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CRAFTING A BETTER STUDIO CULTURE CCP’s London Studio on the what, why and how UK TITLE WINS GAMING’S EUROVISION!
We talk to the developers of the incredible Viewfinder
“THERE IS A REAL OPPORTUNITY TO EXPAND THE DIVERSITY OF OUR WORKFORCE” Keywords' boss Sonia Sadler discusses the huge potential of the post-pandemic workplace as a triple-win for employees, employers and the broader industry HEALTHY LEADERSHIP: n HUTCH ON HOW BEST TO TAKE CHARGE
HEN WE MADE... n W DEATH’S DOOR
TAKING CONTROL: n NACON’S LINE UP FOR A NEW WORLD
HE ART OF... n T HAVEN
SEPTEMBER
05 The Editor
What month is it? What year is it?
06 Critical Path
The key dates this month
11 Industry Voices
Comment from around the industry
14 A more diverse normal
Keyword's joint interim CEO Sonia Sedler
20 Crafting a studio culture
CCP's London studio on doing it right
24 Healthy leadership
The Hutch perspective
30 Ins and Outs
And all our recruitment essentials
14 24
36 Victory for Viewfinder
Robot Turtle's Europlay triumph
42 The best place to sell?
Discoverability on PlayStation Store
46 Scopely's euromillions
Triple investment from US mobile giant
50 Taking control
20
Nacon's lineup for a new gaming world
54 Virtual Deathtrap
Deathtrap Dungeon x Mandalorian
58 Mowing all the lawns
Balancing work for hire with your own IP
62 Unsigned
36
70
The best indies looking for partners
66 The Art Of... Haven
70 When We Made...
Death's Door
74 The Final Boss
04 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2021
James Glover of Fluid Design
“The situation is still fluid and what works for some people won’t work for others.”
TheEditor Moving forward together, at our own speeds And so summer draws to a close – if you can call that murk and rain a summer. Having invested in a lot of camping gear over the last few years, I am more aware than most that it was subpar, and not just here. Even the usually glorious Vendée in France largely failed to creep the mercury much over 20C. So, once again, the ramifications of another global disaster – in this case the likely effect of climate change on European weather – seems to have played straight into the hands of our industry. Shit weather = more games. Maybe the conspiracy theorists are right, and there is a shadowy cabal playing the planet for its own gain – only it’s actually headed by Jim Ryan, Phil Spencer and Tim Sweeney. In fact, that doesn’t sound too bad, given the state of global leadership. With two kids going back to school, I view the end of summer as the most important of the many ‘new year’ dates that are scattered across the calendar. It’s less of an arbitrary line than many, such as that number changing ritual come the miserable tail of December. The end of summer also felt right to us for planning an event. Months ago we put our line in the sand, trying to estimate when we thought such things would resume. And with approaching 400 people, at the time of writing in late August, coming to our IRL event in mid-September, some of you agree with us. That doesn’t mean we’re right, though. The situation is still fluid and what works for some people won’t work for others. It’s a personal choice and we sincerely hope that by running the event we haven’t caused anyone concern or stress. Worry not, there will be other times. The same goes for the proposed return to work. Now, usually we try to manage the content of the magazine so our interviews are about clearly different topics. But let’s be honest, there’s only one thing on people’s minds at present: Are we going back to the office yet? And what will it be like when we do? All three of our key interviews this month – from insightful leaders at Keywords, CCP and Hutch – touch upon that topic from different angles: diversity, culture and leadership. They’re elements we wanted to discuss and reward the best examples of as part of IRL, which is why we have an award element to the event. Thanks to everyone who nominated a colleague for that. So while ‘all this’ certainly isn’t over yet, and we will likely live with it for sometime to come. The good news is that many in the industry are planning how we build the best possible future out of this awful period in all our lives. There’s no rush to get back to ‘normal’, let’s take this massive opportunity, and let’s get it right. Seth Barton seth.barton@biz-media.co.uk
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 05
Critical Path
Here are the key upcoming events and releases to mark in your calendar...
Sonic Colors: Ultimate The blue hedgehog’s Wii outing, Sonic Colors, is finally getting a remaster, coming to PS4, Xbox, Switch and PC this month. Arguably one of the better received Sonic games, Colors sees Sonic making his way through the evil Dr. Eggman’s gigantic interstellar amusement park, powered by a captured alien race called Wisps.
Life is Strange: True Colors This fifth installment of the Life is Strange series comes from Deck Nine, who previously worked on Life is Strange: Before the Storm. This time the story focuses on Alex Chen, who has a special power to feel the emotions of others, as she gets caught up in trying to solve the mystery behind her brother’s death.
SEPTEMBER 7th
WarioWare: Get It Together! WarioWare is finally back! The tenth installment of the popular minigame compilation series is making its way to the Switch. This time, two players can team up to tackle the game’s anarchic challenges together, be that yanking armpit hairs or busting out of bin bags. The game was announced during E3 2021, during the Nintendo Direct presentation.
06 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2021
10th
Deathloop This highly-anticipated game from Arkane Studios and Bethesda Softworks will be releasing on PlayStation 5 and PC this month, and as someone who owns a busted laptop and an Xbox I’m very upset about this. The player takes on the role of Colt, an assassin caught in a time loop, tasked with taking out eight targets across the island before time resets at midnight.
Lost Judgment A new Yakuza-spin off game is releasing just three days before my birthday. This is a hint, people. THIS IS A HINT. Anyway, Lost Judgment is a sequel to 2019’s Judgment, following the adventures of private detective Takayuki Yagami, as he investigates a criminal accused of both sexual harassment and murder.
SEPTEMBER 14th
16th
24th
MCV/DEVELOP IRL Waterloo, London
IRL is an entirely new MCV/DEVELOP industry event. It’s been a long time since we’ve all been able to gather en masse and we think late mid September will be the right time for such a gathering. We’ve managed to secure a stylish venue right in the Waterloo Graffiti Tunnel by London’s Southbank. Check out the event site at irl-event.com for more information.
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 07
We’re Playing... CONTENT Editor: Seth Barton seth.barton@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8785 Staff Writer: Chris Wallace chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8786 Design and Production: Steve Williams swilliams@designandmediasolutions.co.uk
ADVERTISING SALES Senior Business Development Manager: Alex Boucher alex.boucher@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)7778538431
MANAGEMENT Media Director: Colin Wilkinson colin.wilkinson@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8777
SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, please contact: subscriptions@bizmediauk.co.uk ARCHIVES Digital editions of the magazine are available to view on ISSUU.com. Recent back issues of the printed edition may be available please call +44 (0)203 143 8777 for more information. INTERNATIONAL MCV/DEVELOP and its content are available for licensing and syndication re-use. Contact Colin Wilkinson for opportunities and permissions: colin.wilkinson@biz-media.co.uk
A trip to my dad’s finally allowed us to unite our Mario and Luigi karts for a proper game of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Nintendo has outdone itself, this time combining the quality of Amiibos, the cardboard ingenuity of Labo, the portability of Switch, and a comeback for AR (last seen on early 3DS?). Truly brilliant stuff.
The problem with this page is that I’m usually playing about 20 games at once. I have no attention span and I routinely forget to finish games. I’m not having that problem with The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles though, two games I’ve been desperately craving ever since their Japanese releases on the 3DS. Don’t talk to me, I’m solving crimes. Chris Wallace, Staff Writer
After a long time abandoning the MCV/DEVELOP team to repeatedly die on the fields of Verdansk, I have finally returned to the Warzone hype train to avenge my fallen comrades in a righteous fury of gunfire. None shall be spared. On a less murdery note, I’m also playing Sky: Children of the Light. Alex Boucher, Senior Business Development Manager
Seth Barton, Editor
Paws the game The best furry friends the industry has to offer. Send yours to chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk
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Biz Media Ltd, 44 Maiden Lane, London, WC2E 7LN All contents © 2020 Biz Media Ltd. or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Biz Media Ltd. cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Biz Media Ltd. and its licensees a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/ all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Biz Media Ltd. nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions.
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Pet: Dug Owner: Gary McCartan Owner’s job: MD at Pocket Sized Hands!
Pet: Parker Owner: Kate Houlton Owner’s job: UI Artist at Hello Games
Pet: Buddy, Betty and Sasha. Owner: Gary Ashurst Owner’s job: Art Director at Sigtrap
Dug is the morale officer for Pocket Sized Hands. He is a cheeky chap who loves to play, and if you have food he becomes your best friend.
This majestic creature is Parker! Parker is named after his owner’s personal hero, Spider-Man, and mostly importantly he is 100 per cent a good boy.
Three dogs for the price of one! Buddy, Betty and Sasha are all rescue dogs, who are wonderful creatures that require a bit of extra care but are SO worth it.
XXXXXX
Industry Voices
MCV/DEVELOP gives the industry a platform for its own views in its own words. Do you have a burning hot take for the world of games? Get in touch!
You’ve done some work on your game, and now it’s time to gather some feedback on it. Doesn’t sound too tricky. If only life was so simple, says Talk Management’s Caspar Field
Making milestone reviews matter
Caspar Field, Talk Management
“TALK, plan, make, review.” That’s the the production mantra that I included in the course I wrote last year for career-starting organisation, Into Games. It’s a simplified view of the development cycle, for kids just out of school. And on paper, it feels like making games really could be that simple. But in reality, on largerscale productions, the detail in each of those four steps is rather more complex. I’ve recently being doing some work on the last of those steps: reviews. And specifically, milestone reviews. Milestones are the classic ‘big beats’ of a project, where weeks or months of work come together in a cohesive piece of software. For many teams, they’re important moments in the schedule – especially if you’re working with a publisher, when milestone approval is connected to that most important of things: getting paid. In my 20-odd years in production, I’ve had some great review feedback, with each item prioritised and tied to a pre-agreed piece of work. And I’ve had some funny feedback, such as the comment that the music felt ‘flat’ in our game, so I turned up the volume on the TV while the person took a call, after which they declared it to be actually okay. And, I’ve some terrible, late, irrelevant feedback that has caused me enormous headaches to deal with in the middle of finishing the next milestone. It’s important to dig into the detail of your process for reviews, whether you’re working with a publisher or flying solo. There are so many questions to consider, such as: who does it, when do they do it, what exactly are they reviewing, what level of detail should their feedback go into? How do you capture the
feedback, filter it, turn it into actionable work - and how do you prioritise it? What do you do if someone goes off on a wild tangent and dumps a load of ‘exciting’ new ideas on the team? I’ve seen producers quietly ‘forget’ to include comments, in the hope an awkward piece of feedback is forgotten. I might even have tried that trick myself, once or twice… If you’re in a larger team with layers of management, how much review work has been done before work bubbles to the top? What work should only be handled lower down and never bother those at the pinnacle of power? If you’re working in Agile development-style Themes, Epics, User Stories and Tasks, who is reviewing each of those levels in the process? Most important of all, remember that someone in the process needs to be keeping their distance from the finer details so that they can take the long-term view, gazing to that far horizon when your game faces public and critics. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much effort has gone into making something, it only really matters whether it’s good. What’s on screen, does it have that spark and shine, will it put a delighted smile or determined grin on the player’s face? Getting your review process running right is an important part of making the magic happen, so give it the attention it deserves. Caspar helps game companies with management & production. The former CEO of two-time ‘Best Places to Work Award’winning Wish Studios, he has over 25 years’ experience of managing creative teams.
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 11
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Gaming’s most global company is building a better workplace out of the global pandemic Are you considering how best to manage the postpandemic transition back to the office for your team? Then take a leaf from Sonia Sedler, COO and joint interim CEO of Keywords Studios, who is using the opportunity to improve the lives of 8,500 staff, across 69 studios and 22 countries
14 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2021
K
eywords is arguably one of the most global companies in gaming, with studios spread right around the world. Studios that a large proportion of top-tier game developers are relying on at any given time. So its continued operation throughout the pandemic was of interest to many more than just its own board. And speaking of that board, Keywords also had to deal with the sudden departure of long-serving CEO Andrew Day this year for health reasons. Stepping into his sizable shoes as joint interim CEOs are CFO Jon Hauck and COO Sonia Sedler. So today we’re talking to Sedler about the pandemic, how Keywords coped with it, the holistic benefits of more flexible and remote working, what a return to the office means, and how the industry can stand up against crunch culture. KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON It’s hard to imagine the amount of effort that’s gone into keeping such a huge operation up and running, tackling the different needs of the wide range of companies under the brand. But in the end it all comes down to the people. “Keywords has been hugely focussed on supporting our employees around the world, throughout this unprecedented time,” Sedler begins. “The situation is changing all the time and it has taken an enormous amount of coordination and on-going communication by the team, to ensure we are doing everything we can, to get our people the help they need, when they need it.” That help has varied tremendously from country to country and even from individual to individual: “Where possible we have tried to offer consistent support for all our staff, such as the launch of our Keywords relief fund, which was established to provide financial aid to any member of the
Keywords family that might have found themselves in difficulties.” Although at times the company had to take more sweeping measures to ensure its employees’ wellbeing: “When the situation required it, we worked on creating more specific solutions, such as rolling out the vaccines to our employees in India and the Philippines.” Home working arrangements were organised en masse, and are largely still in place globally today, Selder explains. “Generally, it is only IT staff that are attending the physical office space. We do have some offices where production staff are required to be onsite due to the nature of the projects they are working on, but these are limited and full covid safety measures are in place, as well as providing onsite accommodation in order to minimise the risks from transport. “It’s been an outstanding effort from diverse teams, throughout the organisation, all pulling together to ensure that every one of our employees across the globe feels valued and supported.” A SURGE OF EMPATHY The pandemic has been a huge challenge, so we ask Sedler how Keywords has adapted to cope with everything from lockdowns to employee retention. “Even in the most difficult situations, if we have the right approach, we can find an opportunity for learning,” says Sedler. “Whilst the pandemic has created additional pressures for each of us, it has also given people a chance to think differently, to recognise what is important to them and in many cases, to re-prioritise themselves. “The unexpected outcome of the Covid crisis appears to be that people are now putting their health and wellbeing at the top of their to-do list, which is having a significant impact on their choice of employer,” she explains. “Many industries have seen mass migrations from roles at all levels and we have taken note, even-though we have not been directly impacted.” The so-called ‘great resignation’ has certainly been widely reported, though whether it’s just 18 months of bottled up job moves
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 15
coming at once, or something more systemic, is yet to be seen. “As we’ve seen this shift unfold, at Keywords we have had the opportunity to consider our employee value proposition, to really take time to think about what our people want from the organisation they work for… Our people are our greatest asset, so we are focused on creating an environment where they can collaborate to create innovative solutions for our customers, whether this is in person or virtually.” And that new environment will have to continue to serve the needs of clients, which Sedler is confident it has done to date. “We have proved that we can be truly global in our approach, as our creative and technical processes have been effective with teams working from home, which has stress tested our model in real time. “The accelerated and challenging learning curve we have all been exposed to, has opened up potential new operating models that we can build into our future strategies, whilst ensuring we maintain comprehensive information security and meet our customer-defined requirements.” All that said, Sedler believes the changes go far beyond operational challenges: “I believe the biggest change we have experienced is the level of empathy that we now show one another. We have never checked in on people’s wellbeing as much as we do now and I believe this new-found human connection, in our almost entirely virtual workplace, is one of the most positive outcomes of the pandemic.” A MORE DIVERSE NORMAL After what Sedler describes as an “accelerated transition to remote working,” we are now on the edge of returning to the office in some form. And that represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to tackle long-standing system problems within our working environment and culture. An opportunity that Selder is keen to grasp fully. “Now that we can return, in some regions, to our studios and offices, there is a real opportunity to make use of the investment [in remote working] to expand the diversity of our workforce, as well as offering flexibility to our existing workforce to increase employee engagement and retention.” Right: With studios right around the world it’s true to say that Keyword’s operation never truly sleeps.
16 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2021
To which end Keywords has identified a number of key groups that can benefit from the change: For starters the upcoming generation will be far more demanding of their employers than any previous: “I’m sure we’ve all heard about Gen Z’s approach to work. We are aware that they are drawn to employers that align with their values, ones that provide a supportive environment that accommodates their lifestyle choices, as well as investing in their development. We believe that offering aspects of home working, will enable us to attract the upand-coming talent, in a highly competitive market. “Another area of diversity that is receiving significant focus, at the moment, is neurodiversity,” Sedler notes. “We know our industry attracts a high percentage of people who suffer from anxiety and depression and home working provides them with an opportunity to add value and create a fulfilling career when they may otherwise be too anxious in a crowded workplace or unable to cope with the travel required to reach the office.” Working parents are also on Sedler’s list of potential growth areas. “Sometimes the difficulties of balancing the demands of work and family are so great that people opt to leave the workforce entirely. If we are able to provide models of working that enable people to work around family commitments, we believe we will be able to access this lost pool of talent.” Although not just parents could benefit, with more varied patterns of working potentially appealing to other lapsed groups too: “We are very committed to positively impacting the community and an approach we are looking into is that by offering part-time working or flexible hours, we may be able to attract a wider group of individuals, for example those who wish to pursue other interests such as volunteering or have carer responsibilities.” And that could extend to “individuals with mobility issues, disabilities or other conditions that limit their ability to work a full working day or week, but still have creative or technical talents that could bring great value to our customers,” Sedler adds. “We recognise that people are our greatest asset and by widening the talent pool through a more flexible approach to working, will enable us to become an employer of choice.”
