Engadget’s Indie Pitch highlights Dressmaker, an upcoming sewing and design simulation from Cozy Lives, a small team within South African studio Free Lives. The game focuses on creative control and celebrates dressmaking, while its development reflects how independent creators can bring specialised personal expertise to game design.

Players design dresses, select fabrics, sew panels together and add finishing details such as buttons, bows and trims. They can fulfil commissions for townspeople with different tastes or create dresses to sell; development began with a prototype in July 2025 and was approved by Free Lives in September, with a three-person core team supported by contractors and the wider studio.