Where art meets real play

A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with Stephen Hey from Radikal Forge (thanks again to Hayley Akins for the intro). We were talking about how tough it is to find Technical Artists. Stephen laughed and said, “They’re unicorns.” He’s not wrong.

So, What Is a Technical Artist?

A Technical Artist (or TA, as everyone calls them) sits right at the intersection of art and code. They take the beautiful visuals we design—UI, animations, effects—and actually bring them to life inside the game engine. It’s not just about making things look good. It’s about making them work, and making them work well.

TAs are the bridge between designers and developers. They know enough about both worlds to turn creative ideas into something you can actually play with.

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Why Does This Matter for Bisuala?

At Bisuala, we do more than just design beautiful interfaces. We focus on the implementation too. Why? Because the best design in the world means nothing if it doesn’t actually work in the game.

We’ve learned this the hard way:

• A slick animation that crashes the game? Useless.
• A gorgeous menu that lags on older devices? Players will hate it.
• A clever interaction that breaks in the engine? Back to square one.

So, we bring technical artists into our process as early as possible. We test, we tweak, we optimize. We work with the engine, not just with Photoshop or After Effects.

A Lesson From Experience

I once worked on a massive football game project at a leading studio. At first, I was told not to hold back on creativity, so I designed motion targets in After Effects—pushing for the best, smoothest animations possible. The team loved them.

But there was one catch: the UI was being built in Flash. I found this out later in the process. The Technical Artists struggled to recreate my After Effects work in Flash. What seemed easy in my design tools was a real headache for them in implementation.

If I’d known their engine and tools from the start, I would’ve approached the motion differently—aiming for the sweet spot between creative vision and technical reality.

That experience stuck with me. It’s why I always push to understand the tech side early and why we make implementation part of our DNA at Bisuala.

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Meet Our Unicorns

At Bisuala, we’re lucky to have not just one, but two amazing technical artists on our team: Franc and Mikel.

Franc comes from a background in both art and game engines. He bridges creative ideas and the realities of implementation, turning even our wildest UI concepts into something that actually works—no matter how complex.

Mikel may be the youngest on our team, but he’s already published an award-winning game on Steam. He brings fresh ideas, tons of energy, and a knack for solving tough UI challenges. Even as a junior, he makes sure our animations look and feel just right in the engine.

Together, Mikel and Franc are our secret weapon for making sure what we design is exactly what players experience.

The Difference It Makes

This approach saves time, money, and headaches for everyone.

• Designers don’t have to compromise their vision.
• Developers don’t have to “fix” broken assets.
• Producers don’t lose sleep over missed deadlines.

And the end result? Games that look as good on your phone as they do on our pitch decks.

Unicorns Welcome

We’re always on the lookout for more “unicorns”—people who can blend creativity with technical know-how. If that’s you, or if you know someone who fits the bill, let’s talk.

Thanks for reading! We appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed our newsletter.

If you have any feedback, questions, or just want to say hi, feel free to email us at hola@bisuala.com—or reach out to me directly at marc@bisuala.com. I’d love to hear from you!