Surprise Attack relaunches as Fellow Traveller Games

Surprise Attack Games has relaunched under the name Fellow Traveller, shifting its focus toward "unusual games" with a narrative bent in the process.

The company previously known as Surprise Attack was officially launched in 2013, but its founder, Chris Wright, was a consultant in the burgeoning indie sector prior to that. Wright was an executive at THQ, who moved into the indie scene following the closure of THQ Studio Australia and de Blob developer Blue Tongue.

In an email to GamesIndustry.biz, Wright described indie music labels as a point of inspiration in the decision to leave AAA behind, and the switch to Fellow Traveller Games is again indebted to that influence. Indie game publishers should have a "signature sound", he said, making it easier for gamers to find experiences they enjoy.

"Just like the indie record labels that inspired us to start the company, we want to build a reputation for a particular flavour of game," Wright said in a separate statement. "We believe this is the next step for indie labels to help developers stand out in an increasingly crowded market and help gamers find the kind of game they love."

Fellow Traveller's flavour will be "unusual games, especially those with narrative at their core." To that end, it has just signed Chance Agency's Neo Cab and Jump Over the Age's In Other Waters to the Fellow Traveller label. Surprise Attack had some form with that kind of game, too, specifically with Osmotic Studios' Orwell.

"We're all about the weird and the wonderful and pushing the boundaries of how games tell stories," Wright said. "We hope to attract both the developers and gamers who are into our kind of game to join us on this journey."