Agility is at the core of everything we do

In a dynamic environment like video game development, organizations aim to respond continuously and effectively to the needs of both their users and their business. At Axes In Motion, we take an agile approach which allows us to adapt to constant changes in the mobile market without being tied to any specific framework. Instead of following a rigid model, we adapt our workflow to whatever suits our needs best, while always maintaining one key principle: simplicity.

Strong values

Our work culture is based on direct communication and continuous improvement. We maintain a clearly defined yet flexible roadmap, which is constantly adapted to our players’ demands. Instead of focusing on generic metrics, we prefer to measure success based on what we bring to the game, user feedback, and our team’s well-being.

Best practices

At Axes In Motion, the practices we consider essential include:

• Transparency: We believe that effective collaboration is only possible if all the information is accessible to all the members of our team. This fosters trust and contributes to overall well-being.
• Simplicity: Less is more. By simplifying meetings and work processes, we reduce cognitive workloads and increase productivity.
• Focus: Changes in context lead to wasted time and fatigue. People need to stay focused for as long as possible to perform at their best.
• Efficient collaboration: We meet for creative purposes and to solve problems, but only when absolutely necessary. We ensure that every meeting has a clear purpose.
• Eliminating waste: Minimising downtime, avoiding rework, and eliminating unnecessary meetings are key measures for optimizing performance.

A large and dynamic team

Our team is considerably larger than what is typically considered ideal for an agile team. To maintain productivity and avoid silos, we work with floating squads. These teams are created for a specific task and disbanded after it is completed, allowing everyone to collaborate at different times. This ensures a free flow of information and reduces bottlenecks and dependencies.

Constant learning

Continuous improvement is a key part of our culture. We don’t wait for a specific date to reflect on things – instead, we conduct retrospectives when the team needs it. These sessions provide us with valuable insights that allow us to iterate and improve our processes.

In addition, each specialist field within the company has its own space to improve its specific areas, whether tools, methodologies, or knowledge.

In summary, this working methodology allows us to be autonomous and collaborative and ensures that as an organization, we remain agile and competitive in an ever-evolving environment.

La entrada Agility in Motion: The key to our dynamic workflow se publicó primero en Main Home - AxesInMotion.

How does an ANR happen?

Android applications are multithreaded, which means they run multiple tasks in parallel using various threads. The operating system uses one of these threads, known as UIThread, to communicate with the app through a queue of messages. For example, if the user touches the screen, the operating system adds a message to the queue containing information about this, so that when it processes it, it acts accordingly.

When the UIThread takes too long to process the messages in the queue, the operating system displays an error message to the user, which says that the app is not responding and lets the user close the app (and sends a message to the store telling them this).

At Axes In Motion we develop our games using Unity3D, which runs its logic in its own thread. This thread may take a long time to process some tasks, and may even freeze without generating any ANR. But the problem arises when you unknowingly send certain tasks to the main thread using third-party plug-ins. During startups in particular, it is a good idea to wait for one task to finish before starting the next one, as many require access to the main thread.

Doing this has normally helped us reduce ANRs, but it was not enough. Our percentage of ANRs had recently risen above the threshold, and we didn’t understand why.

How can they be identified?

One of our first mistakes was to treat ANRs in the same way as normal bugs, and to look at the stacktrace that came with the report. Although this stacktrace is very useful for fixing normal bugs, in practice we have found that it does not contain information related to ANRs, as this is usually sent when the ANR is no longer happening.

After unsuccessfully trying several third party tools, we decided it was best to adopt our own solution to find out the exact point in time when they occurred. The main aim of this solution is to report the exact point in time when the problem occurs, generating a report that shows all the steps the user has taken to reach that point.

In order to send these reports, we used breadcrumbs from Firebase, which are sent with the ANR report, in the Logs & Breadcrumbs section.

To find out when an ANR happens, we created a Watchdog, which is simply a thread that regularly queues a message in the UIThread and looks at how long it takes to process it. When the thread sees that there is no response, it adds a breadcrumb to the report, indicating the exact point in time when the problem arose.

How can they be solved?

Once the reports start coming in, we read them one by one and try to identify patterns. In our case, we found that one of the plug-ins had problems initialising, even when it did so in isolation from the other plug-ins.

