Meet the (rcp) family: REDOX Game Labs

In our second entry of “Meet the (rcp) family” we’re introducing one of our Austrian family members, Salzburg-based REDOX Game Labs.

Who are you guys?
Hi! We are REDOX Game Labs, an independent game development studio based in Salzburg, right on the edge of the Austrian alps.

How did you (the core team back then) meet?
Back in 2014 we all finished our studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Salzburg in the Multimedia Art and Multimedia Technology degree programs. Together with other colleagues we developed a third-person multiplayer game named “Noomix” as our final project, and we continued to work on this project as our first effort once the company was founded.

What made you launch a company?
During our studies, “Noomix” got nominated for the Unity3D Award in the student category, which was one of the first external positive reactions to the game. That was the time when we had to decide how to proceed with the development of the project after university. We were basically left with two options — to continue working on it as a hobby project or to do it the “proper”, full time way. We decided in favor of the long-term solution and stayed together as a team to follow our common goal — to become independent game developers and a part of the growing game culture in Europe.

Why did you decide to join rcp?
We knew we had a quite promising project (due to the award nomination), a committed team (due to the sleepless nights in the “game lab” at our university) and a solid skill-base (because of a certain letter we grabbed at the last day of university). Although we were super pumped to finally start a company, we also knew that it is really hard to do it on our own, because in the end all the positive circumstances don’t compensate for the lack of industry experience and senior staff. We also knew that only one project is not enough to create a sustainable business that can lift itself and grow for years to come. Luckily we met Hendrik and rcp back at gamescom 2013 while we were trying to find a way into the world of games on our own. After some intense follow-up talks we finally decided to join forces.

What does your work with rcp look like?
Maybe we can explain this with a project lifecycle: During the early phases of an idea, we get valuable feedback from the rcp creative department, and together we sharpen our concepts until they are ready. With the guidance of BizDev we then look into the market and try to position our product in a reasonable way. Once the funding is secured, the process of iterating and re-evaluating begins. Important insight about our products is revealed during that phase and rcp acts as a continuous source of opinions and perspectives. They also support us with their expertise to decide how to change course and action if not everything turns out as we were expecting it. The game market is a complicated field, it’s hard to design the right product, develop it in budget and time, market it correctly and make sure that the project becomes successful and gets the release party it deserves ;) rcp supports us in every aspect of this process.

You worked a lot with other family studios, what was that like?
The collaboration with other studios is one of the best aspects about the rcp family. Having the opportunities to share the workload, experiences, knowledge and talent on widely different projects raised the bar on the quality of our own efforts.

Your portfolio is really diverse, you create entertainment as well as serious games and also work on web projects. How come?
The status and purpose of videogames has evolved over the recent years. The interactive medium has “grown up” and has grown out of its classic habitats like arcades and living rooms. It has become important in several facets of our life: be it for medical applications or research and education. This can often be combined with the entertaining value of video games, creating more interesting and engaging experiences. It lets the patients/users/employees all become players. As our team has a very diverse skillset combining art, game and web development, we are able to cover all the necessary aspects for the new possibilities of this medium.

Your 8th team member is actually a dog. How is she influencing your work day?
Having a dog in the office is a very nice supplement to the working atmosphere. Her name is “Mila”, she wants to get as much attention at the daily standup meeting as possible, and most of the time we fail to ignore her. Sometimes she gets confused because we switch from play- to productive mode and vice versa quite often. This was always difficult to understand for visitors/guests and customers, but for an 1,5 year old french bulldog it’s even harder to understand ;)

Is there anything else you wish to say?
A big THANK YOU to our dedicated team, our early supporters, the university, the funding agencies, our friends and families, the rcp network and everyone who believes in us. Making games is crazy!

(This story was originally published on Facebook on February 17, 2017)