One month after release on Xbox Live Arcade, Trials HD’s leaderboards are 320,000 entries strong, a figure that represents by far the greatest commercial success yet seen by this small, Finnish independent studio.
 
After all, Trials is hardly RedLynx’s first game. In addition to the critically acclaimed PC versions of the stunt bike racing series from which their latest title evolved, the studio has built up a decidedly eclectic back catalogue over its 10 years – strategy titles in the form of Warhammer 40,000 Squad Command for PSP and Pathway to Glory, the original Nokia N-Gage’s best game, and such inventive multiplayer games as Reset Generation for the second generation N-Gage and DrawRace for iPhone.
 
We spoke to creative director Antti Ilvessuo about the studio and Finland’s videogame heritage, and why he thinks a diverse approach is the secret to making great games.

RedLynx has existed for around 10 years, and Trials HD has brought you to a new level of success. How do you think this might affect the studio and what measures are you taking to deal with those changes?
It sure is nice to finally make a game that is not only highly appraised by critics and gamers, but also a commercial success.
Yes, we have existed close to 10 years. During that time we have seen some early promise, some successes, but also went through bad times. We had high hopes for mobile games business, and we had even high hopes for interactive TV games... So we have seen enough to know that behind every success you have lot of talent, and far more systematic hard work, and some luck as well. And that nothing is guaranteed – no future success can count on past success.



What’s the plan for the future?
We plan to keep on going to develop games that we would like to play as gamers, and make them such that they also bring something new. We’ll keep the games focused so core gameplay is clear and as good as possible. We don’t want to create games that need 100 people and years of development. You can do good games that way but the risks are huge – and development times are too much for our mindset. With fewer than 30 people you can create really good stuff if you have good core gameplay and a really good team.

As a studio your output has been, to put it mildly, eclectic. Why have you chosen to try your hand at so many different types of games rather than focusing upon one particular genre?
That is true. If you count all the small web games, interactive TV games and PC games we have probably developed close to 100, in a huge variety of genres. Actually, if you seek a common denominator, it’s probably our use of physics. Even in Pathway To Glory all the bullets were projected so for example you could fire through a bunker if the windows were aligned with the gun. But in general, each game is different, and the most important thing is that whatever game or feature you do, always do it the right way, the way that suits that game – and don’t cut the corners while developing.

In general, our aim has always been for multiplatform and trying to create really good and fun games that will also bring something new for gamers. Different platforms provide different opportunities for that.


_{^{Reset Generation, created for Nokia N-Gage}}

What are the benefits and drawbacks to such a diverse approach?
Each platform, each game requires something different, something new, and also forces you to think bit differently than you have done before. As a result, you become better developer. As I said, in close to 10 years we have made about 100 games. As our team is rather small, we sure have pretty freaking strong knowledge about making good solid games on number of platforms or many game genres.

How many staff members does RedLynx currently employ?
About 25 people with mixed talent. Most of the time we are organised into two teams of 10 people and one of five. Teams are not permanent, but built for the project in question. One team created Trials HD while the other is currently working on another not yet public project, and the team of five people mainly works on web and iPhone games.

Do you predominantly hire Finnish staff? If so, do you find that easy? Is there a large pool of talent in the country?
Most of our guys are Finns, but we have two British developers. It takes some guts to face the Finnish winter, sauna and salmiakki!

In general, the availability of competent developers is quite good in Finland, at least in proportionally good when compared to the small size of the population in general. Videogames have been part of the kid, youngster and now also adult entertainment scene for a long time. And Finland is quite technology-oriented. Most households have had computers for almost two decades, so kids who were interested in programming and making games had means for that. That breeding ground was there in the late 80s – most of our experienced developers have been making their own games for a long, long time.

Then the school system is pretty good for programming and game development, and recent game development education programmes have started to develop quite well.