who we are
We know news.
We know games.
Get to know us.
Our Story
It started with a joke: "The New York Times is a games company that has a cute little newspaper side hustle." They were, of course, referring to Wordle - AKA "that weird little thing all your friends brag about on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc."
That joke was followed up by some very serious statistics that you can find in our Research section - stats that quite frankly, blew us away. Turns out, Wordle is a runaway success that is credited with helping the Times bring in hundreds of thousands of subscribers (and millions and millions in new revenue).
At a time when so much of the news business is desperately fighting for every nickel of revenue, seeing a news organization as fusty and old-school as the Times use a digital game so effectively, lit a lightbulb over our heads. Thing is, games are really expensive, and small-to-midsize publishers can't afford to build their own.
Worse, syndicated games take readers AWAY from the news sites; this at a time when the other critical problem for publishers is dwindling audience attention and engagement.
So. How do we address these twin problems with a game?
Our Mission
Jacob, Ed and Dave are three good-natured tech nerds, all of whom love news and especially love helping out the underdog.
We are acutely aware of the revenue and attention crises that are undermining the free press in the U.S. and around the world. Check out our Research section for articles on how fact-based, independent journalism is one of the foundations for a functional democratic society.
Like Liam Neeson in Taken, we have a very particular set of skills, honed over decades spent building apps, websites and widgets for professional media. So we decided to see where we could go with whatever grows out of the Venn diagram of our overlapping areas of expertise.
LocalCross is a game that we hope addresses and helps alleviate some of the core problems for news organizations, freeing up journalists, editors and folks with cameras of whatever type to document, assess, and share their little slices of the truth with the larger world.
Want to help out? Drop us a line.
Our Team
CTO
Jacob Fogg
As a 20-year veteran in web development and publishing, Jacob gained extensive expertise and knowledge in the field.
Jacob is dedicated to providing innovative solutions to complex publishing challenges. His approach involves high-level consulting on web and digital strategies, as well as custom development that turns clients' goals into reality. With his expertise and experience, he is committed to building lasting partnerships rooted in loyalty, passion, and innovation.
CEO
Dave LaFontaine
David LaFontaine is a Lead UX designer, researcher, and trainer who has worked for a variety of agencies and clients, including: Inspire11, The Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC, Wiley Publishing, and the U.S. State Department.
His curiosity and willingness to use himself as a human lab rat help him keep up with technology trends, test the latest digital tools, and develop a wide range of design and development skills.
He has written or coauthored five books, including Social Media Design For Dummies and Mobile Web Design For Dummies, and produced more than 40 hours of online training videos for KelbyOne and Pluralsight.
CXO
Edward J. Moore
Ed is a veteran game and UX design specialist with deep hands-on experience with industry-leading game engines working on major blockbusters in the AAA console and PC video game space. Trust us - you've probably heard of at least two games Ed's worked on. His deep expertise with player psychology, user experience, and game design market trends, combined with the capacity to delve deep into the binary salt mines, gives him a unique "soup to nuts" capacity to bridge the gap between design, engineering, and fun, while understanding all the little tradeoffs in between and along the way. He loves getting his hands dirty leveraging sound and visuals and input to make little details feel awesome just as much as he enjoys crafting addictive and fun progression systems and user-centered designs that will keep players coming back for more.