LogInMikhail Dadaev, the CEO of FSTR, returns to 80 Level to tell us more about the studio and explain the advantages developers get by working with outsourcers.
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The Story of FSTR
Initially, we wanted to build a computer graphics studio with a very fast pipeline based on Unreal Engine. I have more than 20 years of experience in the film, advertising, and multimedia show industry. I was both a 3D Artist and a supervisor and production director. I was fond of lighting in 3D graphics, and at the time of the opening of FSTR in 2018, I was interested in building a new pipeline and trying to make money on it in an already established market. We moved in this direction for a couple of years until we gradually approached the creation of interactive experiences. Well, for the last two years, we have been a full-fledged outsourcing studio based in Montenegro and performing a full range of work, from co-development to technical art and 3D visualizations.
Today, our team consists of more than 35 people, and we continue to grow. FSTR has two departments: developers and artists. Each department is headed by one of the co-founders. Since we are relatively small in size, we try to be flexible and have experts from almost every area of the game development and 3D visualization industry. The team has good experience working with multiplayer games, AI for controlling NPCs, and creating locations of almost any level of complexity and stylization. We have good artists to create photorealistic 3D visualizations, video presentations, and cinematics. This allows us to help more clients by creating different types of content in one place.
To coach new team members, our studio uses a modular training system. During a regular personal conversation with the manager four times a year, an employee determines his vector of development and selects online programs for training. In this way, we grow people in our team and help new members better integrate into it.
Services & Clients
As I mentioned before, we are very flexible and provide the full range of production services in one place. For example, when creating a vertical slice of a game or MVP, we may take care of all the steps from the initial sketches and illustrations to the creation of 3D models, assets integration into the Unreal Engine, shading, lighting, and creation of animations. Our development team constantly monitors the artists, and it helps us increase our internal quality control. Our approach to project management allows us to synchronize the work of the development team and the art team as much as possible. This way, we deliver results faster, saving the client time and money.
We love working with small studios – despite smaller budgets, very often the projects are really cool and we like the idea that many projects can become very successful and we help in this matter.
Why Hire Outsourcers?
We all know that hiring people for new tasks is not always easy. Hired people need to be managed and often require a workspace in an office. Now imagine that this needs to be done urgently – and here we are. An outsourcing studio allows you to attract people to your project, quickly increasing the capacity of resources without overpaying or wasting time. If necessary, we integrate into the customer's current pipeline and can offer our own.