A Mid-Shift Conversation With Ethan Anderson - The Young Mind Behind Nubby's Number Factory

Nubby's Number Factory is a game where you chuck a sentient ball down an industrial pegboard full of numbers to prevent the heat death of the universe. It is a visual oddity infused with the flavor of webcore aesthetics. It's Cocomelon for adults – as Nubby descends into the virtual board to meet his untimely fate, he bounces between pegs accompanied by satisfying, colorful visuals and musical flourishes that tickle receptors in my brain I previously thought extinct. It is a game that has the sauce. It's an experience that invites you to break it entirely.

I wrote about my fascination with Nubby's Number Factory previously, so, to not run the risk of repeating myself, I will end my recollections here. I will conclude by stating that, from the moment I first played Nubby's, I knew it was a special game and I knew I had to talk to the man behind it.

Enter MogDog, the internet moniker of Ethan Anderson, the solo developer of Nubby's Number Factory.

When our pre-interview conversation started, he mentioned how he never expected his game to blow up the way it did – to the point where he was able to clear his student loans debt and now has to confer with a financial advisor to deal with all the big bucks Nubby is raking in. Despite this, he remains a humble dude who rejoices in the whimsical fun of game development. This young man exudes joie de vivre. His excitement and enthusiasm are infectious.

What started as a short interview over Discord soon extended into follow-up questions and addendums. Nubby-mania is real and has infected not just my household but the minds and bodies of my IRL friends. When they heard I spoke to the man himself – the Dog that Mogs – they insisted I ask him the questions nestled within their craniums.

In our Discord chats, email exchanges, psychic link-ups, dream encounters and smoke signals scattered to the wind, I asked Ethan about his videogame journey as both a developer and gamer, what he looks forward to in the future, and, because I am the writer that I am, I couldn't resist the opportunity to ask him about what kinda food Nubby would like. This is a mid-shift conversation with Ethan Anderson, coming to you straight from the Number Factory floor, in the middle of a lunch break.

Artemis Octavio: Ethan, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. The first question I have for you today is: what is the first video game you ever remember playing?

Ethan Anderson: Okay, this is going to sound cliche, but I think the first game I ever played was Peggle. So one of the direct inspirations for Nubby. I think it was either Peggle or Zuma, I think it was called. It was a game where you're, like, this frog that shoots a ball at a moving snake of balls, and it's kind of like a bubble burster game. They're both PopCap games, I'm pretty sure. Really simple stuff, I remember playing them on my mom's laptop.

AO: Oh my god, my girlfriend plays Zuma! They love that game.

EA: Yeah, it is so fun. And every single time I play it, it's like...the sound effects, everything brings me back. I'm a huge sucker for those nostalgia trips.

AO: So, how old were you when you were first playing Peggle and Zuma?

I had to be around 4 or 5 years old. I started playing video games pretty young. You know, simple games at that, but still video games.

AO: God, that just made me feel so old because I was about...10 or something years old...I was at least in my tween years when those games came out.

EA: Oh yeah. I bet.

AO: What made you want to develop video games in the first place?

EA: Yeah, I think there was...well...I was in high school, and I always had a love for video games. Going back to my origins, I would mod Minecraft, and my dad helped me compile these mods and get them working, because I was a kid and I didn't know how coding worked. But I would make the 3D models as a kid and apply the textures to them.

It was, really, just goofy stuff. I never published anything, but I think my desire to make games kind of comes from my desire to add on and, like, contribute to something. I feel that when I was 17 and started making games, the indie development dream was so sparkly and shiny to me that I think I just jumped into it. I really wanted a spot to express myself artistically, because, at that time, I had just discovered some really artistic games with really cool motivations behind them, like Undertale, which I was playing a lot of, and I was playing this stop-motion game called Hylics, and I...

I'm blanking on other ones, but it was basically just me wanting to do that and make something weird and wacky, and that's kind of why I jumped in. And I'm like, well, you know, you gotta start somewhere, so I did. It was really scary and tough, but I'm glad I am where I'm at today.

AO: Hylics is a deep cut. I played that game too, and, honestly, I kind of see the similarities with the assets that you used for Nubby's. Would you say that Hylics was one of the direct inspirations for your game or is it just a game you really enjoy?

