Cardboard Sword

Cardboard Sword is an independent video game development and technical services studio founded in 2013 and based in Middlesbrough, Teesside, in North East England. It develops original games alongside contract development and co-development work for external clients. Its founding team brought experience from AAA game production into a studio working across PC, console and virtual reality.

Original games

The studio's debut title, The Siege and the Sandfox, launched on PC on May 20, 2025. Described as a 2D “Stealthvania,” it combines stealth-action mechanics, Metroidvania progression and parkour movement with hand-drawn, frame-by-frame pixel animation and Unreal Engine 4 lighting. The game was published by PLAION, with early funding from Chucklefish.

Its second original title, Transmission: Shortwave, is a casual driving and parcel-delivery simulation with a 1990s retro-futuristic setting. Cardboard Sword developed and published the game, releasing it for Meta Quest VR on December 11, 2025, followed by Steam on October 1, 2026. Together, these projects span both 2D action-adventure development and vehicle simulation for VR and PC.

Development partnerships

Through its Swords for Hire offering, Cardboard Sword provides full-project development, embedded co-development and team augmentation. Its capabilities cover programming, feature engineering, technical and systems design, concept and production art, character animation, audio engineering, composition and quality assurance. The studio works with Unreal Engine and Unity, with programming capabilities including C++, C# and HTML5.

Its external client portfolio includes Epic Games, Playground Games, Coatsink, Roll7, Red Rover Interactive, Rivet Games and The Open University. This service work sits alongside the studio's original intellectual property development, allowing it to contribute code, art and design to partner projects as well as produce its own games. Its technical work also encompasses custom tools and multiplatform programming, supporting projects with different production requirements.