Skirmish Entertainment - Insert Coin
Like all great stories, Skirmish Entertainment’s story started with an idea. An idea that was shared among two friends that began to evolve into something much more than they ever anticipated. Skirmish Entertainment has a very humble beginning rooted in that of an indie developer. We feel that no matter where we are in our journey to become relevant in the industry we will remember the struggle it is to be new to the industry.
It all started about 8 months ago, two guys met at school and had a fierce desire to make incredible games. After trying to participate in a few game development groups at school that seemed to fail over and over again, they began to get fed up. They felt like every time they joined a group, people would talk a good talk, but not be able to follow through. Everyone would have great ideas but when it came time to actually sit down and do the work, most people lacked in the quality they were looking for. At one point, Joe Bussey looked at Chris Humphries and stated that if the group they were in didn’t work out, they should create their own team. They decided that they would only be accepting some of the most dedicated people they could find to add to the team. Sure enough, the group they were in fell apart, and they decided to branch out and start their own game development group.
They started to keep their eyes peeled for people that had great personalities and had a skillset that would be beneficial to have on the team. In no time, they had a small but solid team of incredibly hard working devs that wanted to have a hand in creating a game. There was a team of 8; and each person filled a necessary role to start their work on creating a video game. The 8 members were as followed: Joe (3D modeler / Producer / Animator), Chris (Artist /Art Director), Austin T. (Programmer), Austin S. (Artist), Frederick (Animator / Manager), James (Level Designer), Jason (Asset Artist) and Nate (Public Relations). While many of them had a great skillset in their specific roles, none of them have made a complete game, so they had to quickly learn how to do so. Luckily, everyone was motivated and passionate about working together and this new team worked cohesively to develop their first game, End of the Mine.
A couple months into production, they realized that things were going much better than expected and that people were responding well to their game. It was because of this response that this team decided to make a bold move and create an LLC with an ambition to create a much larger team to strive to develop incredible games and become a proper indie game company. As development continued, more and more people became interested in what the team was working on and the team slowly began growing. Originally two, then to 8, and at the time of writing this, the team has grown to 12, with plans in motion to expand twice as large for the next game.
The team has been very passionate and working diligently to steadily grow with careful consideration and an intention to gain exposure. They held booths at Microsoft Reactor’s Playcrafting event and GDC 2016 and have plans to attend more events in the future.
Some of the obstacles and challenges that they face are funding, team management and team productivity. Since the company is a startup and has no revenue, paying people was not an option. Therefore, everyone who is on the team is a volunteer. That’s what makes everyone so motivated to make the best possible game. Everyone on the team spends countless hours creating amazing work simply because it is their dream to be a part of a company that has a desire to become something big. Many of the team members work full-time , go to school or have a lives that they must lead outside of Skirmish Entertainment. It is because of these things that it can be a challenge to get the team to consistently create the quality and quantity of work needed to complete End of the Mine. However, the leadership works hard to keep the team motivated and they make sure that everyone is treated fairly, friendly and everyone shares an even workload. In addition, they make a point to make it known that each person on the team has a stake in the company and that what they do matters. So, they are not just working for someone else, but rather working for themselves and their success is based on what they put in. As the saying goes, if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life!
To wrap this up, Skirmish Entertainment is compiled of highly motivated people with an extreme passion to make the best games they can. They started small and are ever evolving and growing with great ambitions to become a well-known and appreciated game development company. There are big things coming for Skirmish Entertainment and they plan to make their mark in the video game industry.
They are currently seeking funding to help get them to the next level with their company and their current game End of the Mine! Check out their Kickstarter below and show your support!!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1370596581/end-of-the-mine-relaunch/posts/1519279
To learn more about Skirmish Entertainment, visit their website at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkirmishEntertainment/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Skirmish_Ent
Tumblr: http://skirmishent.tumblr.com/
