Brothers Jason Hinman (left) and Jesse Hinman, Wiscasset High School alumni and founders of Shyborg Games, are thrilled with the success of their debut video game title “The Art Collector,” which has been downloaded around the world since its debut in October. (Photo courtesy Jason Hinman)
Art galleries and zombies battles have something in common: their own video games from Lincoln County’s own Shyborg Games, the latest collaboration from brothers Jesse and Jason Hinman.
Along with oldest brother Johnathan, Jason and Jesse Hinman grew up in Alna. Each graduated from Wiscasset High School – now Wiscasset Middle High School – Johnathon in 2006, Jason in 2009, Jesse in 2010. They all then attended and graduated from the University of Maine.
After college, Jason Hinman and Jesse Hinman both returned to Lincoln County, Wiscasset and Dresden respectively. Johnathan Hinman now lives in Portland.
The Hinman brothers have a long history of working together, from cleaning their rooms, to the Alna General Store, to a garage in Wiscasset. With Johnathan Hinman, in 2011 they created the Wiscasset 5K. Dozens of runners and walkers raised about $2,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which was renamed Breakthrough T1D in 2024.
Jesse Hinman’s final college project led to the created of the UAV Academy at Wiscasset Middle High School in 2015. That job eventually led to a teaching position at the school. At the same time, Jason Hinman was as education technician at Wiscasset Elementary School. Now, both Jesse Hinman and Jason Hinman work as designers at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works.
“Whenever one of us decides to get a job, the other will shortly follow,” Jesse Hinman said. “(It was) a no brainer when we both were interested in indie games: let’s not do this alone, let’s do it together.”
The Hinman brothers also have a history of playing video games together.
“I feel like I grew up with a controller in my hands,” Jason Hinman said. Jesse Hinman said their first game system was likely a Nintendo Entertainment System, but eventually each brother gravitated toward a different system.
“I tended to ask for Sony PlayStation, Jason asked for Microsoft Xbox, (Johnathon) was the Nintendo guy. That way every Christmas we could ask for our respective stuff and then we all got to play all of them,” Jesse Hinman said.
Jason Hinman and Jesse Hinman developed their first video games together with the PlayStation program RPG Maker 2. Users designed characters, wrote dialogue, and programmed actions for a role playing game-within-the-game.
Jesse Hinman said neither of them knew anything about coding, but they bumbled their way through making little games.
“Jason would say, ‘Oh, I have to set those flags up, so if this thing happens, then that thing happens,’” Jesse Hinman said. He did not know what Jason Hinman meant, but he could make the characters look the way he wanted them to look.
A screenshot from Shyborg Games debut title “The Art Collector” shows Gallery Manager Mr. Cube assigning tasks to the player. Jason and Jesse Hinman created the game in part to honor some of the many artists they have known throughout their lives. (Courtesy photo)
In high school, Jason Hinman took an independent study course in video game design with Sarah Sutter, Wiscasset High School’s art teacher and technology integrator.
“She encouraged this vision long ago,” Jason Hinman said.
Jesse Hinman holds a Bachelor of Arts in New Media. The degree program was very open, but included a lot of coding and graphic design instruction.
“My experience with coding always felt very dry and boring, but it felt cool when you built something that actually worked,” said Jesse Hinman.
As adults, both brothers continually seek opportunities to educate and better themselves, Jason Hinman said. A few years ago, Jesse Hinman started online courses in JavaScript.
“It was so boring, but I wanted to push through,” Jesse Hinman said.
Then he found a lesson about building a video game in JavaScript. Once he started, he immediately saw it as a better way to learn coding languages.
“The idea comes from you, not just ‘make this table’ or ‘query this data,’ it’s what I want to see,” Jesse Hinman said. “That was the rocket fuel to learning programming.”
With their history of playing video games, developing a game seemed like a good space for a project they could work on together, Jason Hinman said.
The brothers split off, with Jesse Hinman focusing on JavaScript and Jason Hinman learning Python. They each developed little games they shared with family and friends.
“We would play each other’s stuff, try to help each other understand different syntax and the language,” Jesse Hinman said.
Jason Hinman said most of what he has learned of coding, he learned from Jesse Hinman.
“By sharing the lessons he’s learned along the way, he’s given me a bit of an accelerated course,” Jason Hinman said.
