The readership of our Entertainment and Technology section proves that GCU students are passionate gamers, some even create games themselves. However, not many of us realise that there is a professional game studio working right around the corner, here at Glasgow Caledonian University. Deep Fried Games was founded in February 2017 by Computer Games and Software Development student Gabriele Maddaloni and self-taught 3D artist Glen Johnston. The studio was created from their passion for VR, after Glen’s purchase of a HTC Vive headset.
The choice of location was natural thanks to GCU’s UHatch programme that offers emerging start-ups an incubator space and support in other areas. During one of the UHatch networking events, the Deep Fried Games founders met Doug Jagger, now responsible for business and marketing at the company. “We’ve all been students or graduates here, we’ve got such a strong connection to the university.” he said. “There isn’t really a better place for us to be at the moment”. The team was soon completed by William Norval, the head of audio and a GCU Audio Technology graduate, as well as social media manager Keren McGregor and Thomas Salga, current Computer Games (Design) third year student and the company’s game designer.
Recently, the team won the regional Tranzfuser competition and got a chance to showcase a demo of their ‘Dr Dad’s Home for Disposable Clones’ VR game at EGX, the UK’s largest video games convention. “EGX was just awesome. A very stressful but very fun experience.” said Doug. The team finally got a chance to show their work to a broader audience and hear their opinions which was especially helpful to their game designer Thomas who called EGX the biggest playtest area he ever had. He said: “We had a lot of press attention there but to me the most valuable moment was this eight year old kid who came back again and again to try the game and he was like ‘This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever done’.”
The game they presented is based on a Spiderman-like swing mechanic that the team had started developing in their very first game titled ‘Project Swing’. The team pushes the VR experience to the maximum and believes that the feeling caused by their game is what distinguishes them from the competition. Thomas explained “When you fall, you feel like you’re falling. We had people shaking not from motion sickness or anything, but it was adrenaline rush. They’ve never tried to fall from a thirty-metre height”. “It’s an experience that you can’t have anywhere else” added Doug. “I think that we’ve made something that is going to make people pay attention to us”.
Seeing this thriving company run by recent graduates and current students of GCU, I couldn’t help but wonder about the challenges of building your own start up business right after graduation instead of choosing a stable job. “I always saw the potential of being my own boss and working with other people who share a work ethic and a passion for what they do as being favourable to going into an office environment where it is some massive company that doesn’t even have a face or a personality.” said Doug. “Was it scary? Yeah, of course it was but I weighed that up against the alternative and thought this is worth a go”. Thomas added: “I’ve spent the first two years on a sleep schedule of four hours, I think, so it is not recommended but again, if you have the passion, just do it until you collapse”.
