Why are
sweet games
so delicious?
Developing games at high altitude, in Northern New Mexico
Why we exist and what we're doing
Our passion lies in creating opportunities for players to engage with the world in new and exciting ways. When you turn something into a game life is more enjoyable.
BURSTING WITH FLAVOR
Creating opportunities for practice
One of the best ways for people to learn new skills and ideas is through play. Kids know this, and research is showing it’s true for adults too!
Our games are designed to be simple, silly or fun. We also make games where players can practice cooperative social engagement and community building. Overall, we aim to give our players more joy.
Live your legend
Though a lot of life is about winning and losing, that’s not all of it. How we win matters.
For us part of winning is when people create stories with their friends and families. Humans are storied people, and we learn and have always learned wisdom from stories. This approach to systemic change is the root of our design process.
Treasure for the whole party
At Sweet games relationships with our environment, each other, and ourselves are at the heart of what we make.
We care about developing resilient communities. The scarcity driven model of mainstream economics today greatly influences communities across our planet to horde resources. Our games prioritize interactions that foster cooperation because we want these skills to develop in people long after they take part in our games.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Some fun from our library
UNWRAP THE DETAILS
Our tastemakers
We founded A Sweet Game LLC in 2021 as we pursued our dreams of designing games and raising kids.
A family business, based out of Taos, New Mexico. Starting a game company is our way of responding to the challenges we see in the world around us. Parenthood and considering our kid’s futures got us thinking about strengths we wanted them to develop, such as connecting with others, communication, self awareness and regulation, and emotional intelligence. These skills have become leading inspirations for how we design our games.
Our core design team
The people sailing the ship and figuring out the nuts and bolts of how to do what we're doing. In developing specific games we partner with other artists and organizations.
Dustin Sweet, Founder & Wizard of Game Design
Dustin received his Postgraduate Degree at the Glasgow School of Fine Art and studied game design with Sony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He came of age in the vibrant artist community of Taos and has worked in film, music, and television in the United States and abroad. Dustin believes Taos is a great place for a game company to thrive because of its history of art and multiculturalism.
Luz Sweet, Architect of Learning Systems
Luz’s passion for education and technology was the driving force in acquiring her Bachelors in Child Development from Mills College. She is a life-long learner with a deep desire to improve our current out-dated industrial form of education to a learning system that better supports the needs of young people. Her own children are her greatest inspiration and she is motivated to design games because the best learning occurs through play.
Isa Stewart, Principal Wayfinder
Isa's education is her nomadic childhood where she lived in many countries and cultures. She has worked with organizations such as Sadhana Forest, an NGO which plants trees, and The Fearless Heart, a resource for learning about serving the needs of all through systems like gifting consciousness. In her art she explores cultural diversity, nature, and womanhood. She is inspired by playful and compassionate ways of bringing about growth.
Our contributors
Thanks to these guys, and many others, for the added inspiration, wisdom, artwork and a great time.
Kadius Sweet, Watermelon Fairy. Kadius is a part of the game company because she enjoys making games, spending time with her family, and doing both is a miracle for her.
Faerún Sweet, Iron Fairy. Fearún is our Morning alarm clock, and upon inquiry has said she is watching Daniel Tiger.
Jason Stewart, Divisionary Advisor. Isa's Dad. He likes making games.
GIFT-BASED SYSTEM
Why let you choose your price?
You know what's good, and you'll pay for it.
We’ve been learning together with people around the world how to shift to gift based systems.
Current western mainstream society operates on trade where you must give something to get something. The core concept of gift-based systems is uncoupling acts of giving from receiving both culturally and economically.
A major reason we are driven to make our games available in this way is that there is great economic disparity across the planet. We are also witnessing late stage capitalism and watching it stagger. Exploring different systems is our response to these issues.
CONTACT US
Let’s get in touch
We are delighter when we meet people who truly value games, it’s our happiest priority to connect with like minded creators, gamers, and funders.
QUESTIONS ABOUT US
Want to know more?
What types of games are you making?
We are pursuing at least one game of every "type." At the moment we have published a tabletop war game. In the hopper we have a fantasy adventure board game, a first person VR game, a digital "zen adventure experience", a card game, and an MMORPG.
Of all the places in the world, why are you located where you are?
Taos is the ideal town for game development. An established "art colony" with a branch campus of the University of New Mexico and access to a solid T1 internet connection. We are surrounded by the adventure tourism that is the Sangre de Cristo mountain range with river access to the Rio Grande and four of the best ski areas in North America. Did we mention our fascinating cultural heritage? Why wouldn't you want to make games here?