On Becoming A Video Game Programmer

Asger Heinricy

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Published: March 15th, 2022

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About
Business

Asger Heinricy

Founder, Axid Studios

Founders

Employees

Axid Studios

axidstudios.com

from Copenhagen, Danmark

started October 2020

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools Asger recommends to grow your business!

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Hello! My name is Asger Heinricy, and I am the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Axid Studios. I founded Axid Studios in October 2020.

I am programming video games, and with me, I have 11 employees to help with graphics, design, development etc. Besides making the games, websites, software-systems and apps, we are also selling the game source code to companies or selling it via our distribution partners at Steamworks, Google Play, or App Store.

What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

When I was 9 years old, we got introduced to the software “Scratch” in school. We had a contest, and I thought it was funny to do this kind of ‘block-programming’. At 9 years old, I had big dreams, so I thought I wanted to be making the next Rockstar Games.

In 2019, after a 3 years break from programming, I decided to participate in a Microsoft Game Jam, in collaboration with Coding Pirates. I had to create a game, within 24 hours. I won a prize, and learned a lot!

After that, I started a team called “Astro”, and we made games. The games weren't good, but we learned a lot, and made a few bucks.

In October 2020, I decided I wanted to take this further, I wanted this to be a company. I started Axid Studios, and just two months after, I got 2 investors on board, who were helping- and supporting me, both financially, and mentoring me. I was only 14 years old, so getting some more experienced businessmen on board, was definitely the right decision.

It doesn’t have to cost a lot to start a game studio. The most expensive part of starting Axid Studios was a release license at Steamworks, and that was only 100 USD.

Of course it costs more when the company gets bigger, since we have to pay for servers, offices, marketing etc., but starting a game studio, doesn't have to cost a lot.

Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.

When we make a game, it all starts with the idea. The idea has to be unique. The team has meetings daily, just brainstorming ideas. This can take days or months.

After that, the game developers are having meetings, planning all the technical details, so we can be sure that we can make this game.

We thereafter request some sketch 3D models, so we can start making the game.

First, when all of that is done, we hop into Unity and start programming the games. This is a long process, and at this point, there are months ahead of us, if not a year, till the project is done.

The starting cost for any of our games is 100 USD, to release the game. Under the development of the game, we can be required to buy assets from developers around the world. It can be quite expensive to buy licenses. When we are at the release point, we decide how much money we want to put into marketing. This can also be one of the more expensive moments of having a game studio.

Our start-setup in 2020; An old laptop, with 2 small TVs, and a 3D printer

Describe the process of launching the business.

We launched our first website back in February 2021. Our strategy to get free clicks was to tell everyone we knew about the company. Friends, family, etc., and from there on, let the word spread itself.

The only thing costing money was the servers to keep everything up. Our investors paid for that, so we could continue making games, without worrying about the money.

The biggest lesson from starting a business is; Don’t rush. When we rushed through release, development, etc. we made mistakes. Stupid bugs in the game, that delayed us a lot.

Released our website with a giant bug

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

We get a lot of clicks from my school, and therefore many of our posts are directed towards my school. We also get a lot of purchases from my school, since it’s kids playing video games. The giant spikes in our exponentiation, are every time we make a post on our social media or make a new update that people want to check.

The big spikes are every time we post on our Instagram or website

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

We use a LOT of tools for our business. For the website, we use WordPress, as it is the easiest, fastest, and best way to do it, in our opinion. We also use the platform “NextCloud”, to share files between all the employees, and host our important documents. NextCloud is very secure and allows you to host it yourself, as we did on www.cloud.axidstudios.com.

One of the most important things to keep our business going is also our email system. It is powered by MailCow and hosted by us. It is an excellent email system and uses the same login on NextCloud, MailCow, and any other AxidES (Axid Employee Systems).

For the development of the games, we use Unity Technologies for the Game Programming. We use Blender for 3D modeling. We use Adobe After Effects / Adobe Premiere Pro / Blender for Cutscenes. We use Adobe Photoshop / Affinity Photo for UI elements.

If we have to manufacture some hardware, we use Shapr3D to make the 3D model. An excellent app for iOS!

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

I’m not a book or podcast type. I’m more like a “watching-type”. I like to watch YouTube videos, or documentaries about Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, and how they managed to do what they did. I like watching videos about Elon Musk or Steve Jobs because they truly invented some incredible stuff.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

We have two advices;

Starting a game studio will be very hard if you aren’t passionate about making games. If making games isn’t the thing you love, then it will be some very tough working hours.

And, make sure you have planned your project before starting. Make sure that there’s always work until the game is done. If an employee doesn’t have anything to do, you’re just wasting time that could have been used on development.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

We are always hiring people for our next exciting project! All jobs are volunteered and part-time, but you'll get an excellent resumé, working closely with Google, Steamworks, Unity, Apple, and other large companies. Please feel free to check out our Careers Page, to see more.

You can also contact us by email at [email protected], or via phone at +45 93600226.

Who helped you achieve what Axid Studios has achieved?

All the people who has been sitting all night, trying to find the bugs in our games. The ones who has worked volunteered for us, to create games. The investors, who trusted me enough to fund me for a year now. My friends for helping me go through the harder times of having a company. And then of course my family, for being supportive.