Publisher Pathfinder is the new text adventure style tool for developers

An industry veteran, Alyssa Kollgaard, has launched the Publisher Pathfinder, an innovative tool that guides developers in searching for publishing partners and investors. The resource is a positive point aimed at bringing clarity to the financing process, historically opaque.

The Publisher Pathfinder is styled as an old-school text adventure game, where developers answer questions about their games, such as target platforms, content, and desired funding amount. In the end, the tool provides a list of publishing partners, investors, and service providers that match the developer's needs, selected from a database with nearly 800 companies.

Kollgaard, currently the COO of Akupara Games and former leader of the collective The Indie Houses (Raw Fury, Fellow Traveller), explained the inspiration behind the project:

"Someone had made an offhanded comment at one point that it would be fun to make a sorting hat website for the seven Indie House publishers, and the idea always stuck with me. I decided to expand it to ALL publishers, and change the theming to something not rooted in the Harry Potter universe, because I really believe it will be a helpful resource for the community."

The compilation of the database took months of work by Kollgaard. She began by combining and consolidating three existing databases: Alan's Gamedev Resources Sheet, Publisher & Investor Database for Indie Devs by Seyed, and IndieGameBusiness.

Kollgaard invested around 100 hours over five months to fill in missing details using publicly available and verifiable information from official sources. She added her own criteria, such as core pillars and additional services, and included investors from senior leaders she advises.

The creator hopes that the Publisher Pathfinder will be a valuable resource for the community: “The game publishing ecosystem deserves as much clarity, skill, and design thinking as the games themselves. I know firsthand how overwhelming it can be when it comes to game financing and publishing. So, I decided to cut through the noise and create a playable and searchable resource aimed at making the opaque business of game financing more transparent, actionable, and fun!”

In addition to the Publisher Pathfinder website, Kollgaard has created a Discord server for users, and the tool is also available on Bluesky and X.

Alyssa Kollgaard's Publisher Pathfinder (COO of Akupara Games) is an online tool styled as a text adventure game that helps developers find publishing partners and investors. The database includes nearly 800 companies and was built from three databases and 100 hours of verification. The resource is available via website and is accessible through Discord, Bluesky, and X for the community.