I Couldn't Do This Alone
The first instinct
At first, I thought I'd do everything myself. Learn to code in Unreal, animate, generate models with AI... whatever it took to put together a simple vertical slice that showed the idea.
But at some point I realized this project didn't deserve that. This story deserved real artists. People who could give voice and life to something that meant too much to me to do halfway.
The first conversations
I started by showing the idea to a few coworkers. Not as a formal pitch or anything like that — I just told them what I had in my head.
And honestly, they loved it from the start. That reaction kept pushing me to take it more seriously, to develop the idea further and further, until I had something solid enough to show other artists and ask them to be part of it.
Finding the right people
I posted a few listings on LinkedIn. Talked to a lot of people. But from the beginning I was very clear about one thing: I didn't want people who were just here to build a portfolio. I wanted people who connected with the story, who felt something for Lyra, who wanted to be part of something that actually mattered to them.
I wanted to create a chance to work on something special. Something you don't usually get to do at big studios. Something where every person could contribute from what they feel, not just from what they know.
Little by little, the team grew. People started recommending others, and every now and then I'd post another listing. That's how it all came together.
You don't need to be senior
One of the things I learned through this process is that you don't need a team full of veterans with 20 years of experience. What you need is people who care. People who get the project, who want to make something incredible, who make it their own.
That's how people with less industry experience ended up creating spectacular work — stuff that's way above what their resume would say they can do. When someone truly connects with what they're making, you can tell.
When it stopped being "my" project
There wasn't a single moment. It was gradual. It was the private messages that kept coming in one by one — people telling me how much they loved what we were doing, how involved they felt, how the project felt like theirs too.
They brought ideas, suggestions, concept art I never asked for but that came straight from the heart. People who had connected with Lyra completely and were creating things that left me speechless.
That's when I knew it wasn't my project anymore. It was ours.
The fear
Of course there's fear. I'm scared of letting them down. Scared that everything goes wrong and this turns into a bad experience for them. Because they're not employees — they're people who chose to be here because they believe in this.
But I also love that many of them have more experience than me in their areas. I don't need to control everything. I need to trust them. And they've shown me that I can.
And we keep growing.
People from very different places. There are professionals with years of experience at major studios. There are people fresh out of internships. There are people with no prior industry experience at all. A bit of everything.
And the team keeps growing. The project keeps attracting people who connect with the story and want to be part of this.
But they all have one thing in common: they're here because they want to be. And that's what makes the whole thing work.
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