FLEXIBLE BENEFITS Flexible working won’t just improve diversity, though. “We often hear that employees are driving the agenda around maintaining flexible working arrangements,” says Sedler, “but the benefits can be far-reaching.” “There is a financial aspect to this model,” she begins. “With substantial cost savings from reduced travel and no more eating on the go, as well as the opportunity to spend more time with family and friends, as you reclaim the time previously spent commuting,” something that most of us have already seen. “But I think it’s worth considering the additional benefits that may result from this model. We know a more engaged and motivated workforce will correlate with increased productivity, employee engagement and retention, which is critical in an industry where creative talent is in short supply. “By creating an exciting employee value proposition, you are more likely to attract and retain employees thereby reducing churn with the associated hiring costs and learning curve lag. Not to mention the potential impact on estates and facilities of having a reduced onsite workforce,” she notes. “Moving beyond the organisation to consider the wider positive impact of flexible working, it’s worth noting that through including flexible working in your portfolio of operating models, it will allow you to build a workforce which is more representative of the external community, a more inclusive employee offering as well as the reduced carbon footprint resulting from limited travel,” serious considerations for the biggest employees going forward. “So even though many have identified the drive for flexible working, as an employee led initiative, it can really be a win-win-win, for employee, employer and environment.” OUT OF SIGHT… The acceleration in take up of remote working will bring many benefits then, but is Sedler concerned about potential pitfalls too? For example, will employers be able to take proper care of their employees when they rarely, or never, see them in real life? “There have always been legal responsibilities for companies around their
employee’s health, safety and welfare, but the pandemic has really highlighted the need to consider how far these duties may reach. People have gone through one of the most stressful and frightening periods of their lives and as an employer we have a responsibility to check in on people regularly to make sure that they are coping. “We know from recent studies looking into employee’s expectations, that people’s perception of the role of their employer has changed. There has been a real shift in how much support they believe they should be offered and how far reaching this is, including aspects of their life such as their kids, their health and their financial security. “We are responding to this by incorporating more wellbeing initiatives and ensuring we have an open and honest culture where people are able to raise a flag when they are struggling, or when there is an important issue to be addressed. “The informal face to face interactions we once took for granted now need to be scheduled in our diaries and there is a risk of these being pushed back, especially in an environment where we are all under pressure to meet challenging deadlines. But this really is essential. Throughout his period our HR teams have been on hand to keep us on track and make sure we are taking the time, at all levels in the organisation, to check that we are prioritising our people.” GLOBAL DIFFERENCES Prioritising people is a good idea, but what if those people all want different things. Keywords, due to its global nature, has employees working in varied cultures around the world, so how does it affect their outlook? Sedler is quick to praise the team: “At KWS we are very lucky to have such resilient and adaptable teams, across the globe. We are incredibly proud of the way our people have responded to the challenges that we have all faced. They adapted quickly and effectively to the changing demands of the pandemic and continued to deliver outstanding service to our customers throughout. “Working from home has proved to be very effective and we know the majority of staff are keen to continue in some
FINDING THE KEY TO WOMEN IN GAMES Diversity surveys show that while diversity in the games industry in some areas is better than expected, the percentage of women in the industry is still significantly below the national average. So as one of the most senior women working in games today, why does Sedler think this continues to be the case and what can senior women in gaming do to help address the imbalance? “The industry has been able to achieve positive diversity in so many ways and in the UK we have a truly international and inclusive workforce, in all areas except gender. We know it’s not because girls and women don’t have an interest in games, as they make up around 45 per cent of video game players across Europe, so it would appear that the problem lies in their perception of the industry,” says Sedler. “I believe Keywords has sent a clear message to the industry that we are serious about gender diversity, having both female executive and non-executive members of our board. We also have strong female representation at the most senior level, leading two of our global service lines. This focus runs all the way through our organisation, with the women of SPOV, one of our creative studios, recently conducting an event, recognising them as creative leaders within Keywords. “But we recognise that we still have a long way to go, in relation to gender imbalance. We continue to be committed to ensuring that we treat people with dignity and respect and promote fairness and equal opportunity in a discrimination-free environment. I am convinced we will only attract more women into games, if they feel excited about the industry and truly believe that there are career opportunities for them there. Awareness and action are key to changing this paradigm and Keywords senior female role models are leading the charge.”
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 17
Above: Keywords has been a crucial part of making this month’s MCV/DEVELOP IRL event happen. “After almost two years of imposed isolation and detached existence, we know how keen everyone is to meet face to face with others in our community... we knew we had to be part of making it possible,” said Sedler in support.
form of hybrid home and office arrangement but their enthusiasm for this is ultimately dependent on individual circumstances rather than geographical location. However, at all times, we will have to balance our employee’s lifestyle choices with the requirements of our customers, so we know the return to the office is coming for some of our teams, in response to customer requests and in compliance with local guidelines.” We’re similarly intrigued more generally about Keywords’ company culture, and how it maintains it within such a huge and disparate organisation. “A single culture is about a shared set of values and behaviours and I believe if these are focused around trust, collaboration and inclusion then they are equally applicable in all regions. “Respecting cultural norms is something I am enormously passionate about. I believe that by creating an open and inclusive culture, we will be able to give all our people, and by default our organisation, the best opportunity to thrive. “All our studios are aligned to the KWS value proposition, while still maintaining their own cultural identity, like our Lakshya Studio that celebrates Diwali, our European studios that don’t work during the feast of St. John, as well as our American studios that celebrate Independence Day on July 4th. All individual cultural experiences that are part of our approach to positively embracing individuality to create a more global and inclusive culture for Keywords.” And Sedler is keen to recognise how our work and home lives have collided during the pandemic: “At this time particularly, we feel that it is essential to acknowledge the enormous impact of the pandemic, on both a personal and professional level. “Our home lives and working lives have been forced to co-exist. The impact has been different in each and every household, with every one of us dealing with our own unique challenges. We recognise now more than ever, that the culture of our organisation is key. “As many of us are not in the workplace, surrounded by our peers, it is our collective sense of values and behaviours that keeps us aligned. To re-enforce this even further, we have launched a global programme, to refresh our culture and ensure that it is relevant and representative of our diverse community.” CRUNCHING DOWN Part of that future-ready organisation must be ready to tackle the ongoing issue of crunch culture within the games industry. While the discourse was once focused on western developers, more recent concerns are around the ‘outsourcing of crunch’ to studios overseas. So how
18 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2021
can our industry combat a problem that pervades so many parts of our globalised economy? “I believe this is a really important issue and for me it’s about remaining accountable end-to-end,” replies Sedler. “It’s essential to recognise that we are an interconnected ecosystem. In today’s external development environment and the inherently integrated nature of our work, Keywords are inextricably linked to our clients and associated studios, creating an extended virtual team. So, if we simply outsource the crunch to someone or somewhere else, it doesn’t solve the problem. It just moves it off our list of issues and simply transmits the problem to someone else. “I believe we have a responsibility to maintain a conscious approach to our entire delivery chain, and not one that ignores the aspects that we are uncomfortable with or those that are simply no longer in our direct line of sight. “I really feel that the only way to overcome this is with a more integrated approach, choosing to work with studios who are aligned to our values, studios that treat everyone who contributes to the production of the games with respect, not just the ones under the KWS banner. If we act collectively and call out this issue, we have the best chance of addressing it.” And we look forward to seeing some of that collective action around the time you read this, as the annual External Development Summit will be taking place (virtually) from the 14th to the 17th of September, and the issue is on the agenda. Ensure that issue is being properly addressed, though, and the future is looking pretty bright for the many, many thousands of creative outsourcers around the world. Demand for their talents continues to grow, and flexible working should improve their lives and further boost their numbers. And that’s great news, because without them the industry would be up the creek without a paddle. Or, more relevantly maybe, in a locked room, with untextured walls, without a key to get out.
“Respecting cultural norms is something I am enormously passionate about. I believe that by creating an open and inclusive culture, we will give all our people, and by default our organisation, the best opportunity to thrive.”
TRY OUT THE GAME INDUSTRY IN MALMÖ, SWEDEN FOR FREE! (SAUNA INCLUDED... YES REALLY)
T
ry out one of the most thriving game industries in the world and experience the laidback southern Swedish lifestyle for yourself. We offer access to a fully furnished office at the community coworking space Game Habitat DevHub in Malmö. Free of charge. No strings attached. With extra toppings. Malmö is home to over 70 studios and game developer communities. That’s 4.8 more game studios per capita than in London, or so says Business Insider. The southern gem, which is just a 20-minute train ride from Copenhagen, can boast of around 100 graduates per year from one of the world’s top game developer schools – The Game Assembly. Nordic Game Conference, one of Europe’s most influential conferences, is also hosted in Malmö. A few big names that might ring a bell with you: Massive – Ubisoft, Tarsier Studios, King, IO Interactive, Paradox and Sharkmob; all have offices in Malmö – and most of them are actively recruiting and looking for collaborations, too. Oh and also; we take it you’ve heard of Ubisoft’s new Star Wars game? Well, that’s a Malmö baby too. Malmö isn’t just an amazing gaming hub. It’s also renowned for its life-work balance, laid back lifestyle, international vibe and awesome (and often free) coffee.
Invest in Skåne is the official trade and investment promotion agency for Sweden’s southernmost region Skåne. We help international companies invest and expand in the region, and local companies find international partnerships and grow global sales.
Game Habitat is a community-focused non-profit organization, and the heart of the game industry in southern Sweden.
SO WHAT’S THE DEAL?
Invest in Skåne and Game Habitat in Skåne are happy to offer you a unique opportunity to explore the southernmost part of Sweden and experience its thriving games industry. In a pilot project to increase the awareness and visibility of the games industry cluster in Skåne, we are now offering you the chance to explore this fantastic community. In 2021, Invest in Skåne partnered up with Game Habitat to further boost the local games industry. We’ve sponsored a fully furnished office at the coworking space DevHub in central Malmö, which is at your disposal – and absolutely free of charge. You get access to the office for 2-3 persons, flexible co-working solutions and community canteen, meeting rooms and even a sauna! Besides this you get full support from Invest in Skåne, including networking, setting up meetings with interesting peers within games, benchmarking, and relevant data for your business. So, are you looking for a place to show off your work? Are you on the lookout for your next project, attending an event or just want to explore the games industry in Skåne? Either way, Skåne is the place for you. Get in touch with Olof Tedin via olof.tedin@skane.com, business developer for games at Invest in Skåne, and he will tell you more!
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Nurturing a positive studio culture* *Massive battleship not required For better or worse there’s much discussion of studio culture these days. But advice on exactly what a culture is, and how to achieve a ‘good’ one is thin on the ground. With a rapidly growing studio in central London, Seth Barton turned to CCP London Studio’s Adrian Blunt for his take on this tricky and topical subject
T Adrian Blunt, CCP
he games industry’s many company cultures have never been under the microscope to the same extent they are today. On one side the pandemic has thrown the rulebook into the bin, forcing our industry to work remotely for the last 18 months, a period that looks to now be coming to an end. Providing everyone with a clear opportunity for permanent and far reaching changes in how we work. On the other hand, toxic studio cultures have once again been laid bare, with accusations of deplorable behaviours at Blizzard over many years. They aren’t the first and they certainly won’t be the last. Meanwhile the ongoing debate around crunch and overwork once again raised its head on Twitter in the last week. So a good culture looks to something that every company needs. But just what is studio culture? How is it created? How do you make it ‘good’ rather than ‘toxic’? And what use is a good culture once you have it? For all that we turn to CCP London’s studio director, Adrian Blunt.
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CULTURE PEACE We start with a deceptively simple question, what is studio or company culture? “My take is that, it’s the who, it’s the people in the organisation. It’s effectively the personality of the company, that you both project outwardly, but also inwardly. And it comes from the way people interact with each other,” Blunt replies. “The best cultures, I think, really live the values of the company. In our case: excellence, courage, unity and honesty. Those are the values that CCP has. It’s inevitably led from the top down. So the leaders of the studio drive that personality within the studio.” And to that end they are also responsible for that culture and the outcomes of it. “Absolutely, it’s the responsibility of the people leading the studio. And they’re ultimately accountable for that culture, and they’re responsible for ensuring that the culture really is one that drives inclusivity throughout the studio,” he points out encouragingly.
People, values, leadership – that wasn’t too hard, though it can’t be as simple as that surely? How then do you go about turning those ingredients into a culture? TOOLING IT TOGETHER Blunt is clear on the key element to establish a positive culture. “You need to start from an element of trust.” He references both Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions in that. Famous examples of the needs of a successful team or society. “It really comes down to safety. I think creating psychological safety within the studio really is the building block for how you start to create a culture. And from that, it allows everybody within the studio, once they feel safe, to challenge themselves, challenge each other, it supports positive conflict within the studio. And it creates that fabric that really promotes creativity. “Making games is inherently difficult, there are so many facets to making games, so many ideas that need to surface. And so creating a culture that is inclusive, in terms of its makeup of people, but also in the way that people think. That then really allows ideas to come forward and for people to feel really comfortable in doing that.” Culture then forms a bedrock upon which people can be themselves and express themselves, one that must celebrate difference, as otherwise groupthink can quash good ideas before they’re even heard. Although it’s not like switching on a light. “It’s an ongoing process, you can’t just turn a culture on, you can’t checklist a culture, you have to grow it. And it is the responsibility of the leadership of the studio to really foster that and to remove any obstacles from the creation of a diverse and inclusive culture.” CULT OR CULTURE If you’re looking for a good analogy, culture is a road, you set clear signposts and smooth the way, you can’t force march a team into a culture, but you can present them an attractive path. “It is part of the evolution of a culture, that you can’t just impose something, you can’t just say: ‘right now everybody’s going to work in this mould, this is us as a studio, and everybody conforms to that’. That just doesn’t work. If you want to change the culture, you have do it gradually, you can’t just change something on a whim, because you have to have people behind it, they have to believe it.”
And there’s never been a better time than now to make changes. “I’ve had the opportunity to come into a studio that has been working remotely,” Blunt points out, having been made studio director during the pandemic. “And now we’re moving into what happens post-pandemic, and so it’s an opportunity to really look at what we want. So it’s a really unique position.” And a key part of creating a forward-looking culture is to tackle the habits that people have fallen into over time: “Also if you need to change habits in a culture, those things take time, you need to seed ideas, integrate ideas, and really find people within the studio that are very proactive and champion those ideas and build on them. Then you can start to see momentum behind the change in a culture. “There are pitfalls in that changing habits is both very slow, but it’s also very easy to go back to previous habits. And you have to be able to stay the course. And it’s a constant drive to really change habits. And I’m not saying that we have bad habits within the studio, but if you are changing culture, if you are doing that, then you need to constantly reinforce that.” Culture is an essential part of the studio, so a change in culture changes the studios very nature, even if the name above the door remains the same. “There will inevitably be people within the studio that will not accept that change,” Blunt notes. “And it’s OK to part with those people. Sometimes it is beneficial to a studio culture for those people to move on, for the good of the overall studio. It’s always hard. But you have to accept that there is going to be churn in that.” It’s inevitable that not every culture will suit every employee, however inclusive in its design. While low staff churn is generally desirable, within any sizeable developer a nearly static workforce is often a warning bell too. PROJECTING IT And speaking of staff coming and going, a studio’s choice of project is often another key factor in attracting, or parting ways, with staff. So how then does the project, the game, affect the culture of the studio? “The two are definitely intertwined. People will join a studio, but they will also join a project. And so there is a shared mindset there,” Blunt notes. “We were very conscious of that,” he continues, especially given CCP London is “a relatively new,
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 21
Above: Staff at CCP’s London studio and a part of its incredible view
single game studio, creating a new experience.” But building a culture to serve the project isn’t as simple as hiring fans of a certain genre. “If I look across the type of people that we’ve got, everybody believes passionately in what we’re doing. I think that’s important. I think the intertwining of a project and the culture is that there’s that belief, and there is an excitement about the game. “But everybody’s diverse in the types of games that they play – as gamers, they’re very, very different. And I think that diversity of thought is going to create the magic in [our] game that we need. I think if you’ve got everybody focused on a very similar, very straight thing, you end up with a very specific experience. “So I think creating something magical, through diversity, is really where we want to get to,” and that’s in both diversity of people and diversity of thought. “It’s how the things that they enjoy playing will impact the game. And that then helps culture as well. It allows people to have very different experiences, but find commonality. And I think that’s really the gelling of that culture.” Of course the game goes beyond the studio, so does the culture which created the title then kickstart the community culture for the game? “If I look from past experience, studio culture doesn’t necessarily need to reflect a community culture, you’ve got two sides. And there’s many very different facets in that, but they don’t necessarily need to be linked. Communities form around specific things, communities will build around a commonality that they experience within the game. “That said, we have the opportunity with a new game to create a community. We look at the team that we’re building and the culture that we have around the studio, and creating a community that is intertwined with that
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culture and shares our values, I think is a wonderful ambition to have. Like-minded people building a game for a like-minded community, I think is a great ambition. On a more specific note, CCP London Studio’s game is based in the same universe as Eve Online, although Blunt is keen to establish a fanbase that expands upon that one, rather than one that’s simply within it. “We’re creating a game that’s going to attract its own player base, just like Dust 514 did. And so that gives us the opportunity to mould that or help craft that community and support that community in its own unique way. You can’t just ignore existing communities, there’s so much that we can learn from them and all the feedback that we can get, but we are creating something unique.” CULTURAL NORMS The Eve Online community is amongst the longeststanding and most dedicated in games. However even its complex internal culture is nothing compared to that of say Western Europe. Which is the background culture that CCP, or any UK-based game studio, will largely draw its staff from. How then does that background culture affect the makeup of the studio, and how much can it change around the globe. “I think every studio I’ve ever worked at has had its own unique culture. Though always an element of the wider games development culture. But each studio has got different leadership, a different makeup within it. And I think those uniquenesses of cultures come from celebrating the individuals and celebrating the differences and uniqueness of that particular makeup, “I’ve had the opportunity to work in different countries in the games industry. And I think there is a geographical flavour that does resonate within UK game development. Our game studio cultures are very different to North
American, they are very different to Asian cultures. It does create a unique flavour. But increasingly, the studios are made up of so many different nationalities, so many different cultures of where people have come from.” Of course diversity of cultures is something that Britain is well known for. “I think as a studio, especially within London, it’s really important that we respect that. And we’re mindful that we are a melting pot from that perspective. We have to find the commonalities and differences that blend and celebrate that because I think that really will drive that diverse thought within the studio.” MULTICULTURALISM Diversity of thought is obviously important, but what about the sharp end of diversity – getting more women, more people of colour, more minorities working in studios. As a growing studio, based in London, CCP is better placed than many even, so what’s the reality of trying to hire outside the usual candidates and how can culture help. “I fundamentally believe it’s not just important for us as a studio and an industry, it’s just something we need to celebrate in all aspects of what we’re doing,” Blunt replies. “We’re building up the studio right now, and it’s at the forefront of our minds as to the future employees of the studio and the future members of the studio. That’s really where we can bring that diversity in. “So we’re focusing a lot on those efforts. Specifically, we have established a diversity and inclusion committee within the studio that’s looking at all aspects. We know we’ve got a long way to go on this, and as an industry, we have a long way to go on this. “We’re focusing a lot on education. Because fundamentally, if you are going to improve diversity within the industry, you need to focus on what the barriers are for people entering into the industry. It’s not just about employing a diverse group of people, it’s about creating as many opportunities as possible within it. “Right now, there are large groups of people in the UK that do not see the industry as a career path… they don’t see a way in. So creating those opportunities and supporting those opportunities at the grassroots level: working with schools, and there’s some amazing schools that are starting to do this, such as ELAM in East London, as well as bodies like Into Games, helping create
paths, create opportunities, through scholarship, through education, through introductions into the industry, those are the things that are really going to drive diversity, it’s not going to be a short term thing. It is very much a long term approach. “Intern schemes, apprenticeship schemes, allow people to come into the industry through whatever means they can. If you imagine the start of the industry, nobody had a degree, you didn’t go to university to make games. As the industry has matured, those barriers have come in. It’s now really expensive to go to university, so it’s excluding people. “Forming scholarship schemes, things like that will increase the pool of candidates that we have of creators that can join the industry. I think that’s really where we’re going to see that diversity. Being involved in those initiatives, sponsoring those, as well as providing education from our own creators that we’ve got. Talking about the industry, talking about how you can get into it. I think that’s something we all have to focus on.” BACK TO THE OFFICE? In the more immediate future, the aim is to find the culture’s new normal, to transplant the studio back into a physical space, at least some of the time. “The pandemic has reshaped our lives. Priorities have shifted, there’s a focus on family, and that closeness, that bond that we’ve all had with our families, has changed people’s outlook. So as a studio, we need to be flexible, and incorporate that. Whilst we’ve always prided ourselves in being family friendly, it’s really heightened that for the better, I think we will all benefit from that.” And as we benefit from the new normal of flexible working as staff, will that also benefit the games that we are working on? “I believe so… You’re removing stress from people, and I think if you remove stress out of people’s lives, it just allows creativity to really come together. The ideal world is when people want to come together and make that game. I think, by focusing on that flexibility and families and all of the aspects that we’re seeing coming out of the pandemic, I think it will allow for creativity to grow in new ways. “I think the games coming out of the pandemic are going to be exceptional, I do fundamentally believe that.”
