You (Probably) Can’t Trust Game Dev Formulas

This is a conversation with my game dev friend and former collegue Friedemann Allmenröder. We created ISLANDERS together, he then went on to make many more fantastic indie games such as Pizza Possum, Summer House and recently Slots & Daggers. In this conversation with dive into the philosophy of game dev creativity and I try to understand more about how Fridemman's process for making hit games looks like these days.

Links to my Guests

➤ Slots & Daggers on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3631290/Slots__Daggers/

➤ Summer House on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2533960/SUMMERHOUSE/

➤ Portfolio Website: https://allmenroeder.com/

➤ Twitter/X: https://x.com/Friedemann_A

Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.):

➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/

0:00 - Better At Games, Worse At Advice

1:20 - Appeal × Retention As Core Formula

3:35 - Beyond Visuals: Many Kinds Of Appeal

5:05 - “Make Something Almost Too Small”

6:35 - Finding The Fresh but Familiar Twist

8:19 - Useful vs Pointless Innovation

11:07 - Why Clear Formulas Break Down

13:20 - Intuition As Compressed Rules

15:05 - Training Taste With Good “Data”

18:30 - Creativity As Remix, Not Creation

20:07 - Labeling What You Like And Why

22:22 - Missing Discourse On Creative Work

23:56 - Ideas vs Execution In Modern Dev

24:35 - Origin Story Of Slots & Daggers

27:21 - Why So Many Gambling-Like Games?

29:20 - Randomness, FOMO And Accessibility

32:07 - Farm Game, Weekend Prototype, Publisher Test

36:10 - Six-Week Jam To Seven-Month Project

41:46 - What “Execution” Really Means

45:36 - Sculpting Ideas And Minimalism

49:55 - First Prototype And Sketchy Pixel Style

52:24 - Unity Lighting, Bloom And Cheap Coherence

55:28 - “Everything Must Animate” Philosophy

1:00:22 - Fast Polish With DOTween

1:02:36 - Sound Design, SFX Packs And Screen Shake

1:05:22 - Visual Feedback Instead Of Text

1:08:06 - Reused Tech, Wiggly Leaves And The Famous Glass

1:10:27 - Building A Strong Tabletop Vibe

1:15:25 - Color, Post-Processing And Mood Swaps

1:18:53 - Dangers Of Overdoing Post-Processing

1:22:01 - Marketing Starts With An Appealing Game

1:24:45 - Publishers, Demos And Next Fests

1:30:17 - No Secret Hacks, Just Good Basics

1:35:11 - Is The Indie-Pocalypse Real?

1:38:47 - Dopamine Farming And Attention Economy

1:42:10 - Will Quiet Games Come Back?

1:43:56 - What To Make After A Loud Game

1:44:47 - Game Recs: Rainy Season And Eastshade

1:48:43 - Outro And Future Catch-Ups

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