The Secret Lives of Games

158: Moonlighting in the Dungeon with Mark Essen (Blood Dungeon)

September 4, 2026·1h 23m
Episode Description from the Publisher

We chat with Mark Essen (Nidhogg, Wheel World) about his "feverish bullet heaven platformer" Blood Dungeon. We discuss making a small game in the shadow of a bigger project, the constraints it takes to do it sanely, and building on the foundations of a nascent genre. Discussed in this episode: Messhof https://messhof.com Blood Dungeon https://messhof.com/blooddungeon exp. zine - Vampire Survivors https://expzine.com/2026/07/21/vampire-survivors-poncle-2022/ Death to the Self-Playing Game https://www.jank.cool/death-to-the-self-playing-game/?ref=aftermath.site Messhof Marchive https://messhof.com/freeware   https://secretlives.games  https://discord.gg/tslog https://www.patreon.com/tslog

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