Wushu Weekly #10: New Starters & Studio Updates

Wushu Weekly #10: New Starters & Studio Updates

Hey everyone!

With 2021 well under way, we wanted to let you all know how things are going here in Wushu land. It has been an incredibly busy year for us and there’s lots of THINGS happening around the studio. Firstly, we’d like to acknowledge and give a warm welcome to all of our new starters that have come aboard since the beginning of the year.

New Starters

They are, from left to right:

  • Antony O’Sullivan: 3D Artist
  • Mark Hurd: Senior Environment Artist
  • Harry Andrews: Gameplay Programmer
  • Connor Wakes: Artist
  • Joris Verhelst : Junior Programmer
  • Jonny Lee: Technical Designer
  • Beki Louise Rigby: Game Designer
  • Declan Fogarty: QA
  • Ben Euden: Technical Designer

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Welcome to Wushu Studios!

Studio News

We’re delighted to have such a talented group of developers join our family and be a welcome addition to our titles in development. We’ve grown exponentially and are now approaching 50 members on the team, both in the UK and around the world, with more joining every month! And speaking of game development, what’s everyone here working on anyway!? Well, we can’t spill the beans just yet so we won’t bore you with the legal mumbo jumbo, but as we announced last month, we’re thrilled to share that one of the games we’ve been working on is The Ascent alongside the auditory legends at Sweet Justice Sound.

It’s been a wonderful experience and privilege to collaborate with such an awesome team of sound designers as well as a great partner in Neon Giant. We can’t wait for everyone to play when it finally launches in a few short weeks on Xbox and PC (including Game Pass).

We’re also hard at work on a number of very exciting projects that we think will turn quite a few heads when the time comes.

While the team continues to grow, so too does the need to have space for accommodation! The majority of us are still working fully remotely for the time being, keeping the well-being of our staff in mind. We’re actively monitoring health developments and have plans to re-open the studio in the future. Right now there’s some tidying up to do to get it looking all snazzy for everyone’s return. We’ll be sure to take pics when we’re ready for our glow-up!

Fun & Games

In the meantime, let’s check in with some of the team and see what fun folks have been up to lately. First we’ll head over to Darwen – we heard Connor, one of our artists, has been trying to learn to play some music.

“I picked up an 8-string guitar at the start of the year and I’ve been trying to learn it these past few weeks, but I’m really wishing now that I got a 7-string instead because it’s very rare that I use that eighth string!”.

Do we have an in-house musician in the making? That’d be pretty rad.

Back in our neck of the woods in Liverpool, our Lead Programmer, Peter, has also indulged himself in a little pastry project. “On my Wushu half-day, I took the opportunity to start attempting to make Caneles. First attempts were very good and didn’t last long!”. Next time, we’ll be sure to “persuade” him to make some for the office – in a very delicate yet stern voice. Another of our 3D Artists, Tara, has been doing more digital art pieces to eventually re-open her Etsy shop, where all proceeds will go to Mind, a mental health charity here in England and Wales. You can find more information at https://www.mind.org.uk/.

Antony, yet another resident 3D Artist (we promise we’re not art biased or anything), has been building and painting miniature models in his spare time, starting with this gorgeous Subaru Impreza. He’s also closed on a new home for himself, his partner and daughter, and we wish him the best!

Play Time

What’s everyone been playing? Roll call!

  • Jonny: Rocket League, God of War and Spider-Man: Miles Morales
  • Andrew: Knockout City and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
  • Connor: Spider-Man Remastered and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
  • Bishop: Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft
  • Jamie: Knockout City
  • Tara: Planet Zoo
  • Antony: Sackboy: A Big Adventure
  • Mike: Subnautica: Below Zero
  • Nate: Super Mario 3D World
  • Kit: Hardspace: Shipbreaker

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We’re Hiring

In the meantime, we’re still on the lookout for amazing people to join us. If you’d love the chance to be part of a rapidly growing independent and AAA game studio, we’d love to chat. We have 10 roles available and we need artists, programmers, IT and more to help us out. Check our Careers page for more details and drop us a line.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date. Stay safe everyone!

Nate Najda
Communications Manager