Dundee buzzing again as new studio finishes work on Project MyWorld
The talent and spirit of collapsed group Realtime Worlds is returning to a new Dundee studio, under a different name but working on a familiar project, Develop can reveal.
Develop understands that ‘eeGeo’, a new studio still under construction in the Scottish city, will unveil its flagship game Project MyWorld in a matter of weeks.
The group is thought to be working on several other projects for mobile and social platforms, and is still looking to hire – in fact some 20 Realtime Worlds staff are already working at the new Dundee outfit.
Image: eeGeo's Dundee studio under construction, snapped on the group's official Twitter feed
eeGeo’s three directors include Ian Hetherington, Patrick Chung and Harry Weller; all former executives at Realtime Worlds before the studio was liquidated.
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Project Myworld was Realtime Worlds’ last hope after its final completed project, All Points Bulletin, sold poorly and was unable to give a return to investors.
Hetherington’s new business was initially named Kimble Operations, and last year hit the headlines when its cover was blown.
But since, the studio’s name has officially changed to eeGeo and has established a new office in Dundee.
Documents read by Develop show that the Project Myworld assets and IP were bought by Hetherington’s firm for around £1.1 million.
That makes the promising new project nearly as valuable as the APB intellectual property, which Develop understands was sold for £1.26 million.
Image: Official documents on the sale of Project Myworld
Project Myworld is a high-concept Sim-City-esque game described as “a unique idea crossing social media, social gaming and traditional gaming”.
In the spirit of Media Molecule’s ‘play – create – share’ ethos, the game asks players to construct and edit famous cities, as well as play various games (such as kart and plane races) within them.
In a nod to that game project, eeGeo recently posted on Twitter: “We can't wait to let you know what we're working on! Until then, let us know, how would YOU turn the real world into a game?”
The new studio includes former Realtime Worlds staff, including art director Richard Fox, software engineer Christopher Isaacs, software team lead Tim Jenks, GIS modeller Luke Smallwood, senior system tester Ross Mills, QA lead David Murdoch, Mark Simpson, James Bird, Jeff Cairns, Steve Hodgson, Scott Murray and Gordon Milligan.
Great news, congratulations guys :-)
Excellent news! Good to see more positive news coming from the UK games industry. Aardvark are helping with the recruitment for the new studio. If you're an artist or programmer and you're interested in seeing details on current vacancies at eeGeo - give Claire@aswift.com or hollie@aswift.com a shout!
So pleased- Project Myworld looks fantastic, I can't wait to see what these talented people produce.
Does that mean the people who got made redundant will be getting the rest of the money we're owed or will Hetherington not be parting with that? Dirty Pool!
What do you think??
It always amazes me that people get screwed over and go and work for the old boss with a new company. It's like they want to be screwed over repeatedly.
Or maybe "work" for a few months to claim back the redundancy money that wasn't paid, Then start working properly
Eegeo have been going for months, since directly after the failure of RTW, and the people employed were paid all throughout the implosion period. So they've got nothing to be bitter about, although maybe others have legitimate grievances with the RTW administrators.
Nothing to feel bitter about. Really?
I said the people who have been continuously employed throughout this whole mess (i.e. the 20 or so at Eegeo) have nothing to feel bitter about, though plenty others do, and even those 20 may well empathise with their former colleagues.
Is that so controversial a thing to say? I'm not for a minute suggesting that those who lost out financially don't have a right to feel bitter. Of course they do!
