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Welcome to The Secret Lives of Games! Candid conversations with game creators that dive deep into the art, craft, and process of making games. Follow us on social media, join our lovely and active Discord, support us on Patreon or leave us a voicemail — check out our Linktree for details! - https://linktr.ee/secretlives.games

Dec 19, 2025

We're joined by Shawn Alexander Allen (Beatdown City Survivors), Cole Wehrle (Root), and Drew Wehrle (Pax Pamir) to discuss the first title in our year-long exploration of the work of Michael Brough: 868-HACK.

Next Month: Vertex Dispenser

 

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway

 

Discussed in this episode:

 

868-HACK


Dec 12, 2025

Nick is joined by guest co-host Chris Plante (Post Games) for a chat with Kimmo Lahtinen (aka gimbll) about his dynamite new twin-stick shooter, Sektori. They discuss the joy of the genre, pursuing excellence in an oversaturated genre, and how personal limitations shape solo development.

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway


Nov 26, 2025

We’re proud to present the final installment of our over-a-year-long Into the Depths series on Caves of Qud, as well as our last episode with our recently retired Eggplant branding. Caves of Qud is a massive open-world roguelike RPG that has been in development since 2007 and Early Access since 2015, and we give it an...


Nov 21, 2025

We're joined by Frank Lantz (Q-UP) and Mare Sheppard + Raigan Burns of Metanet (N++) for the first episode of All Systems Brough, a year-long exploration of the work of Michael Brough. We share our thoughts on why Michael's oeuvre demands a deep dive, add some historical context, and share the plan for the year ahead....


Nov 7, 2025

Rob, Sarah, and Doug chat with Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson about Consume Me, an award-winning autobiographical resource-management RPG about the pressure cooker of young adulthood. We discuss the game’s ten-year development cycle, balancing dynamic difficulty in a game about overachievement, the complex dynamics of...