Studio Notes
From the workbench
Short, honest notes on what's shipping, what's testing, and what's still drying on the easel.
Four new games in testing
Four quiet games join the family and enter closed testing on Google Play. Bayou Puzzles is relaxing jigsaws of bayou scenes, in classic pieces or Tile Swap. Bayou Idle grows one bait shack into a glowing sunset-boardwalk town that keeps earning while you are away. Bayou Fishing is a calm night on the water with 30 real species to catch. And Bayou Solitaire is classic Klondike on living bayou scenes, with winnable deals and a Daily Deal. All four play offline with no account and no ads. They open to everyone once testing wraps up.
Inkwell opens its doors — where readers gather
Our dark-academia home for book lovers is out of testing and available to everyone on Google Play. Browse a curated shelf and find your next read, rate the books you finish and shelve them into a library that is truly yours — Want to Read, Reading, Finished — set a reading goal for the year and watch it fill in, and pick up a title you love in a tap. Everything stays on your device: no account, no ads, no tracking. The gathering place — shared shelves, reviews and recommendations, with real moderation — is still being built and will roll out as Inkwell grows. For readers 18 and up.
Bayou Blast on the workbench — one tap, twenty-five painted levels
Our newest game is a one-touch platformer set in a neon-lit, haunted bayou. Your mossy crate runs on its own; you tap to jump. That is the entire control scheme, and it is all you need to climb catwalks, hop hover-cars, clear crystal spikes and sparks, collect every coin, and reach the glowing portal at the top. Twenty-five painted levels — flytrap swamps, moonlit woods, misty graveyards, subway tunnels, neon rooftops and deep space — built the old arcade way: zigzag floors, ladders between them, the goal at the top. Every level hides three quests: find the secret stash, grab every coin, or finish without a single death. In closed testing on Google Play now — see it on its app page.
Out of testing — Pizza Panic, ForgeLore and Bayou Pet Health are open to everyone
Three more have finished their testing rounds and are now available to everyone on Google Play. Pizza Panic is our fast, forgiving arcade platformer through twenty-five chaotic pizzeria kitchens. ForgeLore is the complete Game Master's toolkit — forge a world, prep the session, and run it at the table the same night. And Bayou Pet Health is the warm, private companion for your pet's whole life: medications, vet care, walks and meals, plus a keepsake journal. All three are free, and everything they record stays on your device.
Bayou Claw and Bayou Feedback land on the App Store
The first two of ours to clear Apple's review are live on iPhone and iPad. Bayou Claw brings the painted claw-machine arcade — a real physics claw, twenty painted prizes, six machine scenes, and a Cajun announcer calling your wins. Bayou Feedback brings the haunted instrument — five streams of random numbers, real mathematics, and one needle that technically should never reach red. Both are free, both are on Google Play too, and both keep the house rules: no ads, no accounts, no tracking.
Inkwell takes shape — where readers gather
Fresh on the workbench, and something new for us: our first social app. Inkwell is a dark-academia home for book lovers — a quiet, candlelit place to discover your next read from a curated shelf, rate and shelve the books you love into a personal library, and set a reading goal for the year. As it grows, it will become a gathering place: a community of readers sharing shelves, reviews and recommendations, with real moderation from day one. It's built for readers 18 and up, curated rather than scraped, and ad-free. Still drying on the easel — watch the teaser on its app page. Coming soon.
Bayou Probability launches on Google Play — see the future, quantify the unknown
Our intelligence-style command center for real-world risk is out of testing and available to everyone on Google Play. It reads public data, historical patterns, and advanced mathematics — Bayesian inference, time-series models, Monte Carlo simulation, ensemble forecasting — to estimate the likelihood of important events before they happen: severe weather, power outages, disease activity, traffic and more. Always a probability, never a certainty. Tap any number to see exactly why it changed, with an honest forecast-versus-actual track record and confidence shown separately from probability. Free to download — no accounts, no tracking, no ads.
