Big games in small packages
These days, whether you play a game on your phone, your home computer, your tablet, or your TV, one thing is for sure: chances are you downloaded it. And you probably didn't pay $60 for it like we used to in the Olden Tymes.
Sure, everybody likes the idea of paying $4.99, or $0.99 or even NOTHING for a game. But let's face it -- you still want it to be awesome. On some level, you still want that $60 game experience.
At Vector Unit, our mission is to take that big game experience and cram every ounce of its goodness into every tiny downloadable game we develop.
For gamers, that means downloadable games that don't skimp on the production values. Games with moxie, with spirit, with pip and verve. Games you can show to your friends to make them jealous of your new phone or whatever, and leave you with enough cash left in your pocket to pay for the pizza.
For our business partners, it means we apply our experience working at major studios on AAA games to an indie development model. It means blending reliable project management, solid tools, and technical aptitude with small teams, agile design, and independent spirit.
OUR TEAM
One of the things people are often surprised to learn about Vector Unit is how small we are. Currently the permanent staff consists of five people. Yeah, that's right: FIVE! So next time someone tells you their awesome new mobile game with a budget of millions of dollars and a staff of forty people, you tell them to shut up because Vector Unit makes awesome games and the whole company fits inside a regular sedan.
How do we do it? Are we magic? No, we're just ordinary people who love making games. We are:
RALF KNOESEL
CO-Founder | TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Ralf is the code guru behind Vector Unit’s in-house cross-platform game engine. He single-handedly codes all of our titles, integrates SDKs, manages our servers, and even finds time to do all our finances in his other role as CFO.
Ralf's career in the game industry started as a graphics programmer in 1995 at Stormfront Studios in San Rafael. While working on Madden '97 PC and Madden '98 PC, he co-developed a PC graphics engine which was used in several Stormfront sports and racing titles. In 1998 Ralf switched over to console development as a co-lead programmer on Hot Wheels Turbo Racing, which shipped in 1999 on both N64 and PS1. After this he developed a boat simulation prototype which became Blood Wake, shipping on Xbox in early 2002.
Over the next several years, Ralf worked on a variety of licensed properties as either a principal or lead programmer. These titles included Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PS2, Xbox), Demonstone (PS2, Xbox), Eragon (PS2, Xbox, Xbox360, PC), and Spiderwick (Wii, Xbox360, PS2, PC).
In December 2007 Ralf left Stormfront to co-found Vector Unit Inc.
MATT SMALL
Co-Founder | CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Matt is the soft-hearted design side of the Vector Unit leadership. As Creative Director and CEO, he juggles hats faster than a clown in a three-ring circus — building racetracks, negotiating legal agreements, designing game UI, writing dialog…and occasionally buying donuts.
After a stint as a freelance artist around the end of the last century, Matt joined Stormfront Studios in 1998, where he worked on a number of projects as a senior and lead artist, including teaming up with Ralf on Hot Wheels Turbo Racing, Blood Wake, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
In 2003 Matt left Stormfront to join Electronic Arts Redwood Shores, where he led teams of artists on Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Godfather, and James Bond: From Russia with Love. In 2006, he transferred to EA Emeryville to join the Spore team.
In December 2007 Matt left EA to co-found Vector Unit Inc.
ELIZABETH "TIMM" SEWELL
LEAD ARTIST
Timm is the artistic powerhouse behind just about everything you love most in Vector Unit games. She designs characters, builds racetracks, paints textures, animates stunts, and even illustrates the designs for most of our merchandise.
She’s also our very first employee; Timm joined Vector Unit in January 2012, and has worked on every one of our games since — including all of the Beach Buggy games, Riptide GP2 and Renegade, and MouseBot. She enjoys flexing her ability to work with and establish different art styles, and finds great satisfaction in the variety of visual content she has worked on throughout the years. Though she primarily does both 3D and 2D artwork, she has also been known to go outside the box, and has worked on such things as designing levels and helping design major gameplay features.
Brandon Luyen
Senior Artist
Our newest team member does a ton of concept and industrial design and works all aspects of the 3D art in our games. Although Brandon is the newest full-time member of the VU team, he's worked with us for years part-time: Remember those awesome transforming hydrojets in Riptide GP: Renegade? Brandon! Holeshot and Twister? Brandon!
After graduating with a degree in illustration and character animation right after the crash of traditional 2D animation, Brandon lucked into a one month trial as a 3D artist at 3DO Games. That’s right, he’s old school: his first credited game was on the PS1 platform in Y2K. He followed up 3DO with stints at Shaba, Free Range Games Studios, Sanzaru and Jam City before joining Vector Unit full time in 2023.
Brandon says his favorite types of art to work on are realistic or stylized sci fi and fantasy. He enjoys playing a lot of retro games with his young son -- introducing him to the world of 8-bit and 16-bit classics as well as a huge quantity of Nintendo games on the Switch.