates increasingly mysterious happenings at The Crimson Lodge, a stately old house in the middle of a ghost town. EGA, for folks who don’t know, stands for Enhanced Graphics Adapter, which was a standard for PC displays introduced in 1984 that allowed for up to 16 colors on screen simultaneously. It was a major leap over the older 4-color CGA displays, bringing classic adventure games like King's Quest to life. These are the games that Julia was raised on. It’s an honor to hear more about her journey in this episode! 

Go play The Crimson Diamond! It's not to be missed: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1098770/The_Crimson_Diamond/

Follow and subscribe to Julia on Twitch! https://www.twitch.tv/a_maplemystery
And subscribe to Julia on YouTube for VODs and more: https://www.youtube.com/@JuliaMinamata
Check out The Round About Orchard (Over the Garden Wall Mini-Adventure): https://juliaminamata.itch.io/otgw

Earthrise: https://www.myabandonware.com/game/earthrise-vz/play-vz
Omnicron Conspiracy: https://www.myabandonware.com/game/omnicron-conspiracy-q1
The Colonel's Bequest: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_colonels_bequest
The Aching: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2295210/The_Aching/
Yuji Horii Mystery Trilogy! https://giantbomb.com/wiki/Franchises/Yuji_Horii_Mysteries