Software projects can spiral in length, cost and focus unless great care is taken.

Features may be added, revised or replaced altogether as project managers, dev teams and stakeholders offer their input. The videogames industry, with its tales of deadline ‘crunch’ to meet shipping deadlines, is a prime example.

Zack Slatter, CEO of London MediaTech startup Flavourworks – which works within that industry – is clear with his advice: “Start development with a clear end in mind.”

Flavourworks, founded in 2015, has developed a ‘TouchVideo’ game engine for interactive video, which it uses to make original IP and port ultra-quality adaptations of AAA console and PC story games for mobile touchscreens. 

“Making great story games more accessible by growing the audience from more than 300 million consoles to more than 3 billion smartphones is an exciting opportunity,” Slatter tells TechBlast. 

“We unlock the value of the amazing characters and stories by making them more accessible. We remove barriers to entry including expensive consoles and complicated controls with patented tactile interactions. 

“Younger audiences are increasingly keen to interact with content in new ways and feel the agency of their decisions.”

Secret sauce

Flavourworks’ mission is to aggregate and adapt third-party franchises for mobile under a consumer-facing brand, and become the leading provider of premium interactive content to subscription video-on-demand and mobile gaming services.

It says this will generate production fees, pre-sale/licensing fees and uncapped royalty upside. Currently employing 24 staff, its annual revenue is between £1m and £2m.

“FW’s TouchVideo engine merges creativity and tech; film and games. The business has a unique multi-disciplinary process to make live action games combining diverse disciplines including film, game design, VFX, programming,” says Slatter. 

“We champion our unique methodology as part of our ‘secret sauce’ – but are always striving for ways to standardise and find efficiency so we can scale the engine, but also build in flexibility for creative talent.”

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Slatter, 43, was previously SVP strategy & distribution at Paramount and prior to that served as VP new media at NBCUniversal.

His co-founder, creative director Jack Attridge, formerly worked at 22 Cans – a games developer founded by industry legend Peter Molyneux – gaming giant EA, Mind Candy and Rebellion.

Upscale 8.0

The company – which raised a $4.5m Series A round of funding in 2019 and plans to raise $7-10m in 2023 – is among 35 companies accepted onto the eighth edition of Tech Nation’s Upscale.

The six-month government-backed programme is designed to support and scale the most promising mid-stage tech companies in the UK, at a critical stage of their growth.

The companies will receive over 60 hours of support at world-class coaching sessions – delivered by over 20 expert scale coaches – attend networking events with key stakeholders, peers, corporates and investors, and have access to a range of online resources, designed to tackle fundamental scaling challenges around culture, talent, international expansion and financing. 

“[We hope to gain] contacts, exposure and smart investors,” Slatter says. “In 2023 we plan to launch ‘Cuttlefish’, an original interactive game for Verizon as an exclusive 5G creator, and adapt more third-party console franchise IP for mobile using TouchVideo.”

Cooper Parry, Cooley and Silicon Valley Bank will be Programme Partners for this year’s Upscale programme.

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