# Back Alley Games

> Independent. Nasty. Made by humans.


## Posts

- [Buddy Simulator 1984 Interview](https://backalleygames.online/buddy-simulator-1984-interview/): Buddy Simulator 1984 is a game where you play games with an AI buddy. Former ICG Board member Kailey Phan Mitchell interviewed all four of its developers.
- [Now Playing: Deepest Chamber Resurrection](https://backalleygames.online/now-playing-deepest-chamber-resurrection/): Seb Galvez reviews a roguelite deck builder with the appropriate amount of skeleton armies.
- [Amazing Grace interview](https://backalleygames.online/amazing-grace-interview/): Amazing Grace is a pixel platformer where you dive down into hell to rescue your child. 
- [Pop Pup Interview](https://backalleygames.online/pop-pup-interview/): Pop Pup is a one-button skateboarding game where the goal is to get as high a combo as possible. Think Tony Hawk meets the Sonic comics.
- [Deconstructing the Deindexing](https://backalleygames.online/deconstructing-the-deindexing/): Gamers, we have a sitchuation on our hands.  On July 24, Itch.io unlisted all NSFW and adult content on their site in response to “scrutiny from [their] payment processors.” To say the response was overwhelming would be an understatement.
- [Fear and Lust](https://backalleygames.online/fear-and-lust/): Horror and eroticism often share a fairly blurry line. Body horror, cannibalism, rape revenge, and the incest themes common in Gothic horror are only a few of the many examples of how sex, sensuality, and the disturbing intersect in horror media.  The recent payment processor bullshit that has been circling the internet for years has now hit indie game storefront Itch.io, and horror games are being caught in the crossfire.
- [The State of Gaymes in 2025](https://backalleygames.online/the-state-of-gaymes-in-2025/): To be blunt about it, indie games are pretty fucking gay. However gay you think they are, make it gayer. Trust me.  Queer art has a tendency of finding its way into subculture and mediums off the beaten path, a side effect of creators often being pushed out of mainstream spaces and seeking both community and expression through less traditional means. It’s why queerness is so pronounced within punk and goth subcultures, zines, and comics.
- [The weight of carrying both](https://backalleygames.online/the-weight-of-carrying-both/): Fiction has always been humanity's most honest mirror, reflecting back the wars we wage within ourselves long before we have the capacity to understand them.  Following in this ancient tradition, Kuro Games’ latest character release, Cartethyia, the wandering knight of Wuthering Waves (2024), emerges as an avatar of our most fundamental conflict: the courage required to be ourselves and remain whole.
- [Brushing Cobwebs off blades of Exile](https://backalleygames.online/brushing-cobwebs-off-blades-of-exile/): One day when I was a kid, my dad heard about this game called Geneforge. He set my brother and me up with the free demo of Geneforge 3 (Spiderweb Software, 2005) on the Mac Mini we shared. My brother got the first turn playing it and I watched. It blew my f@#$ing fourth grader mind.
- [SolarFlare](https://backalleygames.online/solarflare/): n my experience, all indie gamers love pixel art and hate corporations and the way they’ve changed the world. SolarFlare, an upcoming co-op, roguelike hero builder includes both evil corporate executives and a beautiful pixel art grid, making it an ideal experience for indie gamers.
- [Patch Notes: Drift Shell](https://backalleygames.online/patch-notes-drift-shell/): On April 11, the closed online alpha test for Preston (or Slaps)’s upcoming online multiplayer action game Drift Shell launched. The game, where players take control of a mech and fight in a low-poly world, is created by a one-person team and inspired by PS1 games like Armored Core (FromSoftware Inc., 1997).
- [Phasebound: A hero's Journey](https://backalleygames.online/phasebound-a-heros-journey/): Open on GDC 2023, where four recent graduates met and realized they were in the same boat: looking for a job in an industry where layoffs are perhaps too common. Realizing they could set off together, they formed Struggled Seas Studios, added a few more team members, and the rest was history.