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Healthy Leadership Healthy company The industry has been rocked once again by stories of poor working conditions and failed management. So ahead of IRL on September 16th, Chris Wallace talks about a model for healthy leadership with London’s mobile racers Hutch
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G
oing by the truly troubling stories coming out of Activision Blizzard recently, it feels as if the industry is due a primer on what healthy leadership looks like. Now, bad management and intolerable working conditions aren’t unique to Activision Blizzard – which is currently being sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, who accuse the company of having a ‘frat boy culture’ that has contributed to years of sexual harassment and unequal pay for women at the company. While they’re certainly the most extreme examples to break out into the public eye in recent years, these problems have long existed in our industry, and without action they will continue to do so. There are many causes for this abuse (and people better equipped than I am can certainly elucidate on the treatment of women in our industry) but ultimately these stories often come down to a failure of leadership to prevent toxic cultures and protect their employees. This failure runs the gamut of the problems that plague our industry: from sexism to crunch and worker exploitation. We believe one way to tackle these issues is to promote a healthier view of leadership – one that priorisitises the wellbeing of an entire workforce, rather than protecting high-profile and well connected individuals at a company. Poor leadership exists on a spectrum, of course. You don’t need to be as bad as Activision Blizzard to be failing your employees. It’s for this reason that we feel it’s important to present our Healthy Leaders award at IRL on September 16th. Particularly given the overwhelming changes our working lives have undergone over the past 18 months, we want to celebrate those who understand that making great games is about looking after great creatives. And that’s a mission that is supported by Hutch, who we are delighted to have supporting the award. To celebrate our partnership, and to understand what healthy leadership means to Hutch, we sat down with Shaun Rutland, CEO and co-founder of Hutch. LEARNING FROM MISTAKES As Rutland explains, Hutch’s understanding of healthy leadership came from their founding, having previously worked at PlayStation up until 2011.
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“PlayStation is an amazing place,” says Rutland, “but – and this is gonna sound weird – I learned a lot of my best things about leadership from poor managers there. It’s such a huge company, the culture there was that everyone was doing anything they could to get to the top of the ladder. And that meant a lot of secrets, a lot of behind the scenes, Game of Thrones kind of stuff. “As a game maker, I found it incredibly frustrating not to have an honest and straight answer about what it is that I’m meant to do, and not really being treated like a human being that’s trying to build a product. “So when we started Hutch, we decided to be really transparent about everything that was going on in the business. And being transparent is easy to say, but to actually do it, to tell the team where you’re struggling and have to improve, that was actually quite empowering for the team. It enabled them to make their own choices on whether they wanted to stick with the mission. And I think that sort of transparency meant that they were being treated like humans. “For me, it’s about looking at your workforce like human beings that have made big decisions to change their lives, they’ve got families, they’ve moved flats, houses, whatever. There’s almost a lack of recognition that we’ve moved from this industrial era of factory workers, to knowledge workers that are using their heads and need to be treated as such. “It’s about treating people as human beings, and empowering them to do the things they want. When you go along this journey together you think, actually, if I want my employees to take responsibility for their work, and if I want them to look after players, then empowering them is really important.
“We’ve got an ecosystem, and if the competition is making a better place to work, then it puts pressure on me to make a better place to work too. It’s an upward spiral. We push really hard on it. And the more we do that, the more, and I know this sounds pretty mercenary, but we will stand out above it.” 26 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2021
“As a leader, you have to create quite a safe work environment. If something is not right or feels wrong, [employees] should be able to reach out with complete safety that there’s no retribution to them, in order to help you as an organisation change. Back at PlayStation, all we used to do in the pub was whinge and moan about the leadership, and they had no idea about all the problems that they could fix, because there was no ability to tell them without recourse.” While the current conditions certainly look bleak, especially looking at recent headlines, Rutland remains optimistic about the future of the industry. As more and more companies wise up to the novel new idea of “treating people like humans,” it in turn encourages others to do so as well – or risk losing valuable talent to competitors. “There used to be less jobs than there were people applying for jobs in games,” notes Rutland. “So that scarcity of jobs meant that employees put up with terrible working conditions. “Whereas now, the games industry is under so much pressure – if you talk to any developer, the number one problem is hiring quality talent. There’s now a scarcity of people versus opportunities. That’s why we’re seeing such a huge shift in the work environment changing, it’s business driven. “This market is heating up, and there are not enough people coming into it. If games are going to be a $200bn plus industry in the next five years, we’re gonna need to have vast workforces. It’s just not going to magically appear, it’s going to come from younger people. And they’re going to be pretty picky about where they go. “For me personally, our purpose is to create a great place to work and make amazing games from that. So I think that’s starting to happen, I think that some employers are starting to realise that ‘man, we’ve got to make the best work environment, otherwise we won’t get the talent.’” STANDING ABOVE THE COMPETITION It’s partially a result of the growing impact of games on our culture over the past decade. As games have grown to reach a broader demographic of people, that broader demographic is in turn inspired to work in games themselves – creating a much-needed diverse workforce that can do wonders for stamping down on toxic cultures, when they’re allowed to thrive. “It’s just another stage in the evolution of the games industry,” adds Rutland. “We’ve got an ecosystem, and if the competition is making a better place to work, then it puts pressure on me to make a better place to work too. It’s an upward spiral. We push really hard on it. And the more we do that, the
more, and I know this sounds pretty mercenary, but we will stand out above it. “Ultimately, there’s a real commercial benefit to it. If you look at King, they have found a massive commercial benefit by having a diverse workforce. There’s a massive commercial benefit to your staff being happy, because the players will be happier. They’re all interlinked. This is not just business hippy shit. “Going back to Activision Blizzard, I reckon they’ll be having massive pressure from the big pension funds and stuff, who are saying, ‘we’ll no longer invest in poor working conditions in places.’ When these funds set out such a stance, they weren’t thinking about game devs in LA. “They were more or less talking about emerging economies, and now they’re having to deal with their own backyard.” The power of an increasingly diverse workforce is all the more effective with diverse leaders in place too. With more diversity in the upper echelons of the games industry, the more people can push for positive change – in their own companies and across the industry. “The diversity of leadership subject is really interesting,” notes Rutland. “I met a woman the other day, I can’t say her name, but she’s a CEO of one of the biggest engineering firms in the world, and she went through the most harrowing personal story of hers. So now every couple of months, I have a chat with her about her experiences. If you can’t create a diverse set of leaders in your company at that time, surround yourself with diversity that reminds you of what a crazy experience some people have, and help you remove those blind spots. Put yourself in the middle of it and really try to understand the problem. Because it is definitely a big problem.” The notion of ‘healthy leadership’ isn’t a one-time decision of course. Maintaining a healthy culture and a company that looks after its workers is a continuing process – one that requires constant self reflection and course-correcting. “I learn things all the time about my own organisation like ‘shit, this is really bad. I’ve got to fix this!’ It keeps my job interesting, it never really finishes. And the things that you think you fix end up creating some other problems, and you need to fix those too.” Having a toxic culture at your studio can do more than just hurt you when it comes to attracting and retaining talent – it can also affect your abillity to manage partnerships if other companies don’t want to be seen as being associated with you. “When we went through our sales process, we really looked at this deeply about who we wanted to partner
with. And there were some big companies with some really terrible stories. I was thinking, how can I turn around to the team and go, ‘we partnered with this company, and they’ve got this terrible story behind them?’ It’s affecting your own ability to get talent.” Clearly some of the leadership in our industry has a long way to go in terms of maintaining a healthy culture and protecting its workers. But Rutland remains optimistic for the future, noting a wider change in attitudes both within the industry and outside it. “Things have changed,” he notes. “Players care now, they want to know that products come from humane places. There is more and more pressure for companies to treat people well. When you look at the stock market, there are big, big trillion dollar funds that will no longer invest in boards that don’t have diversity. These are the big power brokers of the world in finance, and they have decided to make a huge shift.” THE GREAT RESIGNATION The past two years have been a period of significant change, particularly in the workplace, post-COVID. And it’s a change that any leaders with sense will have to adapt to, with workers now having more control over how and where they work than ever before. “There’s this thing they’re calling the Great Resignation,” Rutland explains. “There’s all this data that’s come out of the US workforce, that the highest amount of resignations on record has happened in the last six months. People are reassessing where they’re working, and why they’re working there. And they’re not just taking different jobs in the same industry, people are becoming teachers, healthcare workers... the world is reassessing their purpose. And if your business doesn’t provide a decent purpose...” Of course, it’s that note on leaving the industry that reminds us that we can’t be complacent. It’s one thing for a toxic studio to lose talent to one with better management – it’s another thing entirely for us to lose the diverse talent that is essential to moving our industry forward. It’s for that reason we hope to continue to encourage and celebrate healthy leadership. For the benefit of both the workers in our industry, but also to boost the power of games as a whole. And one way to do that is to encourage and elevate the young talent pouring into the industry, so that they can one day come to be leaders themselves. “In my egotistical head, I kind of hope Hutch spawns some new things out of this,” Rutland muses. “With young people in the future, in the next 10 years, going on to create even better businesses.”
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RECRUITMENT
Ins and Outs: Industry hires and moves 1
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After two years at Ukie, GEORGE OSBORN (1) now has a new job title at the UK trade body, and is now its head of campaigns and communications. JACK LANGLEY (2) has taken up a new role at Kalypso Media as senior PR manager, covering the UK, EMEA and ANZ. Prior to joining Kalypso Media, Langley was working at Wargaming. Langley asked to be included here in order “to reintroduce myself to society like a young Victorian dandy at a London season.” Bastion has five new hires to announce this summer. SAM SMITH (3) joins as an account manager. Smith comes from Bandai Namco, where was community manager. Previously he worked at Gfinity and as a journalist at Imagine Publishing. AMARESH BHANGLE (4) also joins the team as a senior account executive. Having worked agencyside in PR for four years, he has led campaigns for clients such as Amazon, and launched startups during the pandemic.
TOM EDWARDS 5) also joins as an account executive, after working in-house for Escape Hunt. Tom’s past PR experience includes the sparkly world of fashion, hospitality, and events at AKA Communications and The Tape Agency.
Next up, ADAM BOARD (9) joins as design director. Board previously managed the demo team at Improbable, before going on to help launch a mobile games start-up making casual MMOs
Still at Splash, ARTURO NOAIN (13) joins as lead production tester. Noain was previously a project manager for Testronic where he coordinated the QA for several mobile and console titles.
TINASHE MHIZHA (6) is joining the team as a PR apprentice, through the PRCA apprenticeship scheme. Tinashe has previous experience in social media management, business and IT.
JAMES FEATHERSTONE (10) also joins Splash, as head of QA. Featherstone was previously at Disguise, making visual effects technology for events, theatre, movies and TV. He has also previously worked at Eidos, EA and Codemasters.
EZEQUIEL CLAVERIE (14) joins Splash as an audio designer. Claverie was previously making audio tours and apps for museums and attractions including The Tate Modern, National Gallery, Prado Museum, The Vatican and Opera Garnier.
JOE BRIDGLAND (7) joins Bastion as a marketing & HR executive. This is his first role in the industry, and he will be applying his experience providing operations and HR functions at an equity research firm, to support Bastion’s ongoing growth.
Splash Damage also has a new environment artist in JAKE BANITAS (11). Before Splash, Banitas was working at Climax studios for three years and then with Bossa Studios. During the time at both he was doing environment art and set dressing.
Finally at Splash, DANIEL QUILL (15) joins as a gameplay programmer. Prior to joining Splash, Quill was working in software. In his spare time, he has also been developing a game which he recently released on Steam called Abacus, a retro 2D platform-shooter.
Splash Damage has eight(!) new hires to brag about. First, DAVE THOMPSON (8) joins as a development director. Thompson has spent the majority of his career in production based roles. Three years ago, he left the UK to work in Serbia with Nordeus.
Still at Splash Damage, SPENCER GRANT (12) joins as associate video editor. Grant previously worked freelance as a video editor for YouTube channels like Simon Clark, Dice Check/ MagikarpUsedFly, and Huggbees
Elsewhere, JAMES ARCHER (16) has joined Rock, Paper, Shotgun as their new hardware editor. Archer was previously working at Future Publishing, editing the audio channel of Tom’s Guide.
Curve Digital has announced four new hires across various areas of their business. First, RANJ VEKARIA (17) has joined as creative director after spending 13 years at SEGA as a creative lead where she specialised in packaging, branding and advertising. Next up, RICH EARL (18) joins as senior marketing manager. Earl was also previously at SEGA, along with stints at Bossa Studios, Capcom and TT Games in a variety of marketing roles. BOBBY WERTHEIM (19) also joins Curve as VP of partnerships after spending a decade at SEGA as director of content. Wertheim also previously worked at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Last up at Curve Digital is JAY SHIN (20) who joins the publisher as business development manager. Shin is a lecturer at the University of West London and is also the director and co-founder of indie developer Arrogant Pixel.
Got an appointment you’d like to share with the industry? Email Chris Wallace at chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk 30 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2021
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Rising Star
Every month, we pick the brain of an up-and-coming talent
Trisha Francis, production assistant at SIDE, talks about moving from the NHS to audio production after a long and patient period applying for industry roles
How did you break into games? I actually applied for the role of a facilities assistant at SIDE and was pleasantly surprised to hear that, due to my experience within the NHS, I was being considered for the audio production assistant role. The reason I applied to SIDE was their catalogue of titles they have worked on is extremely impressive – I instantly knew I wanted to be a part of it! I worked in the NHS for 15 years, but during this time I always had expectations for myself to break into the gaming industry. I’ve always had a passion for games and, when the opportunity arose from SIDE, I didn’t hesitate to take the risk to join as an audio production assistant. The biggest challenge I personally faced transitioning from the NHS was adjusting to the environment. However, I feel that I am very open in terms of learning and will usually find my feet very quickly.
“I remember playing the original Hitman game back 2000 – so having the pleasure to work on Hitman 3 was quite an achievement in my eyes.”
was bigger than I had first imagined, but I am grateful for that experience as it has become a great learning curve for me. With the help and constant support of my colleagues at SIDE I was able to overcome these challenges and continue to develop my skills on a daily basis. What do you enjoy most about your job? There are always different aspects of my role that constantly challenge, educate, and inspire me to do better. It’s the gratitude and the appreciation I receive from either my colleagues or service providers that lets me know I’m doing a good job, which makes me want to continue doing what I do to a higher standard.
