A game dev podcast for (aspiring) indie game developers, hosted by a "professional". (I am behind the Steam titles Thronefall, ISLANDERS, and Will You Snail.) Because I don’t rely on the show for income, the vibe is relaxed with minimal monetization. We focus on hands-on indie development and occasionally branch into broader game-dev topics. Episodes are also available in video on YouTube.
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This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Johan Grönvall who managed to succeed with his debut game Bopl Battle in some part due to his TikTok and YouTube Shorts strategy, in other parts due to his analytical perspective and going above and beyond to serve a strong vision for his game.
This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest René Habermann who is behind games such as Domekeeper and PVKK (Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant), running a games studio called Bippinbits together with his wive. In this conversation we dive into how to validate your game ideas early.
2:05 - The Minimalist Approach to Game Development
3:09 - Using Validation Points to Succeed
4:10 - Fun vs. Appeal: What's More Important?
8:00 - The Crucial Role of "Fantasy" in a Game's Success
12:21 - How YouTubers Can Spark a Game's Success
17:10 - Can a Game Succeed Without Appealing Visuals?
19:39 - Why Did Dome Keeper Work So Well on YouTube?
23:08 - Designing for Yourself vs. The Market
26:26 - "Make a Game You Enjoy": Good or Bad Advice?
32:03 - Using Itch.io and Game Jams to Test Ideas
39:05 - Is it Possible to Enjoy the "Tryhard" Approach to Game Dev?
Make An Online Game That Lasts 30 Years
Thursday, July 31, 2025 • Duration 02:24:24
This is a Game Dev Podcast, today with my guest Benjamin Zuckerer from Cip Soft, the creators of Tibia, an MMO that has been under continuous operation and development for over 30 years. This is an entertaining and educational look behind the curtain of how to make and run online games that last for decades.
This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Gavin Eisenbeisz (Two Star) and your host Jonas Tyroller. In this episode I want to learn how to make wildly successful indie games that go viral a lot.
19:47 - Why High Action Games Are Bad For Retention
26:01 - Creating Brand Recognition
31:43 - Mass Content Ability
35:36 - When To Scrap Your Idea
37:35 - The No-Prototypes Approach
41:08 - Using The Trailer To Test Demand
44:36 - How Content Creators Line Up To Play Your Game
47:28 - Concept vs. Execution | What Matters Most
51:18 - Indicators That You're On Track
53:31 - Having Your Own YouTube Channel
59:14 - Learning and Theory Crafting | Why and How
1:04:38 - Gavin About Not Enjoying Game Dev As Much Anymore
1:08:40 - Gavin and I Compare Our Approaches
You (Probably) Can’t Trust Game Dev Formulas
Thursday, November 27, 2025 • Duration 01:49:51
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.
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?
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
The 3 Layers Every Online Multiplayer Game Runs On
Thursday, September 11, 2025 • Duration 02:25:36
This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Erick Passos from Photon Engine (Exit Games Inc.), a company that provides networking solutions and server architecture for online multiplayer games. I try to understand more about how how online multiplayer works in general and in particular how to use Photon's Quantum and Fusion to develop online games faster.
26:11 - Server Build, Shared Mode, and Architecture Clarified
28:04 - Anti‑Cheat in Quantum: Replays, Spectators, Server Sim
31:49 - Grow Gradually: From Zero Servers to Full Validation
34:38 - Under the Hood: Predict‑Rollback, Physics, ECS, AI
Making a Competitive Strategy Game Survive
Thursday, September 4, 2025 • Duration 01:58:46
This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Youge Wen, aka. "Bearlike", the lead developer of my favorite strategy game Mechabellum, published by Dreamhaven, the publisher and developer founded by Blizzard's Mike Morhaime. We talk about the death spiral for online multiplayer games, game design, balancing for Mechabellum and exchange some advice with each other.
16:04 - Should you make a competitive auto-battler? (Don’t)
19:26 - Live service pain and the death spiral
22:16 - One bad update can kill an indie PvP game
25:02 - Balancing philosophy: define goals, fun over variety
27:45 - Double red/green: when to nerf (win rate vs pick rate)
31:10 - Unit design with spreadsheets; emergent counters & guidelines
37:16 - Counters without tags; armor experiments and why they failed
How A Text-Only Game Became A Steam Hit
Friday, August 22, 2025 • Duration 01:13:34
This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Huw Millward the creator of Warsim: The Realm of Aslona, an entirely text based asci kingdom simulation game (that was written to a single code file with 700K lines of code).
10:10 - Procedural Generation and Emergent Stories
12:17 - The Throne Room’s Birth
17:11 - Roleplaying a ruler: many playstyles
20:59 - A 700k-line monolith
26:56 - Follow-the-fun workflow, 500 co-designers
31:16 - Moving beyond ASCII: new studio, higher stakes
33:12 - Text games: should you make them?
37:59 - Marketing a game with no graphics
42:42 - Word-of-mouth and biggest wins
This Young Solo Dev Built a Steam Hit in 4 Months
Thursday, November 13, 2025 • Duration 01:37:11
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.
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