Game developer Jonathan Blow is a busy man. So we found ourselves scrambling about in a panic when we were given the chance to get an update on what’s going on these days with his hotly anticipated adventure title The Witness, and the team behind it, straight from the horse’s mouth. Weeks were spent attempting to scratch out a few decent questions regarding his upcoming game, development style, and some habitual leisure activities (weeks may have also been spent on holiday break as well), and now you can find those inquiries below, along (happily) with his responses.

Epic Inventor has been one of my favorite finds of 2011. With its side scrolling platform gameplay reminiscent of Terraria combined with a few unique aspects in building plots and resource gathering I thought it combined the some of my favorite bits of Terraria with other features missing from the Minecraft-like sidescroller.

The festive buzz begins to fade – in part due to dwindling booze reserves already heavily depleted by family gatherings. Without the guiding light of alcohol, we’re just going to have to turn to that everpresent fallback for our daily endorphin boost; videogames – and the retail therapy so closely tied to them. Just a few days left to hoard for spring, and today is a big one – here’s the indie picks of the day:

It feels like it was only just a month ago that Steam was ravaging our cash reserves with day after day of ridiculous indie deals. Probably because it was. Not satisfied, the monster that is Steam has risen again from the depths to take every last penny we have, and this time the indies are in on it. In addition to a great big mess of Steam deals, indie games all over the store have (as previously reported) updated with Christmas-themed challenges and achievements. Complete these, and you get free goodies, including DLC and even some full games! After the break, the notable indie daily deals and challenges of the day:

We’ve covered Towns here on DIYGamer.com in the past. It’s a rather unique city simulation/RPG/Dwarf Fortress-type game that has really caught on with the indie gaming community. And for good reason too! It’s quite fun!

[My very first interview for DIYGamer was conducted with one of the coolest dudes I've ever spoken to: Farbs. This is a guy who left big-shots 2K to work on his own artistry and give us tremendously varied experiences while at it. The "Captain" series has received high praise but Farbs' legacy extends far beyond that of a single series. Here, he and I have an e-sitdown and discuss his new online trading card game, Card Hunter, and what it's like to a filthy rich indie developer. One of those I'm kidding about...]

One of our very, very favorite indie game developers is Dejobaan. I’m not sure if there’s another game company out there with as much character and spirit as those guys. So when I initially found out that there was an Aaaaa! “semi”-sequel, I was very excited. Not only because I got to play more amazing “falling” levels but also because it gave me an excuse to interview them.

Indie Bundles are all the rage right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple more companies weren’’t lining up similar packaged games to offer at a discount rate. I actually recently wrote an editorial on the subject a couple days ago. You should check it out, if you’re wondering where this bundley future will lead us.

Typically I either do previews or interviews for DIYGamer due to the fact that most developers aren’t physically within my reach. Therefor I’m forced to do interviews over email/IM and then preview the game later, separately. Today, I’m trying something a little different because, well, Dirk (the creator of ScrumbleShip) happens to live in Portland. Huzzah!

[It's not very often football/soccer fans have the opportunity to take their love of the game online -- in a whole new way. Sure, we've got our FIFAs and our Football Managers, but as Netsports' Tom Heller explains, there is a huge void where a football-management MMO should be. That's not for too long, though, as the Netsports team is hard at work on Ultimate Football Live, or UFLive for short.

Although it is ways away from release, UFLive has us excited. It is a project that boasts great promise, but that requires a tremendous amount of hard work and determination. So we will monitor it closely, ensuring we keep you up to speed on its development... in the hopes that you're perhaps a fraction as excited as we are. Forgive the lack of screenshots, there really isn't much to show off just yet, but read on to find out the story of how Netsports came to be and what it is trying to do.]