A MAZE.: Are you a wild heart? If yes, what makes you think you’re a wild heart?
N.P: Cause I (almost) never choose a project for money.
N.P-O: Hum… not sure I understand what a “wild heart” is, but it’s attractive so the answer is yes.
D.B: Hell yeah ! That’s what my mom tells me all the time.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Jai Bunnag: FINIFUGU's Games almost always engage the idea that mobile entertainment is something that brings us together and is a lens that allows us to engage with different layers of our daily lives.

A MAZE.: If there is something wrong in the field of games / playful media, what would you fix first?
Daniël Haazen: The internet is going in a direction where copyright rules are getting stronger. I prefer an internet where everyone can use each other's work to make their own, as long as it's fair use. This counts for games as well. I hope

A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
David Martin: Because it seemed like the most complete art form, potentially encompassing all the strength of the others in it.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Andreas Wangler: That games as a media is only at the start of a fantastic development - and that games can bring people together and create true emotions.

A MAZE.: How would you describe yourself?
Studio Oleomingus: We are an open collaborative arts practice studio based in Chala, India. And usually run by Dhruv and Sushant. We work at the intersection of post colonial writing and interactive fiction, using video game spaces as sites of discourse, resistance and record.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Bobbi A. Sand: Every work/story has its own theme and message, or maybe rather conversation, but I tend to circle around topics such as relationships, identity, mental health, sexuality.

A MAZE.: Who (or what) is your biggest inspiration? Think beyond games too - musicians, writers, filmmakers, artists, scientists, …
Enric Llagostera: Storytelling, theatre, political economy, DIY, migration, conversations with my peers. I am inspired by humour, a certain level of mischief and trickster ways. The game making and critical work of (in no particular order) Jess Marcotte, Dietrich Squinkifer, Sabine Harrer, Kara Stone, and Pedro Paiva.

A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
Coline Sauvand & Laurent Toulouse: We wanted to: make art, tell stories with drawing / painting, make drawings / paintings alive; which could have lead to animation but since Laurent knows how to code we decided to go for games.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Nils Deneken: Make love, not war. Oh, and also: take care of our planet, it’s only borrowed.

A MAZE.: Who (or what) is your biggest inspiration? Think beyond games too - musicians, writers, filmmakers, artists, scientists, …
Manu: All the great scientists. Newton, Einstein, Tesla, Curie, … They all invented amazing stuff. I want to invent amazing stuff for games too.
Léa: No rules there. When you fall in love you don’t choose with who/what. Same here, so a bit of everything. But music and science are two side-passions if you ask.

A MAZE.: What influences your work more: Past (history), present (contemporary) or future (scifi) and what are your sources?
Julián Palacios: The past. I like to use spaces in videogames as a way to connect our memories and our experiences of reality with what we see on the screen. And I love old music, movies, pictures, books. They give us glimpses of what were different ways of life.

A MAZE.: How do you see interactive arts in 10 years from now? In 2030! Tell us your vision.
Gabriel: In 2030, VR is still not a thing, Itch.io has become a giant mass media and entertainment conglomerate and we are still releasing games people think we made on drugs.
Jira Trello: I hope (and imagine) all work created in the same medium of game engines is not constrained to one context.

A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
Eve Golden Woods: I've been telling stories and playing games as long as I can remember. Stories are important to me, and games are a cool and beautiful medium in which to tell them.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Marc Loths: Whatever message my work is sending depends on the work, really. Some of it is very self-indulgent, wallowing in emotions and feelings, some of it is more political in a broader sense and yet more work is more in the vein of ludic exploration. A lot of my recent work focuses on climate change and capitalism…

A MAZE.: Where can we find this in your work?
Maria: I suppose it is an outcome of the whole influence and sometimes a few more specific references (not so often).
Andreas: I hope it is somewhere there. If I could just name one would be “transitions”.

A MAZE.: Where can we find this in your work?
Kas Ghobadi: I think it’s easy to see environmental themes and ideas throughout Stereophyta and my other games which focus on nature, dynamic music, and use procedural generation to create the world. …

A MAZE.: Is there a repeating pattern in all of your works the players may experience?
Ata Sergey Nowak: Most of my works were done on strategy games so some influences might have reflected upon Suzerain even though it is primarily a narrative game. Our goals as a new indie studio however is to tackle interesting subjects and to provoke thoughts.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Joon: Squirrels like nuts.
Char: Connection, sharing & enjoying the small things together.
Muuutsch: Sound is super important. It can define your whole world, you can sell textures through sound only, and I so hope I convey that with my work.
Pol: We might be sneaking in some themes of worker alienation and isolation into the game, and hinting at a path to overcome it through solidarity with other disenfranchised critters! You didn't hear this from me.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
MatLab: Life is a wonderful game! So let's live it with all our senses and have fun together!
TomAvatars: Search simplicity in complexity and the other way round. Have fun. Dream. Be fair and lovely.

A MAZE.: Are you a wild heart? If yes, what makes you think you’re a wild heart?
Costcodreamgurl: Yes, because I am soul sisters with Conner O’Malley.
Lena NW: Yes, because I built my life around creating the things that I want to create, regardless of sacrifice and consequence.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Elizabeth LaPensée: I hope to draw attention to issues such as the climate crisis; the impact of colonization on Indigenous communities…

A MAZE.: How do you relax and find balance?
Adriaan De Jongh: This has been a major struggle ever since I graduated and practise game design, but right now I feel that balance quite well. I practise 'movement'…

A MAZE.: If there is something wrong in the field of games / playful media, what would you fix first?
KRL: Exploitative industry practices.
888: Funding models.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Mwaaba Alec Mugala: I am really focused on telling more African stories in my video games. Messages that show Africa in a more positive light as well as…

A MAZE.: What influences your work more: Past (history), present (contemporary) or future (scifi) and what are your sources?
Greg Heffernan: I think squarely contemporary, with nods towards both future scifi and history.

A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
SUPR: “The author is on drugs or something” / “You have to be high to understand it” / “Way cheaper than drugs!” (according to most of our players).
RKKTKK: “Everything is permitted.”

A MAZE.: Are you a wild heart? If yes, what makes you think you’re a wild heart?
No Time: Each human is somehow a wild heart at some point in their lives. We think we are wild-hearted right now,…

A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
Annika Maar: I just had the deep urge to tell a story. I love games over any other media, so it felt very natural.