Unanimous Studios

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We build and manage mobile app games. We focus on casino games and social games. I’m one of the co-founders.

What challenge were you trying to address with Unanimous?

We needed help with mobile app development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Unanimous helped us design several icons, the games themselves, as well as the more technical sides of the apps. They implemented SDKs and tracking of our users, followers, etc. The apps are for iOS and Android.

The most important project they worked on with us is one of our top social casinos. We were trying to drive attention and monetization. They ran several AB tests, created several different game rooms and variations of the game rooms. We would track how it would affect monetization and retention. They worked with us through the whole project, all the way from designing the different rooms, to tracking them and helping us put together reports.

What is the team dynamic?

We had three developers. Vikram [Project Manager, Unanimous Studios], the project manager, does a really good job at being the main contact. He understands design and he’s a developer himself. We were able to get our points across with him and have him execute.

How did you come to work with Unanimous?

I found them through a job posting website for developers. This is when I was first getting started with my business. Vikram was very willing to start from the bottom with me and build the apps from scratch. He was very understanding. That was really what made me opt for them.

How much have you invested with them?

$35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2015 and the work is ongoing.

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

There was a point we were managing about 200+ applications. A portion of that was being managed by Vikram. He helped us start from nothing, to reaching a $1.25 million annual run rate.

How did Unanimous perform from a project management standpoint?

Time barriers are always a challenge. There’s cultural differences too, but if you can get over those and have a good perspective about it, you can extract a lot of value. We primarily communicated through Skype. We also used email. Vikram was always available when I needed him. We’d have 1-2-hour sessions at times and tackle different issues. I was happy with that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Vikram understood several different domains, designs, and development frameworks. He was willing to simplify things and work with the project or product manager, or business owner, and help them execute on their ideas. Vikram did a really good job with us on that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could take less customers. Any firm can have the temptation to take more customers than they can handle sometimes. Vikram and I have discussed this and he’s very aware of it. They’ve made the required changes where they say no to projects nowadays, so they can make sure they’re working on the things that they truly care about and that they don’t stretch themselves too thin.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Make it simple. Don’t get so complex. Try to distill the idea to the most important and simplest thing you can possibly distill it to. Share that with the team in a very structured, thought out way.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of Heroic Games. We build software and hardware and help others build theirs’ as well. We’re based in Toronto, Canada. We started the company in 2014 and have released two games. Now we’re working on a social media app.

What challenge were you trying to address with Unanimous Studios?

We wanted to limit our costs because hiring a team in Toronto is very expensive. As a result, we wanted to outsource our game development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I designed the characters and the levels. I sent it off to another teammate in the Philippines. He made the final design in Photoshop. After that, I sent everything to Unanimous Studios. They did the backend and implemented everything. They did the game plate and all the mechanics. It is an Android app.

They brought a few ideas to us. I’m not a designer. Vishal [Web Developer, Unanimous Studios] suggested a few ideas to tweak it a little bit to make it better. They also provided valid feedback for me. The project took a month and the game has been rolled out.

I had a few feedbacks from testers. I found a few bugs and I contacted the project manager; he had the workers adjust that immediately.

What is the team dynamic?

I was working directly with the project manager. I would communicate with him and he would take whatever I sent him over to the developers. I didn’t have direct contact with the developers.

How did you come to work with Unanimous Studios?

I asked a friend in the Philippines, that I used to work with, if he knew a studio that would make games. He suggested Unanimous Studios. I trusted him and went with it. Everything worked out well.

How much have you invested with them?

$6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017 until October 2017.

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

I haven’t released the number of downloads publicly. I gave it to a few close friends and family to try it out. The feedback has been very honest. The positive feedback outweighs the negative feedback. I’m planning on releasing that to the entire public and then sharing it on our page and also contacting news outlets here by next weekend.

How did Unanimous Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Skype to communicate. The project manager would respond 15-20 minutes after receiving my message. It was a very smooth transition. I would email them around noon or the evening - there’s a 10-hour difference. The project manager would still respond to my messages. I found that very professional.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re professional and competent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For them to be a very good studio, they need to work on their game mechanics. I had to explain to them a few times what to do in terms of gameplay. If they would work on that, it would be a great studio. It’s not a complication problem, we just have to have a few builds before getting it right. If they can work on reading the GDD [game design document] much more tightly and solving it as it is, rather than tweaking a few things, that would be great.

Do you have any advice for other potential customers of theirs?

Have your documents all ready. Have a great understanding of what they’re building. If you try to work with the studio and go along with the flow, that won’t work. Flowing will take them a lot of time and will cost them a lot of money. Be prepared.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and CEO of Hunt Global, a conservation program with funding raised through a game app.

For what projects/services did your company hire Unanimous Studios?

I needed to develop a retro-style hunting game.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted a fun game that would help fund my program.

How did you select this vendor?

I initially looked for developers on several online freelancing sites, but one of my friends told me about Unanimous Studios, so I got in touch with them. I was impressed by their skills and decided to hire them.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Unanimous Studios took care of all the design work while also creating the game on both iOS and Android platforms, using Unity as the main programming language. Additionally, they built a dashboard for handling operations.

For every game we assign to them, they essentially take the ingredients and mold them into a final product. They also provide bug fixes whenever necessary.

What was the team composition?

They assigned a project manager as our primary point of contact. He leads a five-person Unity development team.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We’ve had pretty good reviews and ratings for our mobile game, which is almost at five stars. We’re very satisfied with the cost, their code quality, deliverables, and their communication skills.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We received constant updates from the project manager and mostly communicate through Skype.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re a responsible team that provides the results we expect. They try their best to stick to our plans so that we’re able to deliver on our side as well when it comes to marketing campaigns. There haven’t been any issues so far.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I asked for a few more people to join the team so that we can complete some tasks a little faster. They’re looking for a couple of candidates at the moment, but it would be great if they could add those new team members as fast as possible.