Hi friend,
glad you made it!
We’re 1UP Studio and we believe play is one of life’s most powerful teachers.
Our Story
Once upon a time, not so very long ago… 1UP Studio set out to create playful, meaningful experiences that spark joy and support growth. Founded by a game developer and occupational therapist, our studio builds games and apps for kids, families, therapists, and anyone else who wants to show up and play. We build playful worlds where laughter awaits, progress feels like fun, and everyone gets a shot at being the hero (or the sidekick, or the alpaca astronaut, or the chaos goblin… whatever suits your vibe).
Our Mission
We're on a mission to create inclusive, play-powered experiences that support learning, growth, and meaningful connections. We strive to design games, tools, and resources that motivate and empower the children, families, and therapists who use them.
What Makes Us, Us
You can count on our creations to be playful by nature and thoughtful by design.
We design playful experiences that support real-world skill development.
We combine evidence based practice and clinical reasoning with interactive design principles.
We consider accessibility from the start, while also understanding we have room to grow.
Our experiences are customizable and include mechanics that support a range of strengths, learning styles, abilities, and disabilities.
We know children are natural creators, thinkers, and problem-solvers. Their ideas shape our games. Their curiosity inspires our worlds.
We work with, not for. We create and test with kids, families, therapists, and anyone else who wants to join in on the fun. We listen, we learn, and we build together.
The Team
Jill Cox
Co-Founder |
Play and Accessibility Director
Jill is an occupational therapist with over 12 years of experience supporting children and young people to participate fully in everyday life. Her work sits at the intersection of play, accessibility, and interactive design.
After years of clinical practice, leadership, and systems development across the U.S. and New Zealand, Jill now co-leads 1Up Studio, where she helps design playful digital experiences informed by occupational therapy principles and inclusive design practices. She is especially passionate about creating games that respect neurodiversity, offer meaningful choice, and support real-world participation.
Jill believes children are capable, creative collaborators and that play belongs to everyone.
Richard Lester
Co-Founder |
Creative Director
With over 20 years of experience across digital design, UI/UX, and game development, Richard brings a deep understanding of how visual design, interaction, and storytelling come together to create experiences that feel intuitive, engaging, and meaningful. His background spans mobile games, real-time 3D environments and interactive media, with leadership roles across both creative and technical teams.
At 1Up Studio, Richard is responsible for guiding creative vision from concept to launch ensuring our experiences are playful, polished, and thoughtfully designed, while staying true to our values of accessibility, inclusion, and choice.
Richard is passionate about building experiences that connect with players emotionally, respect diverse ways of engaging, and make play feel welcoming and alive.
Responsible Tech Use Promise
We promise to use technology responsibly, ethically, and with player well-being in mind. That means being thoughtful in every decision we make, from the code we write to the experiences we create. It means using honest design that empowers players, protects data, and makes room for everyone. It means we put people first, thinking carefully about how our creations impact real lives and the planet we all share.
We commit to being transparent in how our systems work, thoughtful about their impact, and dedicated to continuous improvement. At the heart of every innovation we create is a simple goal: to make the digital world a better, safer, and more playful place for everyone who uses it.
We promise to play fair. That’s the 1UP way.
1UP Studio is in the lab crafting playful experiences.
Have questions or ideas?
Drop us a line below—we’d love to hear from you!