With the Bristol and Bath region blazing ahead in the technical and creative industries, it’s no surprise that the local games industry is also thriving. Thanks to organisations like not-for-profit Bristol Games Hub, great new games companies are cropping up all over the place and here we round up a few of the very best…

Auroch Digital

Founded by Tomas and Debbie Rawlings of the Bristol Games Hub, Auroch Digital is up to a lot of different things. From controversial ‘newsgames’, such as Endgame:Syria, to the digitised tabletop RPG Chainsaw Warrior, to the upcoming Shadow Over Whitechapel, a playable Jack the Ripper documentary, Auroch Digital certainly have a very diverse portfolio.

“Games is such a fast moving area in terms of design, reach and technology, that it’s both exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time”

 

“Games is such a fast moving area in terms of design, reach and technology, that it’s both exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time,” Tomas says. “This is one of the reasons I’m so excited to be working in gaming!”

Opposable Games

Founded by Bristol Games Hub’s Ben Trewhella and games designer James Parker, you won’t find many companies that are more experimental than Opposable Games. So far the company has dabbled in TV-show mobile games, educational science games, second-screen shooters and Oculus Rift game jams.

“We’re very keen on using games technology in areas other than games”

 

“We’re very keen on using games technology in areas other than games,” Ben told us, when we interviewed him in November. “We see virtual reality as a huge growth area with a lot of potential — a bit like mobile phones, when iPhone and Android came out.”

Big Robot Games

Big Robot Games is a company by Jim Rossignol, of Rock Paper Shotgun fame. Founded in 2010, Big Robot is best known for Sir, You Are Being Hunted, published in its final version in 2014.

Sir, You Are Being Hunted is a procedurally generated stealth and survival game based in a twisted, ‘tweedpunk’ Victorian England, populated by skeletal robots sporting top hats. With its strikingly eerie art style, it’s a gloomy but gripping experience – available on Steam for Windows, OSX and Linux.

Evil Twin Artworks

Swindon-based Evil Twin Artworks are purveyors of war strategy games such as the award winning Victory At Sea, and fun, bright mobile games like GooHoo and River Cottage: Get Foraging, based on the popular Channel 4 show and ‘the only Channel 4 app to retain 5 stars 12 weeks after launch’. Evil Twin was founded by brothers James and Mark Carroll.

Force of Habit

Keep an eye out for Force of Habit, a new Bristol-based indie company founded by Nick Diamond and Ashley Gwinnell. Friendship Club, a local multiplayer bullet-hell shooter, is coming to Steam Early Access on 24 March, sporting an attractive Nerds-in-a-popcorn-machine aesthetic.

Esportsify

One for the esports fans – Bath-based Esportsify is a new platform by Gavin Weeks that lets you create your own esports website, designed to impress sponsors and attract new fans and players. Esporstify assists with the business side of esports, allowing you to keep your eye on the game.

Yogscast

Finally, for bonus points, a shout out to Yogscast, the Bristol-based broadcasters with over seven million subscribers on YouTube – and that’s just one of their channels! Yogscast has a particular love for Minecraft, but features all kind of let’s-plays and other fun stuff.

If you’re interested in South West games companies, be sure to follow @bristolgameshub on Twitter for all the latest news of local goings-on. You can also follow us, too!

 

Bath Bristol Gaming Innovation