A Game Dev Podcast With Jonas Tyroller

tyrollerjonas

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.

  1. 2 GG FA

    Their Second Game Did Worse, Now What?

    This is a conversation with Julian Colbus from DigiTales Interactive, the creators of Lacuna and Between Horizons. We talk about regrets from their last game, how to succeed with story based games and how to make it as an indie game developer. Links to my Guest ➤ Lacua on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1364100/Lacuna__A_SciFi_Noir_Adventure/ ➤ Between Horizons on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1921980/Between_Horizons__A_SciFi_Detective_Adventure/ ➤ The Great Sassanelli on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2195490/The_Great_Sassanelli__An_Interactive_Novel/ ➤ Unburied Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1911240994/unburied?lang=de ➤ DigiTales Interactive (More Links): https://digitales.games/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:01 - Building Without Marketability in Mind 2:04 - Making “Detective” Readable at a Glance 3:33 - The Market Shift: 2021 vs 2024 4:24 - 3D vs 2D: Cost, Detail, and Personality 6:20 - Modernizing Point-and-Click 7:57 - Growing Team and Scope (and Losing Creative Control) 12:23 - Elegance Over Features 14:24 - Lessons from Cheap Horror Hits: Nail the Hook, Skip the Fluff 15:11 - The Essence of Detective Games 17:38 - Solution Inputs That Resist Guessing 20:33 - “Choices Matter” 24:16 - Semi-Open World Detectives: Combinatorial Explosion 26:46 - What Makes a Good Story in Games 28:00 - Selling Story Games via Setting; Be Oddly Specific 34:05 - Design by Committee vs Strong Vision 36:57 - Studio History and Team Scaling 39:49 - Becoming a Publisher 41:26 - New Business Plan: Smaller, Cheaper, More Frequent Releases 42:18 - Stepping into Survival Horror (and Why) 43:30 - Survival Horror’s Proven Formula and Feel 45:20 - Disempowerment and the Illusion of Scarcity 49:45 - Next Detective Game 52:09 - The Second-Game Slump: Causes and Fixes 56:45 - Don’t Make Direct Sequels as an Indie (Most of the Time) 01:00:50 - Steam Cross-Promotion: “From the Creators of…”, Bundles, Discounts 01:03:59 - Writing Better Dialogue 01:10:27 - Make the Story the Gameplay 01:14:57 - Hidden Mysteries and Multiple Active Cases 01:17:53 - Open-Ended Inputs vs Bespoke Reactions 01:21:48 - Dialogue System: Custom Tool, Booleans, and Logs 01:29:40 - Make It Obvious: Premise, Key Art, and Core Loop at a Glance 01:31:44 - Descriptive Trailers and Demos That Filter Buyers 01:36:45 - Screenshot Best Practices 01:39:22 - Design for Trailer Moments 01:41:36 - Budgets and Team Sizes: Why Mid-Size Struggles 01:44:53 - Indie Math: Real Costs and Platform Cuts 01:49:29 - Scope Discipline: Focus Saves Money and Quality 01:50:25 - Team Composition: Be Selective 01:52:31 - Work with Equals or Better; Pragmatic Dev Beats Over-Engineering 01:55:42 - Know What’s Possible (and Where AI Helps) 01:59:21 - Marketing in the For-You Era: Authenticity and Hooks 02:06:09 - Creator Outreach That Works (and Tools to Do It) 02:11:30 - Wrap-Up and Plugs: The Great Sassanelli, Socials, Unburied My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

