It’s official: Dressmaker is officially one of the surprise breakout hits of 2026. But it’s not just that a game about dressmaking could be a huge hit on Steam that’s surprised the video game industry–it’s the team that made it. South African game studio Free Lives has become well-known for making “silly” action games like Broforce, Genital Jousting, and Gorn, and to see the team pivot so excellently to a more low-key crafting game has been the talk of the town.
What does it take to make that kind of pivot? And why is such a transition not a surprise to anyone familiar with the craft of game development? Today on the GameDeveloper.com podcast, we’re chatting with programmer Ruan Rothmann and artist Sara Laubscher about the Dressmaker development process, and digging into the experience of jumping into a new game genre with just gumption and a gut feeling.
About the Game Developer Podcast
The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling the triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between of game development, sharing lessons and strategies fellow developers can use to hone their craft. The Game Developer Podcast is hosted by Bryant Francis, edited by Pierre Landriau,
