Rob Hewson grew up with Hewson Consultants, the publisher his father Andrew Hewson ran from 1980 until its receivership in 1991. Twenty-five years later he became its chief executive. “I’m delighted to be joining the company I grew up with,” he said in February 2016. “Our aim is simple – to develop and publish original, innovative games once again.”
He came to it from the modern industry rather than from nostalgia. Before the revival he had worked on LEGO games for TT Games: bit-tech said he had worked on LEGO titles for TT Fusion, and a later case study describes him as a game director at TT Games. The Develop conference’s speaker biography lists LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, LEGO Jurassic World and LEGO Batman 3 among his games.
Fast facts
- Father: Andrew Hewson, founder of Hewson Consultants and 21st Century Entertainment.
- Before the revival: designer and game director on TT Games’ LEGO series.
- Book: Hints & Tips for Videogame Pioneers (2016), Andrew Hewson’s memoir, which Rob helped to write and fund on Kickstarter.
- Company: chief executive and creative director of Hewson Consultants Ltd from 2016; the company was renamed Huey Games in December 2017.
- First game: Hyper Sentinel (2018), developed by Jonathan Port and published by Huey Games.
The book first
The revival started with a book. In September 2013 a new company called Hewson Consultants Limited was registered, with Andrew Hewson as a director, and father and son raised money on Kickstarter for Hints & Tips for Videogame Pioneers. Its title recalled Hints & Tips for the ZX-80, the book with which Andrew Hewson had started the original company in 1980. The memoir came out in 2016, written by Andrew with Rob’s help, and covers his years from the ZX80 to Hewson’s Paradroid and Uridium and the pinball games of 21st Century Entertainment.
By the time it appeared, the company had moved on to games. bit-tech reported in February 2016 that Hewson Consultants would publish games again with backing from the UK Games Fund, a government-funded programme for independent studios, and that Rob Hewson had joined as chief executive and creative director. A later case study puts the grant at £25,000, for a prototype.
Huey Games
In December 2017 the company changed its name to Huey Games. Wireframe described it in 2019 as run by Rob Hewson with his father and the programmer John Ogden. Its first release came about through a chance meeting in Manchester. At an indie developers’ meet-up Rob saw a video of Hyper Sentinel, a shooter Jonathan Port had written to learn Apple’s Swift language: “I watched a video and immediately recognised the influence of Uridium.” Soon afterwards Rob, Andrew Hewson and Ogden visited Port at home. Port showed the game to Andrew, and Ogden looked through its code. “We decided to work together and have been ever since!” Port recalled.
Hyper Sentinel came out in 2018. Like Uridium, it has a ship that flips to glide left or right across the screen, destroying ground targets and waves of enemy fighters. Rob called the approach “neo-retro”: the aim, he told Wireframe, was for players to think “Oh, wow, this reminds me of X”, while the game threw around “so many more spectacular effects and modern animation”.
The studio also took on work for hire, converting other developers’ games to new platforms. In 2022 it borrowed £235,000 from Creative UK’s Creative Growth Finance fund to develop its own games and grow its staff. Rob Hewson has also written about game design, with a series of columns for Wireframe in 2020 and 2021.
Sources
- “Hewson Consultants returns to life after 25 years”, bit-tech, 1 February 2016 (web, secondary): Rob Hewson as chief executive and creative director; his LEGO work for TT Fusion; “the company I grew up with”; UK Games Fund backing. https://bit-tech.net/news/gaming/pc/hewson-consultants/1/
- Develop:Brighton, speaker biography of Robert Hewson (web, secondary): chief executive and creative director of Huey Games; LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, LEGO Jurassic World, LEGO Batman 3. https://www.developconference.com/speakers/robert-hewson
- Invest in Creative, “Huey Games case study” (web, secondary): Huey Games founded in Manchester in 2016; Rob Hewson formerly a game director at TT Games; the £25,000 UK Games Fund grant; Hyper Sentinel (2018). https://www.investincreative.co.uk/huey-games-case-study/
- Creative UK, “Creative UK’s Creative Growth Finance fund invests £235,000 in Huey Games”, 12 July 2022 (web, secondary). https://www.wearecreative.uk/creative-uks-creative-growth-finance-fund-invests-235000-in-huey-games/
- Companies House, company 08708755 (web, secondary): Hewson Consultants Limited incorporated 27 September 2013, renamed Huey Games Ltd on 12 December 2017. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08708755
- Kickstarter, “Hints & Tips for Videogame Pioneers by Andrew Hewson & Rob Hewson” (web, secondary): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robhwson/hints-and-tips-for-videogame-pioneers
- Google Books, Hints & Tips for Videogame Pioneers (2016), publisher’s description (web, secondary): https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Hints_Tips_for_Videogame_Pioneers.html?id=SdEkDAAAQBAJ
- Wireframe issue 22, September 2019, pp. 47–48: Huey Games as successor to Hewson Consultants; Rob Hewson, Andrew Hewson and John Ogden; the meeting with Jonathan Port; “neo-retro”.
- Wireframe issue 41, July 2020, p. 50; issue 45, November 2020, p. 58; issue 57, November 2021, p. 58: game design columns by Rob Hewson.
- Fusion issue 1: Hyper Sentinel review, “this new game from Andrew and Rob Hewson (in the form of Huey Games)”.