Field note 01
Carrigan Werner (Bubby Nug Studios)
A studio conversation for anyone interested in how a point of view becomes something people can play.
Watch on YouTube ↗Independent games / real voices
Indie game podcast
Conversations for the creators, builders, and community making original work feel possible.
The work behind the work
Small ideas deserve a bigger conversation.
Independent work often starts before there is a clean answer for what it will become. There may be a prototype, a sketchbook, a late-night note, or a team trying to give one good idea enough room to grow. The choices are personal, the resources are real, and the people doing the work need more than another loud take about what is supposed to happen next.
Jams and Joysticks makes room for the human side of that process. These are conversations with people who care about games, creative practice, and the communities that keep both moving. A guest might be building a studio, shaping a playable experience, leading a creative team, or finding a different route into the industry. What matters is the perspective they bring back to the people still making their way in.
This is a place to hear a little more of the story. Not just the finished release, but the questions, relationships, detours, and choices that helped the work take shape.
Start with the people in the build
See every episode →The archive is a set of real introductions. Choose a conversation that meets your curiosity, then follow the thread into more creators, builders, and community.
Field note 02
Renee Gittins (Game Developer, Stumbling Cat)
A developer perspective for listeners looking for an honest route through the work and the culture around it.
Watch on YouTube ↗
Field note 03
Gabe Sheets (Game Designer, Eighth Lantern)
A designer conversation about carrying ideas into an experience that other people can enter.
Watch on YouTube ↗
Field note 04
Leo Dresang (Game Developer, Gatorilla Games)
A game developer conversation for people who want a closer view of the choices behind a creative path.
Watch on YouTube ↗Bring the right question
Come for a conversation. Leave with a sharper next move.
For the person with an idea
Early work can feel private, especially before it has a name, a team, or a clear place to show up. Hearing how other people describe their starts can make the next step feel less abstract. Listen for the habits, creative influences, and honest decisions that give you something useful to take back to your own notes.
For the people making it together
Games ask different disciplines to meet in the same room. Design, music, art, code, production, and community all shape what players eventually experience. These conversations make that shared work visible, which is useful when you are looking for a collaborator or trying to understand the contribution you want to make.
For listeners who care about games
A finished game carries more than a feature list. It carries taste, risk, relationships, and a hundred decisions a player may never see. Getting closer to the people behind the work gives the games you care about more context, and gives you a better way to share that appreciation with your own community.
How to use the archive
Find the voice that gets you moving.
If you are working on something of your own, start with the guest whose role feels closest to the problem in front of you. Do not look for a blueprint. Listen for the question they asked, the relationship they protected, or the choice they made when the easy answer was not the right one. The useful part of a real conversation is often a small detail you can carry into the next session.
If you are still figuring out where you fit, treat the archive like a room full of introductions. A conversation can show you a discipline you had not considered, a type of collaborator you want to meet, or a more generous way to talk about the work. Games need people with different skills and different paths in. There is no single correct entry point.
If you already have your people, share the episode that gives words to a thing your group has been circling. A good conversation can start another one. Send it to the teammate with a new idea, the student building confidence, or the friend who keeps saying they want to make something. Community gets stronger when useful perspective travels.
What makes this different
People first. Work in focus.
There is plenty of space to talk about launches, tools, and the business of games. Those things matter. But they do not tell the whole story of what it takes to keep showing up for a project, a team, or a creative life. Jams and Joysticks starts with the person because that is where the interesting questions usually begin.
The conversations make room for progress that is not perfectly tidy. Someone may be learning in public, changing direction, building a relationship that unlocks a project, or protecting an idea while the practical work gets loud. That is not a distraction from the work. It is the work, and it is useful to hear it named honestly.
The range of voices matters too. A developer can learn from a designer. A student can hear something useful from a creative director. A player can see why community and culture belong in the story beside the game itself. When the conversation stays open, more people can recognise where they belong and what they might bring next.
Bring a question, a project, or simply the curiosity to listen. Take what helps. Share what lands. Then return when the next stage of the work needs a new perspective.
Good to know
Questions from the community
What is this indie game podcast about?
Jams and Joysticks is a conversation space for creators, builders, and community around games. These episodes make room for the people carrying an idea from its early spark into real work, without turning their story into a shortcut or a sales pitch.
Who should watch these conversations?
Start here if you are making a game, looking for collaborators, studying a creative discipline, or simply want a closer view of the people behind the work. You do not need a finished project or a title to belong in the conversation.
Are these interviews only about game development?
No. Games are made across design, art, music, leadership, community, technology, and plenty of work that does not fit neatly on a business card. The archive follows the people and relationships that give a project its character.
Where can I watch Jams and Joysticks?
Watch full conversations on YouTube, listen on Spotify, or browse the episode archive here. Each path leads back to the same growing community of people making and moving culture through games.
Keep the conversation moving
Find the people making their own way.
Watch original conversations across games, music, and culture. Bring your curiosity, then bring someone from your community.