Rick Salter
Rick Salter is the Co-founder and Creative Director of Hojo Studio.
Rick is also responsible for Hojo’s coding, music, sound design and animation.
Rick is a seasoned, multi award-winning digital creative with over 20 years’ experience in digital design, product design, animation, sound & music production and game development.
From beginnings in computer-based training and advertising, he expanded to the music and games industry, as well as leading product design for the NSW Department of Education.
He co-founded Hojo Studio in 2008 with Jola Szymanska which has self-published four games- Puffington, Nippy Cats, Inflatality and The Godfeather: A Mafia Pigeon Saga which has featured at multiple gaming events, including the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco.
Rick has also been a popular guest speaker at a wide range of digital creative and gaming events, including GCAP, PAX and SXSW Sydney. He has also released two albums as The People Downstairs and The Whiskey Stone.
JOLA SZYMANSKA
Jola is the co-founder & Art Director of Hojo Studio.
Jola is responsible for Hojo’s adorable, unique characters, 3D art and 2D UI. She is responsible for giving Hojo games their unique visual style and personality.
Jola is a highly experienced Art Director with over 10 years’ experience successfully bringing indie games to life across multiple platforms. Starting her journey in the interface design and digital advertising industry, Jola soon turned her attention to more interactive media and game design.
Jola is a professionally trained artist who is also an accomplished photographer and graphic designer.
STEPHANIE SALTER
Stephanie is the Executive Producer & Chief Operations Officer at Hojo Studio. She joined the team in 2022 & leads daily operations and business development.
She has over 20 years experience identifying innovative creative projects in both public and private sector and extensive experience creating Multiplatform content for games and television.
At the ABC, she commissioned and was Executive Producer for several Games, Mobile Apps and digital technology innovations including:
The “Good Game” Game
Q&A Twitter Live TV design, development & Implementation
Poe’s Kitchen / Gardening Australia Website & Mobile App
Enough Rope, Beached Az, Gardening Australia & The Chaser digital content development
As a consultant, she has also led business transformation and change management programs in addition to designing and developing deep customer insights to inform strategic business decisions.
Stephanie is also a trained photographer who has run successful photography businesses. She is also an amateur painter and potter.
DELIVERING ICONIC CHARACTERS AND WILD WORLDS FOR 10 YEARS AND COUNTING
Hojo Studio was formed in 2013 by Rick Salter and Jola Szymanska, two designers from Sydney, Australia. In 2022, Stephanie Salter joined as Executive Producer and Chief Operating Officer.
Our DNA lies in unique characters, wild ideas and original IP everyone can enjoy. Our creative process begins by imagining endearing, unique concepts we can shape entire worlds around. Our goal is to elicit what we call “the Hojo Smile”. A cheeky, adorable irreverence in our games that fans find memorable and instantly fall in love with. We build uniquely Australian games - charming and cheeky in equal measure.
Hojo is a family orientated studio who value equity, collaboration and kindness. This is reflected in the team, the games we make and the partners we work with.
We passionately believe in the artform of games and their potential to build inclusive, fun experiences for families and friends. We believe art and entertainment can be the same thing. And should always have the courage not to take itself too seriously.
