We have now been building Eco-Rangers online at full steam for about six months (the concept had been under development for considerably longer than that) and we thought this was a logical point to look back on how those months have progressed:
Communication
As part of our team sit in Los Angeles and the other part in Helsinki, we were anticipating certain issues with internal communications from the outset. L.A. is, after all, 9000km, a 16hr flight, and 10 time zones, away.
What we have learned is this: most communication can be handled via Videoconference, IM, email or our shared intranet space, but there’s no substitute (and until virtual worlds are considerably more immersive, there never will be) for meeting face to face every now and then. So far, we’ve met at either end, or in between, almost monthly, to discuss bigger things, like the game concept or our plans for business development. The single most valuable thing we get from face-to-face meetings is the feeling of working as a single team, to have shared goals and to get to know each other a little better.
(PLEASE NOTE: we subscribe to a CO2 emissions offsetting plan :))
Business
Even though we really haven’t started our business development efforts yet, it can be said that signs are promising. It looks like the virtual worlds and MMO industry might be out of harms way during this economic downturn (Forbes magazine wrote a good article about this a few months ago). We’ve certainly had some interest from brand owners already.
Our mission is to offer world class service and technology with relatively low initial investment from our clients. This mission has been our guiding principle while designing our technology platform, TrunkTech, and our services offering. You could say that we have a very compelling offering in this challenging economic climate: we are willing to take part of our clients’ risk by making MMOG’s with a lower initial investment, faster deployment and a full service offering that eliminates the need for our clients to set up their own live teams. It looks like we have made sound strategic choices, even if it’s possibly been equal parts instinct and chance.
Team
We’re really happy to say that we have been able to hire a great team. This is thanks in part to the interesting projects we’ve got on offer, but also thanks to the vibrant game developer scene in Finland. The developer scene has long traditions dating back to the 80’s computer demo groups. Since then the Finnish government has had an active role in contributing to the success of the gaming industry as a whole. In 2007, the Finnish technology fund (Tekes) gave in excess of 6M euros in government grants to gaming initiatives, whereas the combined figure for the whole of the EU was 21M euros. We are very pleased to be able to announce that last Thursday Tweehouse received a Tekes grant of 350,000 euros to assist in the ongoing development of TrunkTech.
Currently there are several world class teams and companies working in gaming in Finland. Besides the obvious candidates: Sulake (their castle is literally a stone’s throw away from our more humble smithy) and Remedy Entertainment, there are many other interesting things popping out of the creative froth. One we’d like to mention is a cool, totally new kind of game, called Crayon Physics. Our Art Director Samuli Snellman doubles up as an AD on that project as well.
Looking forward
Our main focus for the next six months will be on developing the TrunkTech technology and service stack, and the first game built on it: Eco-Rangers Online. At the time of writing, the launch of our first Eco-Rangers teaser game is only six days off. That game (Deep Sea Xpedition; check out the teaser site) will give you a good idea of the overall look and feel of our upcoming main release.
It is definitely exciting to see everything coming together. The technology team has literally done wonders in a very short time, and the art team is not behind by one bit. We should have a decent live demo of the entire system available soon, with all of the main features in place (including most of the moderator tools).
Just drop us a line and we’ll be happy to give you a run through.
//Paavo
Tags: Business, Company, Development, Economic downturn, News, Reflections, Services, Team, Tekes, trunktech, Update
[...] Paavo Perttula added an interesting post today on The life of a six month oldHere’s a small readingWe have now been building Eco-Rangers online at full steam for about six months (the concept had been under development for considerably longer than that) and we thought this was a logical point to look back on how those months have progressed: Communication As part of our team sit in Los Angeles an … [...]
[...] Paavo Perttula of Tweehouse notes, Finnish success in gaming is partly due to the long tradition stemming from the very active demo [...]
A wonderful article…. this is just what I needed to read today. Thanks for describing the way you work and how you structure your writing projects. I’ll go read that article now.