“I know that releasing ahead of schedule isn’t really the norm in games,” said Rich Barham, CEO for Octopus 8. “…we’ll try to be a bit more fashionably late in future!”
Justin Parsler, and Chris Cox; the Creative and Operations heads respectively for the studio, have been working hard with the team and recent studio addition, CTO Jason Hamer, to get Oddlight ready for release. Octopus 8 Studios, currently a virtual studio – has seen a lot of online meetings with many hours in front of screens at the different locations the team work from.
As with all of their projects – Octopus 8 Studios works with breakthrough, generally young and unproven talent to give them a chance to break into the games industry. Oddlight, their current game; is the first example of this. A ‘persistent touch’ arcade game for iOS devices (with windows and other platform versions planned for 2014) it requires players to keep a finger on the screen while playing, forming what O8S says is a ‘connected and engaging, dynamic game play control method.’
The team responsible for Oddlight outside of the Studio leadership is:
Dan Hughes grew up in a remote village in rural south-Lincolnshire, making dens and fashioning inventions. After a brief and unsuccessful foray into the world of the Royal Air Force, Dan decided to pursue his passion and, after much hard work is now a graduate of the joint-honours course for Games Design and Music at Brunel University, all of Dan’s final year modules, but one, ended up in Games Design.
Gustav Andreasson just completed his BA in Games Design and Creative Writing at Brunel University, where he was taught by Justin Parsler among others. He is a lifelong lover of video games (for which he credits his older brother). ‘Everybody is a gamer’ is his motto. It was also at the university where he met Daniel Hughes, and eventually realised how similar their ideas of design were. Beyond the fast-paced world of video games, Gustav is a keen environmentalist, hobby astronomer, and admirer of British culture.
Katja Hammond is an artist specialising in comics, and has placed twice in the Embassy of Japan’s Manga Jiman competitions with her comics ‘To Sail a Moon’ and ‘Invidia’. She has also teamed up with other Manga Jiman winners to form the manga group Cross#atch. Katja loves to create stories with a focus on expression, dark fantasy, psychology and dreams, and is aiming to release a comic in 2014. She is also a student in Games Design & Creative Writing at Brunel University, which is where she was introduced to the Oddlight Project, a game that she thoroughly enjoyed working on where she discovered new skills and improved on old ones. Her family in China is looking forward to seeing Katja’s contribution to the Oddlight release.
Andrew ‘Sandy’ King graduated from the Brunel Master’s course in 2012, and has worked in a few studios in and around London. He has a background in Graphic Design but always felt games were what he truly wanted to do. He finds these twin disciplines exceptionally useful when applied to aspects of User Interaction and Monetization strategies in Games. Currently at Microsoft as a Senior Test Associate on projects related to the Xbox One, whilst working on personal Games and UI design in his spare days. In his free time he can be found using his daily jog as an excuse to play with dogs at the park, or fawning over a new board game with friends at the pub.
About Octopus 8 Studios
Octopus 8 Studios are a privately owned studio led by Rich Barham, with Jason Hamer, Chris Cox and Justin Parsler. Octopus 8 Studios is a multi platform games studio, with a registered office in London, United Kingdom.
Formed in July 2013 in order to work with new talent and give them the guidance and support needed to break into the Games Industry, Octopus 8 are currently developing two mobile/tablet titles, Oddlight due on additional platforms in early 2014, and the second in Q1 2014. ‘O8S’ plan to build upon the successes of initial developments to expand the studio as a platform for new talent, both in the UK and globally in order to showcase and support breakthrough
Website: www.Octopus8Studios.com