CowHammer Studios was created in July 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky, but our story began well before that. William Hendren (Thorge) and Robert Marquess (Qowface) met in December 2023 as coworkers-just two helpdesk techs trapped in the monotony of corporate IT support. In the lulls between calls, we bonded over shared dreams: leaving behind the ticket queues to build games full‑time.

By February 2024, those dreams turned into action. Rob handled code, I tackled 3D art, and together we fleshed out prototypes in evenings and weekends-no schedules, no budget, just two creatives, fueled by passion and rootbeer. In July, we decided to test our skills: Pirate Software’s Game Jam 15 (theme: Shadows & Alchemy). Over two weeks we planned, wrote a story, programmed, made art, and threw ideas around-emerging with a diner‑sim/roguelike demo that blew us away.

We didn’t win any prizes-but we did fall in love with the project. We committed to meeting twice a week thereafter, determined to take our jam prototype and build it into our first full game. Along the way, McKenzie joined to help with art so I could focus on growing the studio-and in June 2025 we officially filed for our LLC, opened a business account, and welcomed Nick to compose the original soundtrack for The Forbidden Flask. We still work day‑jobs, but we pour everything we have into CowHammer-because one day, this passion will be our full‑time career.

We love game development. From crafting the story, sculpting the art, and writing the code to launching something players can enjoy. CowHammer Studios is our way of making that dream real. We hope our journey inspires others to follow their creativity too.

You might be wondering about our studio’s name. It’s a mash‑up of our online usernames: I was a dwarf paladin with a giant hammer in World of Warcraft, Rob was a cow. Combine hammer plus cow, and you get CowHammer, it’s really that simple. It sounded awesome at 2 a.m. and it still does. We’re game‑dev nerds at heart-from stories and art to code and music. One day we hope to do this full time and inspire others to chase what they love too.