December 2025 Newsletter (Patreon)

Hello folks, Joe here. November has beaten my brain to a somewhat mushy psychic pulp, and so this newsletter will be devoid of the frivolous wordsmithery you may have come to expect from the Indie Game Clinic newsletter. But have no fear, because even when we don't have style, we can always rely on ✨content✨. Below is a collection of relevant content, sorted into clear headings.

Your Games:

Big Flat Cabbage is looking for feedback on Breathing on the Beach - a short kinetic novel (a KN is like a VN but without the choices). The itch.io password is "eggnoodles".

We've also got a playtest starting in December for Folk Emerging; a promising looking indie 4X themed around prehistoric folk who are in the process of... well, emerging.

Let me know on the Discord if you'd like a shoutout in future newsletters; although I'll probably try and reserve this for big game launches.

The Discord Community

We've seen a lot of growth over the last few months, thanks in part to all of the lovely folks who joined via the Birthday sale. If you've a paid Patreon member who is new to the Discord or hasn't dipped in yet, here's a reminder of the features;

• "Playtesting & QA" has a pinned sign-up for the fortnightly stream of members' games.

• Start a project thread if you want to receive ongoing feedback from community members.

• Use Topical Talk and Helper Role tags to get assistance with a specific area.

Book Progress

I've made good progress on Game Design for Indie Devs this month, and I intend to post a few sample chapters to here as bonus material for paid subscribers. Keep your eyes peeled for sections on;

• Rules and Mechanics; What's the Difference?

• How Subtractive Design Creates Indie Genres.

• The Pros and Cons of Solo Development, and the Dangers of Romanticizing It.

I suspect that by the time the book is completely finished, some of these sections will have been redrafted a few times. But folks seemed to like the previous few drafts, so I'll keep posting them. If you're a paid member and want to read these, head over to the Scripts & Misc. Writing Collection and look for posts with "book snippet". These should be showing up at a rate of roughly one a month... I won't post every single chapter, but you'll get a good preview of the tone and content of the thing I'm working on.

I.G.C. Content Schedule

This month's Game Developers' Library podcast focusses on Scott McCleod's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. I'm a little way into my readthrough and then I'll be passing the book to Tom in a week or so... it's been a while since I first read UC:TIA and it's blowing my mind a little bit on the re-read; so much good stuff here about art history and what different art styles achieve in cartoon formats. We'll try and get the podcast out before the end of December, not withstanding any dramas which happen with my house move.

I'm also consider running a different set of streams in January; streaming a little more often for shorter bursts of time and randomly selecting some games from the backlog. If I do this, it won't a be forever thing, just a way of trying to clear the backlog a bit as we go into the new year.

When it comes to video content, I'm going to keep the current workflow. Paid members will see scripts and slides here ahead of time (unless it's an improvised video!) In many cases these are likely to be shorter and clearer versions of elements of the book, because it just makes sense to make vids about a thing while I'm hyper fixating on it for various purposes.

Hope you all have a great month, and I look forward to seeing how your games progress!
- J