    2 h 13 min

  2. 23 OTT

    Making a Cozy Game Hit in 5 Months

    This is a conversation with Kathrin Radtke from Spellgarden Games, the tiny development team behind Sticky Business and Ritual of Raven. We talk about making successful cozy games, scope, marketing and more. Links to my Guests ➤ Sticky Business on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2303350/Sticky_Business/ ➤ Ritual of Raven on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2066520/Ritual_of_Raven/ ➤ Spellgarden Website (Social Media links etc): https://spellgardengames.com/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 0:41 - Why People Play Cozy Games 2:28 - Cozy Games on Steam: Size and Growth 5:06 - What Makes a Game Cozy? 7:08 - Spellgarden Origins and Sticky Business in 5 Months 10:20 - From Idea Board to 3‑Week Prototype, TikTok Devlogs 12:38 - Finding Ideas in Trends, Hobbies, and ASMR 14:09 - Designing Stickers with Stickers + Low‑Pressure Creativity 17:12 - Steam Page, Viral Tweet, and Finding a Publisher 19:51 - TikTok Strategy: Language, Algorithm, Results 22:36 - Turning Social Posts into Wishlists 24:31 - Why Simple Concepts Market Better 27:05 - Smaller, Clearer Projects and When to Share 30:05 - Will Spellgarden Stay in Cozy Games? 32:05 - Why “Work” Simulators Feel Relaxing 34:13 - Designing for Intrinsic Motivation (Not Scores) 40:01 - Ritual of the Raven: Automation and Coding 43:52 - From Concept to a Big Narrative 45:28 - Managing Scope Under Publisher Milestones 47:31 - Progression Across Regions, Tutorials, and Pacing 49:20 - Marketability vs Vision and What’s Next 51:11 - Crafting Ritual’s Art Style with One Artist 52:54 - The Pacing Problem in Automation Games 55:20 - Making Designs Click and the Cost of Lock‑In 59:46 - Advice for Aspiring Cozy Devs and Testing Interest 01:03:35 - How They Playtest Cozy and Creative Games 01:07:44 - Marketing Cozy Games: Platforms, Demos, Events 01:11:04 - Sticky Business DLCs: Why, How, and Backlash 01:17:29 - DLCs vs Early Access and Player Expectations 01:22:51 - Post-Launch Support and Cozy Recommendations 01:26:26 - Outro My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

    1 h 27 min

  3. 16 OTT

    Tiny Team, Huge Sales (Dorfromantik & Star Birds)

    This is a conversation with Timo Falcke and Zwi Zausch, two of the devs at Toukana Interactive, the developers of Dorfromantik and Star Birds. This is a game dev success story with some theory crafting about how to potentially reproduce an outcome like this. Links to my Guests ➤ Star Birds on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2719750/Star_Birds/ ➤ Dorfromantik on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1455840/Dorfromantik/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 0:35 - Meet Toukana Interactive & Dorfromantik 1:28 - Founding the studio and shipping Dorfromantik in a year 4:17 - Early Access launch: Next Fest momentum, streamers, and the Steam algorithm 7:46 - The itch prototype and Ludum Dare origins 8:27 - Expectations vs reality on launch day 11:45 - Prototyping many ideas and choosing Dorfromantik 16:49 - Building a unique look: trees, outlines, and shader tricks 18:44 - Visual inspirations and tips for finding your art style 21:31 - Iterating the rules: rotation, edges, lakes, and quests 27:15 - Performance war stories: PC instancing to Switch optimization 38:07 - Early Access strategy, 1.0 launch, and getting featured 41:50 - How Steam featuring works (Steam reps and slots) 43:15 - Hiring after success and staying small by design 45:52 - Turning Dorfromantik into an award-winning board game 53:37 - Why the board game works (campaign, accessibility, depth) 57:48 - Partnering with Kurzgesagt and choosing Star Birds 01:06:20 - Who did what: Toukana vs Kurzgesagt on Star Birds 01:09:41 - Tech art & pipeline: 3D that looks like 2D, procedural asteroids 01:14:13 - Designing systems: logistics across asteroids and big economies 01:16:07 - No fail-state: keeping it chill and puzzle-like 01:19:13 - Scoring without time pressure (and the most hated achievement) 01:23:39 - Why Early Access again and the plan for Star Birds 01:26:44 - Community feedback, roadmap, and lots more content 01:29:53 - Moving launch for Silksong and the pricing debate 01:34:10 - Can success be reproduced? Sequel vs new IP 01:36:55 - What gets attention now: polish vs recognizable "trash" 01:39:00 - Two big levers: Steam visibility vs content creators 01:40:56 - Familiarity vs originality and making it readable at a glance 01:45:40 - Marketing realities, scope choice, and staying a lean team 01:49:49 - Our workflow: prototype, evaluate, refine, decide 01:54:04 - Appeal prototyping vs gameplay prototyping 01:55:54 - Appeal, player fantasy, define intrigue early 01:58:03 - Star Birds' appeal vs Kurzgesagt's high-tension vibe 02:01:03 - Narrative vs systems, constraints, and "polish what matters" 02:04:40 - Wrap-up My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