ForgeLore enters closed testing — build worlds, run tonight
Just one day after taking shape on the workbench, our Game Master's toolkit is on Google Play in closed testing. Forge a world, prep the session, and run it at the table the same night — encounters, NPCs, monsters and multi-phase bosses, an illustrated Run screen with an initiative tracker, a cinematic dice roller, and the ready-to-run adventure The Frostwidow. Everything works offline with no accounts, no ads, no tracking. We're gathering a group of real Game Masters to put it through its paces before launch — watch the trailer on its app page.
Triple launch — Bayou Rush, Bayou AuraLens, and Nightveil are live
Three apps came off the workbench and onto Google Play for everyone in one morning — our biggest launch day yet. Bayou Rush is our endless runner through a living Louisiana bayou: outrun the Warden, dodge gators and snakes, grab a jetpack over the swamp, and ride the Fleur Board. Bayou AuraLens is an aura camera with bayou soul — a living aura blooms around your portrait, shaped by your phone's real sensors and set in dreamlike moonlit scenes. And Nightveil is our dark-Victorian paranormal mystery — search the haunted scenes of Raven Hollow, capture evidence, and connect the clues. All three are free to download, with optional extras only if you want them.
ForgeLore takes shape — build worlds, run tonight
Fresh on the workbench: a complete Game Master's toolkit for tabletop role-playing. Forge a world from themed maps and lore, prep the whole session — encounters, NPCs, monsters and multi-phase bosses, loot, quests, handouts and random tables — then run it at the table with an illustrated Run screen, an initiative tracker, and a cinematic dice roller. When the party's ready, share or print handouts, cards, maps, and a full session kit straight to your players. It even ships with ready-to-run adventures, starting with The Frostwidow. Everything works offline, on your device — no accounts, no ads, no tracking. Coming soon to Google Play; watch the trailer on its app page.
Bayou Dreams launches on Google Play — layer the night, drift away
Our layered sleep-sound mixer is out of testing and available to everyone on Google Play. Pick the sounds you love — bayou rain, night frogs, a slow creek, soft piano, steady noise and smooth tone beds — set each one's volume, and let them play together all night with the screen off. Add a gentle sleep story, set the sleep timer, and save the mixes you keep coming back to. Free with an optional Premium for the full sound and story library — no ads, no accounts, works offline. Come drift away.
Bayou Claw enters closed testing — grab the bayou
A painted claw-machine arcade from deep in the swamp, and our sixteenth app. Work the red-ball joystick, line up your drop, and feel a real physics claw sink into the prize pit — prizes shift, slip, and tumble like the real thing. Twenty painted prizes to collect, from plush bayou critters to a shiny Jackpot tier; six painted machine scenes; a Cajun announcer calling the wins over a full casino soundscape; and 1,000 free coins every day. Free to play, no ads. In closed testing on Google Play now, with its own trailer on the app page.
The family heads to the iPhone
A big weekend on the workbench: the first wave of Bayou apps — including Journal Spaces, Bayou Water Break, Bayou Rush, Bayou Coins, Bayou Dreams, Driftlands, and Bayou Claw — has been submitted to Apple's App Store review. We'll share the news here as they clear.
Bayou Probability enters closed testing — see the future, quantify the unknown
Our newest app is a calm, intelligence-style command center for real-world risk. It analyzes public data, historical patterns, and advanced mathematics — Bayesian inference, time-series models, Monte Carlo simulation, ensemble forecasting — to estimate the likelihood of important events before they happen: severe weather, power outages, disease activity, traffic and more. Always a probability, never a certainty. Tap any number to see exactly why it changed — the drivers, the reasons, and an honest forecast-versus-actual track record — with confidence shown separately from probability. No accounts, no tracking, no ads. Bayou Probability is in closed testing on Google Play.
