we spent a lot of time visiting and getting to know the team. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t bulldoze them and or feel like they lost their identity in any way. Obviously they still have the name. They still have a lot of their own social events, but we also want them to feel very much welcome and part of everything that d3t has going on as well. We have I think ten fully-remote artists on the team
now from all over the UK, so actually having people in Gateshead and in Runcorn amongst all that …there’s so much remote working that it blurs the lines as to whether somebody is officially part of d3t or a part of Coconut Lizard. We have artists from both studios working on the same projects together, so, day to day, you’re all part of the same art team or the same cross-discipline team, with programmers, designers, animators; everybody all working together.
How do you see your role more widely within the Keywords Studios group? I work a lot with the other art directors across Keywords, particularly in the UK. Climax, Electric Square and Studio Gobo - I know the art directors there and we chat quite regularly. We also discuss working together, where, if we’ve got some spare artists or they desperately need, say, a VFX Artist and we’ve got somebody available, we can facilitate sharing. We’re all sister studios, which I think in the games
line, which is what games development is part of.
Keywords CEO Bertrand Bodson speaks proudly about the entrepreneurial spirit across each studio in the group. How does that manifest itself in your role? Each studio definitely has its own identity. If you spend time in each studio, they have different vibes and are different in how they work. d3t and Coconut Lizard definitely has its own culture and we are given, within reason, our own freedom to develop the culture that we want to create and choose the projects we think are the right fit for us. I mean, we’re particularly interested in co-development work, where we take ownership of features of games and that kind of thing. Different Keywords games studios, or parts of the creative service line, do have different things they’d rather be doing. We’re not all looking for exactly the same kind of work. And that works really well, because sometimes it might be that another studio says it’s not actually interested in a project, but maybe it’ll be right for d3t. So, we speak to different clients. We look at all the opportunities available. I think we’ve got eight different games in the studio at the moment and we’re able to pick the ones that we think will really suit the team and that they will feel creatively engaged by, excited about the IP, and feel like the actual work that they’re doing will feel creatively satisfying.
Last year you won an
GI.biz award for being one of the best places to work. We’ve actually earned Best Places to Work every year. We’ve entered it five times and we’ve won it every single time! We’re very proud of that. And Best Creative Provider as well at the Develop Star Awards in the summer.
industry is quite unusual because an awful lot of the time other games companies can feel a bit like rivals, whereas within Keywords it doesn’t feel like that at all. I was lucky enough to go to GDC and XDS last year and I got to meet loads of other Keywords people and that was fantastic. So, yeah, it’s nice feeling being part of that bigger network, particularly within the Create service
You were nominated Best Boss. Do you have a trophy cabinet somewhere? We do! We have a big trophy cabinet. I think the Best Places to Work award
January 2023 MCV/DEVELOP | 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
