At Casual Connect Asia 2015, Jesse Davis shared knowledge he harvested from his time reskinning apps. “When you’ve produced hundreds of games, you go through a cycle that most indie developers don’t get to go through, right? Because you’re releasing constantly.” His company, Hydraulic Games, is transitioning into developing larger Unity games now, you can see his insights on accelerated game development in the video below.
Jesse Davis, president of Hydraulic Games, admits, “It’s hard starting out as a nobody. Being so new to the games industry is a real challenge.” When he arrived in Thailand without a job, finding work was a top priority. He began doing outsourced game art and, as the demand for his work increased, he hired people, opened an office, and the company has continued to evolve.
Using His Love of Games and Art
“I love making games and providing direction for creative projects,” Jesse says. “It’s definitely where I belong!” In fact, since he has always loved games and art, his only regret is not pursuing this career earlier.
His career in the industry began with a freelance job for someone who needed game art. This satisfied client recommended him to his private group of Facebook friends, who also started using Jesse’s services. He describes the result: “Previously I had only made games as a hobbyist, but this really kicked off my business.”
Prior to this time he followed a career in IT and has found this experience to be very helpful in his present work; when faced with game issues he is able to move past them quickly. But now he is mainly occupied with his responsibilities as boss and manager. He enjoys providing creative feedback to his staff, and, as a bonus, he gets to do some art from time to time. Another enjoyable aspect of his job is networking with others in the industry.
Building and Leading the Team
Every company must deal with staff issues, but, as he points out, “It’s really hard at first, but eventually you realize it’s a business and you have to make business decisions.” In Thailand, the most difficult team members to find are the programmers. The ease of learning Unity has allowed many people to become familiar with parts of it, but this does not mean programmers are able to handle the pace of development at Hydraulic Games. Fortunately artists have been much easier for him to find.
When difficulties with the team arise, he is very direct with people, pulling them aside and discussing the problem honestly. He finds most issues resolve themselves, or if the work isn’t a good match the employee will choose to leave. And he is readily able to see when someone is not happy.
But sometimes it is still necessary to let an employee go. One such especially painful experience occurred with an employee who was very pleasant and did great work. But he also caused some serious conflict, doing things that distressed Jesse’s wife. Eventually the friction at home became so severe that the situation could no longer continue. So Jesse reached out to his contacts to get him a healthy volume of freelance art work, and the employee left on good terms.
When he started out building the team, he looked solely for people with the right skill set. Since then he has discovered that personality and the ability to work with others are equally important. And he notes that it takes time to find the right staff.
Although he describes himself as “nice to a fault,” he believes the team respects him and his abilities. Many times he has been able to come in to quickly solve programming problems and provide artistic direction.
A Focus on Indie Projects
Focusing more on indie development has been hard but rewarding for Hydraulic Games. Jesse says they are constantly working to get all their game quality up to industry standards across the board, and with every game they build they are making great progress.
The inspiration for their indie projects varies from title to title. Sometimes it is a retro game Jesse particularly enjoyed; often it may be just an idea of something that would work well or be fun. They develop both premium and free-to-play games but lean heavily toward free-to-play. Going 100% premium on mobile is very difficult, unless, Jesse claims, you have outstanding press coverage of the game.
Testing their games is usually done at the beta stage, simply because they develop games so quickly. Usually they then test and revise several times before launching. This seems to be sufficient for the most part, but it can happen that the launch is a little early. So they are working on doing more testing.
Sometimes, while testing the game, particularly with the racing games, people have kept the controller past the allotted 10 minutes, still avidly playing the game. And Jesse says, “That moment when I see they are really into the game is pure magic for me!”
Future Fears & Fulfillment
Jesse sees the games industry moving rapidly toward VR, while the console market will be contracting. At the same time, he expects to see the mobile market maturing with companies consolidating. So competing will become more and more difficult. He responds, “I’m trying to go much bigger with our new games to get noticed before it is too late for the little developers like us.”
The greatest satisfaction so far in his career occurred when his parents flew to Thailand and he was able to show them his company. “I think their fear was that I’d be a lazy slacker when I got older,” he says, “so it felt like quite an accomplishment.” Certainly he can take great pride in what he has achieved.
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