“It’s offered a mirror to check how we’re doing,” Caspian Films on Investment Readiness and giving female auteurs a voice
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The good thing about diving head-first into an emerging medium is that you can end up causing a splash that surprises both you and your potential customers. That’s exactly what happened to tech enthusiast turned indie game studio founder Ryan Bousefield. Having dabbled in virtual reality, he eventually took it upon himself to create his own short interactive horror experience. Despite lasting just five minutes, it was nail-biting enough to wow early VR adopters and became a viral success, ultimately paving the way for him to create an entire company.
“At that time, VR interactions were mainly going for novelty rather than putting someone in a position where you can tell a story and make them feel a person’s predicament,” says Bousfield of the VR scene of a few years back, one which was mainly dominated by simulators. “We went straight in on horror because we wanted to bring that visceral enjoyment to VR.”
Imbued with a sense of dread, A Chair in a Room invited users to discover clues that’d help uncover the truth about a missing girl. After Bousfield made it available to Oculus VR headset users, it became a quick hit. “Seeing it online with six million views was absolutely crazy,” he remembers. “That was the catalyst for thinking that maybe there was something I could do that was a bit more long-term.”
This early success encouraged Bousfield to continue down the horror-themed VR path. His company Wolf & Wood was founded in 2015 and their first goal was to create a longer, version of their first experience. Entitled A Chair in a Room: Greenwater, this 3-hour version was also a hit, eventually leading Wolf & Wood to bigger opportunities. “We built up a bit of a cult following, especially for A Chair in a Room. That eventually led to The Exorcist: Legion VR, which we worked on with a publisher,” explains Bousfield. “Those two titles back-to-back picked up quite a lot of interest and excitement and secured us nicely into the horror VR genre.”
Despite occasionally diverging into different genres, Wolf & Wood had found its niche – and by enrolling on Creative Enterprise’s Investment Readiness scheme, Bousfield was ready to dig in even further. “Ultimately, I want us to be known for the darker side of stuff. That doesn’t have to be straight-up horror – there’s a lot of legs in comedy horror too,” he tells us. “We’re at a point where we know what we’re doing. We’ve made five games and we know what we’re aiming for… ideally, off the back of Investment Readiness, we’ll have some funding in place where we can focus on the next two or three games.”
Future-proofing a company is a goal that’s easier said than done for many indie enterprises. All too often your attention can be pulled into impending deadlines over long-term planning. However, with Investment Readiness support, Bousfield hopes to change that approach.
“When you’re completely independent, you’re only as good as your last release,” he admits. “You feel like you’ve got to get to the end of your current goal and when you do, you can feel a bit lost. I feel like his scheme will help give us some foresight and set us on a path where we can have a clear plan and a roadmap after launch.” This last perk is particularly useful for young companies that lack clear marketing plans. “If you don’t have any backing, you end up doing things hand-to-mouth, whereas, with a runway in front of us, we can set a plan and stick to it,” adds Bousfield. “We can be unwavering in our vision.”
The bespoke mentoring offered by the scheme has also given Bousfield some much-needed advice on running a business that he originally set up solo which has now grown into a small team. “It’s making us step back and look at the overall plan instead of the next minor deadline. It’s also had an impact on looking at how people are getting on within the team rather than just focusing on what needs to be done by the end of the week.”
From a founder point-of-view, having another informed voice around has also been key: “I’ve been running the company for nine years and I’ve not always had people to bounce ideas off,” admits Bousfield. ““It’s great having someone give their thoughts and advice. It’s definitely helped me understand things a bit more.”
What’s more, being around other entrepreneurs in a similar point of their own growth journies has had unexpected perks. “Doing the course has pushed me to connect with people who I’ve not spoken to for a while and quiz them on what their processes were or what they did in certain situations,” says Bousfied. “It’s opened up conversations that I know wouldn’t have happened otherwise.”
After graduating from the programme, Bousfield hopes Wolf & Wood can continue to shape the horror genre by releasing new and disruptive titles. Eventually, he’d even like to give back and help others on their own creative journeys. “I want us to be known for making good creepy games rather than things that are hardware-specific,” he says. “Beyond making our own games, I think it’d be really good to share some of our tools and knowledge that we’ve built up over the years and help others get their games out to market.”
Words and interview by Simon Bland
https://www.simonbland.com/