Games Academy graduates win national Tranzfuser competition

What does success look like for Brine one year from now?

Likely quite similar to how it looks now. We’re still planning to be deep in development by then but the wider public will hopefully be much more familiar with Brine. We’re attending numerous events throughout the year such as EGX in London as well as showcasing development on our social media channels. The ultimate goal before release is to create maximum outreach for Brine to thrive outside Cornwall, mainly through our upcoming Steam page. Gathering confirmed wishlists on a platform like Steam allows us to better predict the game’s marketability. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt since working on the game after university, it’s that marketing is one of the most important skills an indie developer can have.

How did it feel to hear you’d won Tranzfuser, and what did you learn from the process?

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t boost my ego a bit. Seeing that email was next level. Processing it, however, was another challenge. We really want to do Cornwall justice, so seeing that the UK Games Fund is supporting that is hugely encouraging. We quickly learnt through the programme that our development practices were fairly unconventional, so there was a lot of shaping the team to fit the process properly. We also discovered how niche the Cornwall games scene is compared to the rest of the UK, with a key highlight being the 13-hour drive to Dundee to attend the Tranzfuser event. Another pleasant surprise was how much our humour resonated with the rest of the UK. We had people in Scotland excited to see a Cornish pub in a game space.

What are your key development milestones over the next year?

Believe it or not, our first milestone is exactly the same as in third year: being happy with our first level. As many other game developers will tell you, a game is never truly complete, just good enough. This rings true with level one of Brine, as we constantly update it to bring it closer to the ultimate “vertical slice” vision.

Our second milestone is to have the game live on Steam by the end of the year so our fans can wishlist it. We were very particular with this milestone and it’s still our most requested action. We’re now very close to achieving it. Other milestones include finishing the writing, adding more weapons and enemies and expanding our voice acting team.

How will you make the most of the Game Academy Incubation's access to software, studio space and mentoring?

We’ve made an effort to use the Launchpad space as much as possible alongside our part-time jobs but going forward we’ll definitely be increasing that effort. Having a bigger budget for the project allows stricter meetings, sprints and objectives. The mentoring opportunities from existing companies across different specialisms are invaluable. The whole office feels alive with creativity and collaboration. Just next to our desk are other Incubation teams, Keeled Moon and The Booth, so we’re able to get feedback, inspiration and playtests whenever we need. We’ve also had great advice from Ludophoria and Team 316 in the past. It really is a special space.

Where do you hope Studio Whalefall will be in 12 months’ time?

My biggest hope is to expand the core team. We’ve had the same consistent freelancers since Brine began as a third-year project and I want nothing more than to integrate them fully. Brine at its core exists as the product of a friendship group. We all inspire and encourage each other to be the best artists we can be. As a fully equipped studio I truly believe we’ll be unstoppable.

We do have a route to market. Brine will be released in one package on Steam but split into three episodes. Episode 1 will mark the official early access release, with the further episodes released as free updates. The episodic format allows us to make Brine a bigger game and to raise the stakes with each release. That feels like a necessary feature of a retro FPS, if you ask me.

Links

Falmouth final-year project mixes retro FPS mayhem with Cornish scenery

Play a demo on Itch