What has been your proudest achievement so far? My proudest achievement to date is seeing my name affiliated for the first time in the credits of a game that I have worked on with the production team. There’s nothing quite like seeing my name in a game that I have previously played and then having the opportunity to work on the latest instalment. I remember playing the original Hitman game back 2000 – so having the pleasure to work on Hitman 3 was quite an achievement in my eyes. What has been your biggest challenge to date? The biggest challenge for me was realising that the scope and scale of the gaming industry
What’s your biggest ambition in games? My biggest ambition in games is to continue to work on different projects, learn and progress as far as I can with the intention of becoming a senior production manager. I would also like to offer advice, mentoring and experience to others entering the industry via this route. What advice would you give to an aspiring audio production assistant? Preparation! It is vital to gather as much information as you can about the company you wish to be part of. Before my interview, I spent days gathering information about titles SIDE have worked on, awards they had won and the services that they provide. Prior to landing my role at SIDE, I spent ten years applying for jobs in the gaming industry, so my best advice is to always stay positive and never give up. Always be open and willing to learn and you will go far!
If there’s a rising star at your company, contact Chris Wallace at chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 31
RECRUITMENT
Cherry picked advice to help you reach the next level in your career
Carly Moxey, account director at Dead Good PR, talks humility and confidence, the varied paths to PR, regular appraisals, and her Bloodborne achievements
What is your job role and how would you describe your typical day at work? The nature of the role is that there isn’t really a typical day. As account director, I oversee all account managers and PR consultants, as well as monitor and maintain our relationships with existing and new clients. On a day-to-day basis, I do still manage some clients, and make sure that I’m available for any general queries and support staff across our PR and influencer teams here in North America and back in the UK. We were working remotely before the pandemic, and whilst we did have an office in Montréal for staff based there, most Dead Good team members work from home. This set up doesn’t suit everyone, so it falls to the company director (Stu Taylor) and I to make sure that everyone on the team feels supported. The regular team and individual video calls help that, as well as the twice a year staff appraisals and performance reviews.
What qualifications and/or experience do you need to land this job? I could get flack by the Uni crowd for saying this, but I don’t think that it’s essential to have a formal Marketing Degree or Masters, although it’s definitely a bonus. In my opinion, a readiness to learn on the job, work your way up and a genuine interest in PR and games is just as important. As a humble Bloodborne completionist, if you can bend my ear about anything Bloodborne (or DOOM-related), you’ll have my heart! Personality goes a long way too. We work in an environment in which we’re the middlepeople between clients and media/content creators, and so I feel that being genuine and personable really helps people on all sides relate to you. This is the stuff that you can’t really teach – you either have that skill or you don’t. I’d always loved games, but even as a persistent six-year-old begging my mum for a ZX Spectrum I could never have imagined that all roads would lead to a PR career within the gaming industry, but here we are! In another life I worked in the Media School at Bournemouth University supporting long-distance Masters Students as their programme administrator. I worked closely with the university’s marketing and PR teams, this led me to working as a freelance PR consultant within the restaurant industry and then eventually on to Dead Good where I started as a PR consultant. So all this is to say, there are plenty of other people working within gaming PR who haven’t got here through what would be considered a “conventional” career path. And I view that as a positive, since it provides our area of the industry with a lot of different viewpoints and approaches to campaigns, which can only benefit clients.
If you were interviewing someone for your team, what would you look for? Read the job description and do some homework on the company! It’s really obvious when a prospective candidate hasn’t done this, particularly if they’ve made it through to the faceto-face interview stage. It also depends on the level of the position the applicant is applying for, but overall, we want to know why you’d be the best fit for the role. For a more junior PR role, you don’t have to have had experience within the games industry, but how does the experience you do have translate to the position that you’re applying for? Also, I’d say that getting the balance right between confidence and arrogance is key – having a bit of humility working in a constantly evolving part of the industry really helps, as there is always something new to learn! What career opportunities are there? As we’re a team of nine, options are relatively limited, but for junior roles there is a clear path. The twice-yearly staff appraisals help us and the team members to spotlight their achievements over a six-month period, as well as any development areas we feel are worth highlighting. These are very much an open forum and an opportunity for the team members to explore how they want to progress with Dead Good. It might sound cheesy, but we really do want people to be invested in the business and feel that they have a voice. We also seek input on potential new business projects from the people who will be working on them – we never want the team to feel that “senior management” are signing up stuff just for the money and then handing it over to them to deliver on what might have been promised.
Want to talk about your career and inspire people to follow the same path? Contact Chris Wallace at chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk
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RECRUITMENT
Recruiter Hotseat Frontier Developments is hiring! We spoke to talent acquisition partner Declan Blayney to find out about the benefits of working at one of the UK’s biggest self-publishing developers
What differentiates your studio from other developers? We’re an independent developer and publisher based in the wonderful city of Cambridge, with a 27 year legacy of much loved titles including Elite Dangerous, Planet Coaster, Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Zoo to name a few! We’re passionate about creating authentic worlds through innovative, genre leading games. We’ve grown significantly over recent years taking us to over 670 people. There couldn’t be a better time to join, we have an exciting pipeline of games with Warhammer: Age of Sigmar and F1 licenced games currently in development, lots of opportunities to join, have your say and grow with us!
problems is what we’re looking for in our developers. Technical skills and knowledge is always important but we also need people who can demonstrate that they can take constructive feedback and work collaboratively as part of a team. We want to see your passion for games too, so make sure you tell us about what games you like and why. Most of us are gamers too!
What perks are available to working at your studio? We want our people to share in the company’s success, so as well as a competitive salary there are generous company bonus and equity schemes. We also offer flexible working and will soon be trialling a hybrid working model as we look to reconnect with the studio. We put the wellbeing of our teams at the centre of work and provide support to staff such as free 1-to-1 counselling, mindfulness and yoga sessions. Of course, there’s a range of other perks and benefits such as gym membership discount, a staff restaurant, private health care and regular social events.
If you have recruited internationally what is the process like? We recruit worldwide to find the best talent at all levels; we’ve sponsored numerous Skilled Worker Visas so far this year, and hired people from as far afield as Nigeria, Ecuador and California! We know that time zones can make the interview process complicated, so we always make a special effort to accommodate candidates and support their needs throughout the process. We pride ourselves on being a culturally diverse studio with over 38 different nationalities, so we have plenty of experience supporting people and families in moving to an area which is local to Cambridge. We offer a comprehensive and supportive relocation package to make the process as smooth and stress-free as possible. If you’re overseas and interested in joining us then your location certainly won’t be a barrier for the majority of our roles.
What advice would you give for a successful interview at your studio? It’s okay not to know everything in an interview (we don’t expect you to!) but a willingness to learn and an appetite for solving challenging
What processes do you have for onboarding staff remotely? During the pandemic we didn’t slow down our hiring (in fact we sped up!), which is testament to the work of various departments, staff and
Declan Blayney, Frontier Developments
managers who needed to adapt quickly to the unprecedented situation we found ourselves in. We’ve now hired around 280 people since the first lockdown! As a new starter, the equipment you need to do your job is delivered to your home ready for your first day. On your first day HR will make you feel welcome and give you a fantastic induction via video call; introducing Frontier’s history, current projects and future plans. Your line manager will then be on hand to introduce you to the team and show you how things work. From September, we’ll be moving to on-site induction (although the majority of staff will still be working remotely for now) and we very much look forward to meeting people in person once again.
If you’d like to feature your recruitment team on this page then contact Alex Boucher – alex.boucher@biz-media.co.uk September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 33
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Debugging D&I Amiqus’ Business Manager Liz Prince speaks to Sitara Shefta, head of studio at No Brakes Games and a member of the POC in Play team, about how studios can make their workplaces welcoming and attractive to people of colour… How do we as an industry attract more people of colour into games? One of the most important things we can do to attract new, and retain existing POC, is to ensure that we make the industry a safe and welcoming space. This means recognising and embracing people for their differences. Studios need to be honest, critical, and proactive in making changes to attract new and retain existing diverse talent. Put POC into leadership positions. There are already some POC working in the industry, but we are less visible because we’re not given opportunities. We need to be more inclusive; invite POC to do talks or join panels at events. Don’t just invite us to diversity panels. Ask us to talk about our skills, talents and have us represent the games we make. Representation matters. Let’s also make an active effort to go into schools and colleges which have a higher percentage of POC students and give them an opportunity to learn about game development. We should also reduce barriers to get into the industry. Make sure job descriptions focus on responsibilities and skills required, rather than years of experience or education, as these reinforce current inequalities. What are your four top tips on how studios can support people of colour? Listen to your staff. It sounds basic, but it’s one of the most fundamental things you can do. What are POC at your studio already telling you that you need to do to support them? Listen and act on it. Invest in nurturing POC talent. Value this talent, invest in this talent and ensure they are fairly promoted. POC will feel valued, and by having more of us in leadership positions, POC will be more likely to apply.
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Unconscious bias training. Empower studios with the knowledge and skills to be considerate of and look after POC staff. It would also help with recruitment, as POC will be less likely to be overlooked for job interviews. Eradicate problematic culture. No-one should feel unsafe in the workplace (or anywhere else), don’t be accepting of discriminatory behaviour.
Sitara Shefta is head of studio at No Brakes Games. During her career, she has worked on titles such as Human: Fall Flat and LittleBigPlanet 3.
Do you think discrimination against this group exists in games? Yes, it’s a two-sided issue. Firstly, there’s the industry itself. All we have to do is look at the lack of POC working in the industry – there simply aren’t enough of us and we must acknowledge why. It also exists within games. There still aren’t enough games with POC protagonists. I’m tired of games where Arabs are the enemies, with another white protagonist, where the customisation options don’t have my skin colour. It’s problematic and unfair. Tell us more about POC In Play, its goals and its activities? We’re a group of games industry professionals whose goal is to increase the visibility and representation of People of Colour in the games industry. We run monthly meet ups and highlight existing POC talent in the industry. Why should the games industry ensure that it keeps a focus on people in colour? We need diverse perspectives to create and influence games. Games are played by people of different backgrounds, cultures, genders, religions, race. The only way forward as an industry is if games are made by diverse teams, that reflect the diversity of the world and its players.
At Amiqus, we have many resources available to help, so please do get in touch via liz.prince@amiqus.com
Picture Perfect Robot Turtle’s eye-catching Viewfinder went home the victor of Europlay 2021 late last month. Chris Wallace reaches out to the team to find out what makes this upcoming photography game so special
L
ate last month I had something of an unusual experience. Now bear with me, because this is going to sound pretty out there: But I was actually outside of my flat. In a North London bar. Talking to people who work in the games industry. We really should come up with a name for that sort of thing. As the media partners of Ukie’s UK Game of the Show and Europlay (think Eurovision but for unreleased video games), I had the honour of judging a wide array of incredible-looking unreleased titles – from a bear who runs a B&B in the woods to a suspiciously sexy Poirot. But ultimately there could only be one winner – And the UK’s very own Robot Turtle went home the victor of Europlay 2021. Viewfinder is a unique puzzle game built around a truly fascinating mechanic, one that really is best seen in action.
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Which I admit is a little difficult for a print publication, but I’ll do my best. The player interacts with the game’s world via a polaroid camera. Take a picture, and then hold that picture up in front of you, and its contents become a part of the world. For a basic example, you could hold up a photograph of a bridge, and lo and behold said bridge will appear before you, opening up a new path. In practice however, things can get a lot more complicated. The game has boundless potential for creativity and experimentation, so we’re certain to see people’s problem-solving all over social media once the game is finally out. It’s all a lot to take in, and certainly a lot to get excited about. Which is why we wasted no time in sitting down with Matt Stark, game director at Robot Turtle, and former Lionhead developer Georg Backer to find out more.
MAKING AN INCEPTION While the pair were delighted and surprised to have won, spending much of our time together passionately discussing which of the competition’s games had interested them the most, they nonetheless shared the excitement we felt about getting our hands on Viewfinder. “I think that one thing that is really cool about it,” says Stark, “is that when people see it, they want to get their hands on it. They want to try things with it. It’s not just that they want to see it being played, they really want to see what they can do with it, and what it will let them do. “You can get really creative with it. You can make really cool screenshots where you take a chunk of the world and you repeat it like 10 times, and it’s upside down and twisted in different angles and stuff. You can suddenly get some very Inception-like screenshots. So it’ll be really cool to see what people come up with.” The team are tight-lipped about when the rest of us can play the game, but Backer is keen to share his experiences on an early prototype of Viewfinder. “What I love about it is that sure, you have the simple setup of the picture mechanic – hold up a photo, and that picture becomes reality,” says Backer. “But once you grasp that, you start to realise the implications of it, there’s this domino effect where you just think ‘holy shit!’ “I still remember to this day when Matt sent me the original prototype. I’d seen the stuff he’d already posted on Twitter, and thought it looked interesting. I loaded up the prototype and played it through – I didn’t stop. It was two hours later, and it was one of the first things I’ve opened and immediately played through to the end. As busy people, you don’t take that luxury very often. That was when I realised that holy shit, this is a very cool idea.” Of course, the game needs to be more than just a cool idea. Eye-catching mechanics are all well and good, but you need more than that to carry a full-length experience. “When I was first showing off the game,” says Stark, “a lot of people’s questions were: ‘Can it be a full game? Can it be more than just like a short tech demo?’ So the question that I was really trying to answer with the first prototype was just, does it have that longevity? Can you have a wide variety of puzzles and stuff with it?
“What I love is that you have the simple setup of the picture mechanic – hold up a photo, and that picture becomes reality.” “Once I got to that point where I proved to myself that it could be a full game, that’s when things really started to take off. With mechanics like this, part of the challenge is figuring things out. What does it look like as a game? What would the actual challenge be? I mean, there’s so many directions it could go in.” PICTURE PERFECT While Robot Turtle eventually settled on a more slow-paced, enjoyable puzzle experience, knowing what to do with a mechanic and actually implementing it are two very different things. And the potential headaches of introducing magical photographs you can rotate and step inside of are… numerous, to say the least. Has the team struggled with this? “Yes!” Stark laughs. “Every mechanic in the game has to be fully compatible with the picture mechanic. What that means is that, you need to be able to flip it on its head, you need to be able to cut it up in any way, you need to be able to erase it from the world... Yeah, there’s so many weird situations there. “And in addition to that, a video we released recently shows us rewinding time in it. So that means that every bit of every element both has to work with a picture mechanic, and has to be able to
Below: It’s not just photographs, the game sees you stepping into painted worlds too
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 37
Above: Early gameplay footage shows using the camera to place bridges
work both backwards and forwards through time. So yeah, it can be a tricky thing to get working. “And to make it even worse, everything needs to be able to apply visual effects to things. So in the previous video, there’s a bit where you pull up an oil painting, and there’s kind of some effects on it that makes everything look a bit more oil paintingy, and stuff like that needs to be applied. There’s also pictures that turn everything grayscale, and that has to be able to be applied to everything. “So yeah, there’s a lot of moving parts. There’s definitely challenges there. But on the flip side, it’s also a really interesting project to work on because it has these really interesting programming and design challenges.” Even games as unique and interesting as Viewfinder pull inspiration from somewhere. Many people’s initial response to a first person puzzle game with a unique central mechanic is to point to Portal. And while there are certainly some similarities there, the team is more inspired by the
“Puzzles and narratives are the hardest combination. You take something that is systematic like this mechanic, and then build in a narrative that hopefully takes the player on a journey… it’s stupid hard.”
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cohesiveness of Portal, rather than any singular mechanic. “Without giving too much away,” says Backer, “We’re very aware that, with a game like this where you’ve got a unique mechanic, there’s always the danger of being able to veer into gimmicky territory very easily. What’s really cool is that everyone that’s involved in it is very, very aware that this can happen. So we are making a huge conscious effort to make sure that this game is what it wants to be, not what we want it to be.” “Yeah, we’ve been figuring out how to get it so it doesn’t just feel like we kind of tacked a bunch of stuff on to try and pad it out,” adds Stark, “we want to make it feel like a cohesive whole. And that’s one thing that Portal does incredibly well. Every single bit of Portal is in service to the main mechanic in some way.” “That’s the thing,” Backer agrees, “We don’t want this to be a few gimmicky levels. The game wants to be a coherent journey that you go through as a player. You have fun with the mechanics, but you’re also taken on a journey. We’re very serious about the narrative approach, we’re very serious about making sure that it’s all in service of the game. And those are often some of the biggest conversations. “The type of games where everything feels like it came from one cloth, that’s what’s important to us. That’s what we had in mind when we were putting the team together, we were looking for people with that kind of sensibility. It’s not just about designing a puzzle, it’s about designing a world in which this puzzle can exist, where it’s coherent and makes sense. “That’s the hardest thing to do, puzzles and narratives are the hardest combination. You take something that is systematic like this mechanic, and then build in a narrative that hopefully takes the player on a journey… it’s stupid hard.” “Yeah, it can be quite hard to contextualise,” agrees Stark. “I mean, if you’ve got a fighting game, it’s not that hard to contextualise – you just have to tell a story where there’s conflict, but a puzzle game is a lot more challenging.” THINKING WITH PORTALS Robot Turtle’s desire for a cohesive puzzle game isn’t the only place where Portal’s influence can be found. From Half Life 2’s Gravity Gun to the Portal
FROM INDIE TO AAA AND SINGLE MARKET TO GLOBAL CAMPAIGNS – RENAISSANCE HAS ALL YOUR PR AND CONTENT CREATORS NEEDS COVERED “I believe we need to remember there are faces behind all those emails, and real people behind the screens of all these zoom calls. This is one of the reasons we are proud to sponsor IRL. We support the idea to have an award ceremony that is focused on recognising people versus brands. This is one of the pillars of Renaissance as a communication agency. With 3 people in US and 7 in the UK we are really looking forward to reconnect in person” Stefano Petrullo - CEO
Our Values: We believe in ethical communications, working with the client to ensure their creativity is experienced by the right people at the right time.
