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