THE BRIT LIST: DEVELOPMENT SEAN MURRAY, HELLO GAMES MICHAEL ACTON SMITH, MIND CANDY
FOLLOWING Spike’s VGX 2013 awards event, there were three words on everyone’s lips –No Man’s Sky.
The ambitious procedurally generated space title – revealed during the show – is already highly anticipated, which goes to show the regard in which Murray is held. His Guildford-based studio was also behind the critically acclaimed Joe Dangerseries.
SHAHID AHMAD, SCEE
THE man behind Sony’s indie revolution. Ahmad heads up the Content Strategy Team – a group that seeks out new and interesting indie games. Among the titles he has brought to PlayStation consoles to date are OlliOlli, Thomas Was Alone and Hotline Miami. He’s a vocal supporter of the indie scene, offering attractive deals for studios and additional support, and has even appeared on stage during Sony’s various conferences to speak out on independent development.
“I FELL in love with video games when I got a ZX Spectrum aged 12,” recalls Michael Acton Smith, the crazy haired entrepreneur responsible for the online kids phenomenon Moshi Monsters. “I dabbled with games when I ran
Firebox.com and then went much deeper when launching Mind Candy in 2004.”
Moshi Monstersis not just a popular online kids game and hit DS series, it’s a licensing juggernaut, with toys, books, clothes and other products lining shops and supermarkets across the country. So it’s no wonder Acton Smith cites this as his crowning achievement, and says he is constantly delighted by “the huge postbags of mail and art we get from kids who absolutely love it.”
The men and women that has influenced Acton Smith’s career include his supportive parents, his ally and investor Tom Teichman, close family friend Larry Tracey – who he says was a huge inspiration
TIM HEATON, THE CREATIVE ASSEMBLY
We speak to the studio director who brought us the Total War series and later this year will unleash Alien: Isolation.
How did you get started in the games industry? At 14 I made a game for the BBC Micro, published by the esteemed Acorn Usermagazine, but then I got a degree and a proper job before arriving at Gremlin Graphics as it was then, working for inestimable Ian Stewart and James North-Hearn. In those days we had ten or more games in development, we finished them in months, and it was a touch more rock and roll than it is now.
Who has influenced you? Mother Theresa. You need the patience of a bloody saint to get anything done around here.
Where do you think the games industry is heading? Wider, more disrupted, better. I love that my mum plays games on her
20 March 28th 2014
iPad and now understands what I do. I like that there’s innovation across the platforms – indie, free-to-play and mobile. Digital publishing has changed everything, for us in triple-A games as much as for mobile and indie.
What do you hope to achieve next? Creative Assembly isn’t really mature yet. We’re only 27 years old, just starting to understand the world around us. I’d like to be part of our learning how to handle middle age and stay relevant.
when he was young – to industry luminary Ian Livingstone.
“Ian has always been a hero ever since I started reading Fighting Fantasybooks,” he says. Mind Candy hopes to stay at the front of gaming innovation for the next generation, but it’s a tricky business to predict, says Acton Smith. “Part of its charm is how it is constantly evolving and changing. It makes it a scary but a very exciting industry to work in.
“Going forward I just want to work with amazing teams to keep building extraordinary products that fans love. “And perhaps to own an island one day.”
TERRY CAVANAGH, DISTRACTIONWARE
IRISH independent game developer Terry Cavanagh is famous for his smart indie titles such as VVVVVV and Super Hexagon. The latter was a finalist in the 2013 Independent Games Festival Excellence in Design Award, and was a runner-up 2012 Game of the Year Award on Apple’s App Store. He also runs
freeindiegam.es, a website that highlights the best freeware titles on the internet.
SIOBHAN REDDY, MEDIA MOLECULE
THIS BAFTA-award winning Australian has won multiple Women in Gaming awards, including the Innovator Award last week. Her studio, Media Molecule, is best known for the LittleBigPlanet series, but last year created the critically adored Tearawayfor Vita, which picked up three BAFTAs. Reddy and her talented team are currently working on a major project for PlayStation 4.
TORSTEN REIL, NATURAL MOTION
WHEN Apple’s iPhone 5 was announced, it wasn’t just some new gadget people were talking about but a mobile game or ‘interactive toy’ called Clumsy Ninja, which was unveiled on stage by Reil. His Oxford- based company has also developed Middleware, including animation engine Morpheme, which was used recently in BioShock Infinite. Last year Reil’s business was acquired by Zynga for $500m.
www.mcvuk.com
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