Deep Fried Games

Glasgow is a city of innovation and revolution.  From its early days the city was the hub of culture in the country this grew and grew until it became the dear green place we all love. Glasgow is renowned for its shipbuilding heritage, with some of the most famous ships in the world is built on the bank of the Clyde River. But since those years Glasgow and Scotland in general, have moved on in many new and creative ways and video games are one of the biggest.  With over 1500 jobs in the creative industries in Scotland the video gaming section has increased by 20%. With over 90 companies in Scotland the industry has never been this full of potential and great games for the everyday consumer of these titles. 
I interviewed the lead programmer Gabriele Maddaloni, with a local video games company Deep Fried Games to get a better idea of the video games business in Scotland as well as what video games we can expect from a Scottish company.
Gabriele originally comes from Italy, where according to him there is little to no video game business there.
“I can’t talk about other countries I haven’t been in but in Italy there is no such thing as a gaming industry and I’m originally from Italy so I tried my best there to make up a team but it’s not just the atmosphere it is the people.”
But soon Gabriele found himself in Scotland where he was surrounded by others that were just like him.
“Apparently in Scotland people are willing to sacrifice more, that is what I’ve found. In Italy If you start something you need the money to start it and to pay people because they will not be bothered. Or everything has to be supper maximum grade from the beginning. While the people I found in Glasgow, they were willing to sacrifice.”
You see this game maker started from a young age in his aims to become a creator when he found a game maker tool that was made in Dundee, this was Gabriele’s first interaction with video game creation so this has started with him throughout his life and lead to him choosing Scotland as the place to perfect his craft.
“when I was thirteen I found this game maker tool which was made by a guy that sold it to yoyo games in Dundee, so I started being a game maker when I was 13 – 14 years old so that is the reason I went to Scotland in the first place because I really wanted to be somewhere where they make video games … We end up IGA Scotland event in Dundee with our small puzzle game that ran on android, we were supper proud but no one really cared about it. Well that’s not true most of the people didn’t give a shit but I met with Brian Baglow and he encouraged us to keep going and I though man this guy is a legend and he likes our game this is amazing.”
Brain Baglow if you didn’t know  was the writer of the original Grand Theft Auto game as well as founding and running communications agency Indoctrimat. So for someone like that to tell you to keep going, it is real praise.
“They were like no we are going to build this dream and it doesn’t matter how hard it’s going to be we are just going to do it. You know everything that could go wrong did go wrong so It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows. For the gaming industry in general is extremely approachable in Scotland, like it’s never truer that people are just people than in Scotland”
Gabrieles Company Deep fried Games is a Glasgow based video game Company that focus on VR experiences. They have various projects at different stages of development but what made him want to focus on producing VR games as there is such a small market.
“I don’t really care what I work on as long as I find it interesting. So, it wasn’t really my idea project swing was the first game that got us the office and got people interested but it wasn’t my idea at all. It was glen the artist that came to me through a mutual friend and said again do you want to make a VR game… So we really struck gold, but it’s a long trek and we are reaching the end of the tunnel so hopeful the game will be released in the summer.”
When I asked him about what his favorite part of this whole process was he was pretty clear it was one thing in particular.
“It’s not about the projects themselves it’s about the team, the people that make it with you. Every project that we worked started in such a weird, convoluted and ridiculous way that just evolved in to being something that was a shared effort… Whenever we would just come around have a few pint go on a retreat for a few days, eat shit and just program all day, making games you know, every project is the best.”
So with the right team, it seems anything can be possible, at least in Gabriele’s opinion. However his team wasn’t only the best part, but the worst part too.   
“The worst part?  It’s the team! The team is the best and also the worst with the aspects of running a company. And that’s the problem we were running a company. It’s not like what you with your mates and if you decide to do something and it doesn’t pan out then tough shit who cares we will do something else tomorrow. No, it’s we are running a company we have clients and different ideas.”
This is understandable; these high pressure situations can be a tiresome and exhausting but with these people he shared both the good times and bad times with, they all also get a share in the rewarding part of the job. So to Gabriele what was the most rewarding part? The answer may surprise you.
“Funnily enough it’s the people again. They make video games so they can make people happy, I guess that what we do, we make games that people play and they would take the headset off and the would be wowed and they would scream in excitement when they would swing for the first time. There was this guy once that had a single arm, he had a cast on one arm so he tried the game and he did it and he got the high score it was incredible he felt like a god and I felt great for him. The kids as well, this once kid came back 8 times to play our game and tickets to EGX and EGX is expensive. This kid instead of watch this massive expo just wanted to play the game.”
It is greatly great to hear about these Scottish companies that want to make content for their fans and growing this already great industry within this country and making it better. So what can we expect from Gabriele and Deep Fried games future?
“Well, not much has changed really. Funnily enough some of the team leaving the company glen came back so we are at the original trio so it’s me glen and Doug and personally I’m working on Project Swing and Disaster Rally to get them out in the summer. Glen has recently been working on a project with me that we haven’t announced yet so you can listen out for that soon. We have a prototype going and I really like it I think the audience will too.”