After solving this problem, our ANRs dropped below the threshold, allowing us to deploy again at 100%.

Conclusions

• What is most important is to understand how Android apps work in order to distinguish between bugs and ANRs.

• Finding the cause of the problem is essential, even if it takes time. Being able to deploy versions to a small percentage of users in order to receive reports is critical, and can take days, weeks or even months.

• The simplest solution is usually the best; a simple watchdog sending reports is more than enough.

• It is best to ignore the stacktrace sent with the ANR report, as it does not usually provide any useful information.

La entrada How we identify and fix ANR issues at Axes In Motion se publicó primero en Main Home - AxesInMotion.

To understand how we’ve reached this remarkable milestone in the industry, in which we’ve faced countless challenges and attained achievements that seemed impossible, we need to go back to our beginnings.

The mobile gaming market was booming in 2014, thanks to the rapid rise of smartphones and tablets that were driving the market, and which were beginning to become serious competition for consoles and PCs. Against this backdrop, Axes In Motion was born in Seville. The company was founded by two friends who decided to leverage their talent as entrepreneurs and the potential of the Free-to-Play (F2P) business model which was becoming consolidated at that time, to create accessible and appealing games for a wide audience. Our focus on accessibility, with any mobile device anywhere in the world able to enjoy our games, coupled with an exceptional user experience and the originality of our titles, enabled us to stand out in a highly competitive market.

Over these 10 years, our strategy has evolved and adapted to the constant changes in the industry, and focused on the quality of our games aimed at a wide audience. This involves overcoming major technical and creative challenges, as well as actively listening to our users by means of an exhaustive analysis. As a result, we have positioned ourselves in Google Play’s Top 3 Racing category for more than five years in a row, as well as having a flow of millions of users every month.

In addition to these milestones, there is a more recent one: when we joined the MGI Group, in the Gamigo subsidiary, in 2022. This partnership has given us valuable synergies and enabled us to continue to grow as a studio, backed by solid support when facing new challenges and achieving new goals.

Achieving these figures hasn’t been easy; they have been possible thanks to a clearly defined strategy and thorough market analysis, but above all thanks to an exceptional team. Our team is united by the core values of Axes In Motion: transparency, humility and proactiveness. These values have taken us forward together in the same direction, and with a clear objective in mind.

We’re conscious that the industry in which we operate is constantly changing, and we’re immensely proud of our journey during these years. Looking ahead, we’re more motivated than ever to face new challenges with the same passion and dedication that has brought us this far. We’re ready for the next 10 years and beyond, with the firm conviction that together, we are unstoppable.

To commemorate this extraordinary journey, we have created a short but intense video that captures some of the most magical and significant moments of these 10 years. This video is a tribute to our tireless team and our passionate community of players who have been with us every step of the way. Don’t miss it – and celebrate this incredible milestone in the history of Axes In Motion with us!

La entrada 10 years in motion! se publicó primero en Main Home - AxesInMotion.

Pre-production: This is where it all starts, with a meticulous review of the quality of each task. We adjust and correct errors, test across various devices and conduct thorough assessments of each new feature. It’s a development stage where everything is being implemented, so areas for improvement are likely to emerge.

Production: This phase is when final tests and polishing take place. We prepare the ultimate Test Plan, ensuring our game’s vital aspects are foolproof. This stage is crucial for the game to shine at its best.

Release: At this stage, we launch the version on a percentage rollout and closely monitor user reactions and feedback, keeping an eye out for any bugs, ANRs, or crashes. Every piece of feedback from our users is seen as an opportunity to enhance our games, making active listening extremely important.

Our QA team constantly faces new challenges at every stage of the quality control process, especially when developing F2P mobile video games. The diversity of devices on the market introduces a critical variable to our QA process: each device, with its unique screen ratios, operating system versions, and technical specifications, requires meticulous testing. This ensures that the game’s visual elements, performance, and behavior are optimal across all possible platforms. Our commitment is to cover the broadest range of devices used by our players, thus prioritizing accessibility and the quality of the gaming experience.

