Shiny Shoe
- Open roles
- 0
- Founded
- 2011
- Employees
- 11-50
- Offices
- 1
About Shiny Shoe
Shiny Shoe is an independent video game development studio founded in 2011 by Mark Cooke in San Francisco, California. Its work spans original games, co-development, remastering and multiplatform porting, with a particular focus on roguelike deckbuilders, turn-based strategy and tactical role-playing games.
The studio initially developed its business through client collaborations, mobile applications and remastering projects. Working with Double Fine Productions, it contributed engineering and co-development to Grim Fandango Remastered in 2015, Day of the Tentacle Remastered in 2016 and Full Throttle Remastered in 2017. Its wider collaboration history includes work with Stoic on The Banner Saga trilogy and Unknown Worlds on the Subnautica franchise. These partnerships form part of a development practice that combines original projects with technical work for other game creators.
Original games
Shiny Shoe released Monster Train in May 2020 through Good Shepherd Entertainment. The roguelike deck-building strategy game became a central original property for the studio, followed by The Last Divinity expansion and the Nintendo Switch release Monster Train First Class in 2021.
The studio expanded its original portfolio with Inkbound, a self-published tactical roguelike RPG built around turn-based combat and online cooperative play. It entered Steam Early Access in 2023 and reached full release in 2024. Monster Train 2 followed on May 21, 2025, published in partnership with Big Fan Games, Devolver Digital’s publishing label. Subsequent development included the expansion Monster Train 2: The Punished in 2026.
Development capabilities
Alongside designing and developing complete games, Shiny Shoe provides co-development engineering, classic-game modernization, console and mobile porting, and multiplayer backend development. Its experience covers PC, console and mobile platforms, bringing together game design, programming and art within a unified development team. The studio remains independently owned and operates from San Francisco.
More about Shiny Shoe
Leadership and background
Mark Cooke serves as CEO. Before founding the studio, he worked as a LucasArts intern and later held lead programming and design roles at Nihilistic Software and Grasshopper Manufacture in Tokyo.
Technology and working practices
Developing Inkbound marked a transition to fully centralized cloud server infrastructure using Amazon GameLift and AWS. The company describes its production approach as emphasizing tight iteration, polished game feel and transparent feedback; these are company-described practices.
Recognition
Monster Train received PC Gamer’s Best Card Game of 2020 recognition and was nominated for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year at the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. Both distinctions concern the game.
Notable credits
13 creditsOffices
Where Shiny Shoe is based
- San Francisco, California, United States
San Francisco offices
HeadquartersAbout this office
**Office** Status: active Headquarters Address: 111 Ellis St, Floor 4, San Francisco, CA 94102, United States Overall company headquarters and physical development hub for executive, design, programming and art staff. --- **Office** Status: inactive / historical Address: 450 Geary St, Suite 401, San Francisco, CA 94102, United States Former office premises identified in prior commercial office records. No closure year is supplied.
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