Saving Morons To Save The Industry: Simon Dean On Folk Tale

Being part of the game development industry as it was just blooming, Simon Dean was disappointed when budgets began to soar, risk taking went amiss and creativity dwindled. Recent trends and available avenues in indie development ignited that spark of enthusiasm once again though, and Simon was encouraged to create his very own development studio called Games Foundry, despite being absent from the scene for over a decade. The recently formed collaboration of developers under Simon have been working on their first project and are just starting to unveil its shining glory unto the world. Folk Tale is a comedy, fantasy RTS that has its players attempting to save a town of morons from themselves, as well as the tide of monsters ready to bash their thick heads in.

Described as a blend of city building, exploration, combat, and puzzle solving wrapped in an engaging and fun storyline, Folk Tale looks to be an engaging and finely tuned RTS. More than paramount is its visual style, affected by the game’s adherence to comedy as well as flaunting stunningly idyllic landscapes. Games Foundry are working around the clock (quite literally) to deliver a memorable storyline, while at all times maintaining a solid base in strategic gameplay. It features monsters that level by defeating you, a diverse automated economy without micro-management, and over 20 story driven levels with accompanying in-game cutscenes.

Illustrating their development journey with video updates have given a wonderful insight in the talent on display at Games Foundry, but we were left wanting to know more. So, we tracked Simon down to find out more about Folk Tale and the hearts that were pounding its development along.

IGM: What is the vision of Games Foundry?

Simon Dean: It’s pretty simple really: to make games that we as gamers really want to play.

The games industry was in a pretty dark place up until a few years ago. With astronomical budgets, publishers became more risk averse. Studios were going under, and game choice was really narrow. The small guys had been well and truly squeezed out.

Back in 1995 and fresh out of university, I created Beasts & Bumpkins with my best friend. I recall working well into the early hours for weeks at an end, locked away from the outside world, excited by each new build. It was your typical indie studio start-up. After a year of development, we found a producer from EA who shared our vision, and somehow our little two man company got signed. They were fun times, with few creative restrictions. As time passed though, industry creativity declined and an unwillingness to take risks crept in.

Thanks predominantly to Apple and Facebook, digital distribution, and not forgetting gamers themselves; the industry received a much needed lease of life, weakening the choke hold on creativity that it had gotten itself into. And that excited us, because once again it was possible for a small group of guys working at home to make games.

IGM: Indeed, there has been a gap widening for smaller developers to reach through as of late. Thankfully. Now, Games Foundry is unique to the many other indies out there as it is a collaborative company, meaning that you have developers working internationally. How did this come about and is it challenging with such distance between you all?

SD: Actually it’s been a really positive experience so far. I started out evaluating a few engines while working on a proof of concept. After a month of evaluating Unity, I was comfortable the project was feasible so I invested in a pro license and set to work. To convince others to join the project and risk their valuable time I knew I’d have to first invest my own in building a prototype. You see so many start-ups on the dev forums expecting to recruit members with nothing but an idea. I wanted to establish some credibility, and to show I was serious. Once a WIP video, screenshots and creds were published, the emails started to trickle in from all corners.

Over the summer the team grew to five, with members based in China, USA and Finland. We hold meetings at the weekend using Skype, communicate in the week using email and IM, and use online project management tools for tracking. With thirteen time-zones between us, it can be a little odd at times, but it works really well. I sign on in the morning and the guys in the US are often ready to deliver assets. While they are sleeping I get chance to work with those assets, and have feedback waiting for them the next day. The most difficult time is chairing the dev meeting when it’s midnight Sunday, I’m zombified, and the guys in the US are firing on several cups of java as they’ve just got up.

Recruitment thereafter was driven by headhunting. I’d read the forums, and whenever someone caught my eye, I’d drop them an email. That’s how we found Pete our UK-based writer, and Daniel our Danish shader-coder.

Working with such an internationally diverse and geographically disperse team is not without challenges though.

First up there’s the time wasters and poor communicators. I’d picked up on this before I started recruiting simply by frequenting the forums, so I always set a short trial assignment to validate skills. Only when they’d successfully completed the assignment would they be invited to one of the team meetings.

Then there’s the man-management challenge of working on an unpaid collaboration project. Your team mates aren’t employees; they aren’t there because they get paid each week. Each team member has varying motivations that I make a point of understanding and monitoring to ensure each team member is getting what they need from the project. Quite often work or family commitments will take priority, which can impact productivity. When several issues crop up at once, it can be hard at times to find motivation. But that’s part of what being a Project Lead is all about – keeping things on track.

IGM: Yeah. I guess you must have your hands tied down most of the time then. Let’s move on to your labour of love which will hopefully make it all worth it! What is the inspiration behind Folk Tale? Why did you decide to make an RTS and of this particular style?

SD: Most of us love fantasy games, especially strategy games. And most of us have read Terry Pratchett at some point and love how he’s not “too” fantasy. Creating a world where we have few creative boundaries with the humour of Pratchett inspired characters provides endless opportunity for situations that not only challenge the player, but provide for amusing outcomes.

By combining comedy and storyline with strategy, puzzles and a bit of monster bashing, we’re hoping to engage the new generation of social gamer and put a heap of fun and laughter into the game. Folk Tale isn’t aimed at die-hard strategists. It’s going to be a game that everyone can enjoy and keep rediscovering every few years.

IGM: Interesting. I really like that idea and I have to say I instantly fell in love with the style of the game. Of course, being an indie, one of the toughest things aside from the creative side is the business end of it all. How is Folk Talk being funded, or how do you plan on it being funded?

SD: Good will on behalf of the team members. The team are funding it themselves by offering their time in exchange for a share of net profit. For other costs including voice acting and marketing, I fund those myself and plan to recoup the costs later.

Once we’ve got a polished single-level playable demo we’ll be approaching publishers and investors. Depending on who we partner with, and the territories covered, we’ll shape the final game and target platform accordingly. At the moment we’re being open minded and keeping our options open.

A number of the team are really excited by crowd funding. But to finish the game, we’re going to need a serious budget, and I’m not sure crowd funding is mature enough yet to raise seven figures. Who knows, we might give it a try, but it’ll require one hell of a PR campaign.

More information about Games Foundry and Folk Tale can be found over at the official website.

Follow the developers to keep track of progress on Facebook and Twitter: @gamesfoundry