BidOn Games Studio

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Magic Horizons, a relaxation and healing company in the VR space. We combine binaural special audio music and meditation with fantastic CGI imagery. We provide services for customers at home as well as for airlines.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BidOn Games Studio?

We create music, but we’re not programmers. As such, we needed a talented team to take our visual assets and ideas and bring them to life in the form of a VR app. The goal was to add interactive layers to our videos using Unity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used Unity along with several plug-ins to develop our VR project. Working with our binaural audio, they enhanced our music to give the user the feeling of being within the music as part of a fantastic world. They developed a custom copy player to display the VR in high resolution. From there, they added gamification elements and a project lab, allowing users to paint in color along with the music. This function would emit rays of light as the user painted. They also created special B2B apps to demonstrate our tech at trade fairs.

What is the team composition?

We're in regular contact with Vladimir (Head of Delivery, BidOn Games Studio) and Elena (AR & VR Development, BidOn Games Studio). There are 3–4 developers dedicated to our project, and we're now moving into mobile VR. Eventually, we'll want to have streaming, so we'll need more assets.

How did you come to work with BidOn Games Studio?

We did some research in Germany and found that development is expensive. Not to mention, programmers rarely took any risks. We then expanded our search using LinkedIn and connected with BidOn Games Studio. During a Skype call, we described our project, and they did a proof of concept, which we liked a lot.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $10,000 so far. We’re going into our second round of funding and will be building a much larger platform with integrated AI.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They consistently try to make things even better and always offer other options. We’re currently working to set up our services with other business, including at London airports for security personnel, German Telecom, and hospitals to treat patients. It’s a growing and evolving process.

How did BidOn Games Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They've done better than developers in Germany and are punctual. If we agree to speak at 10:00 on our time, they’re online by 9:58. They speak English well. We have regular Skye conferences and give them detailed tasks through email. They then allocate the right programmers to do the task. To manage the project, we use Google Docs, which works well for us. In terms of costs, I appreciate that we work on a fixed price.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When they finished the app, everything was good. I appreciated that they asked us for a few days to optimize the final product. We’re really happy with their work so far. 

They're helping us to create and spread beauty throughout a potentially huge market. The team is enthusiastic and comes up with great ideas. They don't seem like a service provider; rather, it feels like they're a part of the team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, we had to get used to the language and the workflow. We prefer to have the software be stable enough for the user rather than having the user be a beta tester. As such, we had to do some extra testing because we were super critical. It was a severe time and cost factor, but they've since improved their test routines.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We create cool apps and video games for in-the-know users. Currently, we’re working on some quizzes and general knowledge games on both the Android and iOS platforms. One of our new projects is based on Apple ARKit technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire BidOn Games Studio?

We asked BidOn Games Studio to help us create our new app called Culture Generale. They’ve offered services from many different fields of development. 

What were your goals for this project?

We were looking for a company who could offer daily collaboration for our project. As our first venture into the world of mobile apps, we needed support from an experienced company.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched for development companies on a widely known freelance platform. BidOn Games Studio caught our attention with their extensive portfolio of quality projects.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we entered into a contract with BidOn Games Studio, we started planning the project. They asked us detailed questions and introduced their team members. Over the course of our project, they’ve worked on JSON serialization and animation. After completing the debugging process, they published our app to Google Play and the App Store. Now, they’re continuing to provide updates, support, and maintenance.  

What was the team composition?

We work with a project manager and the top members of BidOn Games Studio. They’re very professional, responsive, and effective. A different person manages each task; one is in charge of the budget, another manages the project, and the coders perform technical jobs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

BidOn Games Studio’s contributions have improved our rankings. We’ve worked together efficiently ever since the first task they completed. Their advice helped us launch a successful product.

On average, 2,000 users download our app per day. Three months since we deployed it, we’ve reached about 300,000 total downloads. These results are far better than we expected. 

