Melior Games

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Cheetah games

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Gaming

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Melior Games to accomplish?

• Development
• QA
• Graphic design

SOLUTION

How did you find Melior Games?

Referral

Why did you select Melior Games over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Melior Games were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Over the past year, Cheetah Games collaborated closely with our dedicated software development partner, Melior Games, to bring to life our vision of the mobile game "SkeeBoost." The partnership encompassed a comprehensive scope of work aligned with our game design documents. The engagement initiated with a meticulous project kickoff and planning phase, where project goals, timelines, and development tools were established collaboratively. 
Throughout the development lifecycle, Melior Games diligently translated our game design documents into a functional and engaging mobile game. Key facets of the collaboration included the iterative development process, with Melior Games providing periodic builds for our team to test and evaluate. This dynamic allowed for continuous refinement and adjustments based on our feedback, ensuring that the game aligned closely with our vision. 
The graphics and visual elements of "SkeeBoost" were crafted with precision by Melior Games, who regularly shared graphics files for our review. This iterative process facilitated the fine-tuning of visual assets to meet our specifications and standards. As the project progressed, Melior Games delivered a meticulously prepared release build of the game. This phase involved thorough quality assurance testing to address any bugs or issues, ensuring a stable and polished final product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

One of the most tangible and significant outcomes of our collaboration with Melior Games is the successful launch and availability of "SkeeBoost" on both Google Play and the Apple Store. The game is now accessible to a global audience, marking a key milestone in our project's success. Since its launch, "SkeeBoost" has garnered significant traction and engagement. Thousands of players have downloaded the game, and the player community continues to grow steadily. 
Moreover, the positive feedback and reviews from players further emphasize the game's popularity and success. The fact that players are not only downloading but actively enjoying the game validates the meticulous design and development efforts invested in creating the best version of skeeball for mobile devices. We are proud to see "SkeeBoost" thriving in the competitive mobile gaming landscape and we look forward to continued success and growth as the player base continues to expand

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

he project management experience with Melior Games was characterized by a mix of successes and challenges. While the majority of deliverables were met on time, it's important to note that there were initial hurdles in communication and some delays during the early stages of the project. However, these challenges were effectively addressed with a change in project management, leading to a noticeable improvement in overall project coordination and communication.
In the beginning, we faced difficulties in aligning our expectations with the deliverables, and there were instances where communication seemed somewhat challenging. Recognizing this, Melior Games took proactive measures by introducing a new project manager, which played a pivotal role in enhancing communication and streamlining project management processes. The change positively impacted our collaboration, resulting in smoother interactions and a more efficient workflow.
Throughout the project, Melior Games demonstrated a commendable understanding of our game design documents. While there were occasional concerns, particularly related to graphics and some back-and-forth on bug resolutions, their responsiveness and commitment to addressing these issues were evident. It's worth noting that despite the challenges, Melior Games consistently demonstrated a dedication to delivering the best possible outcome. 
Overall, Melior Games exhibited a strong commitment to meeting project timelines and understanding our unique requirements. They adapted to feedback, made necessary adjustments, and worked diligently to ensure that each project milestone was achieved in close alignment with our agreed-upon schedule. The final delivery of the project, nearly on time as planned, stands as a testament to their commitment to delivering a successful mobile game project.

What was your primary form of communication with Melior Games?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Melior Games stands out for several impressive qualities. Notably, their fair pricing model distinguishes them in the competitive landscape, providing excellent value for the services rendered. The professionalism of their mobile game developers is truly commendable, showcasing expertise and skill throughout the project. What sets Melior Games apart is their extraordinary level of service and willingness to help. The project manager (Lera on our case) consistently goes above and beyond to address concerns, adapt to feedback, and they helped us a lot.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Melior Games could have done differently?

In retrospect, we could have desired more involvement in directly accessing and overseeing Jira tasks. A more hands-on approach in monitoring these tasks could have provided us with a deeper understanding of the project's progress. Additionally, we acknowledge that the graphics phase consumed significant time. 
While this was a collaborative process where the designer closely worked with the developer, in hindsight, exploring alternative methods or tools for more streamlined collaboration might have been beneficial. 
However, it's important to note that these observations are not necessarily areas where Melior Games needs to improve. Instead, they highlight aspects where, in hindsight, our preferences or choices might have influenced the project dynamics. Melior Games demonstrated flexibility and responsiveness, and any potential improvements are more aligned with our unique project management preferences rather than inherent shortcomings on their part.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner of video game development company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Melior Games, and what were your goals?

We were on a tight schedule and hired Melior Games to port one of our games for Xbox. By porting the game, we were hoping to release our game during the holiday season.

SOLUTION

How did you select Melior Games and what were the deciding factors?

