In this week's podcast, we talk to Levi Pinkert, creator of Loophole, about what ideas make it from drawing board to actual development, how to make the judgement call on ambition Vs. realism, and the terrible crime of not featuring pushable blocks in a grid-based puzzle game.

Episode 48: Levi Pinkert (Loophole)

In this episode, Alan and Syrenne are joined by Eli Rainsberry, the composer and sound designer of A Monster's Expedition, Saltsea Chronicles, Wilmot Works It Out, and more. Topics include how they got into the industry, the development of A Monster's Expedition, and how designing music for puzzle games is different from other games.

Episode 47: Eli Rainsberry (A Monster's Expedition, Saltsea Chronicles, Wilmot Works It Out)

In this episode, hosts Alan and Syrenne are joined by Adam Saltsman, the co-founder of Finji and the developer of CORGISPACE. Topics include the development of CORGISPACE, game design, despair about the industry, and PICO-8.

Episode 46: Adam Saltsman (Finji)

Alan is joined by Dan Pearson, Draknek & Friends' newest member of the team. Topics include his career from journalism to game development, the challenges of marketing puzzle games, and designing puzzles to get into the mind of players.

Episode 45: Dan Pearson (Head of Marketing @ Draknek & Friends)

Join us for our second year of GOTY festivities at the Draknek & Friends Official Podcast. Syrenne and Alan are once again joined by Mairi and Joseph for this look at a lot of our favorite games from the last year.



Games discussed:
Blue Prince

Is This Seat Taken?

The Roottrees are Dead

Glowkeeper

Öoo

The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show

Strange Jigsaws

Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping

0PLAYER

Ligo

Golden Idol DLCs

Lab Rat

Kaizen: A Factory Story

Adam Saltsman's small PICO-8 games

Gentoo Rescue

The House of Tesla

Escape Simulator 2

Escape Academy 2 Demo

Gnosia (2022)

LOK Digital

The Electrifying Incident

Spooky Express

Episode 44: Our Favourite Games of 2025 (with Joseph Mansfield)

In this episode, hosts Alan and Syrenne are joined by Pip, the writer and narrative director of A Monster's Expedition and Spooky Express. Topics include the development of A Monster's Expedition, worldbuilding in non-linear games, and writing localization notes about comedy.

Pip lost her train of thought at a crucial point and forgot to mention a really important part of the writing process on A Monster’s Expedition: involving sensitivity consultant Helen Gould! Helen’s feedback was invaluable in helping us make the exhibits fun for as many people as possible, while working with the museum framing.

Episode 43: Pip Warr (A Monster's Expedition, Spooky Express, Little Kitty Big City)

In this episode, Alan is joined by Luis, the developer of Sushi for Robots and the new "Thinky Dailies." Topics discussed include the Thinky Dailies, his weird and lucky career, and the Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant.

Episode 42: Luis Díaz Peralta "Ludipe" (Sushi For Robots, Thinky Dailies)

In this episode, while Syrenne was on a much-needed vacation, Alan took the opportunity to chat to Adam deGrandis for an hour about all things game dev!

Episode 41: Alan and Adam deGrandis have a rambly chat

In this episode, hosts Alan and Syrenne are joined by Oolimry, the developer behind Glowkeeper. Topics include the development of Glowkeeper, designing a Metroidbrainia, and how to test secrets in game.

Episode 40: Oolimry (Glowkeeper)

In this episode, hosts Alan and Syrenne are joined by the majority of the development team behind our recently released game Spooky Express. Listen to over an hour of development anecdotes and discussion about how the game came to be! This episode contains minor spoilers.

Episode 39: Spooky Express Retrospective

Join Alan and Syrenne from Draknek & Friends as they talk to developers of some of their favorite puzzle games, shedding light onto how games get made and the people behind them!