    2 h 5 min

  4. 2 OTT

    Min-Maxing Your Steam Launch

    This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Cory Darby, a indie games strategist / profissional min-maxer and the co-creator of Click & Conquer, a game that with just 400 hours of work managed to turn over 100K in profits. We talk about how to optimize your Steam launch for maximum visibility and where the indie games industry on Steam is going. Links to my Guest ➤ No cost 30-Minute consultation: https://tidycal.com/ckdarby/biz-game-dev ➤ Cory on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThornityCo ➤ Click and Conquer on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3267900/Click_and_Conquer/ ➤ Analytics page Cory mentioned for Steam Stats: https://www.gginsights.io/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:11 - The 72-hour test: what the dataset shows 3:35 - Conversion is king: Steam’s fair-shot test and early thresholds 6:56 - Designing for conversion: page, trailer, and pricing 8:41 - Launch discounts and price psychology (40% for two weeks) 10:35 - The controversial post-launch price drop and “is it sleazy?” 13:38 - Pricing pitfalls: overpricing kills and you can’t A/B test 15:39 - Are prices trending down? Incremental economics 18:32 - When deep discounts backfire on perception 20:16 - Tags as targeting: choose the right seed audience 24:51 - Appeal and instant connection vs “just make a good game” 25:37 - Copy what works, add a twist (Cory’s approach) 28:47 - Picking a war theme via asset packs—and the backlash 31:57 - Mechanics and pacing by the numbers (Click & Conquer) 34:33 - Foot-pedal playtesting and auto-edited feedback 37:54 - Scaling with collaborations and purpose-built tools 44:58 - Riding trend waves: incrementals, co-op, and shop sims 48:42 - Co-op lineage (Lethal Company, etc.) and theme waves like trains 50:49 - Plotting by tags and where the data comes from 52:27 - Don’t be late: spot waves early (Gavin’s advice) 54:31 - Trend-chasing vs passion; blending genres and risk 58:28 - Building a 400-hour game: roles, hours, and timeline 01:00:37 - Why short projects lower risk and speed learning 01:04:31 - After the wave: adjacent bets and using reviews/AI 01:09:11 - Find genres with volume but mixed reviews; “Professional min/maxer” 01:13:55 - AI is already changing dev: agents as co-devs and toolbuilding 01:19:59 - Agents that use computers and play games; the inequality gap 01:29:04 - The upside: accessibility and the internet analogy 01:31:50 - Hot take: game dev shifts business-first; why AAA struggles 01:35:07 - A new model: many small AI-boosted teams (and acquisitions) 01:37:33 - Jonas’s stance: avoid AI art, use AI for code/tools; playtesting bottleneck 01:41:19 - AI as sounding board: design aid (color theory) and more 01:43:16 - “Soulless” vs soul: min-maxing as a creative pursuit 01:44:15 - Wrap-up My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

    1 h 45 min

  5. 26 SET

    Build an Online Game In a Simple Database

    This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Tyler F. Cloutier, co-founder and head of Clockwork Labs, who are building their MMO, Bitcraft Online, entirely in a database. They are making this database available for other developers under the name SpacetimeDB. It's a real time relational database that promises to massively simplify infrastructure required for both applications and games alike, almost like an operating system for the cloud. I'm very on board with their vision. Can it actually hold up? Let's have a look. Links to my Guest ➤ SpacetimeDB: https://spacetimedb.com/ ➤ Bitcraft Online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3454650/BitCraft_Online/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:27 - What is SpacetimeDB? 7:24 - How SpacetimeDB is different 11:06 - Best use cases and limitations 15:55 - How it works: modules, reducers, transactions 19:34 - Publishing and hot-swapping server code 20:21 - Client model: reducers for writes; live queries and permissions 25:52 - Scaling and memory 28:40 - Per-match databases and the actor model 31:21 - Performance: reducer duration, locks vs MVCC, and offloading work 37:48 - Starter projects and analytics; community dashboards 41:12 - Authentication: OpenID Connect, Spacetime Auth, and Steam 46:07 - Platform philosophy: generalized vs specialized 51:25 - UGC and user-generated logic 55:05 - Origins, team structure, and optimization milestones 57:27 - Full history/time travel and postmortems 59:14 - Scaling by game type; video calling experiment and event tables 01:02:42 - Make it easy & LLM-friendly 01:07:48 - Comparing Firebase/Supabase/Vercel; why we built it 01:12:09 - Scheduled reducers, tickless servers, and timers as tables 01:13:57 - Matchmaking with SpacetimeDB (Underdogs VR, Postgres wire) and libraries 01:17:58 - Asynchronous multiplayer and efficiency 01:21:53 - Business model: self-hosting, Main Cloud free tier, licensing 01:26:48 - Avoiding vendor lock-in (SpatialOS lesson) 01:27:28 - BitCraft origins and vision 01:32:11 - Learning from veteran reviews; OSRS vs WoW philosophy 01:36:12 - Building costs, biggest design challenges, and live updates 01:39:43 - Core identity: simulating civilization, community, and expectations 01:42:35 - Outro My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

