Independent game studio · Lawrence, KS · Two roles open · applications read by a person
A nine-person studio in Lawrence, Kansas. Every careers page in this industry says "competitive salary" and "we’re like a family". This one publishes the actual bands, the actual crunch record with dates, and a short list of what we cannot offer you.
Projects
2024 · Shipped
Self-funded from contract work
A twelve-hour management game about running a canal lock. Paid for by eighteen months of the team doing contract tools work for other studios, which is why it took three years rather than eighteen months.
Made its money back in fourteen months. Not a hit; a business.
2021 · Shipped
Publisher advance, recouped 2023
Our first commercial release. A publisher paid for it, which meant it existed at all and also meant the scope was agreed by somebody who was not going to build it.
Recouped, which is more than most advances do. We would take a publisher deal again, on different terms.
In development · In development
Self-funded plus a state arts grant
Eighteen months in. We are not showing it yet because it is not ready and announcing early costs a studio our size more attention than it buys.
Funded through Q3 2027 without new money. That is the number that matters and it is why we can say no to a bad deal.
Every studio page lists what was made. Almost none says how it was paid for, and funding is the thing that actually decides what a studio can make — a publisher advance and a grant and a year of contract work produce three different games from the same nine people.
The team
No headshots, deliberately. A photograph tells you nothing about who to email and a job title tells you slightly less than the sentence beside it does. If you need something from this studio, the second column is the page.
Pay
"Competitive" is the least checkable word in the language. These are the real bands, they are the same for everyone at a level regardless of what somebody negotiated, and they are on this page rather than revealed at offer stage.
| Level | Band | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Junior — any discipline | $58k – $68k | Zero to two years. We hire one or two a year and we do not expect them to arrive knowing our engine. |
| Mid — any discipline | $78k – $95k | The band most of the studio sits in. Movement within it is annual and written down. |
| Senior — any discipline | $102k – $124k | Discipline does not change the band. A senior artist and a senior programmer are paid the same here. |
| Lead / director | $128k – $145k | Four of the nine. Leads are still expected to do the craft, which is why the band is not wider. |
| Profit share | 8% of net | Split evenly by headcount, not by seniority. It paid out twice in seven years and both times it was small. |
What we do not do: equity instead of salary, unpaid trials, or "we will revisit it after launch". If any of those turn up in a conversation with us, it is a mistake and you should say so.
The crunch record
Seven years, two shipped titles, and three periods where people worked more than their contracted hours. Here they are, with what caused each one and whether it was paid. A studio that claims zero is either very lucky, very new, or not counting.
Publishing this is uncomfortable and it is the only version of a crunch policy worth having. "We do not crunch" is unverifiable; "we crunched three times in seven years, here is when, and one of them was our own fault" is something you can hold us to at an interview.
Before you apply
“I left after four years because I wanted to work on something bigger, and they wrote me a reference the same week. The bands on this page are the bands I was actually paid. I have worked at two studios since where that sentence would not be true.”
A former gameplay programmer, quoted with permission
Open roles
You would work on the 2027 project’s core systems alongside Rowan. We care that you have shipped something and can explain a decision you now think was wrong. We do not care which engine, and we do not have a degree requirement. The process is a 45-minute call, a paid four-hour task, and a half day with the team. Three steps, and we tell you the band before the first one because it is already on this page.
Working with Devon on the 2027 project. Portfolio over CV, and we would rather see three finished environments than thirty pieces. If your portfolio is mostly one style, say so — we will tell you honestly whether that style is the one we need.
Two roles, both real, both with the band on them. If neither fits, we keep speculative applications for twelve months and we answer every one of them, which takes Quill about an hour a week and is the cheapest thing we do for our reputation.
Common questions
Because "competitive" means nothing, because it stops the person who negotiates hardest being paid the most for the same work, and because it saves both sides a conversation that would otherwise happen in round three. It also means we cannot quietly underpay somebody, which is the actual reason most studios do not do it.
Three periods where people worked beyond contracted hours, yes, and they are listed with dates. If we have forgotten one, somebody who worked here will tell us and we will add it. That is the point of writing it down.
Because a headshot tells you nothing about who to email. The team list gives you a name, what they do and what to come to them for, which is what a visitor actually needs. This is also a website template, and the nine people are fictional — using stock portraits as fake employees would be inventing identities rather than inventing a company.
Not right now, and we say so plainly rather than letting people apply and find out. We are hybrid with three days in Lawrence. If that changes it will change on this page first.
No. Our task is four hours and it is paid at the mid contract rate whether or not you get the job. A studio that asks for unpaid work is telling you how it will treat you later.
We tell the team, immediately, as we did in 2022 and again in 2023. Both times we had six months of notice and both times nobody was surprised. We would rather lose people to a planned exit than to an announcement.
Apply, or ask
Speculative applications are kept for twelve months and answered. Fields marked with an asterisk are required.