Creating Tomorrow's Game Developers

We believe the best mobile games come from passionate developers who understand both creative vision and technical craft. Since 2019, we've been building that bridge.

Students collaborating on mobile game development project

Our Story Began With A Problem

Back in 2018, I kept meeting brilliant developers who could code anything — but their games fell flat. The technical skills were there, but something was missing. Players would download their apps, play for five minutes, then delete them.

The missing piece wasn't code. It was understanding how people actually interact with games on their phones. How they discover new apps during their lunch break. What makes them tell their friends about a game.

That's when we realized mobile game development isn't just programming — it's psychology, design, and human behavior wrapped up in clever code. So we started Drestex to teach that complete picture.

Meet Our Founder

Astrid Penrose

Creative Director & Founder

Started her career at a small Adelaide game studio in 2014, where she noticed the gap between technical ability and market success.

After helping launch three mobile games that each gained over 100,000 downloads, she began mentoring other developers. By 2019, those informal mentoring sessions had grown into structured programs.

Now she leads our curriculum development and still codes every day — because the best teachers stay current with their craft.

What Drives Our Teaching

These aren't corporate values printed on a poster. They're the principles that shape every lesson, every project, and every interaction with our students.

Real Games, Real Problems

Every project in our program solves actual challenges we've encountered in live mobile games. No theoretical exercises — just the messy, interesting problems that make developers better.

Mobile-First Thinking

Mobile isn't just smaller desktop. Touch interfaces, battery life, and interrupted play sessions create unique design challenges that require specialized knowledge.

Community Over Competition

The Australian mobile game scene is small enough that collaboration beats competition. We teach students to build networks, not just apps.

Adapt Fast, Learn Faster

Mobile platforms change constantly. We focus on teaching adaptability and learning strategies that outlast any single technology or framework.

How We Build Capable Developers

Our approach combines structured learning with hands-on experience. Students work through real challenges in a supportive environment.

Foundation Building

We start with core mobile development concepts, but always in context. Students learn Unity basics while building their first playable prototype — something they can show friends by week three.

Student working on mobile game prototype development

Real Project Experience

Month two brings complexity. Students work in small teams on projects with actual constraints — limited memory, specific user demographics, tight deadlines. This is where theory meets reality.

Market Preparation

The final phase focuses on the business side — app store optimization, user acquisition basics, analytics interpretation. Students launch their games to small test audiences and learn from real user feedback.

Mobile game analytics and user feedback analysis session