Workstation 10 and ESXi - working together?

Hi,

I have not used Workstation for a few years, and used Player instead due to costs.

Now I am looking at how I can use the free ESXi 5.5 to work with my own images and I am also interested in Workstation 10 as a developer tool.

Can someone suggest an approach on how I would use ESXi and Workstation together - what would I use each one for?

I have read the documentation and Workstation looks really good - but for a Visual Studio developer, would I develop in one image and "post" to another?

Also, can I store a Windows 8.1 image on ESXi and run it on Workstation as Workstation 10 has artificial sensors?

Thanks

Jason