EA: I think there definitely was some direct inspiration there. The exact graphical style that I use is a bit different than what they did with Hylics, but the general idea is there. It was kind of, like, me discovering the style of graphics that I wanted to make, and discovering how to make it, kind of stemmed from me trying to replicate the post-processing effects over the claymation models, like the dithering, for example. I was trying to replicate that, and I kind of discovered this method to dither that made things look like they were from the year 2003. So that's kind of what I stuck with.

AO: What would you say is the game you've played the most? A game you've sunk hundreds of hours into?

EA: There's been quite a few that I've sunk hundreds of hours into. Considering the amount of hours I played Minecraft from age 9 to 15, I think Minecraft. It's easily in the 1000s of hours range, but I haven't played Minecraft since 2020. The most time I've ever spent in a game besides Minecraft, and what I want to nominate as my real answer to this question, is The Binding of Isaac. I've thoroughly played through that game, and done just about everything that you can do in the game. It just never really got old for me, and for that I think it is truly a special game. To me, it is the best roguelike to have ever been made, when you combine the sum total of gameplay value for the base game and all of its DLC.

AO: I feel like Nubby's Number Factory is a bit of a cult hit. I first heard about it because a friend in the games writing industry recommended it to me. But after that, I saw that Northernlion was playing it, LocalThunk recommended it, even Jacob Geller posted about it on Blue Sky. How do you feel about the success of the game?

EA: Really good. It truly makes my soul happy, because it's truly one of those things that I've always dreamed about happening to me. The whole time I was developing Nubby, I was like, "God, wouldn't that be cool if it just took off?" And then it did. I just feel so happy about it and so fulfilled. Because it's like, wow, my art is really being appreciated!

You called it a cult hit, I would completely agree. I didn't think it would be as big of a cult hit, but the month leading up to it I had amassed a small following – these people who were really into it – and I thought that would be it. I've now amassed a bigger following than I ever thought I would. I was taken aback, actually, that it did perform so well, just because the graphical style is not super...well, it's not conventional. I wouldn't call it inaccessible, but it's not conventional.

AO: Well, I think it's the unconventional art style that convinced me and others to play it. Because, at first sight, the game has all the vibes of a shitpost. But then you actually play it, and you see that there's a lot of intricacy to the art design and that you were clearly having fun while making the game. Was making Nubby's Number Factory fun? Or am I completely misrepresenting you by stating that game development is a joyful endeavor?

EA: It was fun pretty much all the way through. I mean, I was just...most of the time, I would make an item, right? There are all these crazy items in the game. They're just completely random things. Half the time, it was just me being like, "Okay, what would be funny?" Because I'm trying not to bore myself here and do something that I don't like doing. Half the motivation for me to keep working on the game was just thinking like, "Okay, what can I make today that is going to make me laugh so hard that I can't stop working on it?" So, my whole design process was pretty much centered around: how can I make this fun for me?

AO: In regards to your aesthetics, any art or media outside of video games that inspired your unique artistic style?

EA: Yes, actually! A big inspiration is Mystery Science Theatre 3000, which is a raunchy, dad-joke parody show where the entire show is a cast of strange robotic puppets (and a random human man) ripping apart really old horror/drama films and making fun of them. If I recall correctly, reruns aired on my local news station when I was a kid, because it was filmed in the area I grew up in. It's wonderfully corny, lo-fi, and it's one of my favorite shows. Watch the intro linked here and you'll easily be able to see where I get my sense of humor and partial artistic direction from.

AO: So, what's your opinion on the game industry now? Is that a career path that you're seriously pursuing?

EA: Yeah, that's a good question, because I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I don't have...I'm not going to graduate college with any sort of credentials in game design. Like, no game design degree, no 3D art degree. It's going to be... I don't know how difficult it would be for me to even find a job at a studio, you know?

But then I have to think, like, okay, well, now I have this huge thing under my belt, something to put on my resume. I don't know how it would go if I decided to join a studio one day. But as for my thoughts on joining a studio, or if I would want to, I think there's a big part of me that thinks that would be fun. I watch all these Noclip documentaries on these video game studios, and everyone there looks like they're totally into it, right? Maybe not behind the scenes, but I think, for the most part, it seems like a lot of fun to work at a AA studio or something.

But there is still this part of me that's really, like, an individual. I like to do things by myself and I like to have accomplishments be from me only. I have to remind myself, like, okay, maybe this is narcissistic, or maybe this is a little bit restrictive, right? So maybe that's something I get over in the future if I decide to work at a studio. Also, I wouldn't be opposed to starting up my own studio, and maybe someday expanding once I've opened myself up to the idea of collaboration a bit more. For the time being, it's just going to be me. Just going to be me making games by myself like it has been for the past five years.

