Going Coastal

Unity Technologies

Unity Technologies recently announced that it has expanded its operations in the United Kingdom by moving to a new office in the city of Brighton, East Sussex. The office will be managed by director of support Graham Dunnett and will continue to provide Unity customers with support, QA, development and training and consulting services. The new Brighton office will allow Unity to continue to grow into the UK.

With more than 500,000 registered users worldwide - including Bigpoint, Cartoon Network, Coca-Cola, Disney, Electronic Arts, LEGO, Microsoft, NASA, Nickelodeon, Ubisoft, Warner Bros., large and small studios, indies, students and hobbyists, Unity Technologies is revolutionising the game industry with its award-winning breakthrough development platform.

Unity Technologies is aggressively innovating to expand usability, power and platform reach along with its Asset Store digital content marketplace and Union game distribution service so that it can deliver on its vision of democratising interactive 3D technology.

How can the UK best apply its pool of talent to a successful games industry?

Graham Dunnett: Unity customers vary from big corporate studios all the way down to small one-man shops. The games industry in the UK needs to maintain innovation and keep producing original games that people want to play. Unity is trying to democratise the games industry so anyone with an idea for a game can create it.

What's currently the biggest barrier/threat to that success?

The choice of platform is ever increasing. The arrival of new handheld gaming devices can make the decision about what platforms to support something of a headache.

Zoë Mode

Founded in 2004, Brighton-based Zoë Mode is a leading developer of innovative console games. With a team of 70 developers, Zoë Mode were early pioneers of motion-based gameplay including four titles in the hugely successful Eyetoy:Play series as well as You're in the Movies and Dancing with the Stars.

An unrivalled passion for music has been reflected through the SingStar and Sing It franchises, DLC packs for Guitar Hero and most recently the critically acclaimed Chime and Chime Super Deluxe.

2011 will see the release of the original Kinect XBLA title Haunt published by Microsoft, the sequel to the immensely popular Zumba Fitness for Majesco and Grease Dance on PS3 and Xbox 360 for 505 Games. Crush3D for the Nintendo 3DS sees Zoë Mode back on handheld consoles and is looking to build on the awards and critical acclaim of the original PSP version.

The future will see Zoë Mode continue to build on its desire for creating innovative gameplay experiences as well as exploring the next generation of consoles.

How can the UK best apply its pool of talent to a successful games industry?

Paul Mottram: "Consumer tastes and expectations are changing and the industry needs to change with them. We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves because we don't have tax breaks or that iOS games are too cheap. Titles like Zumba Fitness can be as good for the industry as Call of Duty and with the talent we have in the UK we can open up gaming to an even larger audience."

We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves because we don't have tax breaks or that iOS games are too cheap.

Paul Mottram, Zoë Mode

What's currently the biggest barrier/threat to that success?

"Budgets are much tighter than they have ever been which is a massive challenge. We need to be smarter and more agile, understand our audience better and offer something different as we can't always compete with the enormous franchises. Publishers need to take more risks and understand that quality is more important than quantity, especially when shifting to lower price points and digital distribution."

FuturLab

A small game studio that transitioned from producing online Flash games in 2009 to creating original IP for PSN and iOS. FuturLab's debut PSN title Coconut Dodge earned a metacritic score of 81 and was subsequently picked up by EA and published on iOS. With two new titles in development for iOS and PSN, FuturLab operates on a film production model, with a small number of payroll staff and roughly 13 contractors on various work-for-hire iOS and Flash development contracts.

James Marsden: "I've lived and worked in Brighton for nearly ten years now, and I love cycling to work along the seafront every morning. There are three 'crazy' golf courses here, which is a win - even if they're a bit naff!"

How can the UK best apply its pool of talent to a successful games industry?

I would like to answer this question from the perspective of getting more creative people mobilised and productive. As a designer I feel strongly about the need for shifts in the education system in early schooling so that innovation is given more of an equal credence to learning by rote. I've had to work against a whole set of very early imprints about the worth of being or thinking differently, and I know that affects many creative people to the point where they've chosen a non-creative line of work.

When I was at school, my 'Career's Advice' - based on acute interests in Art & Design, was to become a painter and decorator! Absolutely no mention of any of the creative industries, and from what I'm told by my younger family, things haven't really changed.

There's a wealth of talented people out there who would make fantastic additions to the games industry, but because they're not being encouraged from an early age to explore their creativity, it becomes stifled.

What's currently the biggest barrier/threat to that success?

There is no larger threat to the UK competing with a global industry than our education system and the lack of value we put on creativity as a nation. I don't mean college or degree courses; by then its too late for most people (and a talented and ambitious student will make the best of even the most awfully led course) - but many of the most talented people - those who have a level of self awareness and self-critique necessary to develop their skills to the point of excellence - have very likely already given up on the idea of working in a creative profession.

I'm not holding my breath for huge changes to happen any time soon, but I'm doing my bit by being positive and encouraging to those I speak to about what might be possible.