Pupfish Games
approx. 2 in. Cyprinodon diabolis 93°F, always ~191 left, total
Fig. 1 — Devils Hole pupfish, Amargosa Valley, Nevada. Drawn from photographs; the wash never stays inside the line.

Notebook of a small studio

We named it afterthe fish

Pupfish Games is an independent studio in Las Vegas. Two games in development, neither of them announced.

It lives in one crack in the rock, in water that should kill it, and it has managed that for ten thousand years.

See what's coming Read the notes

Games — in development, not yet named

  • Unannounced

    Specimen A

    Working title

    A rhythm game, charted to original music.

    Not showing this until it's fun without me explaining it.

    Genre Rhythm
    Status In development
    Title Not yet

    Planned platforms

    • App Store
    • Google Play
    • Steam
  • Unannounced

    Specimen B

    Working title

    A co-op horror game for four players.

    Ask me again in a year.

    Genre Co-op horror
    Players Four
    Status In development
    Title Not yet

    Planned platforms

    • Steam
    • Epic Games
    • Google Play
In development

Two

Shipped so far

None. Yet.

Cracks in the rock the pupfish lives in

One

About

The Devils Hole pupfish lives about ninety miles west of my desk, in a flooded limestone fissure roughly the size of a large room. The water sits near 93°F and holds very little oxygen. There are somewhere around 191 of them, and there have never been many more. They have been doing this since the Pleistocene.

By every reasonable measure the animal should not still be here. It is small, the habitat is hostile, and nothing about the arrangement looks survivable on paper. It survives anyway, and the males turn a hard iridescent blue while they do it.

That is the entire thesis of the studio. Work in a space nobody else wants. Keep the scope small enough to actually finish. Own the tools. Be unmistakably alive rather than large.

Las Vegas has a deep bench of game developers and almost no studios of its own — people here build other companies' games and then go home. I would like there to be one more studio that is actually from here.

Partners — publishing and press

Self-funded so far. Both games are in development and neither is committed to a publisher, so those conversations are open.

  • Publishing

    Open · both titles

    Neither game is signed. Builds, design documents and a milestone plan available under NDA. Tell me which platforms and territories you're strong in.

    Partners@ →

  • Press & media

    Kit available

    Fact sheet, boilerplate, logos and the specimen illustration, all cleared for editorial use.

    Press kit →

No deck yet. If you want one, ask and I'll send it rather than pretend it's sitting ready.

Collaborate

Welcome to the watering hole.

Remote · Contractors must be US-based

  • 3D artist

    Contract · approx. 3 months

    Monster characters, props and handheld items for the horror game. Built in Unity, so it has to hold up in engine and not just in a turntable render.

    Write to me →

  • Environment artist

    Contract · approx. 3 months

    Building out the horror game’s factory levels in Unity. Lighting and set dressing matter here as much as modelling.

    Write to me →

  • Music & sound

    Contract · approx. 3 months

    Original score and sound design. Comfort with Unity audio is welcome but not required — I can handle implementation. Paid, credited by name, no exceptions.

    Write to me →

  • Playtesters

    Volunteer · unpaid

    You get early builds and your name in the credits, and that's the whole deal. Blunt is the point.

    Write to me →

Write to us

hello@pupfishgames.com