“NEW STUDIO ALERT!” – Develop Magazine 133
The world famous Dare To Be Digital games development competition in Dundee this year hosted the new Dare+ program for young entrepreneurs interested in forming their own studios, and out of the strain and sleepless nights, a studio is born.
Michael Walker, Kraig Walker and Carla Johnston, all met on the first day of the Dare+ course back in July. After completing the course and demoing their products at Dare Protoplay Festival, the trio decided to form a new company, Aphelio.
Team Aphelio has been working together for less than six months, but they are already working for clients on commercial contracts. Aphelio will focus on making social and casual games for HTML5 as well as platforms which are "under served".
The studio is currently being funded by the trio themselves, but they're in the process of seeking investment.
"Dare To Be Digital is a fantastic event, and the Dare+ course seemed ideal for me as I wanted to start my own games studio." Former Jagex Community Coordinator Michael Walker explains. "Now I'm bringing ideas to life at Aphelio, with two fantastic business partners I would never have met without being on the course in Dundee."
Dare+ allows individuals to take part in a fast paced business course where they work as teams to create a presentable prototype in less than four weeks. "We're already well underway with Aphelio, working on the contracts which we have been able to secure, as well as developing our own titles using the latest web technologies."
Kraig Walker, co-founder of the company talks about the company's almost eccentric adoption of the new. After being chairman of the IGDA Scotland Chapter at 18 and acting as an outspoken new member of the Scottish Games Industry, he's eager to carve out a new style of games company: "Aphelio is all about testing the limits of what people perceive to be possible in gaming. We think people will find what we have in the pipeline to be very interesting, and most importantly - original.
"By living on the bleeding edge both technologically and in our design approach, our work will definitely belong on the platforms we push them on, and hopefully inspire a new approach to game development."
