Nathan van der Stoep (@studio_vds) based out of the Netherlands, is a psychologist working on multi-sensory research by day, and in what time is left to him, a freelance illustrator operating as Studio VDS. His artwork has appeared in several Orange Pixel games including Residual for the Nintendo Switch, and Regulator City. Recently he collaborated with Cosmocat Games and released a new game from the ground up called Astral Flux. This game was just released in October 2022 on Steam, and is a 2D Pixel Art style Roguelike. Nathan continues to collaborate with Orange Pixel and other studios to create more games with another upcoming release next year still unnamed, so watch out for more details on that coming next year!

Our conversation included:

• His journey to writing indie games starting as an artist.


• His toolchain and the technology involved in creating his games.


• Pixel art and game art styles.


• Shipping and keeping scope under control as an Indie.


• Collaboration in indie games.


• Work / life / game making balance.


• His top 5 games that influenced him.

Resource Links:

• Orange Pixel - https://orangepixel.net/


• Cosmocat Games - https://cosmocatgames.com/


• Spelunky and Procedural Generated Levels - https://bossfightbooks.com/products/spelunky-by-derek-yu


• Unity Plugin Odin Inspector - https://odininspector.com

More on Nathan van der Stoep:

• Astral Flux - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1757920/Astral_Flux/


• Residual - https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/switch-eshop/residual


• Regulator City - https://orangepixel.net/regulatorcity


• Cosmic Caves - https://cosmocat.itch.io/cosmic-caves


• Studio VDS on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Studio_VDS


• Art Portfolio / Website - https://www.artstation.com/nathanvdstoep

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