Back in 2017 game makers Bruce Slater and Freddie Babord were ready to do something new. They realised there was powerful potential in taking an alternative approach to building and running a studio, where triple-A quality and ambition didn’t need to be separated from values of kindness, creativity, playfulness and authenticity. With that in mind, they decided to build Radical Forge, a creative safe haven that understands what a team needs to thrive. The result? A studio with committed resilience to bullshit, a progressive attitude to games and the wider world, and a healthy disregard for the stale conventions of the industry’s past. We’re all equals here. We’re not about separating senior leadership from frontline staff. We’re not about status or playing the rules. We’re not about putting on a front or pretending to be something we’re not. Building unforgettable gaming moments motivates us. Treating our team with kindness and generosity is an instinct and one that’s close to fucking essential to making brilliant, successful games. And that’s exactly what we do. Our team of over 70 has constantly smashed it on our own games and codevelopment projects. And we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon!
External link for Radical Forge
RADICAL FORGE LTD. Boho 5, Bridge Street East, The Boho Zone, Middlesbrough
MIDDLESBROUGH, North Yorkshire TS2 1NY, GB
Radical Forge reposted this
We are excited to announce our new original IP Southfield! Our game is available to Wishlist on Steam right now. Funded by the Private Division Developer Fund, Southfield is a chaotic physics-based sandbox farming game with weird crops, machines and toys! We are incredibly proud of what we have built and can’t wait to see what players make of it during next month’s Next Fest demo. You can find out more and Wishlist Southfield here: https://bit.ly/3SptMjm
Calling all Community Management heroes! We have posted a job on our website for a Community and Social Media Manager. And if anyone knows our last Community Manager, you will know that these are big and luxurious boots to fill. However, today is our last day in the office (cut to people playing games, piloting toy drone X-Wings and opening Secret Santas all whilst eating pizza). So, full transparency, applications will not be looked at until we return from 6th January. So don't worry if there is a distinct silence between now and then but please feel free to apply and, maybe next year you could be enjoying pizza and badinage with the glorious Radical Forge team. https://lnkd.in/ecfF7g2u
We've had a busy week teeing off the announcement of Golf With Your Friends 2 announced by the glorious folk over at Team17 Digital who announced it in an unusual way. The teaser below lifts the lid on the 'complex' developer/publisher negotiations but gives so much focus to little ol' Radical Forge. Thanks guys and thanks to all those who have written about this and shared the story. We know who you are and we are genuinely thankful, you lovely people.
How to do business in Games 101. But, seriously, we are chuffed to bits to be working on such a great franchise as Golf With Your Friends with the teamsters at Team17 Digital https://lnkd.in/esr6_FVr
How are your 'Engine Ears'? If they are well seasoned, skilled, and of the highest calibre, then you might want to apply for this role at our happy studio. Work remotely or in Middlesbrough in a team full of lovely people. But we would call them lovely as we are them.
We've just added a new Pipeline Engineer role to our careers page. If you apply now, you may even get to come to the office for the Christmas pizza party and the lighting of a new traditional Christmas Kayak. Find out more below.
We are very proud of the work Stephen Hey and Ryan Smith did last week as part of Discover Creative Careers week.
A few years ago, I launched my attempt to help open the gates of this wonderful industry to a broader audience, particularly those from less well-off backgrounds, with the Unseen Galaxy project. Simply put, Unseen Galaxy provides industry briefs to colleges (with the longer-term aim of going to schools) and acts as a publisher, providing feedback, rejecting unsuitable games, and publishing projects to itch when they are complete and play-tested. Student teams are the developers and also provide marketing materials, social media support and sign a publishing contract. I had support from kind partners who believed in the concept like 10:10 Games, NextGen Skills Academy and Teesside University University. The lovely folks at Sheridans who provided the contract were so generous, and the excellent Charlie Blay helped me set everything up. I thought it would be a ripping roaraway success and launched it into colleges first until I realised that tutors and lecturers work so hard to such strict plans that it’s a difficult thing to plug in something new. A few years on, it’s not exactly proved the solution to social mobility in the industry I thought it would be. Very recently, I wondered if I should call it quits - I’d had a go, but only to limited success. Amazing people like the wonderful Dink guys as a studio and the (award-winning) Renzo Palmisano at Burnley College proved the concept worked by delivering games which we published. But it was always ever a side gig, and working full-time at Radical Forge meant that it could never take all my attention (even though Radical Forge is amazingly supportive with time and resources). However, the past couple of months have filled me with encouragement. Burnley College are running the programme, as are Middlesbrough College this year. Games Academy are running it remotely, and I am visiting Salford City College Group to launch this year's brief later this week. And to top it all, last week, in conjunction with ScreenSkills and Discover Creative Careers, we delivered a version of Unseen Galaxy to a group of year 10’s at Longfield Academy in Darlington (Big thanks to DCC's Rachel Shaw), Radical Forge’s very own Ryan Smith and everyone else involved). Discover Creative Careers is a brilliant programme that educates students about potential careers in creative screen industries. The day was inspirational, and as I left, a student told me that it made him “happy enough to last for at least two weeks”, which was a lovely moment. Big thanks also to Natalie Wicks, Jonathan Bale and Russell Kay who came along for the ride and delivered lots of brilliant feedback on the day (and even a GameMaker masterclass - thanks Russel). So, I think there is something in the Unseen Galaxy after all and it may even be becoming more relevant. Thanks to Marcia Deakin and Gina Jackson OBE Jackson for encouraging me to keep developing this and their constant flow of ideas. I think I'll keep searching the stars.
Having a diverse workforce is written into our DNA at Radical Forge, and so we’re taking part in #discovercreativecareers Week 2024 and showing young people what it’s really like to work in our sector. Whilst this may seem at odds with the current market, with incredibly talented people finding it hard to get work, we need a long-term perspective and giving young people the vision to aspire to our industry is part of this. We will work with GameMaker to deliver a game-making BootCamp at Darlington's Longfield Academy later this week and are also developing a lesson kit for schools across the country that showcases roles including concept artists, community managers and game designers. This is part of the Discover Creative Careers programme, funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with additional support from Arts Council England. Find out how you can get involved and inspire the future workforce: https://lnkd.in/eZTEGFni #discovercreativecareers
Well, it has been quite a week for Radical Forge, and we have another exciting announcement. The brilliant Alison Lacy is joining us as our new COO. We are so excited about where Alison will take us and the new outlook she'll help to deliver as we plunge headlong into the future like Bruce Slater would plunge off a helicopter in a kayak into wild rapids if our Key Man insurance would let him.
We shared some great news today. Many individuals and organisations are to be thanked for helping make this investment happen. The team at Mercia Asset Management PLC have been awesome, and we also have a lot to thank Cerelo Advisory for. As Bruce Slater said, "Well, we did it. We are beyond happy to say that we've secured funding to help us build Radical Forge into the company we want it to be and bring everyone along with us on the journey." Ultimately, it's the fantastic team at Radical Forge that people invest in, and we could not be prouder of them and the tremendous games they make.