A video game company in Seattle, created and led by Latino developers, is turning a childhood dream into one of the city’s most anticipated indie games.
The company’s name is Recurring Dream, and its founders are Rodolfo Hernández and Jose Carlos Gallegos, both 30.
The game is called “Desktop Explorer” and although they haven’t announced a release date, it’s already creating tons of buzz.
In “Desktop Explorer”, gamers play as a girl exploring the computer of her recently deceased Uncle. As gamers solve puzzles and sift through files on the late 90s-style computer, they learn about his life and secrets.
In August 2024, the game was selected to participate in the largest video game convention in Seattle as part of the PAX Rising Showcase.
According to the showrunners, the showcase will feature games that “stand out from the crowd” based on their “gameplay, entertainment, or inventiveness.”
Hernández and Gallegos grew up in Tijuana, Mexico. They met at Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS), a private, not-for-profit university where they received their degrees in computer science.
They wanted to make video games, but careers in gaming are hard to come by in Mexico, so they studied software development instead.
“I always had a feeling that I would enjoy programming because it was related to things that were close to me and I enjoyed,” said Hernández. “I think most engineers around me always had the hidden objective of, ‘Oh, I’m gonna work on video games one of these days.’”
Rodolfo Hernández, the Co-owner of video game company Recurring Dream, in his Capitol Hill apartment.
Photography: Taylor Richmond
The two studied under Jesus Jaquez, who is now an Amazon Software Developer Manager in Seattle.
Jaquez said teachers should help their students be successful outside of school. He often recommended jobs to students who took pride in their work.
This included Hernández and Gallegos, Jaquez said.
“They were willing to do the work that is needed,” Jaquez said. “They were willing to work through the painful processes and the rejections you go through.”
With his help, Gallegos took a job at Amazon and Hernández at Uber, both of which brought them to Seattle.
Because they grew up in a border town, both Gallegos and Hernández felt comfortable moving to the United States.
But they soon realized that visiting a country is very different from living there.
“I thought, this is going to be a piece of cake,” Hernández said. “It’s not going to be much of a change for me because I’m so used to this. But I was very wrong.”
Interacting with people took more work than expected. According to Hernández, speaking English all day was exhausting, and learning new social norms was tough.
“I remember being so surprised by people arriving to the office and not saying good morning,” Hernández said. “I want to talk to people, I want to go out, I want to be with friends, and that requires so much more effort here.”
Gallegos recalled how the “politics” of the job seemed to get in the way.
“Everyone is thinking about promotions, about how to get the best project, you know, like earning more stock – more money,” he said.
It took Gallegos three years after moving to Seattle—and after the COVID-19 pandemic—to finally start meeting people outside of work who eventually became his friends.
In 2023, both were laid off from their tech jobs. Gallegos took the opportunity to follow his passion and find a position in game development.
Instead of finding a new job, Hernández decided to work on his own game, inspired by his younger brother, Juan Pablo Hernández, 26.
In 2009, Juan Pablo Hernández was in the sixth grade when he made a game for his older brother. Just like in “Desktop Explorer,” it existed within folders on their computer.
It was a simple choose-your-own-adventure game that “wasn’t really good,” according to Juan Pablo Hernández, but his brother’s response stuck with him: “When my brother finished it, he said, ‘This is like programming.’”
The idea stuck with Rodolfo Hernández, and he always wanted to expand on it.
He had been working on the game alone for two months when Gallegos told him about the Seattle Indies Expo, a convention specifically for indie video game creators. They decided to take a leap of faith and submit a demo for “Desktop Explorer.”
“We have always made art together. We were in bands together when we were in high school,” Gallegos said. “We understand that in order to do anything that’s remotely creative, you have to – it comes from a place – from like a vulnerable place.”
According to the expo’s organizers, 25 games are selected out of 50 to 60 applications a year.
In 2023, “Desktop Explorer” was one of them.
“If we hadn’t shown the game then and received so much positive feedback,” Rodolfo Hernández said, “I would not be here; I would not be doing this.”
Since then, Recurring Dream has grown to seven Latino employees, including the younger brother who inspired the game in 2009, Juan Pablo Hernández.
“It is a dream come true,” Juan Pablo Hernández said about working with his brother. “We’re best friends. So, who wouldn’t want to work with his best friend?”
Gallegos is passionate about the emotional journey he anticipates “Desktop Explorer” will take players on.
“At the end of the day, you’re an actor in the game. And I feel like that can convey feelings that no other media can.”
Taylor Richmond is a senior at the University of Washington majoring in Journalism and Public Interest Communication. He loves learning about and telling people’s stories, especially those in the gaming community.