At Digital Tech Explorer, we believe that the tools and titles a developer chooses define their creative vision. To help our community of developers and tech enthusiasts stay ahead of trends, we’re diving into the digital archives of the industry’s most influential creators. Today, we’re joined by Dean ‘Rocket’ Hall, the founder of New Zealand-based RocketWerkz and the mind behind the phenomenon that was DayZ.
Dean’s journey into the world of computing started with a visceral reaction—literally. After discovering his cousins’ Commodore 64, a five-hour marathon left him physically ill from the monitor’s refresh rate. “I think that’s when everyone figured out that I was really into computers,” Hall recalls. This early obsession has since evolved into a career defined by complex systems and survival mechanics.
Currently, RocketWerkz is seeing the fruits of years of labor on Icarus, their ambitious space survival title. After a challenging launch followed by a rigorous schedule of weekly updates, the game has reached a point of strong profitability. Hall notes that since the recent Steam Winter Sale, the studio is earning significantly more than its daily burn rate, allowing them to “squirrel away” funds for a massive new project—a “DayZ/ArmA-style” game that promises to push the boundaries of the genre once again.
The RimWorld Obsession: Modding and Storytelling
When he isn’t overseeing studio operations, Hall is deeply immersed in RimWorld. With over 1,400 hours logged—including a staggering 140 hours in a single recent week—he uses the game as both a creative outlet and a sandbox for testing new ideas.
For Hall, the draw of RimWorld lies in its “story generator” capabilities. He frequently mods the game to create specific thematic experiences, such as an Arrakis-inspired Dune setting. This passion for customization has led him to release his own mods on the Steam Workshop, including Rocket’s Ranks and Rocket’s Medals, which allow players to add military-style progression to their colonists. At the time of our discussion, Rocket’s Ranks stood as the most popular mod on the RimWorld workshop.
Technical Simulations: From Ostranauts to Stationeers
Hall’s taste in games often mirrors his professional focus: deep, systemic simulations. He recently revisited Ostranauts, a technical space sim from the creator of NEO Scavenger. “There’s something about it that each time I play, it’s at least 150 hours,” Hall explains. He is particularly excited about the Fire in the Hold update, which introduces fire as an internal ship threat—a mechanic that resonates with his love for high-stakes survival.
Unsurprisingly, the game with his highest playtime is his own creation: Stationeers. With nearly 5,000 hours invested, Hall remains enamored with the complex atmospheric and electrical systems the team built. Close behind is Kerbal Space Program (KSP). Hall was such an early advocate for KSP that he actually introduced creator Felipe Falanghe to Valve to facilitate the game’s move to Steam.
The Classics: XCOM at Mount Everest
Regarding longevity, the original 1990s XCOM (UFO: Enemy Unknown) holds the title of the oldest game on Hall’s PC. He currently plays via OpenXcom with the massive X-COM Files mod, which adds years of additional content to the campaign.
The game’s importance to Hall is best illustrated by his 2013 expedition to Mount Everest. While acclimatizing at base camp for weeks, he relied on XCOM and OpenTTD to keep his mind sharp. “Video games are fantastic for self-managing your time there,” he says. “I think when I die, I will still be playing that game.”
The Developer’s Toolkit: Coding and Security
As a seasoned software engineer, Hall’s choice of non-gaming software is strictly utilitarian. He relies on Rider, a cross-platform .NET IDE by JetBrains. While many modern studios use visual scripting, RocketWerkz utilizes its own proprietary framework called Brutal. “It’s purely text-based using C#,” Hall says. “I find I’m much faster reading and writing with text than I am doing visual scripting.”
This disciplined approach extends to his hardware management. To ensure a “new customer experience” and catch bugs that only occur on fresh installs, Hall “torches” his computer every few months, performing a full wipe and reinstall. This keeps his desktop impeccably clean and his security posture tight—a practice any serious developer can appreciate.
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