We make games. We source tools.

About

How a warehouse worker and his boss started a game company

I started building and planning Starlathe alone around 2022 as a side project. I was a working man on construction sites, transporting boxes by hand, so mostly I had around 1 hour a day for development, and Fridays, which was my off day.

Then in 2024 I applied for a job as a working man in an industrial tools warehouse. They were selling wholesale, not units: hand tools like screwdrivers, pliers and saws, electric and battery types like drills and hammers, almost every kind of thing a construction site or a car service needs.

I worked there for 6 months, then my boss found out that I know about computers and he asked me if I want to become the IT guy in the warehouse. I said sure, I wanted to get out of the hell of transporting these heavy tools by hand, my back was broken.

I already had experience in graphic design and in managing social apps, like sponsoring and answering customers, and I also became the accountant of the warehouse. I worked there like that for around 2 years, while still working on Starlathe and Runepit an hour a day.

My salary was $400 a month. I live in Iraq and this is a normal situation here, you work so hard and that's the money you get. I was spending so much of it on the games and I was hiding it, because none of the people around me would believe I could actually make money with games, so I was ashamed to tell anyone.

In Iraqi Kurdistan it was impossible to publish games and get paid, because Iraqi banks don't work as a payout option for Steam or Google, and an individual cannot open a bank account outside. I lost hope so many times and gave up so many times, and I got back on my feet because I believed there would be a way.

I found a way to open a company in Hong Kong online, but I didn't have the money, it would cost me around $3K plus the bank opening.

One day my boss told me, you seem to spend a lot of money on technology? I said yes I do. He said sit down and talk to me honestly, what's going on? He is a very good man, so I told him my past and the situation I was in.

He offered to cover the money part and become my partner, so I go home and work full time on the project to make it perfect, and he gives me a salary and covers every cost until the day the games make money, then we split in half. It was a miracle to me, because God sent this man on my path.

So we opened a company in Hong Kong named Astraeon Interactive Limited, the agent helped us open a bank account, and my partner, my ex boss, covered every cost. He said he will use the company name to pay his suppliers in China for the goods, and my share from the games comes to me. This is how a goods company and a game development company met. There were so many struggles and there are so many other details, but I kept it short.

Starlathe

Out in Early Access on Steam

Runepit

Dungeon crawler for Android