Draft:3lb Games

3lb Games is an American extended reality (XR), virtual reality, and mixed reality video game developer. The company was founded by musician and sound engineer Robin Moulder and game writer Colin McComb in 2008, first starting in mobile game development before moving to virtual reality in 2016. In addition to its own projects, 3lb has also collaborated with other developers on redesigns of existing XR projects or bringing virtual reality implementations to traditional flat screen games.

3lb Games' team has been entirely remote since the company was created in 2008, with employees in multiple states across America.

History

Prior to 3lb, Moulder was a musician, best known as one of the founders of the riot goth-girl group Jack Off Jill. She also played in the group TCR. She moved to Detroit, Michigan to serve as Chief Technology Office for a startup company before co-founding 3lb.

Colin McComb is a writer and game designer, best known for his work developing the Planescape setting for Dungeons & Dragons and as the creative lead for the role-playing game Torment: Tides of Numenera. He moved to Detroit with Moulder in 2000. They were married in 2001.

Early native mobile games development included Kidwords, a fast-paced spelling game available in English and Spanish, featured in Wired Magazine in 2009. The team moved to the Unity game development engine to create additional mobile games, opening new opportunities in cross-platform development.

In 2014, 3lb created the first commercially available movement system for virtual reality by applying their component-based design principles. This easily configurable system, designed for both Vive and Oculus headsets, set a baseline for movement systems in XR. It enabled developers to accelerate their projects by offering a premade system that could be implemented in minutes, rather than coding for endless hours.

Using this movement system, including a unique flight mechanic, 3lb launched Space Dragon, an action space shooter created for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in 2017. Space Dragon was later ported to the Meta Quest platform in 2022.

3lb also acquired major game industry contracts, assisting in the development of well publicized and highly-rated computer games like Wasteland 2 & 3 and Torment: Tides of Numenera, and partnering with Monomi Park to bring their title Slime Rancher to virtual reality in 2018.

3lb also provided its expertise to Greener Games, porting and optimizing their meditative experience Nature Treks (2019) for mobile environments, a launch title for the first Oculus Quest headset. This title took full advantage of the 3lb movement system, allowing the user to walk through a calm forest or dive beneath the waves and swim with dolphins.

In 2019, Robin Moulder was selected for the Oculus Launch Pad program, and in 2020, 3lb Games won the Oculus partnership and grant for the project Vault of Stars. 3lb Games also entered the Oculus Growth Track and qualified as an Oculus Independent Software Vendor (ISV). In 2021, 3lb became a Sony Playstation development partner.

In 2022, 3lb launched 3lbXR, a second company focusing on developing and accelerating spatial computing applications. In early 2024, 3lbXR introduced GroKit Core, a spatial computing & AI platform built on the principles of game design, to give enterprises and developers across all industry verticals a tool to create fully realized, hand-crafted XR applications and immersive business solutions.

3lb released Grokit, a virtual and mixed reality hand tracking multiplayer party game, in September 2023.

Business Applications

At the same time, 3lb Games serviced major industry sectors including medical, logistics and inventory management, manufacturing, and automotive, leading enterprise development, executive consulting, and computer game development.

3lb Games created VR simulations for Breakthrough Technologies of Chicago, an award-winning, U.S.-based software solutions partner, to create testing applications for optometry students, using simulated complex ophthalmologic equipment such as the lensmeter, keratometer, pupilometer and more for a nationwide testing and assessments company. This contract included training support for Breakthrough Technologies staff, to ensure the internal continuation of VR development projects.

Collaborating with Alteris Group, a digital marketing and engagement company, 3lb developed a VR engineering-focused sales experience for Henkel Automotive, the market leader in adhesives, sealants, and functional coatings for the automotive industry. 3lb developed and updated these applications for multiple years of use at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), a major automotive industry event.

Xenon-VR, an ophthalmology VR medical device company, contracted 3lb Games to build investor-ready demo software for their low-cost eye exam VR solutions. 3lb successfully created the prototype using the Vive Eye Pro with Tobii Eye Tracking, accelerating the expansion of Xenon-VR and their fundraising initiatives.

3lb successfully developed VR training applications in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in conjunction with the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas (CALV), the country's leading non-profit hospitality training center. During the four-month return to in-person classes, CALV students completed vital Covid-19 health and safety training through engaging, gamified applications.

In 2021, 3lb partnered with the Tucson Medical Center (TMC) for the development of hospital staff training applications, with a project starting in Q1 2022 and targeting ~1000 participants.

Games Developed

Released	Title	Publisher	Platform(s)
November 2014	Flipping Fish	3lb Games	iOS, Android
December 2015	FPS.h.a.r.k.	3lb Games	iOS, Android
December 2017	Space Dragon	3lb Games	SteamVR, Oculus Rift, Meta Quest, Pico
November 2018	Slime Rancher VR Playground	Monomi Park	SteamVR
May 2019	Nature Treks VR	Greener Games	SteamVR, Oculus Rift, Meta Quest
February 2022	Vault of Stars (beta)	3lb Games	Meta Quest
March 2023	XR Workout	XRWorkout Inc	Meta Quest
September 2023	Grokit	3lb Games	Meta Quest