New studio Smashmouth Games opens in Manchester

A new studio has opened in Manchester with plans to make new titles for downloadable platforms.

Smashmouth Games is based in the city’s Futureworks creative arts building, which is host to other digital and media firms and trains/incubates new businesses.

The studio is making two titles already. The games will be released on WiiWare, XBLA and iPhone – and should be released by the end of the year.

The first game is the Wii and iPhone version of Ongaku, the Flash prototype of which has already won an award from Newgrounds.com.

The studio’s second game is Neon Blaster Overload, a Space Invaders-styled shooter which could make it to XBLA, iPhone and DSi this year.

Students studying at Futureworks will also benefit from the studio’s location as the Smashmouth Games team plans to offer guest lectures, mentoring and collaborative work.

MD of Smashmouth Games, Zuby Ahmed commented: “We are all extremely excited about setting up our operation at Futureworks. The facilities are incredible and will allow us to create the professional finish we require so that we can release our games.”

Ben Norris, head of Games and CGI at Futureworks added: “Having a professional organisation based at Futureworks is a huge honour. It is a fantastic opportunity for the students as they will get to see first-hand how the skills that they are learning on the course are put into practice in working projects within the industry. In addition, the knowledge and experience that the staff can pass onto the students will be invaluable in their learning process.”