AO: Back to Nubby. Were there any games that directly influenced the mechanics of the game? Were Balatro or Luck Be a Landlord or any games of their ilk on your radar while making Nubby's Number Factory?

EA: Yeah, yeah, they were. I mean, I think Balatro came out when I was, like, you know, six or seven months into development, but there were games before it. There's kind of been this trend where you take this well-known concept, like a slot machine or poker, and you turn it into something that's got a lot of depth and you're just squeezing every last drop of depth and nuance that you can out of this simple idea. I kind of grabbed onto that. I think it had been done already with Peglin, but I thought I could go further with the whole plinko thing. So, yeah, I would view Balatro as an inspiration for the second half of development and Peglin or Luck Be A Landlord as an inspiration for the general foundation of the game.

AO: Yeah, they're all great games. It made a lot of sense when I saw Northernlion pick up Nubby's. It's the type of 'dad game' that he enjoys.

EA: Yeah, maybe I should be saying that who really inspired me to do all this was Northernlion, because I've been watching him for years and he got me into roguelikes as a genre. It's, like, there's this level of subconscious influence I've gained from him and the games that he plays. Like, I see those games and I play them, right? I play the games that he plays. So, maybe that did influence me deciding on the genre in general.

AO: Woah, I had no idea. That must've been surreal. How did it feel seeing Northernlion play your game?

EA: Yeah, you should have seen how I reacted. I was just absolutely ecstatic. I remember when it happened, to kind of give a story.

It was like four or five days after release. Up until this point, I was kind of making what I thought I would and selling as many copies as I thought I would. I was still super happy. I think I sold like a thousand copies in the first five days, and I'm thinking, "This is great because now I don't have to work this summer," right? So I was super pumped about that.

Then I get a message on Discord: "Hey, Chibli's playing your game." I'm like, no way! Because, I mean, I know Chibli from Northernlion! I know that they're friends. So I was, like, no way Chibli's playing my game. So I go on his stream. Sure enough, there is like a thousand people watching him play Nubby. Then, you know, I start talking to him and I'm like, wow, this guy loves Nubby!

It turns out, it was only my first big break because there were mumblings that the next day Northernlion would play Nubby. Apparently, he was in Chibli's chat when he was playing Nubby. That entire night, I didn't sleep. I was up just thinking: "Holy shit, like, what if he plays Nubby?" I was so wired. I remember the morning of, I sat down and worked on the game for a while. He starts streaming at like 10 or 11. I wait for the stream to start. He starts out with, like, some word games or whatever. I'm like, oh, maybe he's not going to play Nubby. I was, like, I'll keep watching the stream regardless. So I go and lay down, you know? Eat breakfast or whatever, while I'm still listening to the stream in the background.

Then all of a sudden he says, like, "Hey when I get back from a little break here, we're going to try out Nubby's Number Factory," and, like, I think I yelled. I was so ecstatic. It was like an instinctual battle cry when I heard those words. It felt completely like I was sleeping. Like a completely surreal experience. Because, I was thinking, there's no way this guy that I've been watching for years is finally playing my game. Like, I've been watching him play other people's games for years. Now it's finally my turn. It was so, so surreal. Probably the most surreal moment I've ever experienced was seeing him play that. It was a really good day for me.

AO: Northernlion loves Nubby. I love Nubby. We all love Nubby. This question actually comes from a Nubby fan. Do you think balancing your game was more math-based or vibes-based?

EA: Pretty much 100% vibes-based. There's, you know, certain formulas that I have set up and, like, equations for calculating round goals and stuff. But most of it was about making the items fun.

When a game can be broken, it's way more fun. So that was where I said I don't want to be so technical. I don't want to lock myself into this box where everything has to be perfect. Because, you know, it's a really hard game to balance, and it isn't balanced. It's not balanced at all! But that's half the fun. So, yeah: it was vibes-based. Just having it be unbalanced was kind of by design. I designed the game around the fact you'd be able to get these insanely broken runs. Because breaking the game is, for a lot of roguelikes, half the fun.

That's why I like Binding of Isaac so much, because, you know, every once in a while you get those runs where you just walk in a room and everything dies. So yeah, short answer: vibes.

