The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Dundee games firm targets £1m turnover
HYPER LUMINAL GAMES: Studio is still recruiting during coronavirus pandemic
Rapid growth saw a Dundee games studio more than double its headcount last year as it embarked on a new recruitment drive.
Hyper Luminal Games, the firm behind the commercially successful Big Crown: Showdown game, also saw its turnover almost double last year.
Chief executive Stuart Martin said the firm, which quickly outgrew its university base in the city and moved to larger premises on Brown Street three years ago, has not been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
He said: “We can all quite easily work from home and in some ways, games developers are built for isolation, but it has slowed down recruitment and made on-boarding new staff more challenging.”
Hyper Luminal has enjoyed consistent year-on-year growth since its foundation in 2014. Last year staff numbers rose from nine to 19.
Mr Martin said the firm hoped to break the £1 million revenue barrier and take its headcount to 25 full-time staff by the end of the year.
The company is recruiting for programmers, a mid-level producer, a senior game designer, a junior 2D concept artist and a junior 3D environment artist.
Mr Martin said: “We are currently working on five game projects for a range of national and international clients, and work on some of these has accelerated because of the business needs of the client during the pandemic.”
One of the projects, scheduled for release in 2022, is an original IP game which sees an Edwardian investigative journalist on the hunt for the scoop of a lifetime.
Set in an alternative-reality Dundee in 1905, the game is inspired by the heritage and folklore of the city, which Mr Martin said provided “the perfect backdrop for a dark and twisted reimagining of local history.”
A football management simulation, Game Day Live, is another project in the pipeline that is set to be released later this year. Mr Martin said the game’s unique take on the football simulation genre allows for greater accessibility to casual players which represents a “significant opportunity within the lucrative mobile sports market”.