24 September 2022

Latest batch of sprites for the expansion decks have arrived. Still have a little rules massaging to do yet - not sure if I want three or four decks total but leaning toward 4 (pioneers, natives, cryptids, & undead). Still a few more sprites to go for more variation, especially if I do go with 4 decks, and then the card backings and box art. But nearing the end!

Steam Curators: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

04 September 2022

Here's an article that covers common misconceptions regarding Steam Curator Connect, common Curator & email scams, and includes practical advice on identifying genuine curators/reviewers and protecting yourself.

22 August 2022

In my ongoing effort to support indie developers, I've created another article type: The bite-sized review. Full reviews sit around ~1500 words, which is potentially too long for the casual or chance reader, and curation sits at 200 characters, which is too short to get much information across. First Impressions are mostly designed for games in Early Access or particularly long games (RPGs) to help me get the word out faster. At 250-350 words, bite-sized reviews are designed to fill the gap between the three other review types.

05 July 2022

Haiku, the Robot is a metroidvania where you play as a robot in a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity has been wiped out and machines are all that remain. Haiku is Mr. Morris Games’ first game and it’s a pretty damn impressive debut into the industry.

With Twintertainment, Daisy Games, RBOR Games, and RD Interactive

16 April 2022

I absolutely love delving into game design philosophy, and that’s what this interview is all about. I take great pleasure in introducing Martin Firbacher of Daisy Games; Wade Adams from Twintertainment; Mhmd Subhi from RD Interactive; and Nic Ford & Michael von Korff from RBOR games. These developers were chosen because they are responsible some of the most creative, well-developed puzzle games that I’ve played in recent years, and so I am extremely grateful that they were kind enough to share their time and knowledge with us. We go into quite a bit of detail through the interview, so it’s a long one. But if you’re interested in becoming a puzzle game designer or want to include some puzzles in your non-puzzle games, or maybe you want to learn more about those developers and their amazing games or possibly you’re just a game design nerd like me, read on!

XX July 2022

This article came about because, as a reviewer, I found that many indie devs – particularly those for whom English is an additional language – were sending me their games when they actually needed people to help test their game. In this article I briefly explain the difference between the three main phases of game testing; system, alpha, and beta; and as always, I’ll be adding some practical tips to help you get the most out of your testers.

This article will feature in Indie Game Picks' upcoming book, Into The Indies.

04 April 2022

Skeleton Scramble is a simple to learn but difficult to master game and is surprisingly nuanced. While chatting to the dev about strategies, I got a bit excited and accidentally wrote this three page guide. Happy gaming!

28 February 2022

The team’s still balancing and tweaking some of the mechanics but otherwise Wigmund's now all but content complete. Even in its current state, the game’s a lot of fun and I wanted to know more about it, so: Joining me today is Ioan Lazu; software engineer and game designer with The Scholastics, joins me to have a chat about soon-to-be released ARPG Wigmund.

11 February 2022

Now First Person Shooters (FPS) aren’t my normal jam – I’m more of a roleplayer – but I grew up with games like Doom and Wolfenstein, the sequels of which I still enjoy playing, and some of my absolute favourite games (Far Cry and Bioshock!) are FPS games. So I am a fan of the genre but those games need to work hard to impress me. I had never heard of Kingdom of the Dead (KotD) before it appeared in my review queue so I went in completely open-minded. And impress me, it did.