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The entire team is ready to work every day. We’ve been building a relationship based on trust. We discuss every new job using Skype to communicate. After they send us a scope of the work, we plan a deadline to achieve it by.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

BidOn Games Studio is very experienced. The entire team is trustworthy and hugely talented. We know that they’ll finish everything we ask for successfully and on time. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

I have nothing negative to say. BidOn Games Studio always delivers on time and answers us quickly. Working meticulously, they systematically follow all the instructions we provide. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an industrial designer. I am currently taking a master’s program in an art school in London.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BidOn Games Studio?

I’m working on a school project for my degree show. I don’t have a background in software development. Since I was spending too much time getting a simple task done, I had to find someone who had better skills and knowledge in the field of VR gaming development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My project is about designing 3D tools for virtual reality. It has two goals: questioning the design of 3D tools and showing the potential of VR in the 3D creation environment. Since this project is artistic and not meant for practical or commercial use, the requirements are somewhat vague. I explained my situation and the whole concept to the team at BidOn. They understood my needs, and we agreed to work together on a weekly sprint basis.

My VR game uses the Unity platform. It’s nice that BidOn’s developers have full access to Oculus Rift and Touch controllers. These virtual reality tools are essential in developing and testing my idea. We’re using the same hardware model so that we have a seamless collaboration despite the distance and time gap.

As far as I know, at least four people are involved in this project. I’m working with the main developer, a QA tester, a project manager, and a 3D model & UV map editor.

What's the status of the project?

The project began on the 20^th of March. It started as a one-week test project. I was very satisfied with the test collaboration, so I decided to continue. We’ve been working together since then. I expect that it will be done by June 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still ongoing, so it is difficult to talk about results. However, I can tell you that they keep giving me regular updates. My work speed has improved a lot since I started collaborating with BidOn Games.

How did BidOn Games Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They have taken full advantage of cloud computing collaboration systems and meeting apps. Aside from emails, we use Git repository, Google Docs, Google Drive, TeamViewer, and Skype. I believe this is one of BidOn’s strengths. I give them feedback on a daily basis, often in real time. The work has been very efficient due to their reaction time.

BidOn assigned a project manager with whom I can discuss general issues, such as the project timeline and payment. We also talk about technical areas like specific coding and software use. It is great to work with a manager who understands the whole project and its goal from A to Z. I didn't have to waste time contacting a specific person for a certain issue.

What did you find most impressive about BidOn Games Studio?

They asked good questions when they received my brief. They even suggested better solutions when they encountered misleading or confusing features. Because of these, I was very satisfied. I feel that they seriously care about their clients.

Are there any areas BidOn Games Studio could improve?

I wish they have a better grasp of aesthetics. The project is not yet in the final polishing stage, but I sometimes feel as if my game is being developed just the way I described it and no more. However, I understand that this can be subjective; it is difficult to communicate about the aesthetics of a work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I used to be a programmer and I worked a lot of years in the US. I’ve lived in San Francisco for the last six or seven years. I started a small startup for creating children’s education programs. You can find my company on the Apple market or Android market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BidOn Games?

I’ve worked with BidOn for the last three years. They’ve created three or four different casual games for children’s education. Right now, I want to create something with augmented reality and, because I don’t have the experience, I asked BidOn and we created a pretty big project with augmented reality in education programs for children.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We used Unity with augmented reality as the main platform. It’s a Vuforia plugin and Unity working together to be able to work with augmented reality. There are 14 resources working with me from BidOn Games. They provide two managers, including one for design and one for development.

How did you come to work with BidOn Games?

I found them on a freelance site. For payment, I used the freelance site because I was more comfortable not paying them directly but through the freelance site. But with the last project, I didn’t see any problem with paying them directly.

How much have you invested with BidOn Games?

They charged around $25 per hour. I have spent between $45,000 and $50,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together with them on this last project in January 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We should be able to finish the project in two or three weeks and then I will put it on the market. Their work was very professional. They’re comfortable with any data we send to them.

How did BidOn Games perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Skype and email for communication and the communication with them has gone pretty well. We also used Google Docs. Most of the people in the company speak English pretty well. They’re a pretty young company but I see they have some potential.

What did you find most impressive about BidOn Games?

They have a few offices and one of them is in Cherkasy, Ukraine. That city has a pretty good university and there are young people there who want to work. Because of that, they can give you a better price than other places.

Are there any areas BidOn Games could improve?

No.