We searched online for video game porting companies and spoke to a few of them. Melior Games provided us with competitive rates and told us they would be able to complete the work in 2 months, which would have allowed us to release our game on time.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

During the initial meeting, we discussed what we were looking for and our timeframe. They told us that they had previous experience with Xbox and after looking at the source code of our game, told us they would be able to complete this work in time.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A project manager was our main point of contact throughout the process. There was also one developer that worked behind the scenes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Apart from the work taking twice as long, we was handed back something we could not use. The source code we was handed back was not finished, it did not meet our or the platform's requirements, and it did not run correctly. We had to scrap everything we had received from Melior Games. In the end, we decided to do the work ourselves.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We had contact with the project manager over Slack but communication was slow, which we later found out was due to the work not being complete. At several times during the project, we did not communicate for 1-2 weeks and when we did, we were assured the project was still on track, which was not true.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We were not impressed with this company at all. They were late to start, they were late to finish, and they did not even complete the work. They lied to us during our initial meeting saying that they could handle the work, which they clearly could not. They did not even have access to the tools required to do the work.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

They could have let us know as early as possible that they could not do the work so that we could have found someone else, they could have completed the work or at least gave us something we could have used, and they should have refunded us our payment we made.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on May 31, 2021.

Dear Client,

It’s sad to hear that you had this kind of experience and it’s a first time in the company, but a lot of things are missing in your feedback and some of them are a lie. So, as your comment can’t be deleted, we would like to reply to it:

1. Before we signed a contract, you knew that we worked with mobile games previously and didn’t have any experience with consoles. You were aware of that situation and it was fine for you.
2. The timeline was prolonged due to unexpected solution issues as a lack of experience and we wanted to finish your project and not let you down. You never told us anything or complained about taking a long time.
3. You paid only some part for the job, not the whole amount, and never asked to refund you.
4. Unfortunately, we had an only verbal agreement with you at the last meeting where we agreed that after finishing a fully working UWP build you will make an Xbox build by yourself as you were in Xbox Creators Program, instead of that we won’t charge the rest of the amount. Our work was to port the game and not to optimize it.
5. In the end, we never got any responses from you on our last email, were we offering you help in solving any issues with a game you had. That could have been changed something.

Sincerely,
Melior Games

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a chess game company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Melior Games?

We needed a vendor to develop a game for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Using the Unity platform, Melior Games developed the first phase of a game that mirrors a variant of traditional chess. We’re currently running an invitation beta test with about 100–200 users.

What is the team composition?

I’m not completely sure because our project manager handled everything on their end. I think there was a frontend developer, a backend developer, and a UX/UI specialist.

How did you come to work with Melior Games?

A friend who’d worked with Melior Games in the past recommended their services. I reviewed the results of that collaboration, and I was impressed with the final product, so I chose to partner with their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere between $25,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from about March­–November 2018. They completed the game, and we’re now looking into ways to market it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Overall, we’re pleased with the experience. They delivered high-quality graphics while demonstrating great project management skills. There’s a good balance between the cost of their services and the results they produce.

How did Melior Games perform from a project management standpoint?

I was pleased with their communication and work pace. The team met all of our deadlines, recording each step of their process and tracking their progress in Jira. They’re a team of proactive and responsive professionals, which helped them come up with multiple ways to solve any issues that arose.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They thought outside of the box. The Melior Games team put together a basic development roadmap and followed it, but they also offered alternative solutions as needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re perfectly satisfied with their services. Everyone on the team is friendly and easy to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the creative director of a game development company. We target the social mobile game market, and have recently soft-launched two games developed in collaboration with Melior Games.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Melior Games?

We were developing two iOS games for the social market on the platform. Our main challenge was working back-and-forth with our developers and publisher.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Melior Games assigned two developers for our work, one for each project, as well as a game design artist and a project manager. We used the Unity and Xcode.

How did you come to work with Melior Games?

I believe I posted on the Unity forums, and Melior Games replied to my post. We reviewed their portfolio and decided to move forward.

How much have you invested with Melior Games?

The cost of Melior Games’ work was around $25,000 for both projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Melior Games around five months ago. The project has been completed. We are going to be starting more projects with them very soon.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We are getting good response and retention rates. The games have been soft-launched, and, if they perform well, we will go ahead with a full-on hard-launch, and add more features.

How did Melior Games perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via Skype, and found Melior Games to be very responsive. I never had an issue with anything.

What did you find most impressive about Melior Games?

The most impressive thing about Melior were their flexibility with budgets and how cost effective they were.

Are there any areas Melior Games could improve?

Being more flexible with iterations. If we get some feedback from publishers that our version is not very strong, we’d need to have a few more iterations. There’s usually one chance to get the artwork right.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of Sunset Games, in charge of all operations related to mobile games.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Melior Games?

