Inkration Studio

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m co-founder and art director at game art studio. We provide services for game development companies and game startups.

For what projects/services did your company hire Inkration Studio, and what were your goals?

We had a large scale game art project we needed to deliver in a short period of a few months without compromising quality. Therefore we hired Inkration Studio to expand our in-house team capacity.

How did you select Inkration Studio and what were the deciding factors?

We looked online for art outsourcing studios and selected this studio based on their portfolio, past experience with similar projects and cost estimates.

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

We had a kick-off Skype meeting to discuss art brief and to set deadlines. From there the studio delivered concept sketches and final art according to schedule.

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

A studio manager was our main contact throughout the project, along with art lead and additional 2d artist behind the scenes.

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

The studio had a great understanding of art style and technical requirements and delivered exceptional work on time with only a few revisions needed. Our game-dev client was very satisfied with the final outcome and quality.

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

We had weekly meetings with the project manager throughout Skype.

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

They provided great communication, understanding of project goals, and mannerly service.

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

Everything was done to our and our client satisfaction.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Art Director/Developer at a gambling company called 1X2Network.

For what projects/services did your company hire Inkration Studio?

We required a full game design including animations for an upcoming slot release. We provided Inkration with a set of specifications and design guidelines for them to follow along with a timeframe/deadline.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to improve the aesthetics of our slot games, which would inevitably improve player retention.

How did you select Inkration Studio?

We met at a gaming conference in London called ICE, we've used multiple art studios in the past but Inkration offered a very high level of work for a very reasonable price.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we’d selected the studio, we had a series of discussions about the specification/deadline/timelines and the goals of the project. We created both a Trello and an Asana board for the project, this was used efficiently as a project management tool throughout the process.

Within the first couple of weeks, we received the initial sketches which were forwarded over to the team. After a few iterations and discussions regarding the artwork we decided on a final set that would be used, the studio then moved onto working on the colour scripts/rendering stages before working on the final animation stage.

Once everything was confirmed, we went over all the project exports and the studio provided us with a download link for all the files, the process was efficient and seamless!

What was the team composition?

We were assigned two project managers who served as the main point of contact throughout the project, they provided us with regular updates and communicated our comments/feedback to the artists/animators. The project managers were always readily available, helpful and informative.

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

We've had great feedback on the visual aesthetics of our games from our current clients and it also helped us to entice prospective clients too. The improved artwork/animations have also helped player retention and engagement which was one of our main goals.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project managers we were assigned were easy to communicate with and provided frequent updates via the project management tool we used. We spoke daily over Skype and had occasional calls to discuss certain aspects of the project.

Overall, I was extremely impressed with how the project was managed and the way in which they dealt with us as a client. To date, the studio is yet to miss a deadline and is very informative about where we stand with the project timeline.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We have worked with other agencies on previous projects, but Inkration offers a high level of work for a reasonable price.

The project was particularly easy and required very few amendments as the artists/animators are so talented and experienced, this helped the project go smoothly and resulted in a positive collaborative experience.

The Inkration team produces high-quality work at a fast pace and are reliable, we hold them in very high regard and would recommend them to anyone.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied with their work across every step and they provided a beautiful end product at speed. There really aren’t many areas of improvement at all.

We’d maybe suggest a more direct contact with the team's animators to discuss certain aspects of the animations, this would help to reduce the number of iterations but this really is trivial.