About Us

Welcome! I'm so glad you're here, and that you've stumbled onto my small corner of the internet. My name is Holly Burleson and I run Rigor Mortis Tortoise, a humble indie video game development studio based out of Portland, Oregon.

Here's my story.

Ever since I was a kid, I've always been enthralled with video games. You could say I was raised on Spaghettio's, Capri Sun, and Nintendo Games. You see, to break their habit of smoking, both of my grandparents decided to pick up playing games. My grandfather is the only living person I know who has beaten Super Mario World (pre-internet), and you bet my grandmother could serve it right back with her Tetris skills. Games were a big part of my childhood, and as I've gotten older the urge to create my own has only gotten stronger.

Then came 2020.

I went from working in an office as a designer, commuting over 2 hours a day to working from my bed and basically being closed in from the outside world. I thought, if I can't learn how to make games now, I'll never get another chance like it. And so I did. Ever since being able to experience the magic behind the curtain, I've been absolutely hooked. It's been over a year since then, and I want to impart my knowledge and journey to those around me. Hope to see you on the other side!

Holly