- [A Return to Detect-Dev](https://backalleygames.online/a-return-to-detect-dev/): Detect-Dev is a sci-fi narrative mystery game with themes of corporate corruption. The two main characters — Dev, a cocky detective straight out of the academy and AV1NA, his wisecracking, lie-detecting robot sidekick — use three kinds of logic puzzles to solve a murder at an animation studio.
- [Ain't about how fast you get there](https://backalleygames.online/aint-about-how-fast-you-get-there/): For me to enjoy a review, I need the author to be screaming into the void about their most obscure, nerdy interests.  I don’t care if you mean to entertain me. I want the road you’re leading me down to be one you’re unabashedly interested in. So today I’ll take cues from a little polygonal bird and let my sense of exploration lead. Let’s talk about A Short Hike.
- [Getting Coffee with the dev of an upcoming shoot 'em up](https://backalleygames.online/getting-coffee-with-the-dev-of-an-upcoming-shoot-em-up/): Newgrounds has always been a place friendly to fresh ideas, scrappy underdogs, and gratuitous blood splatter. From animations to flash games, aspiring and veteran artists and developers alike used the site as a testing ground for new ideas and a repository for their best poop jokes.  From that primordial soup springs Contract Rush DX, a wide-release expansion of a free web game called Contract Rush.
- [Notes from Development: Elemera](https://backalleygames.online/notes-from-development-elemera/): It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I’ve been working on a game called Elemera. It’s something I take every opportunity to talk about, something I’ve already sunk years of my life into, and something that some members of Indie City Games have already contributed to.   It’s safe to say I’m very passionate about it.
- [Hello again interview](https://backalleygames.online/hello-again-interview/): Hello Again is a time-looping adventure game set on an island filled with ancient ruins. Explore abandoned structures, solve clockwork puzzles, and befriend quirky characters to uncover the island's secrets and break the loop.  The following interview is with Dwight, the game’s developer.
- [Take that mainstage! Interview](https://backalleygames.online/take-that-mainstage-interview/): In this interview with Mark and Cassandra, the creators of the upcoming game Take That Mainstage!, we explore the game’s history, the creators’ journey, and their inspirations.
- [Tall Trails Interview](https://backalleygames.online/tall-trails-interview/): Developer Brady Soglin (Overfull Games) took some time to talk about his current project, Tall Trails.
- [Detect-Dev Interview](https://backalleygames.online/detect-dev-interview/): Detect-Dev bills itself as an alternative to the usual sleuthing fare in games, shifting its focus from hardboiled detectives to a near-future version of Chicago (“New-Chi”), featuring psychic powers, advanced AI sidekicks, set within a narrative game that seeks to provide a new lens on the genre. 
- [Terror at 240p: Haunted ps1's low-Rez horror](https://backalleygames.online/terror-at-240p-haunted-ps1s-low-rez-horror/): The Haunted PS1 is a group of independent video game developers who specialize in “low-rez horror.” These games draw inspiration from the late 90s, harnessing nostalgia to conjure uncanny, low-resolution horror experiences.
- [If you give a llama a haircut](https://backalleygames.online/if-you-give-a-llama-a-haircut/): Indie City Games’ January weekend jam was titled “Alpacalypse!,” and no game exemplifies that theme quite as much as “A Llittle Off the Top,” a short comedy game produced by programmer Dwight Davis, writers Mike Gillis and Dave Kornfeld, animator and musician David McQuary, and sound designer Griffin Guge.
