This month we speak to Katie Goode, Creative Director of Bude-based games studio Triangular Pixels, about her BAFTA experience, using games for good, and her mission to make VR accessible to all.
Katie Goode spends a lot of time wearing a virtual reality headset. As a VR game developer and co-founder of Triangular Pixels, it’s very much part of the gig. But that doesn’t mean she’s not concerned with her real-life surroundings, too.
“We wanted space, better weather, and nice scenery. We wanted to have a really good quality of life, and we needed somewhere more affordable.” When Katie and her husband John decided to start their own business, the prospect of staying in London without steady income didn’t appeal. Instead, they came to Cornwall and set up shop in Bude. “I knew that Falmouth University was starting a games course, so there would soon be game developers appearing in the area.” Katie saw the opportunity to “help build and support a games industry in Cornwall”, and Triangular Pixels have spent the last six years doing exactly that.
They released their first game, Unseen Diplomacy, in 2016. It’s an innovative, spy-themed VR assault course, in which players crawl through vents, dodge lasers and hack security systems to save the world. “It was made in six weeks, with no budget, by my husband and me.” What happened next was, “Massively surprising. Crazy. Just surreal.” Unseen Diplomacy was nominated for a BAFTA, alongside Pokémon Go and Batman: Arkham VR. In other words, this no-budget game made by a team of two was recognised alongside heavyweight titles based on established IP, made by “massive teams, with massive budgets”.
Off the back of that success, as well as their work supporting other developers, Katie and John were named BAFTA Breakthrough Brits in 2018. “The best thing to come from that was the mentoring”, Katie says, and cites several influential conversations that were facilitated by BAFTA, including talking tech with Media Molecule (the studio behind Dreams and LittleBigPlanet) and industry politics with Jo Twist, CEO of UKIE (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).
The latter helped Katie navigate her involvement with industry bodies, including the BGI — a charity that champions the culture of video games in Britain. “We’re trying to ensure that people are aware that games are art, that games are culturally important, and that their development — not just the end result — needs to be preserved and shared with people.” Katie was invited to join the advisory board. “They needed indie voices, and someone who’s not afraid of speaking up.” Katie pauses for a second before adding, “That’s something I’m keen on doing a lot of.”
What does she find herself speaking up about most often? “I try to make sure that when we’re talking about diversity and access, we keep in mind people with disabilities, and people who may need greater accessibility support to take part in events.” In fact, Katie is doing much more than just speak up about this. “We spent well over a year doing research into VR accessibility with the South West Creative Technology Network.” The research was directly inspired by their experience with Unseen Diplomacy.
“We realised that it’s a really physical game.” With gamers at some events queueing for up to three hours for the chance to play, Katie’s worst nightmare was that a fan would be unable to play due to physical movement limitations. “We quickly hacked in the ability for people in wheelchairs to play,” Katie says. But now they want to do more. “We can’t go back and completely rewrite the code for Unseen Diplomacy. But it’s something we’re concentrating on for Unseen Diplomacy 2.”
Improving accessibility is clearly the right thing to do — and given that around 15% of the world’s population lives with a disability of some form, it also makes good business sense. Having developed technology that will “basically change the game so that it adapts to the users and the space they’re in”, Katie and John intend to deploy it on multiple projects, as well as license it to other developers. Additionally, they are constantly sharing their findings with the community, so that even developers who don’t use the new technology will be able to make their games more accessible.
Katie is also involved with the Cornwall Games Network, whose mission is to “build a name for Cornwall as an awesome place to develop games!” This includes encouraging developers to move here (or stay after graduating), and getting the public interested in the games being developed on their doorsteps. Sometimes she has to go back to basics. “Far too often, I’d meet people at events who didn’t realise there’s a games industry in Cornwall at all.” This is an oversight that Katie, and the globally recognised success of her studio, is going a long way to fix. But that’s not the only thing she’s doing for the county.
“I’m really passionate about using games for good”, Katie tells me, when we discuss the studio’s work with Sowenna — Cornwall’s NHS mental health unit for young people. Triangular Pixels have been developing a range of sensory VR environments designed to reduce anxiety. The project is currently a “pretty prototype”, and the next step will be to test it and take feedback from users and staff — although this may be delayed somewhat. “Sharing VR headsets isn’t so hot right now…”
Katie and John had their first child last year and the pandemic has, of course, made that more stressful than it might otherwise have been. They also missed out on their annual trip to Brighton for the Develop conference. “It’s frustrating, as that’s where all the publishers and potential income opportunities are. It’s where we network and socialise.” But there have been some unexpected “mild benefits” to the upheaval. Katie says they’ve been taking more transatlantic meetings than they would normally. She’s also keen to continue conversations with Cornish businesses and artists who are interested in exploring what VR could do for them.
Although I get the sense that there is much, much more we could talk about, I’m also painfully aware that there’s an army of fans who are desperate to strap on their VR headsets and dive headfirst (literally) into the world of Unseen Diplomacy 2.
I should probably let Katie get back to building it.
Written by Alex MJ Smith, with thanks to Katie Goode.
