Spel·Cast

Screenshot of Nordic Games Conference Livestream For our fourth conversation Keith and John from Cga Studio Games joined us on the interview couch, talking about their game / simulation Virtual Driving School, sharing details about driving tests in the UK, supporting a whole zoo of peripheries and how to survive as a studio for more than 20 years. Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com Nordic Games Conference: https://nordicgame.com Cga Studio Games: https://www.cgastudio.games Virtual Driving School: http://cgastudio.cgasimulation.com/sheet.php?p=virtual_driving_school

Screenshot of Nordic Games Conference Livestream Our third interview we conducted with Anna & the Basti Boys (surprisingly without Basti himself) talking about their university project Corporate Cut, how the team members got together and how the team got its name. Other topics: game world design, quirky characters, creative process and … the future! Enjoy! Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com Nordic Games Conference: https://nordicgame.com Hairington Games on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hairington-games Corporate Cut on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3250150/Corporate_Cut_The_HairRaising_Adventure_of_an_Office_Employee/ Corporate Cut in itch: https://ico98.itch.io/corporate-cut

Screenshot of Nordic Games Conference Livestream Second on stage we had Clara and Lukas of PiPaPo Games. We talked about their upcoming title MapMap – A Game About Maps, how they come up with ideas, what their learned about cartography, the importance of gender and representation and their future plans. Also, Sascha is repeatedly using the word basically – even up to three times in one sentence. Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com Nordic Games Conference: https://nordicgame.com PiPaPo Games: https://pipapo.games Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pipapogames/

Screenshot of Nordic Games Conference Livestream Marcus was our first interview partner at Nordic Games Conference 2024. Early in the morning we talked about his upcoming game Journey Beyond the Edge of the World, his relationship to the sea, synthesizers, sound design and cinematography. Here are some links to things we have been talking about: Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com Nordic Games Conference: https://nordicgame.com Markus’ website: https://io.markuskoepke.com Journey Beyond the Edge of the World: https://io.markuskoepke.com/games/journey-beyond Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markuskoepke/ Gogmagog: https://angryrobotbooks.com/books/gogmagog/ A Short Hike: https://adamgryu.itch.io/a-short-hike

For the last six months it has been pretty quiet around Spel·Cast. You thought, this young cast would be dead already … well, SURPRISE! Spel·Cast is back with a special episode from A MAZE Berlin 2023! Brian, Leene, Mari-Anna, Mareike, Trent and Sascha – all homies or past homies of Spelkollektivet – huddled together around a microphone in the back room of the festival restaurant and spoke about the significance of planting seeds in a community garden, the importance of cleaning your toys as well as what hugging a box feels like. Here are some links to things we have been talking about: Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com A MAZE Festival: 2023.amaze-berlin.de Games at A MAZE 2023: 2023.amaze-berlin.de/nominees/

The guest, Olly, shares how making tea inspired her game Tea Alchemy. Topics include knitting, crocheting, macramé differences, and insights on the war in Ukraine.

Christopher Entzenberg was the first new homie that I personally welcomed right after he arrived. In this Spel·Cast episode we talk about the games of the Eldrum series that Christopher has been working on before coming to the house. Other topics include the difficulties of breaking with old habits, how to be an author and what being new at the Spelkollektivet feels like. Here are some links to things we have been talking about: Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com Spelskaparna: spelskaparna.com Act None Studios: www.actnone.com Eldrum – Untold: eldrum.com/untold Eldrum – Red Tide: eldrum.com

This week we speak to Jay – one of the returning homies at Spelkollektivet – who is part of indie studio Arcade Oven. At the time of recording almost the whole team was residing at Spelkollektivet (except for one person). They are working on Hotel Magnate, a hotel and resort management simulation, currently in early access. Join us as we are talking about taking responsibility in the house, why some artists are just not good at graphic design and the impact of having elevators in your tycoon game. Here are some links to things we have been talking about: Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com Arcade Oven: arcadeoven.com Hotel Magnate (Steam): store.steampowered.com/app/832360/Hotel_Magnate/ Mareike (Twitter): twitter.com/MareikeReh

In this episode we speak to Leene Künnap, whose studio Placeholder Gameworks – after the indie success Death & Taxes – is now taking on two games at once: The pixel art strategy game Broken Alliance as well as the fantasy merchant crafting game Craft Craft. She tells us about the joy of experiencing TrainJam 2019, how Death & Taxes was released during a global pandemic and how you can get more confident with Karaoke. Here are some links to things we have been talking about: Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com Placeholder Gameworks (web:): placeholder.games Leene (Twitter): twitter.com/LeeneOfficial Oak: twitter.com/Oakenwarrior Death & Taxes (itch.io): placeholdergameworks.itch.io/death-and-taxes Broken Alliance (Steam): store.steampowered.com/app/1704180/Broken_Alliance/ Train Jam: trainjam.com

This week, Michal Roch – one of the earliest homies at Spelkollektivet – is telling us about, how he stumbled upon the house three years ago and transitioned from business analyst to game developer. In the last months he and his team have been finishing up Lords & Villeins, a very systems-heavy simulation game that is going to be released very soon. We compare, how presenting the game publicly at different stages of development feels like, the pros and cons of early access, but also what might come next, after the release of the game. Here are some links to things we have been talking about: Spelkollektivet: www.spelkollektivet.com/ Lords & Villeins: lordsandvilleins.com/ Fulqrum Publishing: www.fulqrumpublishing.com/ Stugan: www.stugan.com Digital Dragons: digitaldragons.pl/ Poznan Game Arena: gamearena.pl/