People hear "two-man team building a competitive extraction shooter" and assume there's a catch. There isn't. There's a method.
Albert Barry is one of the two co-founders of VS Protocol and the founder of AJ Studios. He's the one who takes the game from concept to playable, from Unreal Engine project files to the extraction shooter you see on screen. And the way he does it is something most gamers never think about.
We sat down with Albert to go behind the scenes on how VS Protocol is actually built: the tools, the people, the marketplace, and the honest truth about AI in game development.
The Solana planet map inside Unreal Engine. 4,026 actors, multiple biomes, and a lot of coffee.
Meet the Builder
AJ Studios - the "AJ" stands for Albert Jacobus - has been Albert's platform for over a decade. It's not just a game studio. It's a full-service creative operation.
"To me, AJ Studios is a foundation; it is my portfolio, a reflection of what I offer, and a platform for both myself and the freelancers who work alongside me."
"We offer a wide variety of services, including 3D modeling, programming, world-building, VR development, simulations, game development, and architectural visualization."
That range isn't just a list. It's context. When Albert builds VS Protocol, he's not learning Unreal Engine on the fly. He's bringing more than 10 years of senior-level experience in 3D environments, programming, and game mechanics. That experience is what makes the difference between a janky indie prototype and something that can stand alongside established extraction shooters.
The Unreal Marketplace is Your Team
Here's where the conversation gets real. AAA studios have hundreds of developers, artists, and animators on payroll. VS Protocol has two founders. So how do you bridge that gap?
You lean on the community.
"One of the fastest and most efficient ways to develop a game in Unreal Engine is to lean on the community. It still takes a lot of time and know-how to get these asset packs and plugins to do what you want them to do, but it would take a lot more time to make every little detail from scratch."
The Unreal Engine Marketplace is a massive library of 3D models, animations, plugins, environments, and tools built by other developers. You can buy a weapon pack, an environmental set, a particle system, or an entire movement framework, and integrate it into your project.
But here's the part people miss: buying an asset pack is not the same as having a finished game. It still takes serious technical knowledge to make those assets work together, to customize them, to code the systems that connect them, and to make the final product feel cohesive rather than like a franken-game stitched together from store pages.
And yes, Albert addressed the elephant in the room directly.
The "Asset Flip" Question
If you've spent time in gaming communities, you've heard the term "asset flip." It usually refers to someone buying marketplace assets, doing minimal work, and selling the result as a finished product. It's a valid criticism when it applies. But it doesn't apply here.
"Some people would say this is cheating, but to that, I would say that I am one man and cannot logically be expected to do what an entire development team does on my own."
"If you are a solo developer and you feel the need to prove yourself by doing everything yourself - coding, 3D modeling, world-building, animations - good luck to you, and your game will probably be very basic, or I will not be seeing it any time soon."
It's a point that doesn't get made enough. The Unreal Marketplace exists because building everything from scratch is impossible for small teams. Using it responsibly, paying developers for their work, and then adding your own code, design, and vision on top of it, that's not cutting corners. That's smart development.
"I used to think this way, but I realized that I had to swallow my pride and work with others to ensure that I am able to grow faster."
Level design in progress. Directional markers, spawn zones, and asset placement before the polish pass.
The Freelancer Pipeline
Marketplace assets cover a lot of ground, but they can't cover everything. That's where freelancers come in.
"For freelancers, I mostly make use of 3D model artists and animators. To ensure that the quality is on par with what you expect, you should make use of platforms like Fiverr that have built-in safety measures to make sure that you do not get scammed."
"If the freelancer overpromises and underdelivers or does not deliver on time, you can report this and get your money back. This is great, since it serves as a solid method of accountability and an incentive for the freelancers to do their best."
The model is simple: find skilled freelancers on established platforms, agree on deliverables, and use the platform's built-in protections to keep both sides accountable. No fixed salaries. No office space. No benefits packages. Just work for pay, project by project.
And Albert sees a bigger picture beyond just efficiency.
"Another major benefit is creating job opportunities in third-world countries! I am big on making a difference in the world, and making use of freelancers not only saves you money but it feeds families in less fortunate countries by providing them with income greater than what local businesses can offer."
No Fixed Salaries. No Comfort Zone.
This is the part that traditional studios won't say out loud. Albert did.
"The first and arguably one of the most significant benefits is not having full-time employees who get comfortable, lazy, and slow. This also saves you from a lot of legal drama and removes office costs, as the freelancers work from home and use their own equipment."
"The freelancer has an incentive to work hard, since they will not get paid if they do not meet their deadlines."
It's blunt, but it's the reality of indie development in 2026. You don't have the budget to carry dead weight. Every dollar spent needs to produce results. Freelancers on performance-based platforms deliver that accountability by default.
AI in Unreal Engine: The Honest Truth
Everyone talks about AI like it's the silver bullet for game development. Albert has a different take.
"AI in Unreal Engine is a bit of a headache at the moment; if it does not know the answer, it assumes and makes stuff up. This can end up wasting a lot of time!"
"I find that an experienced UE developer is better off doing the majority of the work themselves and should wait for these AI tools to become more reliable. Sure, use them for simple tasks, but do not expect to make anything worth playing if you think you can make a game in UE without any experience and by leaning on AI completely."
This is the kind of take that doesn't get enough airtime. There's a growing narrative that AI will let anyone build a game without experience. Albert, who actually builds games every day, is saying: not yet. Maybe soon. But right now, if you don't know what you're doing, AI will confidently guide you in the wrong direction.
The tools will get better. But in 2026, there's no substitute for 10 years of knowing how Unreal Engine actually works under the hood.
The Pipeline, Summarized
So how does VS Protocol actually go from idea to playable game? Here's the pipeline Albert uses:
"Use a template to save time on the foundational work. Add your own models and textures, or make use of asset packs, custom animations, and your own code to customize it into what you need it to be."
"It will still be a lot of work; many times you will not find what you need and will end up having to do it yourself anyway. But, if you are able to find a solid asset pack that works for your game, then why not use it!"
Start with a solid template. Pull in marketplace assets and plugins where they fit. Commission freelancers for custom models and animations that don't exist on the marketplace. Write your own code to tie it all together. Test. Iterate. Ship.
Terrain sculpting, navigation paths, and world layout. This is what the game looks like before the lighting and effects hit.
It's not a shortcut. It's a system. And it's how a two-man team in South Africa is building a competitive extraction shooter that looks and plays like something a full studio produced.
Want to see the result? Join the VS Protocol Alpha and experience what this pipeline produces firsthand. Or read how the whole thing started in our origin story.
BUILD DIFFERENT.