Honest Indies Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This bonus episode sorts is the first and last episode of the show that won't have a guest. I thought it would be fun to have a test of my own medicine by answering my own questions and providing some more context of who I am to all of you.

The May episode will feature Allie Wu of Monsoon Games (Merry Crisis), June will be welcoming Jenny Windom (Wholesome Games, Geeks & Grounds, Soft Not Week), and later this summer Tanat Boozayaangool (Building Relationships).

Homework for the next ep = checkout the written interview with Allie before listening to the second interview with her :)

Time codes: 0:00 – Intro & growing up gaming.

4:35 – Starting to read about games and think of making them.

7:25 – Giving up games and struggling through college.

13:00 – Code Coven and trying to break into the industry.

15:30 – Starting Honest Indies

xoxo Chris

I got to catch up with an old mentor of mine to discuss their journey to game dev, exploring early access, and the state of working in the industry.

Play the game for yourself: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1582380/Midautumn/ And if you play it, leave a review.

Checkout the work being done by United Video Game Workers: https://uvw-cwa.org/

The TTRPG Kickstarter for Spirit Swap that we mentioned: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/softnotweak/spirit-swap-a-slice-of-life-ttrpg

Time codes: 0:00 – Intro & growing up gaming in southeast Asia.

15:05 – Moving to California and going to school for game dev.

23:00 – Waiting through immigration and breaking into the industry.

29:00 – Code Coven, Soft Not Week, being Sherveen's student.

40:00 – Career shift as the pandemic hit.

45:00 – Developing Midautumn and growing during early access.

xoxo Chris

I was lucky enough to with the Creative Director and Co-Founder of prettysmart games, Dr. Miko Charbonneau, shortly after the release of the studio's latest title, The Spirit Lift.

We talked about the many somewhat obscure consoles Miko grew up with access to, a $10,000 camera starting on fire, running a remote indie studio, making games with your partner, and dive deep into The Spirit Lift.

The first video episode of the podcast wasn't intended to be the second episode, so there will still be at least one audio-only release coming up. But with The Spirit Lift have just released a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to get this one out asap.

Checkout the game for yourself: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727590/THE_SPIRIT_LIFT/

And if you play it, leave a review. And keep up with prettysmart games: https://prettysmartgames.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d15c1d7b2930908cb83c6143c&id=e2923b14a7

Time codes:

0:00 – Intro & celebrating the release of The Spirit Lift.

4:09 – Learning about Miko's gaming history from early consoles to grad school.

15:51 – Interning at Microsoft, meeting her husband at work, and starting prettysmart games.

34:00 – Sharing personal stories through art, diving into family history & doing prettysmart full-time.

38:30 – Starting The Spirit Lift backstory; building out the remote studio, establishing company culture, what led to this game.

44:36 – Shouting out everyone's work on the game & going into pure The Spirit Lift talk the rest of the way.

1:34:20 – Wrapping up, Shouting out the Minn Max ICE Out fundraiser. Take care of each other.

xoxo Chris

This release is long overdue. I had the pleasure of chatting with the Creative Director and Co-Founder of Kitten Cup Studio, Saffron Aurora.

We talked about formative childhood games, university in Canada, breaking into the industry, starting the studio, and a Capy Castaway. Stay for the very end for a detailed, inside baseball chat about Pekoe remaining in Early Access.

While I have been a part of several different podcasts for a few years, none of those have been around since 2020. So please bear with me on getting my recording setup & audio settings more locked in. Things will never be perfect but hopefully as I get more into the swing of things, they'll steadily improve.

Give Capy Castaway a wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2890240/Capy_Castaway/

Checkout Pekoe in early access: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1626350/Pekoe/https://store.steampowered.com/app/1626350/Pekoe/

And keep up with Kitten Cup Studio: https://kittencupstudio.com/

Time codes:

0:00 – Intro, learning about Saffron's early gaming memories.

10:21 – Arts high school, going to university to learn to make games, making "a hat that vibrates."

14:10 – Ubisoft Next, early career experiences.

16:50 – Stacking things on your head in Capy Castaway

18:40 – Back to Ubisoft chat & getting a job.

20:30 – Working at Impossible Things, making AR apps.

21:50 – The inspiration for Pekoe and starting Kitten Cup Studio.

23:40 – Capy Castaway deep dive (minus a quick dog interruption). Discuss influences on the game. Love letter to Toronto.

52:47 – Pekoe early access chat. Going inside baseball on why the game hasn't hit 1.0 yet. xoxo Chris