From Little Big Planet to LEGO Star Wars III, Cardiff based Ian Thomas has been very active in the video games industry as a developer. More recently, he wrote an interactive novel called Pendragon Rising, the novel follows the events of King Arthur’s ascension to the throne.
Ian was also part of the team that made horror game SOMA.“It’s wildly surpassed the team’s expectations,” Ian said. He also revealed the studio’s (Frictional Games) concerns that fans would be upset that SOMA differed their approach to the horror genre when compared to their previous game Amnesia.“We weren’t quite sure people would get the deeper horror stuff, so people who like running around and having jump scares might not get the point of the game, but their response has been phenomenal.”
With only 14 people involved in the creation of SOMA by the end, Ian revealed his delight about working in such a small group and having more influence. When asked what projects Frictional Games are currently working on Ian said, “I can’t tell you, sorry. We haven’t announced anything. We have decided on something, but we’re still playing with ideas.” We also asked him whether we’d see any additional content for SOMA, but with a smile on his face Ian informed us again that he was unable to tell us.
With an impressive CV in the industry, Ian decided to help the local games industry by helping to set up Games Wales, which he currently chairs.
“The ambition of Games Wales is to keep enough publicity going here and encourage, help and handle businesses, so we have a self-sustaining eco-system, rather than have everybody bugger off somewhere else,” he said. Ian spoke about the Welsh government’s contribution to the industry, such as sponsoring trade missions to gaming conferences such as GDC in San Francisco. They have also put a lot of money into the Wales Games Development Show, which is a yearly event for local studios to showcase their games. Ian also organises monthly meet-ups where local developers and gamers can talk about games together.
“We try and make people in the industry aware that there’s stuff happening here and to make people who want to get into the industry aware of how to do that and who to talk to,” Ian said.
Ian revealed that he has been passionate about gaming ever since the Spectrum, while telling us that his favourite game is The Secret of Monkey Island. He also confessed a love for the Telltale series, with Tales of the Borderlands being his most loved.
“If I was starting a games company today, I would most certainly be doing episodic content as it just makes so much more sense,” he said. With the release of the interactive novel, Pendragon Rising, it is evident that Ian takes much inspiration from the Telltale games.
As for the future of gaming, Ian confessed that it’s an exciting time to be a developer. With VR releasing this year, independent studios being able to gain more attention through platforms such as Kickstarter and the demographic of gamers changing with an increasing number of female gamers, the industry has never been more interesting.
“Video games are the future of entertainment.”