- [Take Back the City, Take back your soul](https://backalleygames.online/take-back-the-city-take-back-your-soul/): At M+DEV in November, the winner of the Best of Showcase Student Entry Award was SoulSync City, a project produced by Lost Water Studios. Indie City Games jam director Sebastian Galvez sat down with lead producer Kadin White and creative director Alexander Koeberl to talk about the development process and what’s next for the studio.
- [From Terra to Leo](https://backalleygames.online/from-terra-to-leo/): Amnesiac protagonists may be an overdone trope, but Fantasian: Neo Dimension pulls it off.
- [The Talented Mr. Kondo](https://backalleygames.online/the-talented-mr-kondo/): Few albums can withstand the test of time; but Super Mario 64's soundtrack is an exception, truly defining a generation of video game music.
- [You fry eggs](https://backalleygames.online/you-fry-eggs/): Arctic Eggs is a game where you fry eggs.
- [Don the habit, solve a murder](https://backalleygames.online/don-the-habit-solve-a-murder/): Do you want to be a goth, murder-solving nun? Of course you do.
- [Wait, who is Pac-Man married to?](https://backalleygames.online/wait-who-is-pac-man-married-to/): Pac-Man lore is shockingly complex, especially when you're concerned about Ms. Pac-Man. 
- [Get in the robot, Reader](https://backalleygames.online/get-in-the-robot-reader/): Recently in my internet travels, an angry forum user labeled me braindead because I like Gundam and giant robots, which irked me. Not because someone was mean to me online, that shit happens all the time. No, I was irked because Gundam doesn't deserve to be called braindead.
- [Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Homo War](https://backalleygames.online/fire-emblem-genealogy-of-the-homo-war/): The Fire Emblem series is partially responsible for my pansexuality. There's no shortage of queer coded characters, especially in the most recent entry, and there's quite a history to it. Sometimes the series really drops the ball, but I think that there's a fair amount of positive and important representation in the series.
- [The world’s supply of Nintendium has been exhausted](https://backalleygames.online/the-worlds-supply-of-nintendium-has-been-exhausted/): Working at a game store in the mid-2010s, a coworker of mine, in reference to the Wii U , remarked Nintendo was "all out of Nintendium." That specific moment played back in my head as I opened up my phone at nine in the morning, navigated to Nintendo's YouTube page, and prepared to watch the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal.
- [CIGS Lights Up, Crashes Servers](https://backalleygames.online/cigs-lights-up-crashes-servers/): If there was one takeaway from CIGS this year, it was that there is a growing appetite for independent video games in the Midwest. Like a katamari rolling through the cosmos, CIGS continues to get bigger as it rolls along.
- [Free RPG Day: The Steam Next Fest of Tabletop RPGs](https://backalleygames.online/free-rpg-day-the-steam-next-fest-of-tabletop-rpgs/): On a blisteringly hot Saturday in June, I had the opportunity to run a game of Dungeon Crawl Classics for a group of four strangers. This was not the start of a monthslong campaign, just an enjoyable evening of adventure made possible by Free RPG Day.
- [SICK Showcase Revives Forgotten Konsole](https://backalleygames.online/sick-showcase-revives-forgotten-konsole/): On a cool spring evening in April surrounded by the sound of laughter and shouted conversation, Sly McMahon Jr, his face wet with tears, watches a mechanical rat shoot a slime with a heavy rifle before rocketing across a bottomless chasm.
- [Writers & Gamers Celebrated at American Writers Museum Exhibit](https://backalleygames.online/writers-gamers-celebrated-at-american-writers-museum-exhibit/): Nestled in the heart of downtown Chicago, the American Writers Museum stands as a celebration of American writers. Level Up: Writers & Gamers, the museum’s latest exhibit, continues their commitment to celebrating writing in all its forms. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, the exhibit focuses on the individuals who turned their pens toward creating engaging worlds for players of both tabletop and video games.

