Disclaimer: this is not the path I chose. It chose me. And it all started with an actual stress dream.
Ever get it where you’re not sure if you’re actually asleep and dreaming, or just stress-working unpaid outside of working hours and calling it sleep? Yeah. That’s how STRESSHEAD! came to me. I woke up and wrote a long note on my iPhone with everything I could remember. I called it ‘Game Stress Head.’
And then, while doing this, I started developing another game. Because apparently one unfinished game wasn’t stressful enough while also working on my day job full-time, and trying to remember to brush my teeth at least once a day, feed my goldfish at least twice a day, and occasionally turn the dishwasher on.
That game, Pardon My Garden, took on a life of its own. I made it in full, painfully printing out every little aspect. Playtested it on the train to my own doctoral graduation. Changed it, playtested it, changed it, playtested it, and then said: oof, this is going to need a bit of a rethink. And instead of doing that, I started developing STRESSHEAD! Almost one whole year after that original stress dream.
STRESSHEAD! is the accumulation of too many years to name of working with too many genuinely unhinged people. To that boss who used to call me from his office downstairs, close to the kitchen, to make him a cup of tea. Thank you! To that boss who used to write to me IN CAPS IN RED INK TO MAKE EVERYTHING CLEARER! Why?! To that person who walked in while I was heavily invested in an egg and rice cake diet and asked what that smell was. I’m sorry. To everyone else, if you see yourself here, you’ve only got yourself to blame.
Almost everything in this game has actually happened. The WiFi dying mid-presentation. The colleague who microwaves fish in the staff kitchen every single Friday. The colleague who sat there and corrected your presentation. On a project you designed.
So here we are. Almost two years on from that stress dream. And despite the name, it’s already flipping stress on its head and making people laugh until their face and tummy hurts, which makes them laugh more, because the fact that laughing is making them hurt more is somehow funnier. And if you can’t laugh through the stress, well…you’re a STRESSHEAD!
WHAT IS STRESSHEAD? It’s a party game for 3 to 6 players. It’s not just a game about stress. It’s stress, dressed up as a party game…with PlayDoh. Now if that’s not meta, I don’t know what is!
Launching on Kickstarter in September 2026.
Follow us on Instagram @games.codling for card reveals, behind-the-scenes chaos, and the occasional stress dream update!