Autodesk flexes as Radical Forge grows

It’s been around two years since we last spoke to Bruce Slater, the ebullient CEO of Radical Forge. In that time, a lot has changed, but it’s a relief to discover that although now older (aren’t we all?) and wiser (more on that later), Bruce is still full of ideas and enthusiasm for whatever he’s currently throwing his energy into.

Like most games development studios, Rad Forge has faced a multitude of difficulties over the last couple of years which Bruce describes as “incredibly challenging”. But despite this, the business is now in a stronger position than it has ever been before.

Riding out the storm

Having secured significant investment to develop (amongst other things) its own IP, and with Southfield’s release approaching rapidly, the studio is now almost triple the size it was when we last spoke. “In the last two years we grew from 30 to like 60 internal people – 85 including contractors. We’ve been working on Triple-A mobile development and Triple-A game dev projects right through to working with small independent studios and on our own IP stuff. And all during possibly the most chaotic period for video games in the last 10 years.”

The new investment gives Bruce and the team the opportunity to grow to a plan, rather than organically as Rad Forge has in the past. With a second studio in Manchester in the works (supplementing the original Middlesbrough studio), the focus is on developing a robust management structure that will help Bruce focus on being the CEO, rather than trying to do everything. “We overcame the challenge of the last few years, and it was probably the hardest thing we’ve ever done. My team was so amazing and now the future looks amazing too. We just have to get there!”

Autodesk tools to get the job done

With ‘Rad Forge 3.0’ powering up in every way, Bruce is pleased to confirm that Autodesk tools are playing a key part in this accelerated development. Although Bruce is a 3ds Max-man through and through, people in the studio are free to use whatever they prefer to get the job done. The result is a combination of Max and Maya, with a sprinkling of Photoshop, Unity and others.

“3ds Max might be the programme I’ve spent the most time in, in my whole life. I’m old school,” Bruce admits, “I always start with my box modelling techniques in Max. And my absolute favourite thing is the modifier stack.” The fact that the stack isn’t self destructive means that Bruce and the team can edit something in the stack and it won’t break the whole thing. Whether there are three things in the stack or thirty, the team can experiment without fear. “I love that stuff. Non-destructive workflows are so good.”

There are plenty of new features the studio has embraced too. “A lot of the team are using the new rigging tools in Maya. Like the faster skin morph. That is sooo fast. What used to take ages now takes two minutes. We also write a lot of our own tools for the silly things that we need. Those carry over from project to project. So if we’re working with another studio and they need a tool that we’ve already written, we just say ‘Cool, here’s our one. Have it!’ We should probably charge them, but we don’t! We’re lucky enough to be in a position where we can help smaller studios, so we do whenever we can.”

Team success

With so many tools and applications in the pipeline, it’s good to know that Max and Maya integrate well with everything else. “We’re very tool agnostic,” Bruce agrees. “There are so many ways to get the job done and everybody has their favourites. But because lots of the Uni students use Autodesk tools, that’s what they gravitate to here too. When they come they usually know either Max or Maya, and we ask them which one they want. If they say Maya… then they’re dead to me,” Bruce laughs.

“No, I’m actually really proud of how diverse the team is,” he continues. “It’s nice to have people who know different things, and are from different cultures and backgrounds. I feel like we’re quite a new-age studio and I want to return to the idea that we’re a caring studio. I think we lost that in the last couple of years but we’re getting it back. I want the whole team to feel like they’re part of our future success.”

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