If you build it, they will come

When a game is made entirely by one person, you can see so much of their personality in it.

And so it is with Jaynesh Vekaria, sole creator of Pocket Build. Both are relaxing company, and quietly capable of some pretty remarkable things – not that the endlessly humble Vekaria would ever dream of saying so himself.

His creation, Pocket Build, is a free-form sandbox title in which you can build a little village, a sprawling city or anything else you fancy, just for the fun of making something. And since its launch in 2017, it has inspired a growing community of builders to create incredible things – while also actively feeding back into the game’s development.

Vekaria has always loved games like Zoo Tycoon, Theme Hospital and RollerCoaster Tycoon – where you build and maintain a functioning world, solving the problems that arise as your creation grows.

“I just wanted to build things – little villages and towns, make things look nice, decorate them. So I always thought about making something like that,” Vekaria tells us.

Actually making that game is another matter, of course. So it helps that Vekaria is always teaching himself something new. He started designing websites when he was 12, and continued to hone his skills throughout school and university, where he studied graphic design.

After graduating, Vekaria got a job in web development. But he was still dreaming of making his own game, so he downloaded game-creation software Unity and started to tinker.

“I’d always wanted to make a mobile game,” says Vekaria. “I like that you can just pull out your phone and play games wherever you want, at any time. And there was nothing like Pocket Build on the App Store… so I thought I’d just make it.”

But Vekaria quickly discovered that game development is not something he could just do in his spare time.

“I told myself, ‘OK, I’ll work on this game for half a day, and my actual job the other half of the day.’ Then I’d just end up working on the game for the entire day,” Vekaria explains.

Vekaria soon quit his job to focus on his game full-time. “I was 26 and living off my savings,” he explains. “I didn’t know if it was going to be a success, but I knew it was what I needed to do. And if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, I’ll just go back to my old job.”

It did work. But it took a little time.

“When Pocket Build launched, it didn’t get many downloads,” continues Vekaria. “I was preparing to go back to doing websites again. But as I’d received a few reviews I thought I’d listen to what they were saying, update the game and see what happened. And it actually worked.”

Vekaria estimates that around 80 per cent of the updates made to the game were based on suggestions from App Store reviews and the growing Pocket Build community. “It’s like a completely different game now from when it launched,” he says.

Indeed, Vekaria’s first hire as a full-time game developer was someone to help manage the community feedback from Discord, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – and turn it into ideas that he could implement in the game.

“Players wanted to be able to walk around in the world they created – that was the top request,” says Vekaria. “I’ve never created a first-person game, so that was a whole new challenge for me. I have to figure it out and constantly learn new things just to get their suggestions in the game.”

Even today, with the help of more staff, Vekaria is still just trying to keep up with the endlessly creative Pocket Build community. “I’ve seen people create insane things – colosseums, huge temples – it’s crazy. They’re constantly pushing the boundaries and building bigger worlds.”

And Vekaria’s not afraid of pushing a few boundaries himself. Right now, he’s teaching himself a whole new set of skills.

“Pocket Build is a peaceful, calming, relaxing game,” he adds. “The next game is an intense, fast-paced multiplayer one. So I had to learn how to build multiplayer games and… I’m still learning. I think I’ve got the basics down…”

Pocket Build

Build your own fantasy world!

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