games company during probably one of the toughest periods the industry has experienced in years adds another level to that. But it’s also been brilliant. We have grown very
quickly, worked with studios and projects that I would never have imagined we’d be involved with when I started the company, and we’ve released our first game. There have definitely been tough moments and
ensuring the right path is chosen, but then something happens where we might collaborate with a new client, we get to give opportunities to those in the industry who have been affected by the volatility of highs and lows, or we see people actually playing something we’ve made and you remember why you’re doing it. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that
running a studio means constantly adapting. The plan you have at the beginning of the year probably isn’t going to be exactly the same plan you have six months later, and that’s OK; just be determined and driven to overcome these hurdles.
Tell us a bit about the games in your portfolio. The first game we released under Rhino Rock is OUTBLAST, which launched in June this year on PC and Meta Quest. It’s a fast-paced arcade shooter and was inspired
by games like Resogun and that old school arcade mentality of being really easy to pick up, but much harder to master. One thing we wanted to do was make it playable
both traditionally on a screen and in VR. We also deliberately kept it affordable. It was about making something fun, competitive and replayable, with leaderboards giving you that constant “one more go” feeling. One of our studio values is about finding the fun in games. It is not that easy! We have other titles in the works too: Creature
Companions is a mobile project in development alongside RAID. We prototype quite a lot and I think being willing to
timebox and stop is just as important as being willing to start. Not every idea needs to turn into a three-year development project. Sometimes you build something,
learn from it and realise another idea is stronger. I have a framework called Prototype Plus which helps us prove out core mechanics faster and reduce wastage in prototyping. It works but using a pragmatic hybrid delivery model. But our own IP is definitely becoming a bigger part of
Rhino Rock, and we have ambitious plans for that side of the studio.
You also outsource your varied services – can you tell us about any other projects you’ve been involved with? This has become a huge part of Rhino Rock, and we’ve been really fortunate with the projects we’ve been able to work on. A lot of studios within the VR/MR space reach out to us as we have the internal skillsets and knowledge to deliver the quality they need. I spent a lot of my time building these relationships
and ensuring I am on hand to keep the communication lines healthy and happy. While there are quite a few titles, we are unable
to share at this stage we have recently supported on titles such as Directive 8020, Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow, Little Nightmares III and Project Hail Mary to name a few. We have also supported the Software Development space due to my background, and we were fortunate enough to support the Aviation Piloting space and Renewable energies. What matters to me is that we
aren’t just throwing people at a project. We want clients to feel like we are part of their team or reassurance if we are handling a fully owned project. Our people need to be able to come in,
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