Jesse Hinman said individual projects were fun and satisfying, but it was hard to stay intrinsically motivated working alone. He suggested they try to find language they could both work with and collaborate on something.
“So we could kind of keep each other accountable,” in part by being motivated by having something to show each other, Jason Hinman said.
The Hinman brothers experimented with a few game ideas before choosing to do something more approachable and less complex. One of Jesse Hinman’s friends from high school, Corbin Percy, became a game developer at Sony Interactive Entertainment. Percy recommended Jesse Hinman use a gaming engine, software many developers use as a base to skip a lot of the “raw coding” necessary to create a program from scratch, said Jesse Hinman. That way they could build something people could play a lot quicker.
“The Art Collector” is a 2D simulation game. Players run an art gallery, befriend local artists, and grow their careers as the gallery expands and upgrades. The player’s actions have an impact on all the people in the character’s community, said Jason Hinman.
“You’re motivated by fact you are doing better and better as you inhabit your community,” he said.
The Hinman brothers wanted to create something simple and fast, Jesse Hinman said, but as they learned, they kept adding cool ideas and the game kept growing and growing. They added mini-games as they learned how to create interactions between characters. It took them about ten months to get from idea to releasing the finished game in October 2024.
Johnathon Hinman gave input on game mechanic ideas, how things played and felt, and he tested the game play, Jesse Hinman said.
Jason Hinman said some of the many artists they have known inspired characters or parts of “The Art Collector.” The character Mr. Cube is a nod to Thomas Block, their high school art teacher who showed them the importance of art and the process of art, Jason Hinman said.
“Wiscasset had really robust art program, each year we had an opportunity for art classes,” Jason Hinman said.
Jason Hinman and Jesse Hinman designed every element of “The Art Collector,” from the graphics and sounds to the dialogue, and missions the characters play. Jesse Hinman said that AI has helped them learn how to write game code more quickly than traditional lessons. (Courtesy photo)
Samantha Hinman, a graphic designer and Jason Hinman’s wife, had a huge influence in a lot of the art, Jesse Hinman said.
The Hinman brothers published “The Art Collector” on Steam, a PC platform, with low sales expectations.
“I was blown away people actually bought it, people outside our friend group,” said Jesse Hinman.
So far, they have earned four times their initial cash outlay. Jason Hinman said it has been purchased on every continent, save for Antarctica.
“It’s awesome to see a list of countries where it’s been downloaded,” said Jesse Hinman. Players have posted videos of their game play on YouTube.
“You sit there captivated at somebody enjoying the thing you made, an unbiased opinion. It is awesome,” Jesse Hinman said.
That success led the brothers to decide to make their next game bigger and better, and stretch their capabilities, Jesse Hinman said. “No Survivors” is 3D zombie action game they hope to publish later this year.
Samantha Hinman has taken a bigger, more direct role in art creation for “No Survivors.” Their friend comic artist Merlee Tomlin has created a lot of the illustrations. Maya Williams, Portland’s poet laureate from 2021-2024, has helped edit dialogue.
Jason Hinman said the development process is moving much faster. They are only three months into development and have as much complete as they did at the eight month mark developing The Art Collector.
Their process has been sped up with the use of AI tools. Jason Hinman said it has been a huge help, as those tools give tailored responses for their exact queries.
“ChatGPT and (Microsoft) Copilot are incredibly helpful for learning how to code, not to rely on for everything,” said Jesse Hinman, “but it catches what you miss.”
However, the Hinman brothers have very little time to set down and make concerted progress, they said. Both brothers have families (Jesse Hinman’s first child is 14 months old) and full-time careers.
“We have developed strategies to move forward and meet our goals,” said Jesse Hinman, “we set ambitious goals and try to meet them as best we can.”
“Everybody has been incredibly supportive. We have asked friends to do voice acting, illustrations, read what we pour time into. Everyone has shown up for that, and helped make it happen,” Jesse Hinman said.
“Fortunately we have a tight family. We’ve always gotten along really well, always close and never any interest in leaving or separating,” said Jason Hinman. “I could not ask for a better partner.”
“The Art Collector” is available now online and at Mythical Market in Damariscotta. Find Shyborg Games at store.steampowered.com. Players may sign up to get notifications for upcoming releases, including a free demo version of “No Survivors.”