Bayou AuraLens joins the family — see the energy you carry
An aura camera with bayou soul. Point the camera, be still, and a living aura blooms around your portrait — its colors shaped by your phone's real sensors (steadiness, motion, heading, pressure), its glow set in dreamlike scenes from a moonlit garden to a firefly hollow, with calming soundscapes to match. Turn a capture into a short looping Aura Keepsake video, all rendered on your device. It's a creative visualization made for reflection and fun — honest about exactly what it measures, and it never claims more. In closed testing on Google Play.
Bayou Rush sprints into closed testing — our newest game
An endless runner through a living Louisiana bayou. Sprint down a moonlit boardwalk with the Warden on your heels — and if you run far enough, the air unit joins the hunt with a searchlight. Gators chomp, snakes strike, turtles amble across the planks; grab a rare jetpack and rocket through coin mazes above the swamp, or let the Fleur Board hover you over missing planks. Seven runners, doubloons to earn, and quests every run. Free to play, no ads — in closed testing on Google Play now.
Driftlands and Bayou Scratchpad launch on Google Play
Two releases in one week. Driftlands — our biggest world yet — is out of closed testing and available to everyone: ride the Wayfinder across endless realms, wander a living frontier town, and try to stay ahead of the Hunter. And Bayou Scratchpad, our warm endless whiteboard with handwriting-to-text, PDF export, and board replay, is live on Google Play too. Both free — come explore.
Bayou Dreams submitted to Google Play — layer the night, drift away
Our tenth app is a layered sleep-sound mixer. Pick the sounds you love — bayou rain, night frogs, a slow creek, soft piano, steady noise, smooth tone beds — set each one's volume, and let them play together all night, screen off. Two gentle sleep stories read at a bedtime pace round out the first release. Bayou Dreams is submitted for closed testing on Google Play.
Driftlands submitted to Google Play — our biggest world yet
Our seventh app is an open-world adventure: ride the Wayfinder — an ancient drifting craft — across a beautiful world of endless realms. A living frontier town of villagers with their own voices, quests around every bend, fishermen at the docks, dynamic weather and day/night — and the Hunter, who never stops. Driftlands is submitted for closed testing on Google Play, with a tester community ready to drift the moment it clears review.
Journal Spaces update: dictation, ambient sounds, and backup
Our biggest Journal Spaces update yet is rolling out on Google Play. Tap the microphone and dictate an entry — your words become text as you speak. There are optional ambient sounds to write to, backup and restore for your journal, a customizable writing page (choose your font and text size, and turn the translucent page on or off so the art shows through), optional daily reminders, and app lock with a PIN or your fingerprint or face. Everything still stays on your device.
Bayou Feedback enters closed testing — sketch to store in a day
Our fourth app is a strange and lovely one: a haunted instrument that watches five streams of random numbers, each born from a different kind of mathematics, and measures how much they agree. Thirteen bayou scenes, voices that get nervous when the needle climbs, and a Ledger for the one-in-a-million moments. It went from concept art to published closed testing on Google Play in a single day. For entertainment purposes — the math is real.
A fresh coat of paint for the website
You're looking at it — new bayou-at-dusk artwork, real screenshots from the apps, an About page, this notes page, and an FAQ. Same porch, better light.
Bayou Water Break enters closed testing
Our hydration & mindfulness companion is in its first testers' hands: beautiful bayou scenes for every season, gentle character voices, ambient sounds, and a breathing break when you need one. Free with optional one-time packs — no subscriptions.
Bayou Pill Reminder submitted to Google Play
The medication alarm we built for our own family — loud enough to actually wake you, text large enough to actually read — is in closed testing. It rings until answered, survives phone restarts, and works completely offline.
Journal Spaces launches on Google Play
Our first app is live: a private journal with immersive themed writing spaces — autumn orchards, cozy libraries, lantern-lit coasts — plus voice entries, photos, and daily prompts. Everything stays on your device.
bayoubytestudio.com goes live
The studio gets a front porch on the internet, with privacy policies, terms, and support addresses for every app we ship.
Bayou Byte Studio is founded
The home workbench officially becomes an app studio. First order of business: build the journaling app that didn't exist yet.