Why I am starting Snarly Owl.
I have spent the last twenty years making games, and the best part of that time has always been the people: artists, engineers, designers, producers, product managers, and teams who cared deeply about making something players would love.
I still love games. I especially love word and puzzle games: the kind that make you pause, think, laugh at yourself a little, and feel clever when the answer finally clicks. That kind of game has always felt personal to me. Small enough to understand. Deep enough to matter.
But over time, I have also watched the game industry become harder to recognize. Like a lot of modern tech, games have increasingly been shaped by huge budgets, huge teams, huge pressure, and business models that can make creativity feel secondary. I do not say that with bitterness. I have worked with too many good people to reduce the industry to a villain. But I do think there is room for another kind of game company.
That is why I am starting Snarly Owl.
Snarly Owl is my attempt to build games in a more sustainable, human-scale way. I am not trying to build the next giant studio. I am not trying to raise a massive round, chase an impossible valuation, or turn every player into a spreadsheet. I want to make thoughtful, fun word and puzzle games with a small team, sensible costs, and a clear respect for the people who play them.
If the company grows enough to employ a few talented people, that would be a success. If we can create good jobs in the United States, including here in West Virginia, even better. I believe tech work can be healthy again: practical, creative, sustainable, and rooted in communities where people can live good lives without needing the excesses of big tech to survive.
AI is part of how I think a small studio can do this responsibly. Not because it replaces taste, craft, or people. It does not. AI is a tool. Used well, it can help a small team prototype faster, explore ideas more cheaply, build supporting systems, test concepts, and reduce the cost of getting a good game into players' hands.
My background spans art, web design, engineering, product, and game development, and I see AI as one more tool in that long chain of creative problem-solving. The goal is not to make games feel automated. The goal is to make the business sustainable enough that real people can keep making good things.
Snarly Owl is starting with a simple belief: you do not need a giant budget to make a game that matters. You need taste, care, discipline, curiosity, and respect for the player.
That is the company I want to build. A small studio making smart games for people who like to think. A business that can stand on its own feet. A team that can enjoy the work. And, hopefully, a reminder that games can still be made with heart, restraint, and a little bit of stubborn independence.