Our Mission: Create the best possible conditions for your project to succeed; whether it’s a product launch or corporate announcement; through strategic thinking with measurable result but no unnecessary jargon! Our Team: Based in the UK and North America, Renaissance is built upon a foundation of talent and excellence with our core team boasting more than 100 years’ experience in games PR, Marketing, Product Management and Content Creator relations spanning the Indie and AAA categories.
www.renaissancepr.co.uk
Above: We were predictably excited by the idea of being able to step inside game screenshots
Below: The camera mechanic means that these magic photos can be pulled from anywhere
Gun, Valve are in many ways the experts in making unusual new mechanics quickly feel natural to the player, something that Viewfinder would do well to emulate. “A big part of Portal is you actually learning the mechanic, getting your head around it and finding different ways in which you can use it to your advantage,” says Stark. “It’s like the whole game is almost like a tutorial in that sense. “And I think that Viewfinder both will and should be kind of like that, because it is quite a difficult mechanic to get your head around, it is something that you need to gradually learn. What we tend to find is, if we give the player the camera right from the beginning, it can be quite overwhelming. We’re gonna have to manage that quite carefully, and gradually onboard the player into the mechanic.” Once onboarded though, there’s plenty of room for experimenting in Viewfinder. Stark himself admits that players will almost certainly come up with creative solutions to puzzles that he’d never thought of, given the variety in ways the game’s central mechanic can be utilised.
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“Every time I see someone testing any of my levels, it’s almost certain that they’ll come up with at least one better solution that I hadn’t thought of or seen before.” And that potential for emergent gameplay really opens Viewfinder up to a lucrative market: that of influencers and speedrunners. “I think it will be really good for speedrunners,” notes Stark. “Because there’s a lot of flexibility in terms of how you approach situations. But also more generally, I think it’s a game that people will have fun watching being played, because of how creative you can be in solving things. There’s often more than one solution to any puzzle, there doesn’t necessarily need to be a single, correct solution.” Of course, the problem with emergent gameplay is making sure that players won’t accidentally break the game… “I think this is the one where we will probably cry a lot during QA,” Backer predicts. “I think I might leave the project before QA starts, is that okay?”
“I think this is the one where we will probably cry a lot during QA... I might leave the project before QA starts, is that okay?” QA issues aside, this is very clearly a passion project – for Stark in particular, having dropped out of university to work on Viewfinder. And with the pair revealing that they have a VR prototype in the works, it’s one that’s shaping up nicely. “Whenever Matt presents Viewfinder to us,” reveals Backer, “it’s like he’s this kid who’s so excited to show you what he’s done. Every week is just another instance of ‘holy shit, how do you come up with this stuff?’ I’ve never seen someone so excited to show you something, so full of joy, as when Matt talks about Viewfinder. It’s just a joy to watch.” “Well, yeah, I absolutely love working on Viewfinder,” says Stark. “It’s such an interesting project to work on. It’s got such interesting design challenges, it just creates so many opportunities.”
How to look sharp and sell fast online
Brought to you by
Incorrect or missing information in online store product listings will seriously impact your sales. Peter Laughton, CEO of eebz, highlights some of the most common errors… OUR last article in MCV/DEVELOP looked at the four levers of Digital Shelf Discoverability, namely Search Engine Ranking Position (SERP), search term optimisation, SKU name representation and packshot conformity, and their importance for ensuring your game pages are optimised on retailer sites, whether for digital downloads or physical items. In short, a clear and consistent online product representation is one of the most important discoverability aspects in the world of e-commerce. Get it wrong and your monthly sales reports won’t be quite what you were expecting. We need to ensure products are displayed correctly on the digital shelf with consistent and compelling content to drive consumer conversions. But what are the common issues we see on listing pages? We took a deep dive into our data to illustrate the consistency issues we routinely see across various categories (not just games). Here are three examples we found of misrepresented products for multiple industries worldwide: 1. LOW SERP TRIPLE-A TITLES
The search results ranking for these two triple-A titles, God of War on EB in New Zealand and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on Mediamarkt in Poland are 13th and 17th, respectively. The positions should be much higher for the games in question, which immediately tells us significant improvements can be made to the product listings. If your game can’t be seen, it can’t be bought.
2. INCORRECT OR MISSING PACK SHOTS
3. ABSENT OR ERRONEOUS TITLES
Images are responsible for some of the most common errors we see, with the examples below highlighting PS5 pack shots for Just Dance PS4, a one-month PS Plus subscription card with a 12-month image and, finally, no images at all for the SSD. All three errors are likely to sow doubts with your prospective customer and could lead to lost sales.
Probably the most significant regular offender is your game simply having the wrong title in a store or, worse still, no title at all. In the non-games example below, we can see that it is missing the E14 bulb type, a key discoverability factor in the product name; that consumers will invariably be looking for, which could lead them to ignore your listing as a result. Ultimately, once they discover or see your product online a potential shopper needs to understand it instantly or else the sale is lost, which means tracking SERPs, EAN, pack shots, reviews, age ratings and many other data points are vital if you want to win the digital shelf battle.
To avoid these all-too-common mistakes, your sales and marketing teams need to be in a position where they can spot errors and correct them quickly, which means having the right data at their fingertips at the right time. In the next issue of MCV/DEVELOP we will be looking at preparing and optimising the digital shelf live throughout Black Friday and other special events. eebz is the world’s premier product relationship management system that integrates bricks and mortar, e-commerce and digital channels. To find out more, visit www.eebz.com, email info@eebz.com or call 020 3886 0265
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The Best Place to Sell? Sony’s PlayStation has topped the console landscape for generations. So why are some indies struggling to make the most from it? Chris Wallace finds out
Pictured clockwise: Matthew White, Whitethorn Games; Mike Rose, No More Robots; Iain Garner Neon Doctrine
C
onsumers clearly think that PlayStation remains the ‘Best Place to Play’. It’s been the console market leader for multiple generations, and the seemingly insatiable desire for PlayStation 5 sees the console selling out instantly, even eight months after launch. Things are rosy at PlayStation it seems. So why then are some indie developers taking to Twitter to discuss the challenges of doing business on the PlayStation Store? And why, given the huge popularity of both PS4 and PS5, are those indie publishers reporting that PlayStation is their lowestperforming platform? Now, this certainly isn’t a ‘Sony bad’ situation (so please don’t link to my articles for petty console war Twitter rows). Each of the people we spoke to have great things to say about the Sony team, but nonetheless, as Neon Doctrine co-founder Iain Garner put it: “I don’t think any of the big three is doing a perfect job of managing indie accounts but Sony is by far the worst. I think the number of
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devs that have responded to my Twitter thread shows that I tapped into something.” The Twitter thread Garner is referring to is one in which he laid out the difficulties of publishing a game on a mysterious “Platform X,” defined as being the “operator of a very successful console and does not have Games Pass.” We’ll leave you to work that one out on your own. Garner’s points, which were soon joined by those of other indies, outlined a situation in which developers are unable to efficiently manage their games on PlayStation Store. And while they’re unable to move the needle on sales by themselves, Sony often does little to help promote their game, making them “jump through hoops, beg and plead for any level of promotion.” REVENUE BREAKDOWN All of this results in a situation where they claim it is more difficult to release, monetize, monitor, or market your game on PlayStation than on competing storefronts. As Whitethorn Games CEO Matthew White shared his own
thoughts on the situation, with a “totally hypothetical definitely not real revenue breakdown” in a thread that noted “less than 3% of sales as a company are on [‘Platform X’].” “We don’t advertise any one platform over others,” White elaborated to us. “When we run ads, you’ll see “available now on X, Y, Z” etc. To that end, the only two levers affecting sales per platform for us that are extraneous to our control are demographics of the audience, and surfacing/ opportunities/marketing on the [platform] side. “Our games are casual, approachable, cute titles – as a result, they find a natural home on Nintendo products, mobile products, and the like. This has nothing to do with business practices, but rather just the demographics of our audience tend to line up nicely with the demographics of those products. “Following that logic, you would assume that sales on Xbox and sales on PlayStation would be relatively similar, since they target similar KPIs like high frame rates, high fidelity graphics, great big games, etc. And yet, as you can see, the breakdown is... not similar.” Even more frustratingly, this is a situation that presumably is hurting Sony too. “I think this directly impacts my revenue AND it impacts Sony’s,” adds Garner. “What confuses me is the sheer amount of money that they are leaving on the table by not empowering us to control the fates of our own products.” VISIBILITY The heart of a matter is there’s a simple visibility issue on PlayStation right now, one that is naturally more frustrating from indie creators. “The core reason you’re seeing more and more talk about indies on PlayStation, and seeing more indie publishers choosing not to launch their latest games on PlayStation, is because PlayStation is currently the only major platform where you have very little organic visibility for your title on the day you launch,” says No More Robots’ Mike Rose. “Overall, there are very few PlayStation users who use the store to find new games – instead, they go to the PlayStation Store with the knowledge of the game they already want. So as a result, there’s very little organic discoverability. “A lot of gamers will respond to this by saying ‘Well just sell your game better then!!’ This kind of response just shows ignorance of how 99 per cent of the video game industry works. The AAA studios can obviously pay bucketloads of money to get their
games perfectly positioned on stores come launch day, but for the vast majority of games, organic discoverability is a huge deal, and compliments your own marketing strategy to a huge degree. “It’s the reason that you’ll see games all of a sudden come out of the blue, and sell millions on Steam – because Valve has built a platform that encourages this to happen. “On a platform with zero organic growth, there are only really two ways to sell your game: Either you need to have already been a massive title on other platforms (we had this with Descenders, and it’s why Descenders does so well on PlayStation), or you need to spend shitloads of ad money to be in the right places, which is obviously not possible for most studios. So that’s why more studios are now launching elsewhere first, and then maybe coming to PlayStation later if they have big success elsewhere.” So the PlayStation Store appears to have a discoverability problem – but why has Sony been either unable to address this? “I have zero inside information,” notes White, “but what it feels like from the outside is a lack of resources and corporate-level support for the missions that folks on the indie team at PlayStation seem to be doing their hardest to advance. That is a total guess and in no way authoritative!” “Anyone who has used the PlayStation backend will tell you that large parts of it are absolutely ancient,” adds Garner. “It’s a system built for an ecosystem that doesn’t exist anymore. You can see where new layers have been added but it’s all built on and around this ancient core that was not designed for the realities of 2021. “Their whole system is built around someone at Sony liking your game enough to push it through. I don’t want to have to schmooze my way in, I don’t know how and I don’t have the time. I work with game developers from around the world, the majority in developing regions. My time, energy, and funds are spent on making their games awesome and showing them to players. I can do my own marketing, build my own audience and community, I don’t need Sony or anyone else for that. Sony’s system takes none of this into account and relies exclusively on personal relationships within the company and that’s not how it should work in 2021.” THE FIXES Still, if our interviewees were able to schmooze their way into Sony’s offices to push for remedies to this
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situation, what would they suggest? “It would be great to see an Xbox style dedicated team that runs AM, finance, marketing, tech, etc. Duties specifically for indies,” says White. “On the other side of that coin, I’d love to see the storefront and the surfacing reflect that. “The user-flow on the store itself is also abysmal. Try to find a well-known indie on the store right now, on-device. Let’s say Shovel Knight, Minecraft, whatever. Use the D-Pad and count the number of times you have to press buttons on the controller before you reach the product you’re looking for. Now, do the same for every other platform, storefront, reseller, and mobile device. Where does PlayStation fall on your list?” “Honestly, I want them all to get out of our way. Instead of sending games through committees and contacts we should be letting the games speak for themselves. Steam and Itch.io have shown that you can foster amazing communities by creating tools and letting developers and publishers use those tools. “I want individuals there to speak with, help highlight, and push for niche content too but really, all I want is the ability to stand on my own without having to beg for attention. If my games are making 100s of thousands on Steam, there is no reason they shouldn’t be making 100s on PlayStation too, it doesn’t make sense.” Such changes are impossible to implement overnight, but as complaints build it seems as if something will have to be done to make PlayStation a more indie-friendly platform. “I think change is inevitable,” says Garner. “Either Sony will need to pivot and become exclusively about AAA games or it will need to make real tools to accommodate indies. Right now their system is the worst of both worlds, loads of bureaucracy and the need for personal connections without any transparent information on what will help you succeed on the platform.” “I think there are a lot of great people at Playstation that are trying very hard to get indies better representation, tools, and resources,” adds White. “I hope this conversation will give those folks the ammunition they need to leverage change at a corporate level.” Following up on that note there, while indie developers and publishers might be frustrated with Sony, there’s no ill will here. And to hear
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Garner tell it, the team at Sony are likely as frustrated as they are: “The people are all great and both understand and apologize for the situation. I strongly suspect that a lot of people within Sony would agree with what I said. Unfortunately, these good people are shackled by an obsolete bureaucracy and can’t do anything about it. I have never had any success on PlayStation.” THE FUTURE The kind of change indies are pushing for can take a long time, especially at a huge company like Sony. With the current situation, will some indies come to rethink if it’s worth releasing on PlayStation at all? “This has been an ongoing internal debate,” notes Garner. “We have several titles in development for PS5 right now, but if things don’t change, I can imagine a world where we walk away and focus on platforms that give us the tools to support ourselves.” Though as White adds, there’s still enough positives to being on PlayStation to make indies stick it out for now. “Yes, we’ll keep releasing on PlayStation. As of right now, developers and gamers don’t necessarily have insight into the revenue breakdowns by platform and the kinds of challenges and opportunities each platform presents. “PlayStation is a loss leader for us. We have a very hard time monetizing titles on the platform as the discussion clearly demonstrates, however, the audience base is enormous – so PlayStation releases do generate a huge amount of visibility. PushSquare or other major outlets will feature our titles, which will trickle down to smaller outlets, streamers, tweets, etc. that results in conversions on other platforms. Since we do our own porting in house, we’ll continue to do this for the foreseeable future.” As for right now though, it’s just a matter of waiting, and hoping that Sony will be able to address these concerns in good time. “PlayStation are aware of all this, and I know they are trying to rectify it,” says Rose. “So it’s a bit of a wait and see situation. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on their movements over the next couple of years, as it’s only a good thing for us if we have a whole additional platform where our games can sell.”
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Euromillions Barcelona’s Omnidrone, Leamington Spa’s Pixel Toys, and Dundee’s Tag Games have received a combined $50m investment and will work closely with the Marvel Strike Force developer on new titles. Seth Barton finds out more.
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T
he biggest games today are usually created by teams that cross company boundaries, with publishers, developers and outsourcers working together to bring a project to fruition. However, such partnerships can still be rigid and transactional in nature. Scopely, though, is looking for a more holistic collaboration, under its Scopely Studio Ecosystem initiative, and that applies to both internal and external partners of the Marvel Strike Force developer, where it promises to eliminate the traditional boundaries between developer and publisher. As part of that initiative the company has just announced a $50m investment in three European, including two UK, studios: Barcelona’s Omnidrone, Leamington Spa’s Pixel Toys, and Dundee’s Tag Games. In practice that means the studios can benefit from Scopely’s publishing infrastructure, operating system, and proprietary technology platform – Playgami. SCOPING IT OUT Scopely chief revenue officer Tim O’Brien explains to us in more detail how these deals differed from simple workfor-hire contracts to create new titles for Scopely. “Our games are true collaborations between Scopely product leaders and our game studios – whether those are internal Scopely Studios or external partner studios, like the three we are talking about today. Our philosophy has always been that the best products are the result of truly unified and collaborative game teams. We aim to bring together the most talented experts who are passionate and experienced in specific game genres and then eliminate the traditional boundaries between developer and publisher, co-creating as a single team. “Our partnerships are set up from day one to accomplish this type of collaboration and integration. We have also set up our operations and technology platform Playgami to be flexible and dynamic based on each development team’s needs. We strive to create a game making culture that empowers creativity and drives success.” Pixel Toys is one of Scopely’s newly-announced partners, though the pair have been working together for some time it becomes apparent. The Leamington-based studio is best known for its Warhammer-related titles, such as Fireblade, Realm War and the recent Battle Sister. And Pixel Toys CEO Andy Wafer is very positive about the collaboration to date: “We pride ourselves on making big, bold games that defy expectations – and that’s only possible because of our uniquely talented and creative people. Scopely shares our mindset and our teams instantly meshed, and that strong dynamic will continue to unlock creativity and shared
learnings that will deliver incredible experiences for players,” says Wafer about the unannounced title. “We have already learned so much from joining this ecosystem and leveraging the power of Scopely’s Playgami technology and feel highly valued for the expertise and creativity that our studio is contributing as well,” Wafer continues. “This funding represents an investment in the future of fun,” he adds. And while the exact details of the structure of the investment are not public, Scopely’s O’Brien is keen to impress upon us just how far these deals are from work for hire. “While every partnership is unique, our goal is never to structure external studio partnerships as work-forhire; we are instead one team committed to a long-term relationship and delivering for players for years to come. We invest in our partner studios to remove any constraints that they may have on their business, which generally could include access to capital, technology capabilities, recruiting talent to grow their teams, publishing infrastructure, and more. “In the case of investments like these, we are providing the resources to co-create and deliver the deepest, most immersive games possible. We work with our partners because of their world-class talent and what they bring to the game making process, and they work with us because of the unique, highly integrated studio ecosystem that we have built.” TAG TEAM Marc Williamson, CEO of Tag Games, is more than happy to back up O’Brien’s line: “Having worked with many publishers over the years, Scopely has differentiated themselves as a company of game makers that value collaboration and iteration for the betterment of the player experience above all else.” The Dundee-based developer has worked on titles as diverse as Pocket Mortys, racing title CSR2, Downton Abbey: Mysteries of the Manor and Prison Architect Mobile. Even then, Williamson is impressed with Scopely’s offering. “We’ve been inspired by what we’ve learned from their rich ecosystem so far and look forward to what more we can do together. “With Scopely’s support and the technology they’ve built to create truly personalized player experiences as well as the knowledge-sharing across studios, game making is a highly enjoyable adventure.”