We wanted to develop a game called Football Tycoon. We had a graphics team in Israel, but needed to find a firm which could develop the game itself. Programmers are very expensive locally.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Melior Games developed our game, based on our in-house graphics. We have used their team for other games, but Football Tycoon has been by far the largest.

Our only point of contact has been Melior Games’ project manager. We haven’t looked at how many people are assigned to the project, but we know that there is one main developer in charge of the work.

The workflow consists of us providing a game-design document with formulas and everything else in the game. We use informal language to describe the more difficult features. Melior Games will assign tickets to their programming team, and usually work fast in terms of development.

They also handle QA, but we have found problems with every release. The process is not smooth, but, considering Melior Games’ fast delivery, we find it acceptable.

How did you come to work with Melior Games?

I initially found them two or three years ago, when I was looking to develop another game. I made a Google search for mobile development firms in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, and Melior Games came up. I approached them and got a fair price quotation. I have also tried to use Melior Games for graphics, but they’re not as competitive in that area. For the difference, we’d rather work with graphic designers whom we can meet in person, in order to explain exactly what we want.

How much have you invested with Melior Games?

Football Tycoon had an initial cost of €8,000. Each subsequent version added another €1,500, coming to a total of €13,000 or €14,000. [$14,000 – $15,000]

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Melior Games a year and a half ago, and plan to use them for future projects. We have plans for many more updates to Football Tycoon, and have another partner in Israel for another game. Once they’ve finished their portion of the work, it will be given to Melior Games for completion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The game has had 150,000 downloads on Google Play, and nearly 100,000 on iOS. It’s been quite successful. The game has a rating of between 3.9 and 4 on Google Play and the Apple Store.

There have been some complaints about crashes, slow performance or incompatibility with older Android versions, but these are minor issues. With each release, there will be some bugs, but, because Melior Games is very fast in terms of development, it’s acceptable to us.

The success of the game has to do with the design itself, but also with the quality of Melior Games’ work on our features. They implemented everything as we envisioned it in our specs.

How did Melior Games perform from a project management standpoint?

They are quite responsive. Melior Games’ team works within the GMT+4 time zone, while we are GMT+2, which means that we can speak to all of them starting at 11 o’clock in the morning. They work from Monday to Friday, while, in Israel, we work from Sunday to Thursday, but the team is responsive during their off days as well. We receive answers to any question we have within a couple of hours. During big releases, I will speak to our project manager for 10 hours on Skype, but there are also days in which Melior Games takes longer to answer our feedback. From a managerial point-of-view, it’s quite comfortable to work with Melior Games.

What did you find most impressive about Melior Games?

They’re simply a development firm which works well and is cost-effective, compared to Israel prices.

Are there any areas Melior Games could improve?

They chose Unity as a development language for our app, which is a text-based managerial game. There aren’t many animations in it, so Unity is overkill. This is the reason for the game being a bit heavy, at around 79MB. Melior Games should have used Objective-C for iOS, and another native language for Android. I think that, in terms of technical challenges, Melior Games could improve, and find more efficient solutions. They haven’t put enough effort in this, but they deliver fast solutions which ultimately work

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Cupid Gaming Studio Ltd.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Mobile Gaming company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Melior Games to accomplish?

• Develop Mobile Game

SOLUTION

How did you find Melior Games?

Online Search

Why did you select Melior Games over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Melior Games were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Scope of work was to develop the entire mobile game of match-3 genre, from game design to software development in Unity platform and 3D and 2D graphics, and also Q&A

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The mobile game was produced on Apple and Android app-stores for marketing

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project manager delivered all the items on time and with great results, and on budget

What was your primary form of communication with Melior Games?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The company is very professional and provides great value for money.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Melior Games could have done differently?

Melior Games have done a good job as they promised

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Lil 3d Peinting

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Previously we developed mobile apps, for the last 10 years it has been full colour 3D printing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Melior Games to accomplish?

• Verify and develop proof of concept software for wireless camera array.
• Flesh out software for a production environment
• Continue to develop the software to automate the workflow.

SOLUTION

How did you find Melior Games?

Online Search

Why did you select Melior Games over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Melior Games were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Trigger a wireless array of cameras to capture 150+ photos at once, manage the photo set through its life cycle.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Verification of blocks of work.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Everything was well looked after. Items that were outside my grasp were explained in detail. Everything was done in the presented time line. Communication was always open.

What was your primary form of communication with Melior Games?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It was a lapse of ten years since I worked with them. They were still around and looked after my new project as if no time had gone by.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Melior Games could have done differently?

No. I wish I had more need for their services as they are always great to work with.