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Ocean View Games
Ocean View
Games
Unity Project Rescue and Takeover

Unity Project Rescue and Takeover

Inherited a half-built Unity project? Stalled with a previous studio? Senior engineers stabilise the codebase, ship what's left, and own it from here.

Project rescue requires senior engineers

Project rescue is one of the few jobs that actually requires senior engineers. Junior teams often make a stalled codebase worse: they patch symptoms, ship more half-finished features, and inherit none of the original architectural decisions. We take over Unity projects from other studios or freelancers, run a fixed-price diagnostic in the first week, and tell you whether to finish, refactor, or rebuild before any production work starts. The diagnostic is delivered by the engineer who will lead the work, not a salesperson. If we recommend a different studio for the job, or recommend you walk away, we will say so in writing.

When to call us

If any of these describe your situation, the diagnostic is the right first step. We do not need a polished brief or a tidy repo to start. The first week's job is to find out what's actually there.

Common rescue scenarios

  • Your previous studio went quiet, missed milestones, or shut down.
  • The original lead engineer left and nobody on the team can compile the project.
  • The codebase works on one machine and nowhere else.
  • You're on Unity 2019 or 2020 with no upgrade path mapped.
  • Performance has collapsed and the team can't diagnose why.
  • You inherited a project from an acquisition or contract handover.
  • You need to ship a build for a publisher pitch and the codebase isn't pitch-ready.

How project rescue actually works

Three phases. The first is a fixed price and a fixed deliverable. The second and third only happen if the diagnostic recommends them and you agree to proceed.

Phase 1: Diagnostic week (£2,500 fixed)

David personally audits the codebase, runs profiling, identifies the critical risks, and produces a written diagnostic with three options (finish, refactor, rebuild) and honest cost estimates for each. No commitment beyond the diagnostic. If we recommend a different studio for the work, we'll say so. If we recommend stopping the project, we'll say that too.

Phase 2: Stabilisation (1 to 3 weeks, £500/day)

Get the project into a state where work can continue. Usually means fixing the build across machines, restoring lost dependencies, addressing critical performance regressions, and documenting what's actually in the codebase. Output is a build that compiles cleanly, runs on a target device, and has a written map of the systems we found.

Phase 3: Forward delivery (rate card)

Standard co-development engagement, £500/day per developer ex VAT, scoped to whatever's left to ship. From here it looks like any other co-development engagement: agreed milestones, weekly demos, paid in arrears. The diagnostic gives you the scope; this phase delivers it.

Why senior engineers

Project rescue is the worst possible job to put a junior on. It needs the kind of judgement that only comes from having shipped multiple Unity projects to live audiences.

What 'senior engineers' actually means here

You speak to David personally throughout the engagement. The diagnostic is run by the engineer who will lead the recovery, not a salesperson or account manager. There is no junior layer between you and the work. Specifically: David Edgecombe (Director and Principal Unity Engineer, 12 years Unity, Mobile Team Lead on RuneScape Mobile at Jagex 2017 to 2019, Unity Certified Expert) and Adam Kaye (Lead Unity Engineer, 14 years, gameplay and AI specialist).

What we won't do

Honesty up front. These are the engagements we will turn down, and why.

The four things we won't take on

  • Promise to finish a project we haven't audited. The diagnostic exists for a reason.
  • Take on a project where the right answer is rebuild and the client only wants finish. We'll write the diagnostic, recommend a different studio if useful, and step away.
  • NSFW, gambling, or equity-only deals.
  • Rescue work where the original team is still active and conflict avoidance is the only reason we're being called. Bring in a mediator, not a second studio.

Why teams pick OVG for rescue work

🔍

Fixed-price diagnostic

£2,500 fixed for a written diagnostic by the engineer who will lead the recovery. No commitment beyond week one.

🎓

Unity Certified Expert lead

David is a Unity Certified Expert with 12 years on Unity, including Mobile Team Lead on RuneScape Mobile at Jagex (2017 to 2019).

🇬🇧

UK-registered, London-based

Company No. 13011771. English-native communication, UK timezone, UK IP law. NDA at no cost before the diagnostic.

🗣️

No junior layer

You speak to David and Adam (Lead Unity Engineer, 14 years) directly. No account managers, no offshore handoffs, no juniors learning on your codebase.

📝

Honest written diagnostic

Three options (finish, refactor, rebuild) with honest costs. If we recommend a different studio or recommend stopping, we'll say so in writing.

🔧

Live multiplayer pedigree

We took Domi Online from Unity 2021 to 6.3 LTS without losing a concurrent user. We know how to work on a codebase that can't go down.

What it costs

Three phases, three commitments. The diagnostic is fixed; everything after is optional and only happens if the diagnostic recommends it. Day rates are ex VAT.

Diagnostic Week

£2,500 fixed

Fixed-price first week. Codebase audit, profiling, written diagnostic with three options (finish, refactor, rebuild) and honest cost estimates. No commitment beyond this.

Stabilisation

£500/day

1 to 3 weeks, day rate per senior Unity engineer. Get the project into a state where work can continue: build pipeline, dependencies, critical performance, documentation.

Forward Delivery

£500/day per developer

Standard co-development rate. Scoped to whatever's left to ship from the diagnostic. Single or paired engineers, weekly demos, paid in arrears.

Indie-friendly rates may apply for portfolio-fit projects; we will tell you straight in the diagnostic. For ballpark scoping before the diagnostic, see our cost estimator.

Before you book the diagnostic

Free interactive tools to help scope your project.

Unity Migration CheckerIf your project is on Unity 2019, 2020, or 2021, this tool maps the breaking changes you'll hit on the way to Unity 6.Try it free →Build a project briefCapture what you know about the project, the previous team, and what needs to ship. Gives the diagnostic a head start.Try it free →
Game Development Cost Estimator →Porting Feasibility Checker →

Book the diagnostic

£2,500 fixed. Written verdict in five working days. Standard mutual NDA at no cost. If we recommend stopping the project, we'll say so before you spend another penny.

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