DEVELOPER HIGHLIGHT: AYRTECH

AUG 13, 2024

Meet Jason, a native Australian and the solo developer behind Straya, who developed and published the game under Ayrtech. His interest in level design began when he discovered the editor in the original Unreal game, which led him to create several levels for both single-player and multiplayer modes. He also developed levels for Undying, an Unreal Engine game, and the original Painkiller. This passion eventually led him to secure contract work on Star Trek: DS9: The Fallen.

Jason spent over seven years in professional game development, contributing to titles such as Speedway and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. However, after facing some challenging times in the industry, he decided to return to his trade and found work in the architectural field, utilizing 3D engineering software.

Despite this shift, the lure of game development never waned. Jason eventually created two mobile games, including DWD, as a hobby, though neither is currently available on the App Store.

The spark for Straya came when Jason explored new features in Unreal Engine 4. Inspired, he began piecing together what would eventually become the game. The development of Straya wouldn't have been possible without the powerful toolset Unreal Engine provides, especially for solo developers. Straya is truly a labor of love and a passion project, and Jason hopes to continue improving and expanding it over time.