The Isle of Wight has a strong heritage of video game developers and we recently discovered another one – Rubicon.
VentnorBlog got in touch with Paul Johnson, the Managing Director, who was kind enough to give a little background on the company (below in his words). He tells us about their new game Great Little War Game (Available now. Video below) that is getting top mark reviews and selling Globally – and how great it is being a games developer on the Isle of Wight – Ed.
Rubicon
Rubicon is a tiny game development studio comprising four in-studio full-time programmers, plus a loose assortment of freelance specialists that we keep on retainer for larger projects.
We have been in business for seven years now and most of our past work comprised work for hire contracts on behalf of other developers and publishers.
Their own branded game – Great Little War Game
Whilst that sort of work keeps the lights on, it’s pretty soul destroying having little creative input day in and day out, so we saved up some investment to allow us to spend six months working on our own branded game, and Great Little War Game was the result.
Currently this is available through the Apple AppStore for iPad and iPhone, but we also have an Android version coming soon. We’ve also been working closely with Sony to bring the game to their new Vita handheld (PSP 2) early next year.
Well-received by the public
I’ve always wanted to do a turn-based strategy game and given our initial platform was decided to be the iPad, it was really a no-brainer for what our first game should be.
Thankfully it’s been well-received by the public and is currently hovering around the top of the charts in various categories, so we’re all very pleased with our first outing to indieland.
The Island’s fantastic to work on
Working on the Island is fantastic. Where our studio is located is pure greenbelt, which makes for a very tranquil working work environment, until someone throws a mouse across the room because the printer’s jammed again or something!
We don’t have any plans to grow into some kind of megacorp that needs execs travelling to London and beyond everyday, so we can enjoy all the plus points of Island life without feeling any of the negatives.
Other companies?
If you know of any more technology companies, or games developers, on the Island, please do let us know about them.