    1 h 43 min

  6. 18 SET

    Marketing Indie Games as a Developer vs. Publisher

    This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Phiomena Schwab, co-founder/CEO of Stray Fawn Studio, the creators of The Wandering Village, Dungeon Clawler, Nimbatus and Niche. She's the head of Stray Fawn's new publishing branch and she co-founded the Swiss Game Hub, a co-working space for game developers. We talk about what it takes to make successful games, community building, early access, publishing and women in game dev. Links to my Guest ➤ Bootcamp games: Check out the games and leave a comment https://swissgamehub.itch.io/ ➤ More learnings from Stray Fawn: https://strayfawnstudio.com/insights/ ➤ Website: https://strayfawnstudio.com/ ➤ X: https://x.com/PhilomenaSchwab ➤ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/philomenaschwab.bsky.social Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 1:17 - Game vs. Marketing 3:06 - Early Hits and Studio Formation 5:14 - From Hobby Team to Studio 6:43 - Community Building & Kickstarter 9:31 - EA to 1.0 With Community Push 11:16 - Finding First Fans & Adjacent Communities 15:55 - The Wandering Village: Fantasy-First 19:15 - Rapid Prototyping: Art vs. Gameplay 23:32 - Team Alignment & Genre Conventions 26:19 - Meaningful “Evil” Choices In Games 31:25 - Why Build in Public 32:23 - Kickstarter: When to Run or Skip 32:29 - 1.0 Bet: Localization, Delays & Beta Iteration 35:27 - Shifting to Small Bets 36:37 - Small-Project Playbook & Premium Mobile Sim-Ship 40:10 - Publishing Arm: Why & What Failed 42:18 - Publishing Is Mostly the Game 45:00 - Publishers, Funding & Deals 46:17 - Selecting Games & Avoiding Pitch Limbo 53:05 - What Publishers Evaluate: Demo, Proof & Better vs. Different 57:35 - Choosing Genres With Demand 59:50 - Bootcamp Validation & Itch Metrics 01:02:20 - Swiss Game Hub: 140-Dev Community 01:05:17 - Dungeon Clawler: “Claw Machine” Origin & Breakout 01:11:04 - Clones, Stolen Assets & Mobile Pitfalls 01:13:29 - What’s Next: Small Games, Story & Studio Votes 01:15:55 - Small Teams Fit; Brand Risk 01:18:49 - YouTube: Niche Passion vs. Mass Appeal 01:21:57 - Talking to Players & Moderation 01:24:06 - Own Your Audience: Newsletters, Discord & Events 01:28:33 - Swiss Game Dev Association & Many Hats 01:29:34 - Many Hats & Mental Load 01:33:19 - Wandering Village 1.0: Wishlist Conversion & Discounts 01:34:20 - Early Access vs. 1.0: Outcomes & Timing 01:35:38 - Why 1.0 Underperformed: Consoles, Genre & EA Length 01:39:27 - Post-Launch Priorities: Updates, Stretch Goals & Roadmaps 01:41:07 - Gender Balance, Role Models & Hiring 01:45:06 - Message to Future Women Game Devs 01:45:43 - Outro My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

