Why We Do the Games We Do

The game-making lessons we mentioned are:

Inscryption – A game’s mechanics don’t have to be novel in order to be worth playing or developing around
Luigi’s Mansion 3 – Puzzles should have feedback to guide the player. Meandering and luck are not satisfying game mechanics.
Doki Doki Literature Club – Video games can still be meta, even after Undertale. If the game’s conceit is unique, being meta isn’t necessarily a death sentence.

Welcome to the first episode of the Flyover Indies Podcast, where Kansas City area indie game developers chat about what we’re playing, what we’re learning, and what we’re making. On this first episode, get to know Jo, Charlotte, and Caleb by way of our game developer origin stories. Why do we make video games? Stick around until the end of the episode to hear team JoChar/CharJo battle it out with the Trivia Master in a game of On Awake().

The games we mentioned are:

Inscryption
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Doki Doki Literature Club

The mentioners of the aforementioned mentionables are:

Charlotte Trible (@ctrble) – co-founder of Flyover Indies and game developer
Jo Hanna (https://www.jovideogameshanna.com) – co-founder of Flyover Indies and game developer
Caleb J Ross (@calebjross.com / https://calebjross.com) – member of Flyover Indies and kinda game developer