The Origin of MoonDrop Games

MoonDrop Games was born from a longing for something gentle, something peaceful and beautiful in the noisy world of web games. Creator Ola Rogula, best known for her sites Doll Divine and Meiker.io, found herself reminiscing about Orisinal, a beloved Flash-era site by Ferry Halim that stood apart for its calm, illustrated mini-games and ambient music. Ola realized that while the gaming world had evolved in many directions, nothing had truly stepped in to replace Orisinal’s tranquil niche.

With over 20 years in the casual games industry, Ola had long observed the stark divide between "boy game" sites, blue and dark with action, horror, and meme content, and "girl game" sites, often pink and cluttered with low-quality content like celebrity surgeries and pet makeovers. The latter were overtly gendered, with names like Games2Girls and GirlsGoGames, while the former were simply assumed to be the default. As a developer, Ola had always just created games she personally enjoyed, dress-up games with strong aesthetics, aimed at teens and young adults who shared her taste.

Two decades later, she looked again and still couldn’t find a casual games portal that felt mature, beautiful, and inviting. Paid sites like BigFish Games offered cozy options, but free, curated portals for gentle adult players were nowhere to be found. That realization planted the seed for MoonDrop.

Building the Site, One Game at a Time

Ola dove in, designing and coding MoonDrop Games herself. With Meiker, she had worked with an indie dev team; now, she was ready to get her hands dirty again. She structured the site around a dynamic tagging system instead of rigid categories, allowing for layered discovery: a game might be tagged as both “cozy” and “mystery,” or “puzzle” and “nature.” Her goal? To post one high-quality game every day.

At first, traffic came via a small link from Doll Divine. But people started returning, and then more came. Ola had created something that people didn’t just stumble upon, but actively wanted to return to. “That’s when I knew I was onto something,” she says.

For Grown-Ups Who Still Believe in Magic

MoonDrop is for everyone, but Ola envisions it resonating most with those who crave gentleness. “I picture a tired mom at the end of the day, an art student needing inspiration, a doctor on break. Anyone who wants to feel immersed in beauty, storytelling, and quiet joy.”

She notes that many women in particular gravitate toward games with strong visuals, immersive music, and thoughtful storytelling. “It’s like a good novel,” she says. “Romance, tension, worldbuilding. My peers, especially the moms I know, are often in book clubs. They don’t want twitch reflexes; they want atmosphere.”

Though Ola herself is autistic and prefers nonfiction, she understands the emotional beats that cozy gamers love, and designs MoonDrop to reflect those sensibilities. “Growth, nurturing, softness, but also mystery and shadow. Feminine energy isn’t always pink fluff. It can be dark and powerful too.”

Curating with Care

Ola tests every game herself, sometimes with help from her six-year-old daughter, especially when cats are involved. She avoids anything overly violent or machine-centric (guns, cars, cannons), preferring games with atmosphere, beauty, and thoughtful mechanics. Favorites include avatar makers, interior design, food arrangement, and narrative-driven mysteries.

“One recent gem was Mary’s Mystery,” she says. “It looked like a simple hidden object game, but turned out to have this incredible office-decorating mechanic, multiple rooms, total customization. It was such a lovely surprise.”

What Comes Next

Ola hopes to eventually gamify the entire MoonDrop experience with logins, pets, collectibles, and progression, but in a way that supports relaxation, not obligation. “You can already see early hints in how each game category has its own background and color scheme,” she says.

She also runs local game jams in Nelson, BC, where she prototypes new games for MoonDrop. Eventually, she plans to sponsor other developers, especially those who’ve been told their games are too feminine, cute, or gentle. “That’s the whole point of MoonDrop. Those games belong here.”

A Cottage on the Web

“My dream is for MoonDrop to feel like arriving at your favorite cottage on the lake,” Ola says. “The one with climbing roses, squirrels on cobblestones, warm tea in the kitchen, and nothing urgent waiting.”

With MoonDrop, she’s crafting not just a site, but a sanctuary.