Meet Borealys Games.
We believe that it’s time to formally introduce ourselves.
We are Borealys Games. A new independent video game studio located in the heart of downtown Montreal.
Starting last September, we’ve been working on our very first project… Which is our little secret. Unfortunately, it’s still too early to talk about it because we consider the state in which the game is to be too malleable. We’d rather wait and make sure it gives out the punch we want the very first time you hear about it.
Wait for us, it’s worth it.
The hidden talents behind the project
That being said, while we keep our game under tight quarters, we can still talk a little bit about ourselves: the people behind what’s coming. Borealys Games’ team consists of 12 people, all of them more interesting than the other. We’re talking here about seniors and juniors of the video game industry. Although experience is important (because we want to deliver the best there is) the two founders, Patric and Louis-Félix, are very open with the idea of giving a chance to the less experienced. Both of them having reached the rank of senior developer a long time ago; it’s their mentoring that allow the youngests to perform at the same level as the pros. With such a dynamic and interesting atmosphere in the studio, we’ve got everything we need to make the greatest game there is.
In the video game business, all team members must be versatile. That way, if a problem arises, it can be covered at any time. It’s also a plus to always be able to have a second opinion from a design, programming or even production standpoint.
Our two co-founders have known each other for almost 10 years now. They studied together for some time and have cherished a friendship ever since. With their passion for video games ever growing, they decided to roll out on an adventure and start their own studio. In the past, Félix co-founded Artifice Studio and participated in the making of the video game called Sang-Froid: A tale of werewolves which sold a few hundreds of thousands copies throughout the world. For his part, Patric was more interested in the AAA industry and worked as a Senior Game Designer at Gameloft Montreal. With this combo of knowledge and experience, it’s quite difficult to stop them when they set themselves on the victory path.
How the studio works
Although we consider ourselves to be one unbreakable unit, the team is still divided into three distinct groups because of the many differences in the type of work that we do : the Art team, the Development team and the Production team. All three have an essential role and it’s the coexistence of these groups that allow the proper functioning of the studio and thus the means to the creation of our project.
The Art team is composed of 5 amazing guys, all of them with a specific role. Mathieu is our environment artist (also called level artist). He’s the one who takes care of creating the environment in which the character lives. He works on general compositions and also on specific objects found throughout the level. Then comes Clément, our character/concept artist. His role is essential: to imagine, draw and model the characters and creatures that are part of the universe of our game. Although they both have different roles, we often see them help each other out to overcome their challenges. Go teamwork! When the characters are modeled, you also need to animate them. That’s where Richard, our 3d animator, comes in. He’s the one who takes care of all the animations in the game; and he always impresses us. Then we have Stéphane, our FX artist. He’s responsible for the fabrication of all the visual effects in the game, such as fire, smoke, water and any kind of particle effect that gives life to the environment. Finally, there’s Antoine, our sound designer. He’s the one creating and composing everything you’ll hear, and he’s pretty good.
The development team also consists of four outstanding workers. We can start with Patric who transforms into a one man army when we need it. His role is to… Well, do whatever needs to be done! As the Creative Director on the project, he has to adapt constantly, going from designer work, to scripting, to managing his team. With him comes Mic and Raph. Michael is a scripter, a technical artist and a designer. For his part, Raphael is responsible for the artistic direction of the project, but also fills in the role of game designer when we need him to.
And then we have Tony, our programmer. I really should be calling him superman, because when something breaks, he’s the one we turn to so that things gets back up and running.
And then there’s the production team with a grand total of two people: Louis-Felix and myself. Felix holds the role of Company President. He’s the one who handles all of the complex aspects of managing a company. However, although management is important, he’s always trying to find new ways to increase the company’s value and assets. With all of the previous responsibilities being part of his daily work and taking up most of his time, Felix ensures that the production of the game stays on track. Without him, the studio would simply not exist. Finally, the only one that’s left is me, Philip. I am Borealys Game’s Associate Producer and Community Manager. I’m the one that works with the long and short term production schedules. I’m also the one who deals with Facebook, Twitter, who shares the good and bad news and answers your questions. The dialogue with our community is important because what you think of us and our game will impact the production of our game for sure.
So that’s it for now, that was a brief overview of Borealys Games’ team. If you have any questions or comment, or even topics you’d like to have me write about, please contact me by email, Twitter or even on our Facebook page; I’ll make sure to answer you.
See you soon.
