A two-person studio, serious about craft.
Blackboard Studios is a small software studio based in Olathe, Kansas. We blend retro sensibility with modern engineering — building our own product line and taking on a handful of client engagements each quarter.
Named after the tool that taught us most.
Before there were IDEs, there were blackboards — sketching architecture with chalk, arguing about data flow, and erasing bad ideas. We kept that spirit and paired it with the best tooling available today: typed languages, modern cloud, and AI that genuinely accelerates great engineering.
We run an unusually eclectic product line — a modern BBS emulator called Doorcade, a pixel-art tower defense game called Scrapbot Outpost, a power-user browser utility called Torrent Snag, and an in-house game engine called WhimsyTale. Different audiences, same studio DNA: retro sensibility, modern engineering, zero tolerance for sloppy details.
Alongside our own products, we take on a small number of client engagements each quarter — startups that need a senior pod to ship fast, and teams that need help with something hard. Either way, you get the same two engineers: the ones writing the code.
Four things we try hard not to compromise on.
Outcomes over output
We optimize for the product landing well in the world — not for hours billed or tickets closed.
Taste is a feature
Good software looks and feels good. We sweat the type ramps, the empty states, and the motion.
Honest by default
If an approach is risky, we’ll say so. If we don’t know, we’ll say that too — and find out.
Built to be owned
We leave behind systems your team can run, extend, and be proud of. Not black boxes.