Ricky Llamas
Narrative Design
Narrative and systems designer with credits on Prey and Prey: Mooncrash at Arkane Studios. Known for bridging technical structure with sharp writing in immersive sims and AAA games.
About
A small program from one indie studio.
The Game Grove Incubator is run by Tyler Coleman of Retora Games out of Santa Cruz, California.
Founder
Tyler Coleman
Founder, Retora Games
I started Retora Games to make the kind of indie games I wanted to play, and I am running this incubator for the same reason. Most student game teams do not ship their first game. The second or third is usually where things click. The point of this program is to keep good teams together long enough to get there.
I run the program by myself. That is why the cohort is small: two teams, three months, weekly meetings. The money is not enormous and the mentor time is not unlimited, but the support is hands-on.
If you want a cohort of twenty teams with a polished accelerator brand, this is not that. If you want one person paying attention to your specific game, it might be.
Why this exists
There is a gap between game one and game three.
There are few grants and accelerator options for indie game teams in the US. Equity does not fit a small LLC partnership. So this is structured differently.
The goal is not to find one breakout success. The goal is to keep good teams from quitting between game one and game three.
Mentors and advisors
The people in your corner.
Cohort teams get access to a roster of working developers, producers, marketers, and publishers. Each mentor gives one to two hours of time, usually as a talk or workshop, plus reviews of the team's game and pitch.
Guillaume Pierre
Game Design
Player-first designer behind SimCity, Spore, and Cityscapes on Apple Arcade. Operates at both big-picture and granular system levels, often prototyping on paper before a line of code is written.
Kevin Robertson
Business Development & Strategy
20+ year career spanning Unity, EA, Tencent, AWS, and BITKRAFT Ventures. Brings deep expertise in strategic partnerships and the indie-to-AAA development landscape.
Jared Yeager
Production & Developer Relations
20+ years in games as a producer, executive, and advisor. Head of Developer Relations at Oncade, former EP for Games at The Walt Disney Company, and adjunct professor at USC's Interactive Media & Games Division.
Erika Mariko Olsen
Publishing & Production
Producer of 20+ titles including Signalis and Unpacking. Previously at Xbox, Humble Games, Google Stadia, and Riot Games. Specializes in production process, product management, team health, and stakeholder alignment.
Graeme Devine
Game Development
40+ year industry veteran who co-founded Trilobyte (The 7th Guest) and led design on Quake III Arena and Halo Wars. Has shipped across id Software, Microsoft, Apple, and Magic Leap.
Renee Gittins
Studio Leadership & Advocacy
Leads Stumbling Cat and chairs the IGDA Alumni Board. A multi-disciplinary leader and outspoken advocate for developer welfare and diversity initiatives across the games industry.
Craig Zinkievich
Online Games & Production Leadership
Veteran game executive with 20+ years of experience building studios, scaling teams, and bringing online games from concept through launch and live operations. He has helped build & lead the game teams behind City of Heroes, Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, and Aliens: Fireteam Elite.
Dan Da Rocha
Indie Game Design & Studio Leadership
Award-winning game creator, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and co-creator of Q.U.B.E., Q.U.B.E. 2, and Hue. Brings practical insight on indie design, creative direction, studio building, and making distinctive games stand out.
Nada Miljkovic
Community, Media & Creative Practice
Bay Area creative leader, educator, and community organizer with a long-running practice at the intersection of media, art, and public engagement. Helps teams think about audience, creative identity, and sustainable community connection.
J. Eckert
BizDev, Publishing & Developer Relations
20-year games industry veteran with experience across EA, Riot, Genvid, Xsolla, and ASUS. Brings broad expertise in business development, publishing, developer relations, and operations, alongside nonprofit leadership with IGDA, Cave Bear Collective, and a local makerspace.
Alyssa Kollgaard
BizDev & Funding · Marketing & UA · Production
20+ year games industry veteran with a track record spanning production, creative direction, and community building. Known for turning ambitious projects into successful launches across both indie and larger-scale development.
Nat Loh
Design · Leadership
Award-winning designer behind multiple Skylanders titles, earning BAFTA, DICE, and E3 recognition. Active mentor with the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and USC, with deep experience in player-facing design and team leadership.
Dylan Gedig
Design · Marketing & UA
Designer with industry roots at Kixeye and Codename Entertainment who bootstrapped Red Nexus Games into an award-winning indie studio. Best known for Peglin, a roguelite built on procedural generation that won Best Design at multiple festivals.
Scott Anderson
BizDev & Funding · Design · Production · Technical
Graphics engineer at Unity Technologies with a background spanning Oculus and real-time rendering research. Brings rare technical depth alongside a long-running mentorship practice with Gameheads, helping emerging developers bridge design and engineering.
Kellee Santiago
Design · Production
Co-founder of thatgamecompany, where she helped create Journey and Flower. Previously Creative Director at E-Line Media, with additional experience at Niantic and Ouya. IndieCade Game Changer Award recipient and advocate for games as a meaningful creative medium.
Jimmy Chi
BizDev & Funding · Marketing & UA
Product Marketing Manager at The New Blank with a career rooted in games at Humble Bundle, Perfect World Entertainment, and ArcadeXR. Specializes in growth systems from community and creator amplification to store page strategy and paid media.
Henry Smith
Design · Production · Technical
Creator of Spaceteam and Blabyrinth, award-winning games recognized at IndieCade and A MAZE. Founder of Sleeping Beast Games. Brings rare fluency across design, programming, and the full arc of shipping an indie title.
Ichiro Lambe
BizDev & Funding · Marketing & UA
30-year industry veteran who co-founded Dejobaan Games, helped build Steam Labs at Valve, and now leads Totally Human Media on a mission to solve game discovery. One of the sharpest minds working on the business of reaching players in an overcrowded market.
Ross Marabella
Production · Publishing
Publishing producer with 10+ years across Epic Games, Humble Bundle, and 2K. Experienced in supporting indie and mid-size games reach key development milestones and overcome operational challenges
Chris Harada
Art / Aesthetic · Marketing & UA · Production
Creative Director and marketing leader with 13 years across 19 global game launches. Has worked with Square Enix and Gearbox Entertainment, and partnered with Xbox Publishing to build player-focused campaigns for global audiences.
Melody Geiger
BizDev & Funding · Marketing & UA · Production
Founded an indie studio straight out of college and hasn't stopped shipping since. Has worked on Gemporium, Pelikeeper, Sledding Game, Gang Beasts, and more — figuring it out as she goes.
Rachel Heleva
BizDev & Funding · Design · Production
Game scout, producer, writer, and researcher working across publishing, funding, curation, and festivals. Connects studios with publishers and investors, leads events programming for GamesBeat, directs The MADE, and studies games as dynamic systems at UC Davis.
More to come
2026 roster
Additional mentors will be announced soon!
2026 cohort
Applications are closed.
The two teams for the 2026 program have been selected.
Interested in being a mentor? Email us at info@gamegroveincubator.com