Carse & Waterman explains how partnering with Staffordshire University has helped to implement gamification, establishing them as a games company.
Company Overview
Carse & Waterman is a prominent digital-creative company based in Staffordshire. Company Director, Daniel Waterman, explains that Carse & Waterman is a digital-creative industry – working closely with talent across animation, visual effects, and more recently, a game studio.
Funded Business Support
Aware of the lack of jobs and skills in the industry, Carse & Waterman accessed free business support through the 'Staffordshire Digital Innovation Partnerships' (SDIPs) programme to mix their two passions together—animations and games—to help educate people through gamification.
SDIPs offered the business £10,000 of funding and a recent Staffordshire University graduate, Games Developer, Daniel Scutt, who had the specialism required to support the project. Daniel worked with a Staffordshire University academic specialist to develop a game service.
As well as using the specialisms from the university, Daniel collaborated with the animators, modellers, and designers to help bring the latest ideas and discuss the progress of the project.
Project Outcome
The expertise and resources accessed through the SDIPs programme supported the development of the company’s ability to create an educational games product to establish Carse & Waterman as a games company and stay ahead of the competition.
Daniel Scutt created a 3D platform video game about a company mascot who is stuck in a new universe. Not only did they develop the video game successfully, but the company valued their university intern so highly that they offered Daniel an extension of their placement for another six months.
Staffordshire Digital Innovation Partnerships (SDIPs) is a collaborative project between Staffordshire University and Staffordshire County Council; funded by Staffordshire University, Staffordshire County Council and the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020.
As a business, we were able to cautiously step into the world of computer games through SDIPs. We were able to deal with an issue that we strongly believe in – education and creative digital – in the local area, whilst developing our ability to create this product for other people. We can now confidently say that we are now a games studio, as well as an animation and visual effects studio!