Who we are

A group of game-playing friends with lots of ideas and nowhere to use them started Salty Dog Digital to create interesting games for fun: fun for you to play and fun for us to create! We’re an international team with experience in software development, media design, IT consulting and start-ups. We’re using the latest technology to be efficient and keep our team small until we become established. We wanted to make things that are our own ideas and our own work and that really belong to us, instead of always working for someone else. At this early stage, everyone still has a day job but maybe one day, with other game ideas, we’ll make the change.

How it happened

Robert, software developer by trade, loves games and he’d long had a dream to write games. But it was just a dream because it’s something you can’t easily do on your own. Then on a trip to Florida to visit long-time friends Lorin and Diane, playing games, cooking great food and generally having a good time we talked about designing games and decided, the four of us, why not give it a go? Perhaps together we could do what none of us could do alone. We came up with a bunch of ideas. Lorin, also programmer extraordinaire came up with a couple of creative board games, the shoe game and the bee game. Both could be software games but they didn’t quite hang together. Lots of talk. Some paper prototypes. Not much direction! Then one evening over Salty Dog cocktails, the fourtex core idea was born. Find and enjoy our Salty Dog and Salty Puppy recipes here It looked simple enough to try and with the Moai framework, and stock artwork, may be it would be possible. So Robert wrote a prototype and it worked. But it had no style and no story. We needed original artwork and original sound. Enter brother-in-law and friend Steve in the UK. With a degree in Media Studies, more than a decade of experience in digital and a flare for sound and graphics, he mocked up three completely different designs. We picked fourtex zen because it gave us the opportunity to do something distinctive and offer an alternative to all the busy, noisy games on the market. Before long Steve was a full member of the team, even though he, Diane and Lorin have never met in person. Steve managed the art assets and worked on music, Lorin on sound and poetry, Robert was coding tsar and Louise and Diane managed the business end of things. When we went to play-test we found there were challenges porting the game to iOS so we gave in and re-wrote the whole thing in Unity. Nine months later, and with a lot more consistency of theme in sound, graphics, and story, we’re able to release in the Play Store, the App Store and for the Kindle Fire platform. Go Salty Dogs! fourtex zen was a manageable-sized project that has allowed us to create the team and build a finished product. We have other ideas for variations with different themes and rules and for very different games. However, our first priority was to get fourtex zen released and then go on to greater things. We hope you enjoy the peaceful place it allows you to create for yourself, wherever you are.

The Founders

Diane

Queen of Releases! Diane oversees the test and release process for new games using her leadership experience from corporate IT.

Lorin

Storyteller of Salty Yarns! He works on idea development, prototyping and weird and wonderful words and sounds.

Louise

Kibbles counter and marketer! Louise makes sure the paperwork eventually gets done.

Robert

Coder with more gadgets that you can fit in a ten ton truck! Robert provides technical leadership and does the magic that makes the games work.

Steve

Creative genius who turns ideas into reality! Steve writes music, creates video and graphics and is the resident style guru.

About Salty Dog Games

We want our games to be able to be playable on at least two levels: play in the moment for simple enjoyment or plan your moves ahead to play strategically and win. Our first game, fourtex zen, is design to be different from so many games by taking you to a place of quiet and peace. You can enjoy it as an exercise in mindfulness. Take a break from the rush of daily life and over-stimulation and relax in the cocoon of the experience, even for just a few minutes.

How we make money

We’re fed up of games that make you pay and pay for extra supplies or lives so you can advance in the game. We deliver complete games but if you want new art work or a lot more levels, if a game is popular enough, we’ll make sure you can get more of what you love. We don’t like mobile games where you end up clicking on the ads because they’re right next to the button or piece you want to select so we’re not going to design like that. We don’t expect to get rich quick, but believe there are enough people out there that want the same experience we do to make it worthwhile. If you agree, buy our games and tell your friends too!