Adding to this complexity, the introduction of multiplayer options, available in our games, raises the bar of the challenge even higher. We need to ensure not only the smoothness and consistency of a single player’s experience but also manage the dynamics and interactions between multiple users in real time. This added complexity highlights the importance of active listening and continuous adaptation. Every interaction, every multiplayer session, becomes a valuable lesson on improving and fine-tuning our games to ensure an immersive experience.

The use of QA tools, such as SRDebugger, Excel for Test Plans, and Jira for task and bug management, equips us to meet these challenges with efficiency and precision. However, it’s our dedication to continuous improvement and our commitment to our users that truly enables us to exceed expectations and deliver games that not only run smoothly but also foster exciting interactions among players.

La entrada Our QA Processes: Elevating Gaming Standards se publicó primero en Main Home - AxesInMotion.

Inspiration and conceptualization

We take several factors into account during the process in which we decide on which car models we will to develop. Those factors include current trends, the demands from our user community, and the need to create vehicles that cover a wide range of styles.

We also assess the feasibility of introducing customizable features and skins that our users find appealing. After establishing those parameters, we then conduct thorough baseline research covering all the vehicle’s components: from every angle of its bodywork to its interior, lights, and details. Those specifications are the starting point when we begin the modeling process.

The design and 3D model

We use various programs for modeling at Axes In Motion, adapted to suit each artist’s preferences, including 3DS Max, Maya and Blender, among others. Optimization in our modeling is crucial for the effectiveness of each new feature added to the game. That means we must make sure that it has the mesh that is needed and the vertices that are strictly necessary.

Texturing and UV mapping

After the modeling is complete, we move on to the UV mapping and texture application phase. In this context, we have made Substance our tool of choice, and we keep Photoshop for use on specific details and optimizing colour channels.

We use Substance to carry out the process involved in baking the model, focusing on obtaining realistic features with small maps adapted to the mobile format (ranging between 1024 and 256 pixels). Attention to performance and weight is imperative, and every pixel of texture and every vertex of the mesh is given careful consideration.

Game integration and testing

When all these features are ready, we integrate them into Unity. We use our optimized shadersto configure the materials to make them as realistic as possible, without compromising their performance. We assemble the vehicles with the help of prefabsand our in-house tools. These custom tools mean we can give the cars the functionality they need to make them an outstanding part of the gaming experience. After these foundations have been laid, we spend time playing with them, perfecting every detail, and polishing every aspect to achieve an impeccable result.

La entrada Check out our behind-the-scenes: From concept art to game implementation se publicó primero en Main Home - AxesInMotion.

La entrada Tips for an interview at Axes In Motion se publicó primero en Main Home - AxesInMotion.

The company was set up in 2014, and over the past eight years our F2P games have been downloaded more than 800 million times, consolidating the studio as a key player in the Spanish mobile gaming industry, with a solid aim of continuing to grow and recruit the best new talent. Because of this, Gameopolis is underscored in red on our calendar, as the ideal venue at which to network with industry professionals.

Axes in Motion hosted a stand in the Game Invest zone, a space for sector professionals to share their work with the public, discuss values and growth targets, and scope out potential new recruits. The company also held a conference at which sector professionals discussed the evolution of mobile gaming.

In short, Gameopolis provided the perfect opportunity for us to connect with other studios, professionals, and game lovers, as well as to learn about new trends and developments in the sector.

La entrada Axes in Motion sponsors Game Invest zone at Gamepolis 2022 se publicó primero en Main Home - AxesInMotion.

Málaga Jam is a key event for developers, so Axes In Motion just had to be there. As sponsors of the event, our brand image featured on the photocalls and merchandising, and we also mentored game development teams. During the event, our Talent officer also give a live interview on the Málaga Jam Twitch channel, explaining who we are, what we stand for, and how we aim to continue to grow and recruit the best new talent.

One of this high spots of Málaga Jam was the awards, where the team that took the best game prize, by popular vote, was made up entirely of Axes In Motion talent. As well as showcasing their professional chops, the team also provided a window onto the amazing potential within the company.

The event allowed us to share our passion for video games with other professionals, as well as highlighting some of the up-and-coming talent on the Andalusian video game industry.

La entrada Axes in Motion wows at Málaga Jam se publicó primero en Main Home - AxesInMotion.