Tim O’Brien, Chief Revenue Officer, Scopely
Marc Williamson, CEO, Tag Games
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Gerard Fernandez, CEO, Omnidrone
Andy Wafer, Pixel Toys
Scopely’s O’Brien provides more details about the breadth of what’s on offer to partners. “They benefit from what we call our ‘operating system,’ or the people and processes that power our game-making at Scopely, including our publishing infrastructure, cross-functional ‘learning machine,’ and proprietary technology platform Playgami, which offers a range of tools and products. These Scopely differentiators enable teams to unlock their full potential and not only create games players love, but also grow them into great, long-term businesses.” By that O’Brien means to help eliminate distractions such as funding, talent, technology etc. “Partners are also able to co-create products that are based on some of the most beloved AAA IPs in the world – access that they oftentimes would not typically have on their own. The studios also blend as one game team with Scopely product leaders, engineers, analysts, marketers and more, which aims to add more value and inputs to the creative process.” That’s something Omnidrive’s CEO Gerard Fernandez is happy to concur with. “Scopely’s investment in our team allows us the freedom to create a truly unique, fresh and ambitious atmosphere at Omnidrone, and attract even more talent to our studio,” he said. “We can combine the agility of a boutique games studio with the expertise, leadership, and transformative technology of Scopely to collaborate on innovative game experiences that are just as exciting to develop as they are to play. With more than 30 open roles, we are actively seeking the world’s best in game-making to join us on this adventure with Scopely in Barcelona,” he notes. EURO 2021 Scopely is headquartered in Los Angeles, and has made a very conscious choice to announce these three European investments together. We wonder if that’s because it’s keen to take onboard developers who have a certain outlook, to better engage a European audience. O’Brien doesn’t quite see it that way, though: “We look for the best talent possible, and are open to working with teams anywhere in the world. We currently have studio partners across four continents and expect that number to continue to grow… Some of the best game makers in the world operate in Europe, and we look forward to finding new teams to work with in the market who share our cultural
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orientation toward excellence, learning, and enjoying the process of making games.” And beyond just making those games, the studios will be operating them as ongoing live concerns. “Our game experiences are co-created pre-launch by Scopely and our studios – as a unified game team – and then grow and evolve each day as live-operated global experiences by that same game team, as well as our technology and publishing teams.” Those experiences currently include not just more core gamer experiences such as Marvel Strike Force and Star Trek Fleet Command, but also casual titles such as Scrabble Go and Yahtzee with Buddies. So it’s hard to predict where the new titles will sit in Scopely’s slate (though we’d bet Pixel Toys isn’t working on a Match-3 game!) “We have an extremely diversified live games portfolio… We have always been extremely ambitious with our strategy, having the conviction to explore and enter new game genres with teams that are passionate and experienced to do so,” says O’Brien. “Instead of focusing on what we have done well historically, or where we have current expertise, we focus on what players will enjoy and where the industry is going. This approach is also why we built the studio ecosystem that we have been discussing today -- to find and partner with new talent who share our enthusiasm to create and have the expertise to deliver innovative, long lasting businesses.” QUICKSCOPE So what should other studios that feel Scopely is a good partner for them be thinking about? “We are very thoughtful in who we partner with to ensure the most optimal two-way relationship. We want our partner studios to be complementary, not duplicative, in talent to our current expertise and for the teams to be excited to come together as one,” says O’Brien. “Overall, we are looking for a few key things in our partners: genre expertise, strong leadership, creative thinkers that will level-up Scopely, and a group who is excited to partner for the long term. “As far as strong leadership, Gerard at Omnidrone, Alex and Andy at Pixel Toys, and Marc at Tag Games all bring a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to their studios and we are thrilled to collaborate with them as we build new game experiences together.”
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Changing Controls A rapidly growing and changing industry means rapidly changing and growing accessories. We talk to Nacon about what the birth of cloud gaming means for controller manufacturers
T Yannick Allaert, head of accessories development, Nacon
his new generation of consoles has been a significant one for many reasons, but perhaps the most visually apparent is the continuing evolution and importance of good controller design. Not only has Sony made substantial changes in their new DualSense controller, moving on from the classic DualShock design to introduce a whole range of new features – including a particular favourite of ours, the context-appropriate resistance in the triggers which takes haptic feedback to a whole new level. Beyond that, the rise of cloud gaming, particularly on mobile devices, has opened up a whole new market segment for controller manufacturers. And arguably the biggest contender in consumer-friendly cloud gaming right now is Microsoft, whose cloud gaming service has been folded into the omnipresent Game Pass – Bringing both modern classic Xbox titles to the small screen for the first time. That’s why Nacon is releasing the new MG-X and MG-X PRO controllers, which are specifically designed for Game Pass players using mobile devices, and will be out on September 20th. To find out about them and more besides, we reached out to Yannick Allaert, head of accessories development at Nacon We’ve had controllers for phones before, but cloud content is a whole new dimension, did that change how you approached the design for MG-X? Cloud gaming is revolutionising the way we play and it’s integrating video games even more into our daily lives. Microsoft has already positioned
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itself as a key player in this new market. For NACON, as a designer of accessories, it opens up incredible opportunities for developing new products because gaming is now a truly portable experience and not just about playing games with simplified gameplay on your smartphone. Our MG-X controllers offer the same playing experience as with a home console. As innovation and the user experience is central to everything we do, we grabbed this opportunity to create products that are compatible with Game Pass Ultimate. By combining our expertise with Microsoft’s support, we just wanted to offer the best experience possible for Xbox players. Why the two different MG-X models, how do you think the market will split between them? The challenge we faced was to cater to a new way of playing and new requirements. This way of playing is still in a development phase, so we haven’t yet had enough insight into what players like and don’t like. To ensure we improved the experience as much as possible, we developed two different approaches. The compact design of the MG-X makes it more focused on mobility, whereas the MG-X PRO offers a more classic controller experience for smartphones. We’re confident that there’s a market for both of them, which is why we decided to launch both models. Will Microsoft be supporting you in marketing the controllers? We’ve had a great relationship with Microsoft for many years as a video game publisher and provider of accessories. Their various teams
supported us for the launch of the Pro Compact a few months ago, and they will do the same for the MX-G and Revolution X by creating buzz on their social media platforms, collaborating with influencers, etc. Other than marketing collaborations with Microsoft, we will of course pull out all the stops to promote our controllers with Xbox players and mobile players: influencers, press campaigns, trade marketing, targeted ad campaigns, etc. There’s now a first Revolution ‘Designed for Xbox’ model, why has this taken so long in coming, and why are you releasing it now? Development of a controller like the Revolution is a long and complex process that starts with an advanced analysis of our previous models and competing products. This includes gathering lots of feedback from our player community and from professional gamers who we’ve collaborated with for several years. All this is what we use to create a new generation of controller: ergonomics, integrated technology, customisation options, software, etc. Every detail was considered carefully to ensure Microsoft as well as Xbox and PC players were satisfied. This is a truly premium controller, which includes unique and advanced technologies, for users who expect the best. We couldn’t risk giving them a substandard product. It’s a Revolution in gaming for the end of the year.
Moving onto PlayStation, the PS5 controller was a big leap from PS4, with the built-in microphone and advanced haptics, has that made it tricky for you? It’s a big motivation for us to grow in a market driven by two players as dynamic and innovative as Microsoft and Sony. Each new console generation offers lots of surprises, new technologies and challenges that we gladly tackle to create new experiences for players. We’re not so interested in surpassing the console manufacturers as offering alternatives to suit all types of players. And, of course, we’re already working on new
Pictured: The more compact MG-X (above) and the classically shaped MG-X PRO (below)
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Above: The Revolution X is the Nacon’s first procontroller for the Xbox family of consoles
concepts for the PS5. But we can’t reveal anything more than that just yet! Those features mean that PS5 games won’t necessarily support PS4 controllers, is that a big opportunity for Nacon, as people will need more controllers? The manufacturers’ approaches differ on this point. Microsoft is allowing for backwards compatibility, whereas Sony wants a different game experience for
each console generation. This opens up interesting development opportunities for both game creators and accessory manufacturers. For us, we’re confident in our ability to adapt to these different environments so that we can stand out on next-gen. In terms of the controls and layout, what do you think of the Steam Deck? It’s very impressive and perfectly in keeping with the shift happening in the video game industry. We can’t wait to try it out and find out how comfortable it is in real-life conditions, but our first impressions are that Valve has done an amazing job. If it lives up to its claims of power and battery life, it will be a big success. Valve is talking about allowing other partners to make compatible devices, maybe Nacon could partner with someone to provide ergonomics and control design? We are already thinking about how we can help Valve with the launch of their new console with customised accessories. After many years serving PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo players, it would be amazing to embark on a new adventure with Valve!
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Crafting a virtual
Deathtrap The Mandalorian has popularised virtual studio technology, now Wales Interactive and Good Gate Media are are using it to bring Fighting Fantasy classic Deathtrap Dungeon to life
D
eathtrap Dungeon’s original release is arguably a pivotal moment for many working in the industry. And Good Gate Media’s John GiwaAmu’s recollection of the early Fighting Fantasy titles certainly resonated with us: “This all started for me with those little penguin boxes, a lady used to come around our school to sell. And that was, Citadel of Chaos, Forest of Thieves or Deathtrap Dungeon. And they stuck in my head for nearly 40 years. And after seeing what the guys at Wales Interactive were doing [with interactive FMV], I just thought this may be the time to start pushing the genre out a little bit and seeing what actually can be achieved and what audiences really are hungry for.” The first port of call was Ian Livingstone, to negotiate the rights, which took a while to work out. However, the real hurdle was the budget required to do justice to the
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book, as the fantasy genre is not a cheap one to work in, says Giwa-Amu. “In terms of making something like this, we knew that we were working on a lower budget than is usual. I’m guessing an hour of Game of Thrones is five to ten million, depending on the episode.” And for Deathtrap he expects they’ll have to shoot “four, maybe five” such episodes worth of content. “So finding a realistic way to do that was always scratching at me. Okay, we’ve got the property, we know the technology works. But how do you assemble the resources to do it? So when The Mandalorian came up, that got my attention.” The show’s usage of virtual studio technology has been widely discussed. Allowing for a meeting of real-time rendering technology and classic film production, to allow a cast and crew to put together something on set that’s far
closer to the final product than traditional green screen processes. So working with Wales Interactive, along with support from welsh screen industry initiative Clwstwr, Good Gate booked out BBC Studios to shoot a pilot for the project, fully entitled Deathtrap Dungeon: The Golden Room. It was written and directed by Paul Raschid, who has worked with the team before on Five Dates and The Complex. To oversimplify somewhat, the virtual studio concept inverts the production process, the team build the environments out first, combining virtual and real props and then shoot the actors within them. Rather than shooting them first and then building the world around them afterwards. “One big advantage of the experience was for the actors. If you were shooting this completely VFX, it would just be acting against a green or a blue screen but they would not really have an idea of what they were acting within, whereas now they could actually see a pre-viz (pre-visualisation) of what the room is going to look like, with the big buddha in the background, how deep it was, how tall it was, you know, where there were pillars, what the environment was. “So Georgia, who plays the adventurer, knew how much treasure she was looking at, and how big the piles were, and stuff like that. So for the level of immersion for them, for their performances, I think it was a really great experience. Something that they really enjoyed and was unlike any green or blue screen experience that they had themselves.”
ALL THAT GLITTERS... It wasn’t all plain sailing, though, adds Giwa-Amu. “There were a lot of promises, hopes and dreams, on the way that it was meant to be. And that didn’t happen. As is always the case with technology, you hope for the best version of it, what the people inventing technology are trying to achieve, and what you get is a learning experience along the way. “It was a super exciting pitch. We were told you can create your sets and everything eight weeks out, you can then make your virtual sets mirror your real environments. So we can go to a props warehouse, and photograph all our pillars, their floors, their doors, all of their assets, then we can do 3D mapping and put them into the game engine. There we’ll build a whole environment. “And then when you come on set that environment’s built, and we start placing the real assets over key bits, so they can walk through a real door into a golden room full of coins on the floor. Some of the coins are real, some of them aren’t. “But the truth was, as soon as we went on set, we knew it wasn’t gonna work in the way that we hoped. The key learning was I realised how little crews knew about all this. Because the thing missing on a virtual set is the pure amount of information you’ve got to dump on a crew who’s used to working in a real world. And now you’re asking them to put on headsets and walk around an unreal world. “That was the key learning for me anyway, I would use it again for sure. But I would go into it with a very, very different perspective of how to get what we need out of it.”
From left to right: David Banner MBE, managing director, Wales Interactive Richard Pring, technical director, Wales Interactive John Giwa-Amu, CEO & producer, Good Gate Media Paul Raschid, writer & director of Deathtrap Dungeon: The Golden Room
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know you’re not going to burn anyone out, yourselves included… So we just chucked everything into and I think the result is good. But now, compiling that into a full length feature of this. I’m so glad we’ve done that bit, because on a feature it would have been too hard to recalibrate quickly. Now we’ve done our recalibration, I can go into that now with eyes wide open.” And Giwa-Amu is aiming high for the full production version. “We’ve been talking with Industrial Light and Magic about going to the big boys with it. That’s home for real time rendering, that may be something that we look to pair up with, if we can make the prices work. Just get the best, is my learning from this now. We’ve done a good job. But we can do a hell of a lot better. And that’s exciting to me.” UPPING THE STAKES All that said, the pilot is finished and the team are Caption: Georgia planning to push ahead with full production. So how far Hirst stars as The will they be pushing the technology in order to create Adventurer in Deathtrap Dungeon: something worthy of the Deathtrap Dungeon name? “One of the great things between me and John [GiwaThe Golden Room Amu] is our working relationship, he’s always good at giving me reality checks,” says Raschid. “So I set out with blue sky thinking. And then at various intervals, John sort of tempers that, or he’ll say we can go even further in certain situations. “So I think with the technology, we definitely wanted to see what was possible. The imagery and the aesthetic of Deathtrap Dungeon is so distinctive and captivating. And there’s so much in there, I wanted to try and extract the elements that were fan favourites, or I felt were the most cinematic, or the strongest for gameplay.” Even the most interactive of interactive movies can only contain so many choices for the player, so it’s key, Raschid tells us, that those are high stakes decisions, something that the capricious lethal dungeon excels at thankfully. Make the wrong choice and the player’s journey can be cut short. SMASH AND GRAB Speaking of shorts, Deathtrap Dungeon is only a demo at present, shot over a few days, which was something of a blessing, Giwa-Amu tells us, given the experimental nature of the technology used in its production. “We were lucky in that it was a short, as shorts give you a lot of forgiveness, in the sense that people know they’re not going to be on your set for the next 12 weeks. So if they don’t like it, they’ll be off in three days. It’s no problem. But what that means, in practical terms, is that everyone can put 110 per cent into it. “You can burn super bright on a short, because you
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THE WELSH CONNECTION An interactive movie created by ILM might once have sounded like a fantasy of an entirely other sort. But the format has shown strong growth in recent years, both financially and creatively, says David Banner MBE, managing director at Wales Interactive. “We’ve invested £2m of our own money, into a revival of FMV and interactive movies. And we’ll be investing more going forward,” he tells us. “We’ve got a slate of films in production, all different budgets, all different genres… we’re commissioners.” “John [Giwa-Amu] is one of the movie people who actually understood what we were trying to do. In an area that we thought just needed better writers, better directors, film industry people – rather than this game genre, which existed in the late 80s, early 90s, where the technology was bad, the writing wasn’t great, and the budgets were low. “So we’re trying to spin that around. So even though Deathtrap is one of the bigger, more ambitious projects, we’re working on quite a wide variety of stuff at the moment together. The Complex, which Paul [Raschid] was writer and director of, and Five Dates which was born in lockdown, because we couldn’t film some of the things we wanted to do, due to the pandemic.” Horror title Night Book is the team’s most recently released FMV offering. And like the romcom Five Dates, it was created under pandemic regulations, on which Giwa-Amu expands. “I was looking at a set of production constraints as soon as March happened, we knew that the world was going to change in a fundamental way, but I was looking to stay in production. Paul [Raschid], as a young man with certainly more experience than me in the dating scene, had a window into that, which I found really fascinating, and Wales Interactive were positioned in
a way that, having faith in the idea, they could react really quickly to both financing and putting it out. “So to get the idea, the practicalities and then the idea out of Paul’s head, was probably April, onto screens was November – of the same year. And that film’s doing really well at the moment, I’m really proud of it, because it was just really reactive and very, very nimble. And it’s a good collaboration to be able to do that.” Richard Pring, technical director at Wales Interactive, is keen to talk about the variety of projects that you can create in FMV: “A lot of the time with FMV, everything’s kind of new, which is really good for us. Deathtrap is obviously a remake of the book but no one’s really done it in the way we’re doing it. So a lot of the time with everything we do, it is breaking new ground, and with that comes new challenges. “Every single one of these we make, from the smallest budgets, even up to the biggest budgets, we always learn something along the way and improve the way we do things and try and find ways to engage the audience, so they just want to play these games again and again, and kind of bring them out into the forefront. “Because that’s the thing with interactive at the moment, it’s growing. We’ve seen stuff like Bandersnatch and other titles,” such as Minecraft’s Story Mode, or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend, all on Netflix. “What we’re finding is more and more people are looking for an interactive experience on top of what they’re already playing. Interactive will never replace linear film, but they will be supplementing it, and some people will just want to play that kind of version.” The range of platforms that the productions reach is encyclopaedic, and they aren’t just limited to interactive versions, as Banner explains. “The business model has changed. So this is not just about scratching a creative itch, it’s about changing the business model of film... The Complex was released in lockdown last year, obviously we sell it on all the gaming platforms. But a byproduct of the interactive is a linear cut, which is on Apple TV and wherever. We are truly multi-platform, but the thing that we’re making is an interactive and it is a film, they’re not separate.
