Hi-Rez Studios: A New Breed of Developer

In this current economic situation, developers and publishers alike are forced to downsize their staff. The general perceptions of a recession-proof industry are incorrect. Fortunately, while the major players in the video game industry are taking difficult hits, the independent studios are quietly toiling to develop new titles.

Hi-Rez is developing a new MMO called Global Agenda and it is looking to be something special for the MMO genre. I talked to Associate Producer and PR Specialist Michal Adam about the origins of Hi-Rez and their title: Global Agenda.

What are the origins of Hi-Rez Studios? How did it come to fruition?

Hi-Rez Studios was established in 2005 by Erez Goren; a long-time video game enthusiast. When he was younger, he used to write games for fun and one actually got published by Atari. We have it here in the studio – it’s a baseball game. But the video games industry took a hit in the mid-80’s and Erez went on to co-found a company with his brother called Radiant Systems.

Radiant focused on an intuitive Point-of-Sale system that is almost like a video game in itself integrating touch screen graphical terminals, customer service kiosks, and automated movie ticket stations. Under his guidance, it grew to be a publicly held company.

In 2005, after success in other entrepreneurial ventures, Erez invested his own money and pulled team members he’d worked with previously to start a new company – his own video game development studio. Today, Hi-Rez is a 45 member studio and entirely independent and self-funded.

Erez is not only the sole financial source behind the studio and game, but he is also the lead designer on Global Agenda. It’s unique for the financial source to be so hands on the project; Erez is usually the last person to leave the office, always trying new things like rebalancing weapons.

What is the goal of Hi-Rez Studios?

The goal is FUN. Because we are an independent studio, we are able to create games that are in line with our own vision. We also have the advantage of following our own production schedules and can therefore focus more on the quality of the game than the number of months or years that it takes to develop. But the number one thing on the first design document was “has to be fun.” We ensure this by deploying a daily build and testing internally almost every day. This allows for rapid prototyping and implementations of systems in the game

What facilities do you have? What kind of systems are you developing on?

Our facilities are quite nice – we have a spacious studio in a northern suburb of Atlanta. We are developing Global Agenda on the Unreal 3 Engine. Around the office, we mostly we use Dell XPS systems, but not everything was purchased at the same time and you’ll see a variety of PCs and specs at each developer’s work station.

You also have your own Motion Capture Studio?

We have a motion capture studio on site. Actually, we have one of the only motion capture studios in Georgia. The data we capture serves as a solid base movement for our animators. We’re also able to have a lot of fun with emotes and in-game movements, since we own the equipment (often developers have to rent motion capture facilities for their projects, which can get costly).

Georgia recently introduced a tax incentive to boost the entertainment industry. Can you explain that?

Something I think is true for most states is that they want to draw the entertainment industry to produce in their “backyard.” Think about how many jobs a project can create! For example, when a film is being shot in a location, it creates a need for various crews, set designers, local food catering for those on-set, actors, etc., which create lots of jobs around the film site.

The same is true for the gaming industry, and Atlanta has a really great pool of talent coming from local universities like Savannah College of Art and Design, Art Institute of Atlanta, and Georgia Tech, to name few. They produce highly skilled artists, programmers, and designers who, up until recent years thought they would have to go to California to get jobs in gaming. SCAD has a game design program; Georgia Tech has a Computation Media program too. There is a lot of talent coming out of the state.

The Entertainment Investment Act increased tax breaks for productions that were half a million dollars and higher to 30%. It is one of the most aggressive rates in the county! The EIA was something the Department of Economic Development pushed through. It’s very exciting; more companies are motivated to start in Georgia. Hi-Rez is proud to be Georgia’s largest homegrown game studio.

Are there any plans past Global Agenda yet?

The entire studio is focused on the single project. We really want to ship an excellent game and support the quality of Global Agenda.

It’s interesting to see a developer entirely funded by one source, and one who has their hands in every aspect of the game. Hi-Rez Studios looks to potentially become a major force in the development community. Look for the Global Agenda Q&A tomorrow, where GotGame learns more specifics about the first title from Hi-Rez Studios.