At Summer Game Fest 2025, Ambrosia Sky caught the hearts and minds of attendees for its unique premise, unusual gameplay, and compelling sci-fi vision. It’s a cosmic science fiction game where players uncover the mysteries of a lost colony by cleaning up an alien mold and burying the dead.
It’s from a team of industry veterans with experience at companies like Bethesda, Ubisoft, and beyond—but it’s not the kind of game any of those companies would have made.
That’s not a knock on any of those studios—it’s difficult to explore new ideas in well-entrenched workflows. Making stunning, creative games sometimes requires starting from zero and avoiding the temptation to make a game described as “X, but Y.”
This week on the Game Developer Podcast, Soft Rains studio head Joel Burgess and narrative director Kaitlin Tremblay dropped by to discuss the origins of Ambrosia Sky, and why the team set an ambitious goal—making a game that can truly push the boundaries of science fiction.
Burgess and Tremblay were also candid about the complicated process of deciding what game to make. When your studio is full of industry veterans, there’s an expectation you’re striking out to make your own version of the games you already worked on—but that’s not what Soft Rains wanted to make.
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, and features music by Mike Meehan.
Check out the Ambrosia Sky demo on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3580160/Ambrosia_Sky/
Follow Joel Burgess and Kait Tremblay on Bluesky at @joelburgess.bsky.social and @kaittremblay.bsky.social
Follow Game Developer on Bluesky or on LinkedIn.