AO: If there was one item from the bakery that you could eat, which one would you choose?

EA: Oh, that's a good one! Let me think...

I think, just because I always would wonder how it would taste: the tart lard. It's like a blue cookie thing with undulating fruit inside of it. I've always wondered what that would taste like. I feel like it would be really overwhelmingly sweet, like those Lofthouse cookies or something. For me, weirdly, that one seems the most edible.

AO: Time for some rapid fire questions. Can Nubby help us achieve world peace? Or is his life too brief for him to care about that?

EA: In the sense that his perpetual creation and death plays a hand in preventing the heat death of the universe: he is keeping the world at peace! Though, in terms of international diplomacy, he unfortunately lacks the vocal range and mental capacity to participate in any such activities. If he could, he would.

AO: What does supervisor Tony do in his spare time?

EA: Tony is that guy you know who lives to go to work and he doesn't believe in spare time. Some say he illegally lives in the heating ducts of the number factory, but no such accusations have been proven.

AO: Can you say 'trans rights' for us really quick?

EA: Trans rights are human rights!

AO: Thank you Ethan. I wanted to ask you about what you were working on next. I know some people before me have asked you about the next game that you're making...can you remind me the name of it? Was it Dysphoric Soymilk Lidocaine?

EA: Yeah, Dysphoric Soymilk Lidocaine. That was a project that I started when I was a freshman in college. I worked on it for about a year and a half. About as much time as I've worked on Nubby before. But I kind of lost track of the original vision and I lost track of what I was doing too often. It was also 100% spaghetti code, hardcoded from the start. So it was really hard to work with. That aside though, I think it's something that I do want to finish at some point in my life. I don't know if it's going to be the next game that I make or put out. But I feel like it was such a unique concept and it was so fun to look at.

It was really fun to make too. I feel like I'd be doing a disservice to myself if I didn't at least try to finish that. It's sort of an RPG, to give kind of a feel for what you would be doing in that game. The premise is that you are a therapist tasked with curing the existential depression of an artificially intelligent man. It's set in the future, like 2050 or something. That's the whole premise. You go inside of his brain and do things that do other things and somehow come together to fix this AI's depression.

AO: Do you mind if I ask about the title? Mostly because I remember I had a very visceral reaction to it, at first. Words like 'dysphoric' and 'soy milk' have certain connotations to me as a trans woman. But, after talking to you, the title does kind of give off a sense of irony. I guess, I was just wondering where the title came from?

EA: The title came from an inspiration for the game. The inspiration was a work of the Japanese game designer Osamu Sato. He made a game for the PlayStation 2 back in the 90's called LSD Dream Emulator, and DSL (Dysphoric Soymilk Lidocaine) was meant to be kind of like a walking simulator in that way. Or kind of like a Yume Nikki type of deal. Every time you played it, you were going through dreams, and because it influenced both the art style of that game and the premise, I took the word LSD and I flipped it around to make DSL.

I thought: "What are the three weirdest words I can put together?" and that flow well together too. Dysphoric. Soymilk. Lidocaine. People have such a visceral reaction to each word there. I thought that would be effective for the game that I was trying to make.

AO: Unfortunately, Ethan, I only have one more question for you. But it's probably the most important question of this interview. What would you say is Nubby's favorite food?

EA: Nubby's favorite food? If we're talking lore accurate here, he eats stem cells. But if we were to offer Nubby some food from the cafe, I think he would probably be down with like a croissant.

I want to give a huge thank you to Ethan Anderson for his time, his infinite patience, his flexibility, the wonderful gifs and assets that adorn this page, and his unwavering confidence in me. It was such a pleasure to speak with a young game developer that possesses so much gusto. I would also like to thank you, the reader, without whom none of this would be possible.

Stop Caring is reader supported and 100% free. Please consider subscribing or sending us a tip to make more of this possible. You might notice I'm saying 'us', for the entity behind Stop Caring has molded from a singular transgender queerdo into a more sinister third-thing. Indeed, you will see some names other than my own haunting this website soon.

On that note, if you are interested in writing for Stop Caring, please reach out via the email listed on the contact page or dm me on Bluesky. We offer payment, complete creative freedom, and no deadlines. All we ask for in return is open communication, no pieces that promote discrimination against vulnerable groups, and please, for the love of God, leave that AI shit at the door.

This is Artemis Octavio, signing off from the factory floor.