But before we start, are you following us on YouTube? We're starting to upload more videos over there which you might be interested in!

Draknek & Friends Dev Community Talks

First up, we organise developer talks for recipients of the Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant and other members of our community, and we've started to upload them publicly for everyone to watch. You can view the entire playlist here, and the talks so far have been:

• Anecdotes About Variants: Arvi Teikari aka Hempuli (Baba Is You) discussing his process for designing small games exploring particular design spaces
• This was here the whole time!?: Andrew Shouldice (Tunic) talking about his experience making virtual spaces that give players a sense of wonder and discovery
• Open-source Dev Tools and Projects: Emi Coppola, executive director of the Godot Foundation, chatting about why open-source projects are important and valuable

Draknek Plays

We've just started a new weekly video series called Draknek Plays! In this series, we play puzzle games we're interested in and chat about the design.

• In our first video, Alan and Mairi play the delightful Chomp Garden, by PawPaw Games.
• You can expect future videos in this series to include recent releases Colorbound and Vexcell, but we won't be limited just to what's coming out - there's no shortage of great games we want to play and discuss!

Draknek & Friends Official Podcast

And of course, our biweekly podcast continues!

• Episode 64: In this episode, hosts Alan and Syrenne are joined by Felix Kramer (freelance producer on Tunic, Sable, Untitled Goose Game, Blaseball, and more). In this rambling conversation we discuss what a producer is/does, differences between indie games and AAA, and companies we'd like to work at/learn from.
• Episode 65: In this episode, hosts Alan and Syrenne are joined by William David (Looking for Fael, Tetrobot and Co.) Topics discussed include the differences between designing puzzle games and narrative games, games with simple interaction schemes, and combinatorial puzzle systems.

Chomp Garden, by PawPaw Games

We don't need to tell you about Chomp Garden, because you can go and watch us play through in our new Draknek Plays series here. But, if you insist - play as a tiny glowing lamp in a simple sokoban world where all the plants are aggressively trying to chomp you. Your four beams of light will attract plants every move, and the goal of each puzzle is to lure them into the right shape to navigate your way through. It's surprisingly deep and thinky, and some levels I'd describe as deviously tricky - a real treat. Chomp, chomp.

Violarium, by EasyYogi

This is a free webgame all about touching blocks in the correct order - which doesn't sound terribly exciting, until you experience all the many ways in which it subverts your expectations. This is really impressive for being the developer's first game - an excellent start!

The Rule-Discovery Paper Puzzle Game Jam

Last month the Rule Discovery Paper Puzzle jam took place, posing the challenge to design a PDF or image which has a solution but doesn't tell you how to play - you have to figure that out for yourself. This genre of puzzle can be hard to get into but is often very satisfying to solve. I didn't get a chance to play many games from the jam, but fortunately ThinkyGames.com wrote a roundup of some beginner-friendly recommendations. I'm sure you can't go wrong with any of them, but I noticed these being particularly recommended by the community:

• Cut UP!, by Dee <3
• Go, Nuriban!, by Playcebo, Hazelstorm
• The Initiating, by 8BitLlama

Vexcell, by J.M. Bremer

We love a minimalist and elegant puzzle game here at Draknek, and Vexcell is exactly that. You need to place all the pieces into their correct slots, circle into circle, square into square, by activating machines represented by intuitive symbols. There are machines that push, that pull, that rotate, and so on, and you need to use them all to complete each puzzle. The result is a strange, mesmerising dance of moving symbols. It's logical, elegant, and very pleasing to play.

Colorbound, by Panpipe Studio and Whitethorn Games

In this charming puzzle platformer, you play as Anku, a young boy who can change the colour of his surroundings. Painting a platform the same colour as the background makes it disappear, and adding colour back makes it reappear. The puzzles are great, but what's also excellent here is the world's charm. The game draws directly on the developers' Chilean culture and heritage, making for a spirited, vibrant puzzle game.

Legion Was Here, by Geoffroy Monde and Surefire.Games

Solo developer Geoffrey Monde has inverted the spy genre in that instead of seeking out the impostors, you are the impostor - using very silly, and very uncomplete dossiers to deduce the exact appearances of people. Legion Was Here has everything I love: Genuinely satisfying puzzles, a unique deduction mechanic I haven't seen before, an excellent sense of humour, and a slick visual style. It also has one thing I hate, which is awkward conversations under the crippling weight of imposter syndrome, but Legion Was Here is well worth it.

SubDuctis, by Quintin Steiner

SubDuctis is a block-pushing game set in a big world interconnected with pipes, with the main mechanic being the ability to fold space to manipulate the geometry of the world. A word of warning though: be careful, as a wrong 'subduction' might result in you being folded straight out of existence. The level design here is really sharp, and I can see how the full game beyond the demo could go to some great and very thinky places.

Inversion Day, by Jan & Josh

I was a little sceptical when I heard the developers of Beat Saber (an action rhythm VR game I've logged more than 200 hours in) were making a puzzle game, but now I'm pleasantly surprised - and excited - about this release. In Inversion Day you play a boy and his dog wandering a colossal alien spaceship that can flip reality inside-out. The demo is out now, and many of the puzzles in it are delightfully tricky in ways that tease the game's full complexity of 100+ puzzles and many optional meta-puzzles. This is one to watch!

Handshakes: Hands On, by Pet Pumpkin, Damaskino, Trumpetguy, Barry Lawnmower

A nice game about holding hands sounds very wholesome, but this puzzle game gets devious quickly. Each hand has a limited number of spaces it can move, and together with switches to press, boxes to push, and germs(!!), you need to move efficiently. With a straightforward goal, simple controls, and a cute theme, this is an easy recommendation.