About

Fourteen people and a stubborn idea.

Founded in 2026 in Da Nang, Vietnam. Independent, self-funded since 2022, and deliberately not growing.

DuboTee started in a rented room above a bakery with four people and a prototype about wind. None of us had shipped anything. The prototype was not good, but the thing it was reaching for was, and we have been reaching for it ever since.

Seven years on, we are fourteen people. We have shipped three games and announced a fourth. We have turned down acquisition twice, not out of principle but because we could not answer the question of what we would do differently with the money — and if the answer is nothing, the money is not for you.

We make games about connection, memory and wonder, which is a sentence that means very little until you play one. So: play one. Paper Kites is free and takes fifteen minutes.

  1. 2019Four people, one rented room above a bakery, and a prototype about wind.
  2. 2022Paper Kites ships free on three platforms and finds an audience we did not expect.
  3. 2024Lanternfall launches. Eleven million lanterns are left on the mountain in the first year.
  4. 2026Tide & Ember is announced. The studio is fourteen people and intends to stay that size.

How we work

Four rules we actually keep.

Small on purpose

Fourteen people. We have turned down the money that would have made us forty, twice, and we would do it again.

Ship when it is honest

We have moved every release date we have ever set. We have never shipped a game we were embarrassed by.

Nothing that needs your evenings

No live service, no seasons, no streaks. Our games should be finishable by someone with a job and a family.

Credit everyone

Every person who touched a game is in its credits, in alphabetical order, contractors included.

The team

Everyone is in the credits.

Alphabetical, contractors included, no exceptions. Below is a placeholder slice — swap in real names and photos in src/content/studio.ts.

A. PlaceholderStudio director
B. PlaceholderCreative director
C. PlaceholderArt director
D. PlaceholderAudio lead
E. PlaceholderLead engineer
F. PlaceholderProducer

Giving back

Five grants a year, no strings.

DuboTEE exists because two people funded us in 2026 and asked for nothing back. Since 2026 we have passed that on: five no-strings grants a year to first-time developers in Southeast Asia.

We take no equity, no publishing rights and no credit. Applications are one page — if you find yourself writing a second, stop.