Audio deduction game I’M YOUR HOST targets short scope

Calligram Studio’s audio deduction game I’M YOUR HOST blends lost-podcast restoration with paranoia, technological coercion, and a retro-futurist interface—built by a three-person team aiming to ship in a “handful of months.”

On paper, I’M YOUR HOST sounds simple: you restore missing podcast episodes. In practice, the developer describes a game built around what gets edited out—the daily takes, the behind-the-scenes scraps, the field recordings that linger at the edges.

“It’s an audio deduction game where you use a custom OS to restore a series of lost podcast episodes. ” Jigmé Özer says. The player work isn’t just listening. The game is structured like a straight linear narrative through the podcast episode format. while a second. parallel story surfaces through discarded interviews. field recordings. and other audio clips.

Özer and the team are also explicit about the mood they’re aiming for. Editing—manipulation—is “essentially” part of the theme, and the story revolves around paranoia and technological coercion.

Calligram Studio is building it as a deliberately manageable project. The team is three people: Eleanor Summers handles the art. Alexander Smith is the sound designer and composer. and Özer “does the rest.” They’ve been working on it for about two years. beginning pretty much right after Phoenix Springs was released in late 2024. Phoenix Springs was their first game, and it spent seven years in development.

With this new title, they’re leaning on a smaller ambition. “Fingers crossed it’ll be ready in a handful of months,” Özer says, even as he admits the larger fear that smaller studios carry: if it flops, there will be plenty of culprits.

Audio isn’t treated as atmosphere here—it’s treated as evidence. Özer argues that when you close your eyes. the world is already giving you audio information: office chatter. ambient traffic. and more. Those small signals tell you who is talking. what mood they’re in. where they are. and whether they’re lying. “These are all clues we pick up on in split seconds. ” he says. and that makes audio a powerful texture for a deduction game.

The game’s retro-futurism aesthetic ties directly to how it uses text. Even though it’s described as an audio game. Özer calls it “secretly a text game.” When the screen needs to carry meaning. he says older computer operating systems feel more evocative than a modern phone UI. He researched retro user interfaces. especially no-frills scientific research software with a “beautifully clunky quality. ” and kept returning to early Winamp and Avid—particularly because film school training gave him an analogue copy with a chunky keyboard and jog wheel that could scrub video frame by frame. He frames that tactile feel as part of the appeal, contrasting it with the quiet, gentle interaction of tapping glass.

There’s also a storytelling philosophy underneath the design. Özer traces games as the latest step in a long shift from oral storytelling to books. then audio radio plays. then film and TV. and finally interactivity. He says interactivity can tempt people into thinking it’s all about choice. but he’s more interested in “playing around with the linearity of time. ” pointing to the way games can reset you—die somewhere. respawn with new knowledge—as a form of time travel.

On the practical side of shipping, he doesn’t dwell on hardship. Asked about the biggest roadblock for a smaller developer, Özer says he can’t think of anything. He credits an intentional strategy to carve out a niche—“one foot in the very obscure jam / itch.io stuff and one foot on the periphery of the industry”—and says the studio is happy with the path so far.

Publishers, meanwhile, were supportive, even if the timing didn’t line up. “We spoke to a few great publishers for this project and they were all very supportive,” Özer says. “It just wasn’t the right time or fit.” Money is part of the conversation anyway—especially when “larger companies” includes Steam. He argues the platform’s 30 percent cut is something smaller studios would be better able to use. and he calls the sliding scale “absurd. ” saying it currently benefits AAAs. who pay a smaller fee the more units they ship.

I’M YOUR HOST is in development and published by Calligram Studio. It will be available on PC, Mac and Linux, and it can be wishlisted on Steam. There’s no fixed release date—Özer’s “fingers crossed it’ll be ready in a handful of months” sits in place of a calendar date, with a TBA window for now.

When asked to sum it up in one sentence, Özer lands on a comparison: “Think Her Story, but weirder.”

I'M YOUR HOST audio deduction game Calligram Studio retro-futurism custom OS podcast episodes Steam wishlist PC Mac Linux game development