Making a dress can mean choosing the shape, fabric, details, and final look. In Dressmaker, players get control over almost every part of that creative process, turning clothing design into the main event of a new game from Cozy Lives, a small team within Free Lives.
Players can create commissioned dresses for women around town, each with different tastes and aesthetics. They can also make their own off-rack dresses and sell them. The result is a game built around personal choices: follow a request, chase a particular look, or make something that matches the player’s own idea of a perfect dress.
The invitation is simple: “Make the dresses you’ve always dreamed of.” But behind that simple pitch is a small development effort, a personal connection to clothing, and a project that moved from a first prototype to a greenlit game within a few months.
A Small Team With Help From Across Free Lives
The full-time core team working on Dressmaker includes three people from Free Lives: Ruan Rothman, Sara Laubscher, and Jonathan Hau-Yoon. Cozy Lives is the small new team developing the game, while Free Lives is the indie studio behind GORN, Genital Jousting, Broforce, and Terra Nil.
Jonathan is a co-creator of Terra Nil and Dressmaker. Sabrina Becker has been the vision holder for Dressmaker and has consulted on all game design decisions. The project also includes external contractors, with Kerstin Hall working as the writer and Meydän serving as the composer.
The audio work reflects the kind of shared effort common to a small game team. Sound designer Jason Sutherland is working on about four projects at the same time. Meydän is also working on about four projects at the same time, adding another example of how the game’s contributors balance Dressmaker with other work.
The wider Free Lives team has supported the project with additional art, design, production, and media and community support. Friends have also helped with footage capture and quality assurance when needed. That support gives the three-person core team access to skills beyond its own members without changing the project’s small-team foundation.
From Vacation Prototype to Greenlit Game
The first playable prototype of Dressmaker began in July 2025. Jonathan made a basic version during his vacation after updating Terra Nil. The prototype was then uploaded to itch.io to gauge audience interest, giving the team a way to see how people responded before the project moved forward.
Free Lives greenlit Dressmaker in September 2025. That timeline shows how quickly a small idea can take shape when the central concept is clear: let players make clothes and give those creations a purpose in the game world.
The decision also placed the project in a crowded indie game landscape. Roughly 2,000 games go live on Steam every month, making it hard for any small game to stand out. Dressmaker has a clear identity because its central activity is not a side feature or a short challenge. Making dresses is the game.
A Personal Connection to Clothing
The game’s direction grew from Sabrina Becker’s experience and her relationship with Jonathan Hau-Yoon. Sabrina and Jonathan have been dating for over seven years. When they met, Sabrina wore a dress she had made herself, giving Jonathan an early introduction to her connection with dressmaking.
Over the years, Sabrina taught Jonathan about clothing in ways that shaped his view of the subject. She pointed out costume changes in movies, explained their historical accuracy, and discussed modifications. She also talked about the environmental impact of fast fashion and synthetic fibers, then introduced him to YouTube dress historians and dressmakers.
Those conversations helped turn clothing from something Jonathan knew little about into a subject he could explore through game design. The prototype that began during his vacation became a way to build Sabrina’s knowledge and interests into an interactive experience.
Dressmaker now brings together that personal history, a focused three-person core team, and help from across Free Lives. Its design gives players room to work within commissions or create off-rack dresses for sale, while the game’s development story shows how a basic prototype can grow when a small team finds a concept worth pursuing.
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