House of Games #58 — Valiant Game Studios & Link In Bar

🎮🎙️ From consulting to programming, design, narrative, and more, tune in as we are joined by the talented Anna Högberg Jenelius 🌟, a jack of all trades in the games industry! 🕹️👾 Hear all about how she co-founded Link In Bar, her very own game studio, Valiant Game Studio 🎲🎨, and how she is now working on not only one but two games 🎉🎮 soon to be released! 🚀🌈 Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/house-of-games/message Chapters 00:00 Episode Intro 00:56 Introducing Our Guest 01:52 How Anna Splits Her Time 03:48 Does It Feel Like Consulting Distracts From Your Own Projects? 05:01 How Did Anna Get Into the Games Industry? 06:16 How Link In Bar Started 09:52 What Is the Purpose of Link In Bar? 10:57 How Did Anna Start Her Own Business? 13:19 What Software Does Anna Use? 14:55 How Did Anna Learn Unity? 15:41 How Do You Get to the Finish Line With Your Projects? 20:04 Work-Life Balance 22:41 The Journey of Creating ‘KreatureKind’ 26:19 The Influence of Marketing and Budget on Game Development 31:29 Reaching Your Target Audience 35:55 How Do You Learn Marketing? 39:10 Surviving and Making It Big as an Indie Dev 41:15 Does a Game Have To Be Completely Unique To Succeed? 48:12 The Writing Process and Worldbuilding for Games 52:23 Gameplay Is King 58:29 Which Field Does Anna Like the Most in Game Development? 59:55 The Day in the Life of a Game Developer 01:02:35 Episode Outro Your Hosts and Guest, and Their Games https://store.steampowered.com/app/1428090/KreatureKind/ — Wishlist KreatureKind on Steam! https://biosquare.earth/ — Visit the homepage for BioSquare! https://pendulaswing.com/ — Visit the homepage for Pendula Swing! https://store.steampowered.com/app/452120/Midvinter/ — Buy Midvinter on Steam! https://www.facebook.com/events/1347084562648581/ — Join us at Slaktkyrkan on February 2nd in Stockholm! https://www.linkinbar.com/ — Visit the homepage for Link In Bar! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2436180/Sunset_Moon/ — Wishlist Sunset Moon on Steam! https://www.play-asia.com/red-colony-trilogy/13/70fmjh — Buy the Red Colony trilogy on Switch! https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24596/Red_Colony_Uncensored_Threesome_Bundle/ — Buy the Red Colony trilogy on Steam! https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/knifeboy-rebooted-switch/ — Buy KnifeBoy on Switch! https://store.steampowered.com/app/889130/KnifeBoy_Rebooted/ — Buy KnifeBoy on Steam! https://ottowretling.medium.com/list/game-development-427e99aefd01 — Read Otto’s blog about game development! https://discord.gg/mYM72SQ9CP — The discord server for Game Hub Umeå. Games http://fezgame.com/ — The homepage for Fez. https://www.stardewvalley.net/ — The homepage for Stardew Valley. https://poncle.games/vampire-survivors — The homepage for Vampire Survivors. https://www.valheimgame.com/ — The homepage for Valheim. https://www.minecraft.net — The homepage for Minecraft. https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/ — The homepage for Hearthstone. https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/ — The homepage for World of Warcraft. https://animalcrossing.nintendo.com/ — The homepage for Animal Crossing. https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/octopath-traveler-switch/ — The Nintendo Store page for Octopath Traveler. https://ffvii-remake.square-enix-games.com/ — The homepage for Final Fantasy VII Remake. https://elderscrolls.bethesda.net/en/oblivion — The homepage for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. https://elderscrolls.bethesda.net/en/skyrim10 — The homepage for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. https://www.storyofseasons.com/ — The homepage for the Story of Seasons franchise (Harvest Moon). https://persona.atlus.com/series/ — The homepage for the Persona franchise. https://www.blizzard.com/ — The homepage for Blizzard. https://www.valvesoftware.com/ — The homepage for Valve Software. Software and Tools https://unity.com/ — The homepage for Unity. https://asana.com/ — The homepage for Asana. Other Links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmwbYl6f11c — “How to Survive in Gamedev for Eleven Years Without a Hit” by Jake Birkett. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LTtr45y7P0 — “30 Things I Hate About Your Game Pitch” by Brian Upton. https://conf.nordicgame.com/ — The homepage for Nordic Game Conference. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1942884/ — The IMDB page for Indie Game: The Movie. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085059/ — The IMDB page for Black Mirror. Credit for background video of Pendula Swing gameplay goes to WiX GaminG - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUejpSri_7U. Get all the links and the transcript for this episode right here: https://medium.com/@ottowretling/house-of-games-58-valiant-game-studios-link-in-bar-b626813a2400