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novakstudios.bsky.social
Novak Studios
@novakstudios.bsky.social
34 followers 14 following 55 posts
The indie studio where creative writing meets applied game design.
Working on: The Energy Case, a detective game about bugs and pollution 🏭🔍🐜
https://linktr.ee/novakstudios
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novakstudios.bsky.social
A little sneak peek of The Energy Case trailer! Oop, something went wrong-- 🐜
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec #skyrim
July 11, 2025 at 6:07 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Be careful who you call ugly in high school 😤
A first look at Dec, now in 3D!
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
A 3D model of a robot ant wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora. He’s shown from the waist-up, hand raised and looking down at it.
July 2, 2025 at 6:04 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Our previous game for a client is out! Learn about how we made it and more on our website. There you can join us on many more topics!
www.novakstudios.nl/post/the-dev...
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#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #blogpost
Image of a board game and its box lying on a table. The board game’s name is displayed with the text “Sei Leiferser”. Text on the image says “The Development of Sei Leiferser!“.
June 27, 2025 at 7:16 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Open up! The Energy Case trailer is on its way!
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
Two 3D models of robot ants stand in front of a doorframe. Each one points a gun towards the camera. One is crouched slightly lower than the other.
June 25, 2025 at 7:06 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
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We'll miss them all so much😔
Until we see them again in September :P
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
June 20, 2025 at 5:48 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Have you guys seen Dec? He left our Steam page and walked off to another bug-based game and came back looking like this :0
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec #hollowknight #silksong
An ant in a trench coat and fedora, drawn like a character from Hollow Knight
June 18, 2025 at 6:12 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Making games and videos is a lot of fun, but not without mistakes. Enjoy the best bloopers from our archive!
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#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec #bloopers
June 13, 2025 at 7:37 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
About time that events started happening in the Northern Netherlands! Last Friday we attended LevelUp, the first game dev industry networking event in the north. Needless to say, we hope it’s back next year!
levelupgroningen.framer.website

#indiedev #gamedev #gameevent #indiegames #appliedgames
Two people stand on either side of a tall table with a black table cloth. On the table are two laptops, each displaying different videos, while behind the two is a black board with pictures and posters plastered on it.
June 11, 2025 at 6:56 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈
Dec is indeed bisexual!

Audio: Sonic Riders | Real-Time Fandub Games by SnapCube on YouTube

#pridemonth #indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
June 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
It’s now out! Last year, we collaborated with Logos Dolomiti to develop Sei Leiferser!, a board game that focuses on fostering awareness towards and teaching children about local stores in the town of Laives in South Tyrol, Italy.
#gamedesign #boardgamedesign #appliedgames #seileferser #southtyrol
A board for a game. A photo of a newspaper page written in Italian in the newspaper called Laives.
June 6, 2025 at 7:25 AM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Tech team: Hey, here's some funny errors and tests you can make a video out of.
The marketing lead:

#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec #bloopers
May 30, 2025 at 6:26 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Can you believe it? It's Ascension Day today! Perfect time to bring up this old drawing of Dec, now edited to feature his redesign!
#ascensionday #indiedec #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
Dec, a robot ant wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora, floats in the air with his eyes closed, head tilted back, and arms raised slightly. He appears to be floating towards a cloud that casts a spotlight on him.
May 29, 2025 at 7:26 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Sometimes all you need is a drink at the bar, you know?
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
May 23, 2025 at 6:19 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Psst! Soon we’ll have our Steam page up, so here’s a sneak peek of some of our new capsule art!
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
An image depicting an brown-ish background with a shadowed figure of a robotic ant with a fedora standing on the right side, face in profile. Behind him is a yellow circle, like the light from a projector. The ant emmits smoke, which drifts to the left and makes the image darker. On the left side, on top of the smoke, is a logo. The logo depicts a yellow case folder with grey smoke behind it. Inside the folder is the text “The Energy Case“. This image depicts the meme with two panels. In the first one, someone holds up two pictures, edited to show one of them as the previous image on this post, and the second one as a meme visual depiction of the character Edwin from Five Nights at Freddy’s. The caption underneath says “Corporate needs you to find the differences between this picture and this picture.“ The second image continues the meme normally, with a woman looking into the camera and saying “They’re the same picture“.
May 21, 2025 at 6:59 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Meet Herman Abano! He's the supervisor for Hemiaqua, a shipping company that doesn't particularly care about green energy, and is suspected to be involved with the Energy Case
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
May 16, 2025 at 6:10 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Excuse me, ma’am, we are not currently holding auditions 😒
#indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
A blurry image of a wasp/hornet walking around on a grey carpet. A blurry image of a wasp/hornet walking around on a grey carpet. A few chair legs are also seen.
May 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Having witnessed her friend’s murder, Phila comes to Dec for help. We talked about her on our TikTok and Instagram accounts!
www.tiktok.com/@novak.studi...