## Pages

- [Writing](https://backalleygames.online/writing/): features reporting and other writing from our editorial staff and contributors Developer logs Interviews with and notes from the developers of in-progress or completed projects overthinking & Analyzing a column where jesse boruff overthinks his favorite media Man about town A column by Jonah White about Chicago events Now Playing Media and game reviews from the Back Alley community Archive Writing and event coverage from the Indie City Games Zine (2024)
- [No access](https://backalleygames.online/no-access/): You don’t have access, champ! We save our juiciest content for our members, and that’s not you. You can change that, though! Follow Turbo Roach to become a member and check out all that sweet sweet exclusive content. (Online and All Access Subscribers are able to view this content)
- [Back Alley Mailbox](https://backalleygames.online/back-alley-mailbox/): Back Alley Mailbox We are a publication that relies mostly on community submissions and pride ourselves on the fact that we platform writers, artists, and indie game developers from across the Midwest. To that end, submissions are always open.  To submit a game review of under 500 words for appearance in our “Now Playing” section, art for “Artist’s Alley,” or any other article, reach out to us via this form or by email with your pitch or submission and we’ll chat. Our Dev Log questionnaire can be found here or here and can be filled out at any time for […]
- [Submissions](https://backalleygames.online/submissions/)
- [Dev Log Questionnaire](https://backalleygames.online/dev-log-questionnaire/): dev log questionnaire If you have a finished game or something you’re working on you’d like to submit to Back Alley Games for consideration and possible publishing, you’re in the right place.  Our content and mission is centered around you, the dev, and we always want to celebrate you and platform your work in a way that feels true to your goals and identity. Think of this as an interview. We’ll take your responses from this form and produce an original write-up of your project for publication in an upcoming issue of Back Alley Games.  Any submission received past the first Friday of […]
- [About Us](https://backalleygames.online/contact/): About us We’re a Nasty small press magazine made by humans Started in March 2024 as the in-house publication of the nonprofit Indie City Games, we the editors have recently escaped captivity. Tirelessly scouring the most underground parts of the internet and beyond, we now bring you everything cool we can find. From video games to music to rad museum installations, we only publish the nastiest stuff we can get our hands on. If you just said to yourself “I’m making something nasty/sick/rad/cool,” we would recommend that you stop talking to websites. We would also recommend you send us that […]
- [Home](https://backalleygames.online/): back alley games Back alley games Small press, big attitude. Small press, big attitude. Back Alley Games is a quarterly games magazine with a focus on what makes gaming culture second to none. Our magazine is 100% organic, meaning we don’t pump AI slop or pre-approved industry taglines down your throat. Artists and developers run the show here because our team may be tiny, but our hearts aren’t.
- [Dashboard](https://backalleygames.online/customer-dashboard/)
- [Checkout](https://backalleygames.online/checkout-2/)
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- [Edit Your Profile](https://backalleygames.online/register/edit-your-profile/): Edit your profile
- [Your Membership](https://backalleygames.online/register/your-membership/): Your membership
- [Welcome to the club](https://backalleygames.online/register/welcome/): Thank you for your support! You’ve just become someone who supports independent games writing. That’s pretty cool. We wish that we could send all of you some sort of super-cool membership card, but our printing costs are high enough as is. Click here to update your account info Click here to see your account details Check out our backlog of articles here From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. We couldn’t do this without you.– The Back Alley editorial staff (Jonah, Danny, and Seb)
- [Join the club](https://backalleygames.online/register/): Subscriptions we’ve been trying to reach you about your magazine’s extended warranty Listen, we know that asking for money is played out these days, but we hope you’ll indulge us. We’ve been making a completely reader-funded independent monthly magazine for a while. For free. Unfortunately for us, our love of small press blinded us to the fact there’s no money in it. And we’re still not trying to get rich. But two of our editors are addicted to canned water and another one has a (frankly irresponsible) monthly coffee bill in the triple digits. All jokes aside, every penny our […]
- [My account](https://backalleygames.online/my-account/): My account Here’s where you can view your history with us and all those sensitive details we swear we’re not sharing with shady foreign entities (for legal reasons, that is a joke).
- [Checkout](https://backalleygames.online/checkout/)
- [Cart](https://backalleygames.online/cart/)
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## Products

- [Back Alley Games Issue 19 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/back-alley-games-issue-19-digital/): Issue 19 of Back Alley Games, the first annual CIGS booklet.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 18 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/back-alley-games-issue-18-digital/): Issue 18 of Back Alley Games, our censorship issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 19](https://backalleygames.online/product/back-alley-games-issue-19/): Issue 19 of Back Alley Games, the first annual CIGS booklet.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 18](https://backalleygames.online/product/back-alley-games-issue-18/): Issue 18 of Back Alley Games, our censorship issue.
- [Back Alley Postcards](https://backalleygames.online/product/back-alley-postcards/): Postcards featuring the cover designs of individual Back Alley Games issues.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 17 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-17-digital/): Issue 17 of Back Alley Games, everything AllStars.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 16 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-16-digital/): Issue 16 of Back Alley Games, the little gay issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 15 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-15-digital/): Issue 15 of Back Alley Games, including all things SICK (Super Indie City Konsole).
- [Back Alley Games Issue 14 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-14-digital/): Issue 14 of Back Alley Games, the retro gaming issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 13 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-13-digital/): Issue 13 of Back Alley Games, the first anniversary issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 12 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-12-digital/): Issue 12 of Back Alley Games, the Lovebirds issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 11 - Digital](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-11-dig/): Issue 11 of Back Alley Games, the first after the rebrand!
- [Back Alley Games Issue 17](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-17/): Issue 17 of Back Alley Games, everything AllStars.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 16](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-16/): Issue 16 of Back Alley Games, the little gay issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 15](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-15/): Issue 15 of Back Alley Games, including all things SICK (Super Indie City Konsole).
- [Back Alley Games Issue 14](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-14/): Issue 14 of Back Alley Games, the retro gaming issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 13](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-13/): Issue 13 of Back Alley Games, the first anniversary issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 12](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-12/): Issue 12 of Back Alley Games, the Lovebirds issue.
- [Back Alley Games Issue 11](https://backalleygames.online/product/issue-11/): Issue 11 of Back Alley Games, the first after the rebrand!


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