    1 h 46 min

  7. 11 SET

    The 3 Layers Every Online Multiplayer Game Runs On

    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. Links to my Guest ➤ Photon Engine: https://www.photonengine.com/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 0:17 - The 3 Layers of Multiplayer Tech 4:56 - Photon’s Products Across the Stack 6:54 - Transport Layers & Steam Relay Limitations 8:02 - Fusion vs Quantum + Designing for the Envelope 10:36 - Start from the Top: When Transport‑Only Makes Sense (MMOs, Server Logic) 15:53 - From PUN to Modern Netcode + Notable Games 21:21 - State Replication vs Determinism Explained 24:49 - Why Shooters Prefer Client‑Server (Lag Comp, Interest Mgmt) 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 38:32 - No Ring Buffer: Constant‑Time Rollbacks 45:28 - Testing Online, Tooling, and Community 46:15 - When to Use Fusion Instead of Quantum 50:29 - Performance: Verified vs Predicted, Clamps & Culling 52:34 - Bots, Matchmaking Math, and AI Costs 56:49 - AI Design: Verified‑Only Planning + Operational Prediction 58:02 - Verified‑Only Code Paths & Performance Targets 01:01:48 - Time Slicing AI for Stability 01:02:52 - RTS in Quantum: Flow Fields, Culling, and Use Cases 01:09:19 - Lockstep vs Prediction: Why He Avoids Lockstep 01:12:04 - Handling Rollback Spikes with Scheduling Tricks 01:13:05 - Auto‑Battlers: Verified‑Only + Snapshot Interpolation 01:15:29 - Hidden Info & Simultaneous Decisions; Server‑Gated Commands 01:21:35 - Using Quantum Offline? Licensing & Terms 01:25:03 - Determinism, ECS, and Quantum’s Hybrid Tables 01:29:22 - Could There Be a Deterministic Engine Built on Quantum? 01:31:08 - Cross‑Engine Experiments & Engine Integrations 01:35:42 - Open Worlds: Fusion Player‑Hosted vs Quantum 01:37:10 - Quantum for Open Worlds: Voxels, Persistence, NavMesh, Procgen 01:46:08 - Where Engines Stand on Multiplayer (Unreal, Unity, Source) 01:51:32 - Pricing: Free 100 CCU and Scaling Costs 01:54:45 - Long‑Tail Costs & Keeping Servers Alive 01:57:40 - Game Preservation: LAN, Offline, and Local Servers 02:04:48 - What’s New: Fusion 2.1, Quantum 3.1, Unreal Betas 02:05:55 - First Multiplayer? Start Small and Prototype 02:08:12 - Prototyping: Quantum vs Fusion (Shared Mode) 02:10:30 - From Prototype to Production: Managing Complexity 02:14:11 - What Makes a Multiplayer Hit? Trends vs Design 02:16:29 - Fusion’s New Physics Forecasting 02:17:47 - Riding vs Making Trends (Landfall’s Streak) 02:21:02 - Dogfooding: Prototyping to Improve the Tools 02:24:26 - Closing & Thanks My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

    2 h 26 min

  8. 4 SET

    Making a Competitive Strategy Game Survive

    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. Links to my Guest ➤ Play Mechabellum on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/669330/Mechabellum/ Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): ➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/ 0:00 - Intro 0:43 - Jonas on Mechabellum; how it was made? 1:13 - Two-person start in 2017; Mahjong/poker prototypes 4:53 - No moving units, Go’s influence, fixing Round 1 snowball 8:36 - Avoiding RTS snowball: equal income and reborn units 11:36 - Unity choice; simple, low-latency networking design 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 41:27 - Tech design, tradeoffs, complexity vs fun; balancing techs 46:56 - If you insist on PvP auto-battlers: know your goals 49:50 - Technical constraints and scoping to your team 52:03 - Monetization and positioning competitive strategy games 58:00 - External shocks; start with PvE; Bazaar-style offline PvP 01:00:15 - Fewer players and shorter matches to reduce concurrency 01:03:37 - Marketing, Early Access pitfalls, Battle Aces; co-op PvP prototype 01:08:08 - Managing community negativity and inevitable mistakes 01:12:56 - Balancing PvE: ensure tool use; buff enemies, not players 01:17:00 - Keeping old versions via Steam branches 01:19:23 - PvE/co-op opportunities; Thronefall co-op and saying no 01:25:51 - Scoping, minimal art, and fast content pipelines 01:26:52 - Meta shifts as side effects 01:28:54 - Team size; Out of Hand; art style and marketing lessons 01:33:07 - Mechabellum roadmap; armor hopes; expanding the universe 01:36:37 - Business reality: support what earns; risk vs reward 01:38:07 - Randomness vs determinism: upsets, styles, and info gaps 01:45:01 - Designing perceived fairness: RPS illusion and football 01:50:23 - Jonas’ next game; staying small; freelancers vs growth 01:54:17 - Endless Mode learnings and map persistence idea 01:58:10 - Wrap-up My game "Thronefall": ➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/ ➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8 ➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview My game "Will You Snail": ➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/ ➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK For the game developers among you: ➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ

    1 h 59 min
Elenco completo (13)

Descrizione

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.

Informazioni

  • Creatore
    tyrollerjonas
  • Anni di attività
    2025
  • Puntate
    13
  • Classificazione
    Contenuti espliciti
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Sito web del podcast
    A Game Dev Podcast With Jonas Tyroller
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