Graduate Feature
The business of making games Chris Carter - BSc (Hons) Computer Science, 2012 Jake Rogers - BA (Hons) Computer Games Design, 2011 Neil Cooper - BA (Hons) Interactive Media and the Web, 2011
United by a love of games and an ambition to craft a career in the games and mobile applications industry, local company VOiD Games is a business success story with four apps now available on the Apple Store. We spoke to Chris Carter, Jake Rogers and Neil Cooper who set up the business nearly two years ago through the SPEED Plus programme.
Where did the idea for Void Games come from? Chris: “We all wanted to create video games and be in the industry but we know how hard it is with no experience. At the moment, we haven’t got many responsibilities so we just thought let’s go for it.” SPEED Plus was instrumental in helping you set up VOiD. How did they help? Chris: “We knew nothing about business and without SPEED Plus we wouldn’t be here. They helped us set up and gave us advice, training and an office space to work in.”
How did your degrees help? Neil: “Everything I learnt on my course I use now. I’m really happy I did it. Graphic design wise, I created the branding, the business cards and the websites.” Chris: “If I hadn’t gone to university, I wouldn’t be a programmer now. Although, there’s been a lot of self-teaching, my course laid the foundations.” Your game Super Tap gained a lot of media attention and was voted the top five app of the week at iHeartThisApp.com. Why do you think it’s has been so popular? Jake: “I think the visual style of it jumps out the screen at you. I just think people are drawn to it.” Neil: “It’s accessible as well. So, regardless of whether you play games or not you can get into it.” Chris: “According to feedback people have said it’s addictive.”
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How long does the process take from the initial idea for a game to it being available for the general public to purchase? Jake: “Every app we release seems to get better and the process usually takes approximately three months from paper to the finished product.” When you send a game to Apple, how long is the turnaround to the app being for sale? Does it have to go through a lot of processes? Jake: “It goes through some smoke and mirrors! You send them your product and if it’s fine, they send it back to you and it’s ready to go. This process normally takes seven days. If not, they send it back with a generic feedback sheet, which is around 15 pages long explaining what the problem could be.” Do you have beta versions for reviewers to test? Neil: “Yes. We’ve got Test Flight where we can send out open or closed betas. Basically, people sign up to our mailing list and we can send them the game to try out. We did some testing with the University of Wolverhampton year two Computer Games