“Night Book was launched on PC, Mac, iOS, and all the versions of Playstation and Xbox. We’re not allied to one platform, we want it to be on as many platforms. And that’s what we’ve done on. To achieve that, the team built its own scripting tool. “We’ve developed a tool called WIST (Wales Interactive Scripting Tool) which allows script writers to make nonlinear scripts. “Everybody makes them in a slightly different way. So WIST adds structure to how we make these, so essentially you can play the interactive script before we go in production.” The future looks bright for interactive FMV then, romcom the Five Dates proved it can turn its hand to a remarkable range of genres, beyond the usual gaming sector, while Netflix’s dalliances with the format are more hopeful still. But it’s really the ability to create content quickly and get that content across stores in both the gaming and film markets that should guarantee it a lucrative future.
Above and below: Night Book was a recent, and successful, collaboration by the Wales Interactive and Good Gate
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Mowing both sides of the fence Lawn Mowing Simulator is undoubtedly the most British release of the summer – creator Skyhook talks to Seth Barton about balancing co-development with creating its first unique IP
T
he British are the masters of the lawn, really. According to The Guardian, British lawn experts are headhunted around the world to provide the very silkiest of surfaces for sports such as football, golf and tennis. Surfaces that, thanks to the latest techniques and technology, have fundamentally changed the sport played upon them. After all, you try playing Guardiola-style passing on your local rec ground and you’ll see pretty poor results, skill notwithstanding. And speaking of the development of games, that’s another thing the British do rather well, whether for their own creative imaginings or for clients. So it all makes sense that a traditionally work-for-hire studio, Skyhook Games, this month launched its first standalone title, Lawn Mowing Simulator, published by Curve Digital. The studio is best known to date for its collaborations with Dovetail Games on Train Simulator content, so it has some serious nous when it comes to simulating things.
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But it’s worked across many titles in its seven year history. We talked to Skyhook’s MD David Harper on its big launch day. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE APPEAL OF (VIRTUAL) LAWN MANAGEMENT? I think it’s a bit of escapism and a sense of Zen, this has certainly been the feedback we’ve received. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a garden or a lawn, let alone one big enough to ride a mower over. So we provide a UK setting for players to experience that. When we released the demo, we had a lot of comments from players saying how much they liked the serenity of the game and we also had players telling us that it helped them through personal struggles during lockdown. Which was incredible to think something we had created could help people in that way. There’s a lot to learn in the game from mastering controls to completing tasks, so it provides a sense of achievement and it also appeals to people’s innate sense of liking to see something tidied up, leaving something in a better state than how they found it.
HOW LONG WAS THE TITLE IN DEVELOPMENT, DID MUCH CHANGE? We started full development in January 2020, following producing demos, play tests and pitching to publishers for maybe a year before that. The game is very similar to how we originally imagined it to be honest, with one big change being how we handle time within contracts. We originally counted time down in contracts and failed you if you didn’t complete the level in the allotted time. This meant the game felt more stressful than we were happy with, so we changed it to score the player on how long they took instead, however long that was. DO YOU OWN A RIDE-ON MOWER? I don’t have enough grass in my garden to need a ride-on mower, but we were lucky enough to have driving test days with all the manufacturers in the game. Getting hands on experience and training form the manufacturers was amazing to really understand the vehicles and to record the audio first-hand too to make sure the mowers sound authentic. YOU’VE WORKED ON DIVERSE PROJECTS FROM AUTHENTIC TRAINS TO FANTASTICAL FIGHTING CARS, IS IT SAFE TO SAY SKYHOOK HASN’T GOT A PARTICULAR NICHE? The Skyhook team is formed of people who have worked on a wide range of games and styles in their careers, many having been in the industry for 25+ years. We have certainly worked on a lot of vehicle projects and love them, but the experience in the team means we are also equally happy tackling props, environments and characters in whatever style comes through the door. On the service side we have formed great relationships with the clients we provide work for with a lot of repeat business. We have been lucky enough to work with one client since we formed back in 2014, and hope to continue so for many years to come. We aim to be an extension to a clients’ teams, not just a company to fire assets to, and treat every project as though it was one of our own. I think that it is this attitude that keeps bringing people back for repeat business, whatever the project.
WITH YOUR OWN IP AND CO-DEV WORK, HOW DO YOU BALANCE THE TWO SIDES OF THE BUSINESS? It’s part of the fabric of our business, both sides are equal and if you approach with that mindset, then balancing becomes part of our scheduling, which as you know is a big part of development. So, there is very little difference to be honest. We treat all work with the same attitude. The work is scoped out, planned and worked through in stages against a production timeline. The only one possible exception is that being a service company, some clients come to us when they want something yesterday, so we have to react very quickly – but we love a challenge though. As we scaled up and took on more work for hire, it became important to bring in a dedicated production team to ensure that we continued to hit deadlines and keep our clients experience as smooth as possible. We strive to offer a +1 service and go above and beyond the expectations of the client. We like to be seen as an extension of the client’s team and treat all work with the same respect we would show our own, offering different ways to tackle the work more efficiently were possible.
David Harper Skyhook managing director
WHY DID YOU SET OUT ON THIS DUAL BUSINESS MODEL? WOULD YOU STOP THE SERVICE PROVISION SIDE IF YOUR GAME MAKES IT BIG? When we started Skyhook we made the conscious decision to give service work and IP creation equal footing and split our time between both activities. Some weeks would be mainly work for hire, others working on our own content. What also worked for us was using additional contractors to work on our IPs while we did the service work. Tradespeople have been doing it for years. They rarely work on their own houses, but pay another builder, plumber, etc to do it while they themselves are doing a job somewhere else. So long as you are paying the other person less than you are earning you are winning..! When Skyhook was only 2 people, myself and my business partner Jon Greenwell we would often use some of the money we were earning from paid jobs to employ contractors to work at the same time on our projects. It was our intention from day one to create our own IP alongside the service side of the studio. Having been in the industry for around 20
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years at that point we were very aware of the financial requirements that come with running a studio and we wanted to make sure we could build something as robust as possible as in my experience people really thrive when they don’t have to worry about that part of their work. So stability in order to encourage creativity was a key driver for us. We have no plans to ever stop the service side of the business, it’s great fun, great experience and most importantly we get to work with some of the most incredibly talented teams and studios out there. We get so much out of working with the likes of Dovetail Games and I’m not talking about financially, but actually the meeting of minds and the creative hub we form around their needs. I like to think it’s a mutually beneficial relationship which we see growing from strength to strength. SO MUCH OUTSOURCING IS DONE OVERSEAS NOW, DOES THAT CONCERN YOU? Skyhook was originally founded to try to stem the tide of outsourcing work going overseas. We could see that there were talented freelance artists in the UK looking for work, companies looking for work to be done, so we stepped in to try to marry the two together. As time has progressed, we now also have a database of the best freelance talent from around the world to draw on across many disciplines. The original reason companies were sending work overseas was purely from a cost perspective to tap into lower cost labour markets. More recently however it is often more about scalability and finding large enough teams to tackle the head counts AAA demands. We are not set up to compete with the overseas teams providing this kind of resource, so we don’t try. What we have found that there is a market for European companies wanting an experienced team in their time zone who they can easily communicate with to get their project done. That’s where we fit in. We are currently in a buoyant market for work with the newest gen consoles, VR and mobile all demanding content.
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There are service providers equipped to step in at different levels across this, so we have not been hit too much from overseas competitors. The biggest worry really is the skills shortage in this county. The reason many of the overseas countries can compete on scale is that they are investing in the training of students coming through the system. While there are many games courses in the UK now producing students looking to get into the games industry, many are ill equipped to do so. We need a fundamental change in how games are perceived in this country and the infrastructure putting in place to bring highly employable graduates into the workplace. Until then, it will be very difficult for the UK to compete with the large overseas service providers on scale. YOU SAID: “WE WANT OUR FIRST GAME TO BE A CRITICAL SUCCESS FIRST, COMMERCIAL SUCCESS SECOND - IT’S IMPORTANT WE ARE CREATING GREAT GAMES” WHY DO YOU FEEL THAT WAY? The original business plan is still very much in place after seven years. We continue to enjoy both the service and IP sides of the business and have growth plans for both. Being regarded as a studio that produces high quality games and content is the most important measurement for long-term success. We have a pragmatic approach to the commercial side of the business which we feel helps us to safeguard our future to some degree. We want to put Skyhook on the map for quality and how we work, so that is our primary focus.
unsigned
Unsigned is MCV/DEVELOP’s monthly initiative to bring the best upcoming indie titles to broader industry awareness. We aim to help them find the support and partners they need to reach the best and biggest possible audience.
RETURN TO NANGRIM
A dark first-person fantasy adventure with survival and RPG elements. Grab your axe and go on an epic journey into the ominous depths of an ancient mountain. Tell us about your game and why you decided to develop it Before the game, there was the universe. Our co-founders started to develop their own fantasy universe called Arafinn already in 2009 during their Computer Science studies. In 2017, equipped with their degrees, they decided to create Return to Nangrim, the first game set in this universe, and share the extensive lore with the world. Why did you decide to use Unity to create this game, can you tell us anything about using the engine on this project? At the beginning of our development unity was one of the few solutions out there and great in terms of price-performance ratio. Nowadays, the whole team is highly proficient in Unity, and Sycoforge has even developed its own assets which are very successful on the unity asset store such as Easy Decal and Map Lab. Recently we have been in touch with two great guys at Unity (Nicolas Vidal and Charles Renverse) and are exploring several opportunities with unity’s Integrated Success Services (ISS), one the one hand to improve our product, development knowledge and team, and on the other hand to grow the Swiss ecosystem and bring the Swiss gaming industry to the next level. What kind of support are you looking for from a potential partner? From a publishing partner we expect high expertise in all aspects of a full publishing service: In marketing, press relations and press releases, influencer marketing campaigns, content creation, social media management pre, at, and after release; In PR, platform and console negotiations, exclusivity deals, receiving approval to publish globally (in Japanese and Chinese markets); Porting to consoles (or support thereof); Physical release with special editions and collector editions; Development funding of approx. $1.5m. We expect our partner to recognize our strengths and acknowledge where other partners might be more beneficial for the project and therefore ask for access to or readiness to partner with local publishers and partners; First-level support upon release; Long-term partnership with options and willingness to create DLCs, sequels, build the Arafinn universe, and create merchandise.
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Developer: Sycoforge Location: Zurich, Switzerland Team size: Thirteen in Switzerland, five full time, eight part time, 21+ international freelancers on project basis Progress: In production Contact details: l.nowak@sycoforge.com
Lukas Nowak
SPELLPUNK VR
SpellPunk VR is a high-octane competitive multiplayer spellcasting game with a comic book art style. The player unleashes extraordinary powers and turns into a magician who casts spells by drawing magical symbols with their own hands. Tell us about your game and why you decided to develop it? Set in a vibrant and abstract world that’s energized by a soundtrack composed of a wicked mix of hip-hop and electronic beats, SpellPunk VR is a high-octane competitive spellcasting game oozing with style. Players take the role of mightymagicians who duel in fast-paced multiplayer battles. Spells are hand-drawn during battle to attack and defend. SpellPunk VR features Casual and Ranked online duels and also the option for players to create a private room with a password and play an online multiplayer match versus a friend. Offline play against AI opponents and a Shooting Range Mode are also available. Who do you think the audience is? SpellPunk can be considered suitable for ages 7 and older. The game has its own unique aesthetics and most people actually fall in love with it. This allows us to sell the game to a wider audience. However our main focus is people between 16 and 34 years old. The good thing is that as of this moment our target audience overlaps with our active player base. People playing SpellPunk in VR Arcades are aged between 16 and 22 years old. As of direct B2C sales, 29% of our player base is aged 18-24 years old, 35% is in the 25-34 age group. Currently more than 50% of SpellPunk VR sales are coming from the US and Canada. 30% from Western Europe, 5% from Russia and 5% are from Brazil and Australia. Only 2% are coming from Asia. Sales, coming outside Canada, the US and Western Europe are completely organic. We definitely want to expand our presence on the Asian market, especially in China and Japan. Why did you decide to use Unity to create this game? Unity has all the right tools and modularity to allow our team to iterate fast and remain flexible. It also offers in our opinion the best VR rendering solution on the market. These things combined with Unity’s easy support of different platforms makes it the best tool for us. How long has this been in development, how long will it take to complete? The current Early Access version of SpellPunk was made by four people for the period of eight months and supports most commercially available headsets. Since we are Sony Playstation Partners, support for PSVR will be available soon. It depends on a lot of things, but potentially we will be able to release the full version of SpellPunk in a year. What kind of support are you looking for from a potential partner? We are mainly interested in mid and long-term business partnerships, investments, publishing deals, outsource contracts, etc. Besides SpellPunk, we have one more released VR game and 2 other conceptual IPs – one for a storydriven dark fantasy action adventure, which is intended for PC, but can easily be ported for PS5 and Xbox X and a jump-and-run game, which is suitable for the PC and Nintendo Switch.
Developer: Incineration Productions Location: Sofia, Bulgaria Team size: 12 people core team, 4 of them worked on SpellPunk VR Progress: Early Access Contact details: gergana@incineration.games
Gergana Gruncharova
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Brought to you by
A Swift Spotlight: Airship Images As an external art vendor, Airship Images have been a crucial cog in the workings of a huge portion of AAA titles available in recent years, including Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Spiderman: Miles Morales, and Cyberpunk 2077. In turn, they have become a vital part of the industry’s internal eco-system after being founded nearly twelve years ago
A
ardvark Swift sat down with the company’s founder and CEO, Joseph Harford, to reflect on the culture and foundations of Airship Images that have provided them with such success, and how these elements of their studio model have required adaptation over a pandemic. Airship place significant importance on nurturing a company culture of mutual support, growth and development; and Harford takes a personal investment to ensure this is the case. “As CEO, I’m responsible for driving the business growth, instilling the company culture and implementing the vision I have the future of the company,” says Harford. “We’ve grown to 51 people this year and are continuing that growth with new studio locations & services. To make this possible, a business needs to have a culture or vision that they inhabit, and mine has always been enabling personal growth – and that covers a whole range of different things we do for our team, as we truly consider ourselves an employee-first business. For Airship, personal development and working in-studio go hand in hand, as Harford highlights the necessity, particularly for junior artists, of an in-house working environment. “I think one of the biggest things that you miss out on if you are fully remote is peripheral learning from peers, building networks and friendships. If you’re an established senior or principal artist, we may see more work moving off-site, but for juniors and grads wanting to get into the games industry and learn, having someone over your shoulder to give advice, inspire you and improve your work is crucial.” Harford, and by extent Airship, recognises the value in the talent pool of graduate artists seeking a foothold in the industry, and has placed an importance on helping grads before they enter the industry, whether that’s at Airship or another studio. “We help graduates understand what skills they need, educate them on financial planning, online health and wellbeing. We aim to set them up for life, setting them up to grow and to succeed.” The implementation of this scheme has come with its own challenges, but is starting to show its long-term benefits, Harford mentions. “some of those grads are going on to high positions, being promoted to seniors, and that’s really fulfilling.”
As well as their graduate program coming to fruition, other elements of Airship Images’ business model have seen a positive impact on the studio; some more unexpected than others. The pandemic has seen the entirety of their workforce move to remote working for now, and while that does come with its aforementioned shortcomings, it has allowed for Airship to display their ability to maintain security and reliability as an external art vender, even while working remotely and scaling the team. “We have had to put a huge amount of security in place. When you go remote, you have an infrastructure problem of trying to remain a secure company, whilst ensuring staff flexibility. As an external partner with many varied projects, we make sure every single one of our projects maintains the individual security requirements of each studio. “That’s been the biggest challenge of going remote; maintaining that secure and reliable company reputation, whilst balancing staff flexibility. It’s been a worthy investment, as we’ve been able to grow significantly, as well as capitalise on that security where it’s more difficult for others to do so. It’s also led us to adapt to flexible work arrangements in the long-term and the formation of a new permanent distributed team.” You can listen to Aardvark Swift’s full conversation with Airship Images’ Joseph Harford through the Aardvark Swift Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, third-party apps, and the aswift.com website.
Joseph Harford, CEO Airship Images
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The Art of... Haven
With Haven, developer The Game Bakers brought us a pair of lovers, Yu and Kay, making a home on a forgotten world. This month Emeric Thoa, creative director, guides us through the influences and creation of the art in this beautiful and heartfelt game
WAS THE APPEARANCE OF THE GAME CORE TO ITS INITIAL CONCEPT? I wouldn’t say Haven is an “art driven” game. Art is one of the three pillars of the game but not “the first pillar.” The biggest pillar was the game experience coming from the gameplay of living a couple’s life (so a mix of dialogs and exploration in Haven’s case). The art and music were also thought from the beginning as elements that must stand out.
Emeric Thoa, Creative Director
TELL US HOW THE ART WAS CREATED AND BY WHOM? There were many different artists with high impact on the final result of the game on Haven. Koyorin designed the characters, their dialogue portraits and a lot of their attitude. Simon Hutt did a lot of the environment concept art and overall art direction. Anthony Beyer, as the technical art director, had a huge influence on the 3D render and all the visual effects. Yukio Takatsu made the opening and ending animations. And many other concept artists or 3D artists or animators worked on the game (Chris Hoareau, Benoit Leloup, Florian
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Coudray, Marjorie Deneux, Pierrick Kyburz, Lucie Bonzom…). Our internal art team was 4-5 people, but for specific needs, we commissioned artists (like Koyorin or Takatsu Yukio or Florian Coudray). If we feel we need help to achieve something outstanding in a specific area, we don’t hesitate to go look for talents outside of our team. WHAT INFLUENCES (WITHIN OR BEYOND GAMES) DID YOU DRAW FROM? Because so many different artists worked on the project, the influences can vary a lot. Koyorin is a big fan of Japanese illustrators like Akihiko Yoshida, Shigenori Soejima, Shunsuke Saito, Yuya Nagai. Which is great because I am a fan too! For Simon Hutt, a strong concept art influence for the environment is the first Star Wars trilogy, especially Ralph McQuarrie’s concepts and Doug Chiang also, for the ship parts and cables. I also really like the feeling of technology in series like Dragon Ball (or in a way, Ghibli or Akira). It’s the right spot between technology and magic to me.
