About Scundered Studio
I'm Darren, and I've been a software engineer for the better part of twenty years. Most of that time has been in insurance technology, building websites and apps that quietly do their job in the background of millions of people's lives across the UK. I genuinely love what I do.
- Northern Ireland
- Twenty years an engineer
- Studio of one
- First app shipped Jun 2026
Scundered Studio is a separate thing entirely. It's where I get to build whatever I've been turning over in my head, on my own time, with no committee, no roadmap I didn't write, and no one to please but the people who actually want to use the thing. If anyone else likes what I make, that's a bonus. If not, I'll still be using it with my mates.
"Scundered" is Northern Irish for mortified. I picked it because I'm Northern Irish, it's a cracking word, and I reckoned it'd look class on a hoody. Then I realised it summed up exactly how I feel about most of what the app industry has become.
I'm not signing up for the grind. Running servers, answering support tickets at three in the morning, building telemetry pipelines, watching growth dashboards. All genuinely hard work, none of it the part I want to spend my evenings on. The first few apps from this studio are offline by design. They collect nothing, don't talk to servers, hold no accounts. No data leaves your device, because there's nowhere for it to go.
What I build at Scundered
Party games meant to be played in the same room with your mates, not over a headset on a Discord call, and tools that do one thing properly. Mortified's the first one out, free to try on Google Play, with Camo in testing behind it. Google Play first, then iOS, though iPhones can already play: only the host needs Android.
- One fair price, everything unlocked
- Free to try first
- No advertising, no data sold
- No tracking, no AI trained on you
That list isn't marketing, it's the spec. The kind of apps I'd want to use myself, with friends and family, or on my own. Content updates land when an app actually needs them, not on a quarterly drip-feed engineered to make a graph go up.
One more thing
The first game out the door is called Mortified. I named it months before I noticed the English-language definition of "scundered" is, literally, mortified. I'm doing my best to act cool about this.
Why now
Running my own studio has always been a dream of mine, and one I was a bit too cautious to chase for a while. Then I turned forty, and according to my wife this is a textbook mid-life crisis. So here we are.
Follow along
Gameplay clips and whatever I'm building next go up on TikTok and YouTube. No newsletter, no pop-up asking for your email. Follow if it looks like your sort of thing.
@scundered.studio 
@ScunderedStudio Get in touch
If you've an opinion, a bug, an idea, or want to test something early, email darren@scundered.com.
Cheers,Darren
Charade!
The acting game, fed.
4–10 playersOne phone
Your charade
The last biscuit in the tin, defended
Deal a card, hand this phone to your victim, and they act it out in silence. Whoever guesses gets dealt next.
The Duel
Two of you. One kettle.
2 players60 seconds
Your duel
Alternate naming crisp flavours. First to blank makes the tea.
The stakes are traditional and non-negotiable. Best of three for the biscuits as well.
The Letter Round
Name things. Fast.
2–8 playersNo kit
Crisp flavours
Round the circle: things in the category starting with the letter. Hesitate, repeat or blank and you're out.
Who Goes First?
Settle it like adults.
Any numberZero arguments
Phone flat in the middle of the table.
Spin. The arrow picks. Losers are welcome to argue with physics.
The Hunt
Ten finds. Full pomp at the judging.
Pairs or solo20 minutes of peace
Your list
Deal a list, send the teams out, and tap each find as it lands on the judging table. The judge's decision is final and openly accepting bribes.
The Cracker
A joke and a forfeit in every one.
Whole table🎄 Seasonal special
Why did the snowman refuse the carrot? He already nose everything.