Doing what comes naturally.
Little Kraken Games Studio is a games development company set up by five friends and fellow students branching out of The University of Portsmouth, from the Creative Technologies department. All members of Little Kraken have a deep passion for games and the gaming industry, and a penchant for making games.
The company was formed as a placement opportunity, for the team to learn the fundamentals of business and games development, and as a means to push themselves and achieve their full potential as developers and individuals. Little Kraken felt that a traditional placement opportunity could not offer the same rewards and possibilities.
Little Kraken started their journey through the Enterprise department of The University of Portsmouth, making a small mark in the Universities Enterprise environment by entering various competitions aimed towards student start ups. One of these in particular was the Microsoft developer phone camp. The Krakens travelled to London to demonstrate their dedication and skill, with this fortunately paying off and them leaving with a Nokia Lumia smart phone for testing and development
http://enterpriseblog.port.ac.uk/?p=1208
The Krakens kept their ears to the ground, looking for other opportunities
It payed off, giving the team a bit more recognition and the confidence to push themselves onwards together into planning and development.
No hurdle's too high for a high jumper.
Through the Enterprise department the Little Kraken team had arranged and organised to receive office space courtesy of the the university, without any dependencies for cost or upkeep, which is a fantastic opportunity for any start up during the most fragile time. Due to cut backs and major changes to the Enterprise department, the Krakens soon found themselves without a base of operations, as proposed to them. So with support from the university now removed, the Krakens either had to find a solution, or find something else to keep themselves occupied for their placement year.
As a stroke of luck and as a result of not giving up in the face of small obstacles, the Krakens found themselves with the opportunity to own office space and also live in an incredible part of the countryside; a great opportunity to escape from the distractions of the city and focus on the development of the company and themselves. It would not come easy however, reaping the rewards of this opportunity would require a large investment of time and money.
To make producing games for a living even a slight possibility, the team would have to renovate and convert an old farm building into an office equipped with all the necessary modern utilities.
The team came to an agreement that between their limited student loans it would not be possible for them afford the materials and assistance needed to complete this project. Another solution was required, or again they could give up and go home, which of course they didn't.
The room available was divided into three sections, an entrance lobby, central room, and a back room. It had all the opportunity within it to serve as the perfect environment to development a company into something viable and strong.
Regardless of the obstacles and odds against them, the Kraken's went ahead and moved to the West Country to do as much as they could, before they ran out of money and resources. Incredibly, during the cleaning out of the main room in the building, the team found a large cache of retro games in great condition, mostly new and sealed.
The essentials of gaming
With the advent of modern trading through sites such as Amazon and Ebay, the team had the potential to start selling these games, giving the essential capital that was needed to propel the company forward. Such was the beginning of Gaming Essentials, a global online retailer for games and gaming-related peripherals.
For the first few days in the West Country, the team stayed up all night for several nights, listing and managing the stock of the games through their Amazon store. With hundreds of games readily available to them, this proved to be quite a feat for them to accomplish; but they did and it enabled their retail business to start moving quickly.
Through several strokes of luck and much determination, the Kraken's obtained links and contacts to distributors, providing the Gaming Essentials store with current and new products. This inevitably helped Gaming Essentials to propel forward and sequentially expand, from small orders on Amazon to a constant stream of orders globally, from Amazon, Ebay and their own eStore.
The team converted the back room into a processing store for the games.
This success inevitably provided the Krakens with all the capital they needed to oversee the renovation project required to push the company into their true home of game development.
We built this city with blood, sweat and tears
To the unobservant or uninspired the building offered to the Krakens would appear desolate and impossible for any possibility of becoming a modern and professional studio, capable of expansion and catering to all of the companies needs. However, after coming this far and succeeding when it appeared impossible, they would find a way to make anything possible.
The project started with forming the interior environment to a neutral state, where planning could begin for how the studio would be shaped. With the building being formerly used for the living quarters of cattle, it wouldn't be a typical afternoon job. Through hard labor, each room had to be cleansed of all items within, then cleaned and tidied. This would then provide a blank canvas to work and develop from. The central room housed cattle, so therefore it was divided into sections with wooden partitions bolted deep into the cemented floor. This proved to be a challenge as the Kraken's did not possess the correct tools for demolition, only their brute strength was available.
Each room was cleansed and painted multiple times, to remove the years of neglect and gradual decay. This brought life into the building that it had not seen in many years; giving the Kraken's inspiration for the possibilities that they could now achieve within this environment.
The central room offered a very high ceiling, which would not be suitable for a studio, so without any training or assistance, the team erected support beams to hold insulation and boards to provide a strong drop ceiling, assisting in keeping the building warm and hospitable.
The floor mirrored years of housing cattle, dirty and uneven surfaces, obviously not suitable for a contemporary studio. To counter this issue the team, again with no training or assistance, installed a floor, aligning and balancing the boards with great care, due to the incredibly uneven concrete floor beneath.
At this point the Krakens could begin to see what was going to be in store for them in only just a couple of months, they could see their own office completed and providing them with the space to develop any games they desire.
Due to a local printing company going bust, all of the companies interior office equipment supplies were auctioned off at low prices. The team acted quickly and for a small fee were able to furnish the entire building with chairs, desks, cabinets, white boards and cupboards.
The final stretch was in sight, all it would take was a little more hard work, nothing unfamiliar to the Little Kraken team by now. An electrician was hired to professionally and safely install electrical utilities: power outlets and lighting. Finally, carpet fitters arrived to add the final piece, bringing all of the weeks of pain together.
The team finalised their renovation works by restoring and cleaning the surrounding area of the building, adding sheltered parking.
To protect all of the Kraken's hard work from thieves, modern security systems were installed, a small investment in the face of danger.
It would have seemed impossible for a group of students, unskilled in building, to come together and achieve this accomplishment. However their passion for games made it all possible.
First day at work
With renovation complete and only minor jobs left to complete, the Little Kraken team started development of their first game, details of which are secret for now, and with luck, a Windows 8 application contract they landed.
With summer almost over and all of the preparation work complete, steady income from Gaming Essentials, and development of their first game and application begun, little Kraken Games Studio can start their placement year in September with both feet firmly on the floor.