The shapes stay simple but they also feel warm and nice. There’s no fire, just energy. Eventually, one of the biggest influences is just nature, and the feeling of gliding (or skiing) on a mountain slope together. CAN YOU PUT ANY NUMBERS ON THE SCALE OF THE PROJECT? Haven was for sure our biggest project to date in terms of concept art. We created so many art pieces… The game was rebooted after a year, so a lot of Koyorin art has not been revealed, but they produced probably 5 times more illustrations than what is in the final game. Five more characters, portraits, key arts! Just for the loading screens, we have 35 unique pictures of Yu and Kay together. And for the story, we have more than 200 narrative scenes in the game, so more than 200 illustrated storyboards from Benoit Leloup, and then animated in 3D. WHAT TOOLS/TECHNIQUES WERE USED TO CREATE THE GAME’S LOOK? We try to stay very simple in our techniques and focus
on creating simple shapes, simple textures with little detail. We prefer a stylized look than going more realistic, it fits the idea of creating a fantasy world to me. A big part of the techart work was the work on the grass, which for optimization matters was made entirely with compute shaders. We also created tools to edit the terrain and cables, and although we work in Unity, all the lighting and shading code is custom on our side. HOW DID THE ART EVOLVE WITH THE PROJECT (IF AT ALL) Well, the game at one point was a point & click exploration game, in 3D but with a point and click exploration mechanic. When we rebooted and added the gliding and terrain it changed the feeling a lot. The planet Source and most of the environment was completely redone and changed at this point. The 2D art from Koyorin was not affected – except for changes from the reboot, a lot of what had been done was cut from the game, to refocus on a couple’s story.
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The Art of...
The Art of...
The Art of...
Right: This particular scene from Laputa is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to make a game about a couple. I like that there is contact between the characters, that it feels genuine and not awkward or uselessly sexual. I really like how they hold each other.
Below: This keyart made by Koyorin was also a very important one for the game. It’s the concept of a “selfie”, a picture they took when they finally were able to settle and live together on Source. The facial expressions are very in line with the feelgood vibe we wanted for the game
Above: This is one of the first sketches artist Koyorin made for the game, and it captured very well our intention of showing a relatable relationship and daily couple situations. We kept coming back to this sketch sheet a lot.
Above: After doing a lot of research, we were not satisfied with the cosy look of the inside of the Nest, their home and spaceship. We really wanted it to look like a cosy home, with sci-fi elements but no hard sci-fi. When artist Florian Coudray made this sketch, we said “yes, that’s it, that’s the messy and cozy feeling we want.”
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Above: This is one of the first screenshots we took from the actual game. It’s a very important one because it shows the 3D render and art direction, the way the narrative scenes are set up, and the 2D layer with character art and UI. The 2D portraits were made by Koyorin, the 3D was made by the efforts of many different people under the tech art direction of Anthony Beyer.
The Art of...
The Art of...
The Art of...
Right: This is the first gameplay sequence we revealed. It was almost two years before the release, but it showed the key elements: a very dense blue-green grass, the red-pink crust of rust, the clear sky, and the couple kissing. Below: That screenshot from the game illustrates the game experience pretty well. They are gliding over the ground. A lot of efforts from Anthony Beyer and Chris Hoareau (animation) were invested into making it look smooth and iconic. We see the Nest from outside, and we see the grass. A lot of R&D was made to get the grass like that on consoles.
Above: The loading screens in the game were more than loading screens, they were images that we used to imagine all the “first times” of our couple. The parts that would not be shown in the game. We brainstormed them with Audrey Leprince and Koyorin did the characters’ art.
Above: That is a sketch from Simon Hutt Troussellier for the camping sequences in the game. Like for the Nest, we wanted it to feel cosy and sci-fi but more “fantasy” than hard sci-fi. Right: This is one of the many storyboard images made by Benoit Leloup for a narrative sequence. We worked from the dialogues and the location to describe the posings and movements to the animators.
Above: Obviously the art from the opening is also a key visual element of the game. It was on purpose different from the rest of the game. It’s a stylized opening. This was all made by Yukio Takatsu, from our creative vision of the game.
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When We Made... Death’s Door
actually look at you. And even with that little bit of work, with the help of the animation and really smart designers and engineers, with everybody working together, you could fromspotlight the very beginning that Acid Nerve are suddenly intellthe she was a character that people would really gravitate following their breakout hit title, Death’s toward.” Door. ChrisQuill Wallace finds out more really becomes a fully fleshed out character with about a game already the helpthat’s of the game’s strongtopping world-building. As an many people’s game thetheyear interloper in Quill’sof world, playerlists experiences it not through her eyes, but as an observer watching as she lives her life in her familiar setting. It’s a strangely intimate feeling, and one which gives way to joint apprehension as both the player and Quill enter new, unfamiliar areas. “When you go through Mousetown and you see Quill run through there and you Door see that she has a hometown, eath’s immediately attracted our the feeling of her leaving it, of upon that town maybe being attention its release in Julyin this danger, gives you more a bond,” Alderson says. “Ifand year.ofNot only was this stylish that part was left out, youcharming wouldn’t feel liketitle there was rave immediately indie getting much to fight for. Everything that we’ve done, the moodwas reviews in the press, but this Zelda-like settings, taking from one to the next and letting bornQuill right here atarea home. In Manchester, to be you rest andmore take specific. in this environment… It’s all supposed to exaggerateDeveloper and accentuate mood you’reknown for Acid that Nerve wasthat already feeling. It alltheir ties back into how youTitan are connecting withthere’s previous game, Souls. While Quill and her world.” a lot of that game’s DNA to be found certainly
the game and asked questions about their experience – even if most of these questions were actually very similar. “External playtests were mostly about ‘Okay, how do people feel when they play? Do they like it or not like it?’,” Alderson explains. “At the end of playtest we would ask the same question eight different ways. The question is really ‘What didn’t you like?’, but we would ask it differently: ‘What pulled you out of the experience? What took you out of the headset? If there’s one thing you could change what would it be? If you had two weeks to finish the game, what would be the thing that you’d fix?’ “Those help bring a playtester into their comfort zone, because no one wants to play something that people put a lot of care and love into and then turn around and say ‘ThisNerve’s is what IDavid didn’t Fenn like about So Foster it takes to a little and it’. Mark talkwhile to get the playtester and we found that about the gamecomfortable, and their most recent success. finding different ways to ask the same question means you eventually get the CROWING UPreally good stuff after the fourth or fifth time ask bat, it. the studio’s work has often First you off the “I been don’t think anyonetointhe our Dark studioSouls has ever made a compared series. Now, game likecould this, so I thinkthat it’s important that youa trust you argue it’s hard to find videothe process. trust playtesting and you make sure that you gameYou that games journalists haven’t compared allowtoyourself some time and freedom to tryand something Dark Souls, but with Titan Souls Death’s and Door then keep going. Try something it’s especially apparent. new and branch out, use your experience you’ve here, Death’s Door feels like a big step up from but also”Realistically, I don’t from thinkgames either that Titans or SAME QUESTION EIGHT WAYS made before and fine. As long as you’re having the company. Death’s Dooryou’ll has be very much in common with Collaboration After was key during the development of Mossin, Titan fun too! enjoyed playingFenn, a comparatively smaller project DarkWe Souls,” replies feelentire like Moss“although throughoutI the not just within the team itself,Door but with help of comparisons external Souls, Death’s has the attracted we were maybe for the comparison with process and I think thatasking really helps.” playtesters.to People in toSouls feedback on giantswere like often Zeldabrought and Dark (although the name Titan Souls.” we’ll have words about that later), and has Oh. Well then. received the public praise of senior Microsoft While Fenn admits there’s maybe a few more executives on Twitter. It’s quite the achievement parallels between Death’s Door and Dark Souls for such a small studio to be behind arguably than there were in Titan Souls, those aren’t the one of Xbox (and PC)’s best exclusives so far games Acid Nerve is pulling from at all. this generation. “I mean maybe there’s elements of opening And so as a fellow North Westerner, I thought shortcuts and the map looping back on itself in it was only right that we reached out to Acid Death’s Door, like you had in Dark Souls… But
D
David Fenn, Acid Nerve
70 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2021
Left: Death’s Door immediately grabs the player’s attention with its inventive character design it’s funny, I’ve just started Skyward Sword again, and that has all of the same shortcut things Dark Souls has anyway. It’s just Zelda! It’s a very Zelda-inspired game.” The game was born out of the pair’s desire to expand upon their previous title, in a way that was less constricted but still true to the game’s DNA. “Titan Souls was just so stripped back, because it was part of a game jam thing,” says Foster. “It worked in its favour because it was all about this knife edge combat, we think it went well. But we wanted to expand upon that, with all the mechanics you’d have in a traditional game. “We wanted to take that Zelda formula and add the Acid Nerve twist to it. We wanted more to play with.” “As designers we just wanted to experiment with more systems, and expand on that first idea. We liked the idea of having a ‘proper game,’’ Foster adds. “Titan Souls is just boss fights, so we wanted to have enemies in there,
and so you can explore a little. The idea of being able to reuse enemies is a pretty big thing compared to when we did Titan Souls. “Like, a boss fight is just one thing. But obviously, when you have multiple enemies, you can put different combinations of them and get a lot more variation out of that. You get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of what you’ve made. So that was definitely a plus point for doing a more fleshed out game.”
ACCESSIBLE MASOCHISM It’s not entirely accurate to imply that Death’s Door is a direct evolution of the Titan Souls formula, though. By the team’s own admission, Titan Souls could split opinions – a challenging game with such a specific focus was never going to appeal to everyone. While Death’s Door is certainly still challenging in places, the Zelda template allows a more approachable version of the Acid Nerve approach: “When Titan Souls came out, it was a 50/50 sort of thing,” Foster recalls.
Mark Foster. Acid Nerve
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 71
Above: The game’s boss fights can certainly pose a challenge
“it was a bit Marmitey. Some people really liked it, and some people thought it was terrible!” “I think Titan Souls was good for a specific kind of masochistic gamer. Whereas Death’s Door is a lot more accessible. I think that’s where the Zelda influence shines a lot more.” Death’s Door also has a remarkably different tone to the more serious atmosphere of Titan Souls. The game’s sense of humour and attention to detail immediately proved popular on release, with many taking delight in one particular line: ‘You got the horn! Mother will be pleased.’ We promise it makes sense in context. “Acid Nerve grew out of the game jam scene,” Fenn notes. “And those jams kind of cemented what it was that we shared in our passion for making video games. We made a point of putting in effort into details in the game, in a way that kind of felt silly at the time – But that’s what we enjoy, that’s what got us excited to make it. “I think that’s become part of our core. Like a little thing in Death’s Door went viral, you cut a sign in half and you can still read the sign, but only see the bottom half of the text. Mark would just come up with stuff like that as a weird idea. And we’re like well, it’s
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going to take a day out of our schedule, but let’s just do it. I feel like that kind of approach has stayed with everything that we’ve done.” Just to really underline the “not like Dark Souls” note, Foster adds that the lighthearted tone, in stark contrast to FromSoftware’s work, is a crucial part of why the game works at all. “It’s a game about this dark theme of death, but it wants to be light hearted about it all. It has these moments of positivity. I think that comes through a lot with the humour. It’s kind of a grim setting, and if you were going all in on it being sad and depressing, I don’t think it would be a very fun game to play. But because it’s a bit wacky and strange, it has this nice quality to it, which makes the death stuff not really that dark at all.”
STRIKING A NERVE The approach has certainly proven to be a popular one. Death’s Door has already been mentioned in early “game of the year” conversations for many, and there’s arguably more eyes on Acid Nerve than ever before. “The release was insane for us,” says Foster. “We definitely weren’t expecting it to be as well received as it has been. I’d just log into our Twitter and scroll
through all the messages, it’s just crazy how positive it is.” That success, and the development of Death’s Door as a whole, might have some implications for that ‘Acid Nerve core.’ While the pair are tight-lipped on the specifics of their future plans, it certainly seems fair to say that Death’s Door will be an influence going forward. “I think even before we’d seen any of the reception to Death’s Door, we were really attached to the world, its setting and the extra elements of character and personality that we put into it,” says Fenn. “So the reviews have just cemented that kind of world building, along with the humour and the personality, is something that is important to us as a studio going forward. “It’s a weird one,” he adds. “Because halfway through development, we toyed with the idea of expanding on our previous title Leaf Me Alone, because that was a classic Acid Nerve game. “But one thing I’ve realised as this game has come together, is that it’s such a lightning in a bottle kind of thing. We’ve really just nailed this world, which is so compelling in a way that, if I think about future game ideas, it’s just hard to think of anything that appeals to me as much as the world of Death’s Door. “It’s got every element to it that makes me attached to games in terms of being funny, but also being dark and having this juxtaposition and having moments where it can feel a little bit sentimental as well as being able to go super silly. It’s very hard for me to think of something that ticks all those boxes in the same way.” “I’m in love with the kind of stuff we’ve made,” adds Foster. “So it would be cool in future to expand on those things. We really, really didn’t expect it to be as well received as it has been. Even little things like playing as a crow, and the whole lore around that. We didn’t think it would be such a selling point, which might sound weird, but so many people just love that they get to be a bird with a sword.” He’s a good bird, Foster. And I’m sure I speak for a lot of people when I say that I can’t wait to see where Death’s Door takes the team next. Acid Nerve certainly had some attention on them upon the release of Titan Souls, but it feels now as if they’re in the spotlight more than ever
before. That’s certainly a lot of pressure, and a lot of work – but overall the situation doesn’t seem to have fully sunk in as yet. “When you release a game you’re ready for a holiday,” says Fenn, “but then you have a month of post launch support to do, so there’s a certain amount of just being too exhausted to really take it all in. “But definitely just, every day since it came out I just think ‘God, I just can’t believe this. It’s just so amazing.’ I just can’t believe how well it’s gone, I just never expected it. It’s just blown us away.” So we strongly recommend Fenn and Foster get some well deserved sleep first, as excited as we are for whatever it is they do next.
Above: The game is Acid Nerve’s most stylish title to date
Below: Mother will be pleased (apparently it’s actaully her horn)
September 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 73
The Final Boss Every month an industry leader wraps up MCV/DEVELOP with their unique insight
James Glover, Owner of Fluid Design Congrats on Fluid’s 25th anniversary this year! What’s changed over the years, and what hasn’t? It’s been an honour to have worked on some of the biggest and most famous IPs in gaming history, Resident Evil, Total War, Uncharted, Final Fantasy, WatchDogs, CyberPunk and Warhammer are just a few that spring to mind! We have seen lots of changes over the years, in terms of how briefs are written and bigger budgets influence creative. The transition from media to influencers is also interesting, and of course over the 25 years since we started games have become the biggest entertainment sector in the world! Fluid has created the creative campaigns for more games than arguably anyone, how do you approach that process? There’s no one catch-all process, we evolve with our clients and the briefs they share with us. We try to look at every job with a fresh pair of eyes because every project deserves fresh thinking. With that said, we do have a very basic few steps to share, which sound obvious – but to us they represent the key milestones of any project, whether that be a new brand identity, global influencer kit or community strategy. Discover – The research phase of our work where we align and engross ourselves with as much IP detail and relevant briefing context as possible. Define – Establish our strategy, whatever that might look like. Design – The crafting phase where we make and create. Deploy – Revealing and releasing our creative to the world in the most effective way possible. With the greatest respect to your current role, what is/was your dream job? I’m happy to say this is my dream job. From an early age I used to draw superheroes and wanted to work with the likes of Warner Bros and Disney. I have a pretty broad interest in all things design and entertainment and a passion for architecture and car design, (particularly Aston Martins) (still working toward one), film and music. What was the greatest [or most ludicrous, funniest, worst...] single moment of your career to date? I get a kick reminiscing about how we started. In 1995 we didn’t have a single client, just a yellow pages. By 1996 we were working on Final
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Fantasy VII and PlayStation. We have continued our work with them ever since on multiple aspects of their business (Hardware, software) from Key art to Digital and Influencer kits. We have worked on almost every IP they have released. …. And what title was the most memorable to work on and why? Probably FFVII, our first big one (not the remake) and still working on FF even now after 25 years! Can the games industry possibly change as much over the next five years as it has over the last five? Without a doubt. Monetisation is of course troublesome, technological performance, graphical fidelity is increasingly exciting and all three could heavily affect the landscape. Storytelling and character building in games is in some instances the best it’s ever been and this can only ever become more immersive. Some games marketing has gotten a bit big budget for its own good. We like to put ideas first and that kind of integrity can be hard to hang on to in the world of global campaigns, mass messaging and celebrity influencers in gaming. I’m hoping the way we market to gamers will shift again. Do you feel the games industry is headed in the right direction? Back in the day we were given a lot more freedom just to create great original art, not too much market research or focus testing – which can harm the creative juices. It’s very easy to over think creative, it takes courage to follow our instinct. It’s certainly possible to tick boxes and even sell games through creative by tribunal – but I swear by the notion that this is never as delightful as a potent, singular, unique, big idea that has character and depth- whether this be art, activation, anything. Who continues to impress you in the industry? Alternatively… Who couldn’t you do your job without? My team! Most of them have been with me over 10 years, some 20! They are all amazing, dedicated creatives. I could not do it without them and I appreciate every single person. Fluid would not be Fluid without them.
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