#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
May 9, 2025 at 5:58 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Just another day in the office.
#gamedevelopment #gamedev #tec #theenergycase
A picture of a wall, zoomed in on a piece of paper stuck to it with tape. The paper shows a picture of an ant with a fedora edited on its head. The ant originally had a hand holding a gun towards the viewer edited in front of it, but now there’s a piece of yellow paper with a hand holding a bouquet instead. Next to the paper there’s a yellow sticky note. In blue pen it says “NO PICTURES OF GUNS IN THE OFFICE“ followed by an angry face. Underneath, in black pencil, it’s written “fixed!“ with a smiley face and an arrow pointing to the paper.
May 7, 2025 at 4:48 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
No updates on development! The Detective is napping.
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
A GIF of Dec, a robot ant, sitting in a swivel chair with his legs resting atop a desk. He appears to be sleeping, with his hat covering his eyes, his hands folded atop his abdomen, and a cable coming out of him plugged in the wall behind. One of his secondary limbs occasionally twitches.
May 2, 2025 at 8:06 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
“My favourite thing in recent concept art has been exploring the bugs’ secondary set of limbs and what they can be used for. I imagine their society is very good at multi-tasking” - Kris, our Visual Lead

#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #conceptart #characterdesign #theenergycase #tec
A compilation of different images, all closeups of robot bugs, showing off how they use their secondary set of limbs. At the top the caption reads “The Many Functionalities of Secondary Limbs!“ The first image is a closeup of an ant’s back. She’s holding green papers under her secondary limb. A line points at it with the caption “carrying flyers“. The second image is a closeup of two ants, facing each other. One holds up a wooden sign with his limb, and the other is holding spools in hers. Lines point to both of them, reading “keeping a sign upright“ and “holding spools“. The third image is of a group of bugs. An ant stands tall with his head cut out of the image, and a ladybug is crouching beside him, passing a can of oil to someone else. The ant uses one of his limb to gesture for the ladybug to hide, and the ladybug uses one of his limbs to balance while crouching. Lines point to their limbs, reading “gesturing/pushing“ and “keeping balance“. The forth image is a closeup of a barman ant cleaning a glass in his hands. His secondary limb holds up what looks like an alcohol bottle. A line points to it, reading “holding bottle“. The fifth image is a closeup of two ants, each on opposites sides of a bar. The barman’s head is cut out of the image as he leans on the bar, pouring a drink while holding the bottle with his secondary limb. The other ant is reading the newspaper, holding it with both his secondary limbs. Lines point to their limbs, reading “pouring drink“ and “holding newspaper“.
April 25, 2025 at 2:55 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Happy Easter, everyone!

Remember, when handling animals, do not perform strenuous activities, as your engine smoke is not good for organic life and might stress them out!

#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec #easter
A picture of Dec, the robotic ant detective, sitting on the ground and looking annoyed with one chicken sitting on his head, and another, joined by a rabbit, sitting in his lap.
April 18, 2025 at 3:40 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Comparing a project's concept art throughout the years can really show us where we've grown as designers. Working on The Energy Case has taught us so much!
The first image was made in 2023, the second in 2024, and the third in 2025

#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
Concept art of a robotic ant showing a 3/4s angle and a side view. Large puffs of smoke come out of the robot's back. Concept art of robot insects, each showing a side and a 3/4s angle. The bugs are an ant, a bee and a wasp. Concept art of a robot ant. Shown are two variations of the beak, two variations of limbs, and two variations of arms, as well as the back of the ant. The bottom part of the picture shows three characters, two ants and one bee, each wearing outfits with pictures of ant and bee species and other pictures that inspired them around them.
April 16, 2025 at 7:13 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Did you know Dec has friends? Meet Messo Barber, a bartender in Deeprun, the city of TEC! Here’s some concept art from our most recent video and the oldest art of Messo we could find.
vm.tiktok.com/ZNdNGJGC9/

#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
Concept art of Messo, a red robot ant, wearing a green vest. He's cleaning a glass with a towel in his hands, while a secondary pair of hands hold up a brown glass bottle, similar to a whiskey bottle. Concept art of Dec and Messo, two robot ants, sit at the bar. Dec reads the newspaper, held between his secondary arms, as one of his upper hands holds a pencil, and the other is cupped around his glass on the bar. Messo stands over him on the other side of the bar. He looks at a piece of paper in his hand as one of his secondary arms pours a drink inside Dec's glass. The two are in darkness, only a warm light shining above their heads. Concept art of Messo, a brown ant, wearing bright lime green clothing. He sits on the ground, holding onto a counter. His shirt is open, revealing some sort of wound, making him "bleed" oil on the ground.
April 11, 2025 at 2:30 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
A few weeks back we held a presentation on How to Fail at Entrepreneurship!
If you're looking to fail, the most important bits are:
- Do NOT share your ideas.
- Keep your pitch the same no matter who you are talking to.
- Don't bother with marketing early.
#indiedev #gamedev #gamebiz
A presentation slide reading "Novak Studios presents: How to Fail at Entrepreneurship". The slide includes Novak Studios' logo, as well as a stock image of a test paper, with a pencil lying on top of it and the grade F written on with a red marker.
April 9, 2025 at 3:43 PM
novakstudios.bsky.social
Did you know Dec has a son? We talked about him on our TikTok account! Here’s some concept art from our most recent video: www.tiktok.com/@novak.studi...

#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #appliedgames #theenergycase #tec
Concept art illustration. Four robotic bugs walk, facing away from the viewer. From left to right, the bugs are a ladybug, an orange ant, a brown ant, and a bee. They carry protest signs and green leaflets. Each one wears a green armband with a symbol of a bug inside a circle. Concept art illustration. A robotic ant stands centre-stage, leaning against a counter. Near him, hiding behind the counter, a bee and ladybug robots sneakily pass a jerrycan with the words “premium oil” on it. Concept art illustration. Two robotic ants stand facing each other, sideways to the viewer. The ant on the right leans down to inspect the clothing of the other ant. She's holding a sewing needle and a few spools. Concept art illustration. Two robotic bugs stand next to each other, one of them an ant, the other a bee. The bee smacks the ant’s hat off of his head and in front of his eyes.
April 4, 2025 at 10:24 AM