Fast facts
| Studio | Gnarled Helix LLC, incorporated in Wyoming |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2022 |
| Founder | Robert Brownstein |
| Model | Remote-first |
| Products | Factory Chess (prototype, in development) · Open Sourcerer (in development) · Tauric Studio (free, in the browser) |
| Web | gnarledhelix.com |
| Contact | info@gnarledhelix.com |
Boilerplate
Two lengths, both free to quote verbatim or cut down.
In 100 words
Gnarled Helix LLC is a small, remote-first game studio founded in 2022 to build an educational programming game. That game is Open Sourcerer, a 2D platformer in development where players write their spells in JavaScript. Building it meant building an engine from scratch, focused on web-first delivery and performance, and that engine led to two more products: Factory Chess, an in-development prototype that plays chess on the same sixty-four squares as a working factory, and Tauric Studio, a free collaborative level editor that runs in the browser at tauric.tools. Gnarled Helix LLC is incorporated in Wyoming. Press contact: info@gnarledhelix.com.
In 300 words
Gnarled Helix LLC is a small, remote-first game studio founded in 2022 by Robert Brownstein to build an educational programming game. Rather than license an engine, the studio built its own from scratch, focused on web-first delivery and performance — and that engine led to the two products that followed.
Factory Chess, an in-development prototype, plays chess on the same sixty-four squares as a working factory. Captured pieces leave scrap where they died. Park a pawn on the heap to mine it, lay belt to haul the ore to a bishop to be refined, and on to a rook that smelts it into new pieces. Every turn is a chess move plus two belt parts, so industry never costs tempo — it costs board space.
Open Sourcerer, currently in development with a Steam page open for wishlists, is a 2D platformer where players write their spells in JavaScript and use them to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. The studio approaches programming education fun-first: the aim is not to prepare players for a job in software engineering, but to show them whether they enjoy it.
Tauric Studio, free today at tauric.tools, is a 2D map and graphics editor where artists and game designers build levels together in real time. Entity types come from the assets users upload rather than from game code, so it is not tied to any one engine. Maps save to a compact protobuf format and export to Tiled TMJ, GeoJSON, SVG, and DXF/DWG formats.
The studio also contributes back to the open source community: its three-aseprite and protosprite rendering packages are published for anyone to use. Gnarled Helix LLC is incorporated in Wyoming. Press contact: Robert Brownstein, founder, at info@gnarledhelix.com.
Coverage
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Press kit
Every asset we have, at full resolution. Right-click (or long-press) any link to save.
Press contact
Robert Brownstein, founder — info@gnarledhelix.com