"Good games. Useful resources. Ethical subroutines."

I'm Mark LaCroix, a developer, game designer and visual artist based in Minneapolis. I am also a board member of Twin Cities chapter of IGDA (International Game Developer's Association). Though my company, Noble Robot, I make and publish indie games, and develop free, open-source, and paid tools/resources for game development.

Good games

As a company, Noble Robot developed and published Widget Satchel with a small team in 2019, and began porting and publishing other developers' indie games to Nintendo Switch in 2020. Noble Robot is currently co-developing Dreamsettler, the sequel to the hit :1999-simulator" Hypnospace Outlaw,.

As a individual contributor, in 2021 I did development work and additional art for the sprawling, ambitious narrative game Closed Hands, which was nominated for an IGF award in 2022. I am currently doing design, programming, and art for Dreamsettler, and In 2023, the card game I developed with my Nice Games Club co-hosts, Glom, will be published by Indie Boards & Cards.

Useful resources

Sponsors will be directly contributing to the development of the free tools and resources that Noble Robot publishes to GitHub, specifically and primarily Noble Engine, the very first game engine for the Playdate handheld console.

Ethical subroutines

Games by Noble Robot celebrate a spirit of adventure, optimism, and humanism, with an emphasis on holistic design and mechanics that invite (and examine the implications of) multiple approaches to play.

I value empathy in work and at work, but that can't stop with my projects or my ideals. It also means that I must commit to provide tools, offer assistance, foster community, and build infrastructure for others to be better able to express themselves, too.

In order to do that, what I really need is time, but since that's harder to come by, I'll take some money. 😄