What we believe · 01
Popular isn't the same as right.
Most "best practice" was never tested — it was just repeated. We check.
Freaky Turtle Ltd · Software and media studio · United Kingdom
Simple on purpose.
We're a small UK studio making software, games and media tools that don't need a manual. No jargon, no clutter, no feature soup: just things that do their job and get out of your way.
What we believe
What we believe · 02
If it needs a manual, it isn't finished.
The best solutions are beautifully simple. Anyone should be able to understand them.
What we believe · 03
One thing, done properly, beats ten things done by Friday.
We solve technical problems that carry real value, and we ignore the tangents.
What we believe · 04
If we can't explain it plainly, we don't understand it.
Jargon is a warning sign. It implies expertise instead of demonstrating value.
What we believe · 05
How it feels to use is part of what it is.
Experience isn't a coat of paint at the end. It's designed in from the first day.
What we believe · 06
Machines can build software. Only people know what annoys people.
The human work is understanding other humans — the friction they can't articulate.
What we believe · 07
We listen to everyone, and obey no one.
Feedback is a compass, not a steering wheel. A product built to every request is a camel.
What we believe · 08
When in doubt, take something away.
Less is generally more. Restraint is a feature.
The work
What we've been building.
Each one does one job, and we keep it that way.
Software · Catteries and kennels
Petboard
Bookings, invoices and bank payments for UK catteries and kennels, all in one calm place. Owners see who’s arriving, who’s leaving and who’s in at a glance, and spend their day on animals, not admin.
- Online booking that works on any phone
- Deposits and Direct Debit through GoCardless
- Photo updates straight to each owner's portal
Live
petboard.co.uk
Game · PC VR
Orbital: Castaway
A single-player VR survival game. You float above Earth on a scrap of station. Catch what drifts past, keep your air, water, power and heat up, build a home, then build a way back down.
- Grapple and strip passing wreckage, 400 km up
- A full orbit every 30 minutes, night and day
- Single player, for PC VR and Steam Frame
In development
Open source · Jellyfin
JellyTrim
Shrinks your Jellyfin library automatically, based on what your household has already watched. A new 4K film stays exactly as it is. Once everyone has seen it, it becomes a 1080p file a fraction of the size.
- Rules that read like sentences
- A Dry Run shows the saving before anything changes
- Every audio track, subtitle and bit of HDR kept
Open source · MIT
JellyTrim on GitHub
Infrastructure · Energy markets
Sterling Register
A reliability ledger for the energy market. A plain record of who delivered what they promised, so the market can price trust instead of guessing at it.
- Performance bonds for energy delivery
- Settlement and disputes decided on evidence
- A permanent record of every promise and outcome
In development
How we work
Slow is smooth
We move deliberately. Deliberate work compounds; frantic work gets rewritten.
Plain words only
If a sentence on this site confuses you, that's our bug. Tell us and we'll fix it.
Small on purpose
Small teams can hold a whole product in their head. That's how coherence happens.
Say aloha.
Questions about our products, or just curious what the turtle's about? We read everything.
hello@freakyturtle.com