Little Inferno was inspired by Yule Log channels

Little Inferno, indie studio Tomorrow Corporation's game about a fireplace, was inspired by a TV channel featuring a burning log, founder Kyle Gabler told Red Bull.

"You may have heard of the Yule Log TV program — the burning log you find on TV around the winter months in hotel rooms," Gabler said. "We thought, ‘Man, that's a super boring game that some awful company will make for the Wii or smartphones.' And then, ‘Wait, We could be that awful company! I wonder if we can start with an exceptionally underwhelming premise, but then actually make the game surprisingly good?'"

Gabler and Allan Blomquist, creators of World of Goo, and Kyle Gray, best known for his work on Nintendo DS game Henry Hatsworth In The Puzzling Adventure, set out to build a kind of game that's never been played before. The result is Little Inferno, a game where players buy and burn 140 different items in a fireplace. Combining items produces different results, which will in turn unlock more toys to toast.

Little Inferno is available on Windows through Steam and the Wii U through the eShop. A Mac and Linux version are still in progress.

(Thanks, Jon.)