Improving the infrastructure of a game development company with the best AWS practices

Looking for a partner to develop cloud functionality

Dazzle Rocks has made extensive use of Skillwell's AWS expertise. They especially value flexibility in the service, which meets the needs of a growing startup company.

Helsinki-based mobile game startup Dazzle Rocks turned to Skillwell in the summer of 2020 when they needed to develop the company's AWS practices.

“We had started collecting backlogs about the infrastructure changes we saw as necessary in the company, but we needed more people or expertise to implement them. Because we have a smaller team focused on game development, it made sense to get outside support to develop cloud functionality,” says Alexander Schachtschabel, CTO at Dazzle Rocks.

“We needed a partner who could support us as a startup and who we could count on thinking of our best interest for the future. I had a short list of AWS-certified partners willing to work with smaller companies and startups and from that list we contacted Skillwell,” says Schachtschabel.

“Immediately after the first joint meeting, my view of Skillwell was that they were not just looking for a solution to their client’s challenges, but specifically the best solution.”

Several projects have already been implemented to improve the AWS environment

During the cooperation, which lasted about a year, Dazzle Rocks' AWS environment has been developed to be more functional and several different projects have been implemented. Among other things, with the help of Skillwell, the company switched to using the AWS Organizations account management service, which allows users to centrally manage groups of AWS accounts and their workflows and policies.

“Skillwell helped us, among other things, with AWS’s DevOps pipelines and, more generally, ensuring that we followed best practices in our AWS environment. They also introduced us to a more efficient deployment pipeline with CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy and EC2 Image Builder. In implementations, they were able to provide the flexibility we need as a growing startup,” says Schachtschabel.

"Skillwell has responded excellently to our needs and has also tailored our solutions based on our feedback from deployment."

Flexibility and a genuine desire for development as strengths

Schachtschabel says that the best thing about working with Skillwell has been flexibility.

“We didn’t know all the requirements of the projects in advance, so it was great that Skillwell had the ability to adapt. They have invested in understanding our use cases so that practices can be genuinely improved.”

"It was also great to get people to take a closer look at security policies and make sure we don't make mistakes in them."

Dazzle Rocks is also pleased with the results achieved through the collaboration and the fact that Skillwell has been supporting even after the end of the projects, if necessary.

“Their collective knowledge has helped us become more efficient in deployments and the way we work with AWS,” Schachtschabel says.

“It’s easy to recommend Skillwell’s expertise to other companies as well. Skillwell has been an excellent partner for us as a growing startup company. They always strive to provide the best service for the customer's individual needs.”