Last week we published an article listing games studios that are based in Aberdeen. Researching and writing that article left me shocked at the sheer amount of talent on my doorstep. Because of this we reached out to one of the featured studios, Firefly. As they have a new game out, Stronghold Warlords. This was the perfect time to find out what Firefly Aberdeen do and a little bit about them.
We spoke with Dave Robertson, a senior member at Firefly’s Abredeen studio. Dave has been with Firefly for over a decade and a half, joining the team for Stronghold 2. He recently worked on Stronghold Warlords as a producer as well as taking on other responsibilities. Here’s what he had to say:
The Interview
What does the Firefly Aberdeen team do?
The office in Aberdeen started off as our QA branch after Firefly’s QA Manager moved from London to Aberdeen. He worked briefly from home, before it was decided we’d open an office and start recruiting QA Testers locally. Over the years and various staff Aberdeen evolved into our home for testing and community support, with elements of our production and art shifting here in recent years.
Being based in Aberdeen is it more difficult working in the industry than it is in cities like Dundee that have a strong connection to gaming?
Since Firefly has small offices in three locations and people working from home across the globe, working remotely hasn’t proved to be an issue. The headquarters for Firefly is still in London and thus there’s strong connections to the industry down there. Obviously it might be easier to find personnel in a place like Dundee with its strong gaming connection, but with such low staff turnover this hasn’t become a hindrance for us at all.
How long has Firefly had people based in Aberdeen?
Roughly 17 years.
What was your role in the recent Stronghold Warlords?
I’m currently working on Stronghold: Warlords as Producer. In terms of other local staff we have Neal and Niall, who worked on the game in scenario creation and art respectively, as well as Josh and Murray who both worked as QA Testers. The rest of the team here work on and off with Warlords, but are mainly involved in our other MMO projects.
Do you support local gaming events and businesses? For example, 4TG, Reset cafe and Engage Gaming.
While we don’t support them directly as a company, we’ve all visited and attended both the cafés and 4TG. In fact at the second 4TG event, myself and Josh won the Overwatch LAN. There might have only been one other team signed up, but a win is a win!
Thank you Dave for answering our questions and thank you Nick Tannahill for setting this interview up. Our experience with the Firefly team in both London and Aberdeen has been fantastic and we hope to work together again soon.
Firefly studios work on a range of titles, including, Space Colony, MetaMorph, Dungeon Creatures and their flagship series, Stronghold. They can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Steam, GoG, their YouTube channel and their website.