Press kit
Everything you need to write about Shiverbug Studios and Out of Water. It’s all free to use in coverage. If something’s missing, ask contact@shiverbugstudios.com and we’ll get it to you.
Download everything
Logos, screenshots, photos, character art and the prototype trailer, at full size.
Fact sheet
The studio
- Studio
- Shiverbug Studios Ltd
- Based in
- Middlesbrough, North East England, UK
- Founded
- May 2025
- Founders
- Lewis Mennim, Ryan Hughes, Garrett Windus
- Team
- 12 people, plus a pool of regular collaborators
- Website
- shiverbugstudios.com
- Press contact
- contact@shiverbugstudios.com
- Company number
- 16485763 (England and Wales)
The game
- Genre
- 3D platformer collectathon
- Players
- 1 or 2, local split screen
- Platform
- PC (Steam)
- Engine
- Unity 6
- Status
- In development
- Release
- Not announced
- Developer
- Shiverbug Studios Ltd, Middlesbrough
Descriptions
Shiverbug Studios
Shiverbug Studios is an independent games studio in Middlesbrough, in the North East of England. It was founded in May 2025 by three Teesside University graduates, Lewis Mennim, Ryan Hughes and Garrett Windus, and makes games for people to play together on one screen. Alongside its own games, the studio takes on co-development work in concept art, 3D art, level design and gameplay programming.
Out of Water
Out of Water is a two-player split-screen 3D platformer collectathon. One player is Koopa, a turtle; the other is Kiko, a seagull. Koopa is heavy, steady and the only one who can dive. Kiko is quick, cheeky and at home in the air. Neither can finish the journey alone.
On the island of Chelonia, a Japanese spider crab has stolen the five gemstones from the Elder Turtle’s statue, and the island has started to shake. Koopa and Kiko set out to win them back from the crab’s army of would-be pirates, rescuing kidnapped baby turtles and buying far too many hats along the way.
In one line
A split-screen platformer for two, about a turtle, a seagull and five stolen gems.
History
Shiverbug Studios Ltd was incorporated in Middlesbrough on 30 May 2025. That summer it was one of 21 teams selected for Tranzfuser 2025, the government-funded programme for new graduate studios run by UK Games Talent and Finance, with Teesside Launchpad as its local hub.
The team took its first prototype, then called Koopa and Kiko, to ProtoPlay in Dundee in September 2025 and won the Tranzfuser 2025 public vote. In January 2026 the team started again in a new Unity 6 project, the one that grew into Out of Water, a game for two players on one screen. It was shown to players at the Odyssey festival in Harrogate in April 2026.
Since May 2026 the studio has grown, mostly through Teesside University’s internship scheme, and it now works as a team of 12 with a pool of regular collaborators.
Features
- Local split-screen co-op for two, with the screen joining up when the story brings you together.
- Also playable alone: swap between Koopa and Kiko at any time.
- Two completely different movesets: Koopa rolls, slams and torpedoes through deep water; Kiko dashes, glides and whips up tornadoes.
- Moves that need both players, like the duo glide, the spin launch and the duo slam.
- Colour-coded puzzles for Koopa, for Kiko, or for either of you.
- An army of pirate crabs, some of them with cannons.
- Elder Trials with gold, silver and bronze times, and hats from Hootsworth the owl.
Images
Screenshots are from the game in development. Click through for the largest size on the site; the originals are in the screenshots archive (1.4 MB).
Screenshots
The studio
Video
The title scene loop at the top of the game page is also free to use: download the MP4 (1.3 MB, no sound).
Logos
Every version as PNG, and as SVG in RGB and CMYK. Please don’t recolour or redraw it. All logos (824 KB).
On cyan
On white
On black
Black, transparent
White, transparentThe moth is Shana the Shiverbug, our mascot.
Recognition
- Tranzfuser 2025 Public Vote Winner, ProtoPlay, Dundee, September 2025. Awarded to the Tranzfuser team with the most public votes.
- Tranzfuser 2025, one of 21 teams selected for the UK Games Talent and Finance programme for graduate studios.
- Game Republic, member of the games industry network for the North of England.
People
The studio was founded by Lewis Mennim (CEO), Ryan Hughes (CFO) and Garrett Windus (3D artist). Everyone else on the team, with their roles and in their own words, is on the team page.
Contact
For review access, interviews, the pitch deck or anything not on this page. Social links are in the footer.