Finnish researchers form Sharkfish Studios

Two university researchers who have long desired to make games have started their own studio in Finland.

Creating games had always been an ambition for Matti Anttonen and Veli-Pekka Elorant. At the end of 2011 they quit talking about it and started to make it happen by founding Sharkfish Studios.

“We are developing games for gamers and that can be seen in the way we work,” CEO Anttonen told Develop.

“We build a prototype of our games early on to be able to get it tested with players right away. Direct feedback is the best way to get to know if our game mechanics need tweaking. This way of working fits perfectly in our company, as we are using agile methods for development and I myself have a strong background in usability.”

Anttonen handles the creative decisions at Sharkfish, while Veli-Pekka is its technical expert.

Formerly, the duo were both researchers at Tampere University of Technology in Finland.

The studio’s name is a tribute to one of their former colleagues who passed away. His last name translates as ‘Sharkfish’ from Finnish.

Sharkfish’s first title, Wordmare, will be released in April for iOS. After that, it plans to begin prototyping its next project.

“[Our size] forces us to focus on the core idea of the game and for me it is the ideal way to work. When the idea of the game is fresh, solid and fun to play, you can easily build the game around it.”