The studio behind the shapes
Piece Out World is run by Kumobius Games, the small Melbourne team behind Duet, Bean Dreams and Basket Fall. We build games that fit in your pocket and stay in your head.
How a puzzle gets born here
Every Piece Out board passes through the same hands: a designer's sketch, a solver's shortcut hunt, weeks of playtesting. Our dev diary on level design covers the full pipeline in detail.
The studio still works the way it did at launch: small team, paper prototypes, and a stubborn belief that a puzzle game should respect the player's intelligence.
From the notebook
A good puzzle is a machine for producing one specific 'aha'. Our job is to make that machine as small as possible.
What we believe about play
Respect the player's time
No energy systems, no artificial waits, no daily chores disguised as generosity. Piece Out asks for five minutes or five hours and lets you choose.
Rules you can see
A game's rules should live on its pieces, not in a manual. If you can see the board, you already know how to play it.
Calm is a feature
Timers, streak pressure and loud feedback sell urgency. We sell the opposite: a quiet room where your brain can stretch.
Small crew, stubborn standards
Kumobius is deliberately tiny. The people below touch every board that ships.
I. Kumobius
Draws the first sketch of almost every board and kills most of them.
T. Kumobius
Keeps the engine under 50 MB and the snap physics feeling like wood.
R. Okafor
Author of the expert packs and the reason par counts are honest.
From paper squares to app stores
Piece Out began as paper cutouts on a Brunswick kitchen table in 2015. The first prototype used sticky notes for pieces and a hand-drawn grid, and the core idea survived every iteration that followed: pieces that explain themselves.
- 2015: paper prototype, working title 'Shifter'
- 2016: first digital build, 40 boards, two mechanics
- 2017: launch on iOS and Android with 700 boards
- Today: daily puzzles, seasonal ladders and a level index you can browse on this site
Anatomy of a Piece Out board
Every board is assembled from the same six ingredients. Learn to read them and every level starts speaking to you.
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The goal shadow
The silhouette your key piece must occupy, often in a specific orientation.
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Marked pieces
Every piece's face carries its legal moves: slide axes, rotation, flip or link.
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The walls
Board edges and interior blocks shape the corridors your pieces can travel.
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The par count
The designer's own move count for the intended solution.
Ten years of Kumobius
From a two-person side project to a catalogue played in every country the app stores reach.
2013 · Kumobius forms
Two brothers in Melbourne start prototyping on weekends.
2014 · Duet launches
The hypnotic arcade game that put the studio on the map.
2017 · Piece Out ships
700 boards, no timers, and reviews that still make us blush.
2021 · Daily puzzle era
One board a day turns players into regulars and families into rivals.
2025 · Piece Out World
This portal opens: the level index, services and studio contact in one place.
Awards and mentions
Editor's Choice
Google Play
Best Puzzle Games list
Multiple outlets
Millions of downloads
Worldwide
60+ classrooms
Licensed in AU schools
Built for every kind of player
A game about seeing shapes should work for everyone who wants to see them. Accessibility is a design constraint we keep, not a checkbox we clear.
- Colourblind-safe palette with shape redundancy
- One-hand and left-handed play supported
- No timers or reaction windows anywhere in the campaign
- Full hint coverage so difficulty never becomes exclusion
Schools use the same thinking through the Classroom Licence.
Vision
Distinct silhouettes, not just distinct colours.
Motor
Generous touch targets, no precision flicks required.
Cognitive
Unlimited undos and stepwise hints keep frustration optional.
Audio
Every audio cue has a visual twin; the game plays perfectly muted.
About the studio
What people usually want to know about Kumobius and Piece Out World.
Say hello to Melbourne
Questions, commissions, classroom enquiries or just a board that beat you: the inbox is open.