FLEGA: For those that aren’t familiar with the company: who or what is Graphine?

AD: Graphine is a tech company that was founded in Ghent in 2013. We created the Granite SDK, a software development kit aimed at video game developers and 3D visualization companies. Granite allows for an advanced method of texture streaming. As texture data is progressively loaded from the hard drive, loading times can be shortened and super high-res textures can be used without straining memory too much.

You can think of it as a YouTube video that’s buffering while you are watching it. Only difference is Granite interacts with the software and knows exactly at what time what textures need to be loaded.

On a conceptual level, that doesn’t sound very complex.

Well, the concept of streaming texture data isn’t new. Games used to load texture data of a complete level all at once. When open worlds started to become more common and levels got bigger, memory couldn’t keep up. As a solution the world was split in different parts and loaded subsequently as the player entered certain areas.

In the mid-2000’s id Software developed a groundbreaking rendering technology called MegaTexture. MegaTexture covered the map with one huge texture, that was broken up into tiles. While he was a graphics programmer at Splash Damage, Graphine co-founder Charles Hollemeersch assisted in the development of that technology. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was the first game to use it, and it’s been a standard feature of the id Tech engine ever since.

Yet Granite doesn’t have a plug-in for id Tech 6.

That’s correct. While Granite can easily integrate with any engine, we chose to create standard plug-ins for the two most popular engines: Unity and Unreal Engine 4.

The three founders all have academic backgrounds. Where did the idea sprout to form a company?

Charles, Bart and I met at the Multimedia Lab of the University of Ghent. I was a researcher while the other two were working on their PHD’s. I had no real academic ambitions and always wanted to start up my own tech company. After Bart and Charles completed their PHD’s, they were eager to help kickstart the company. We were able to negotiate a deal with the university – they actually have a share in the company – so we could use all of our research. We quit our jobs and started building the company that would become Graphine.

Starting a company isn’t the same as doing research. Where do you start?

Before setting up the company, we participated in iBoot of iMinds. It’s a business plan coaching/competition that aims to successfully help academic researchers bring their know-how to a commercial market.

Graphine was officially founded in order to sign the NDA for featuring on Microsoft’s Windows 8 keynote

After we won that competition, we felt confident in a naive and enthusiastic way. Using funds from iStart, we built our minimal viable product, set up a website and took our demo to GDC in San Francisco. Later that year, we were honoured to be featured on Microsoft’s Windows 8 keynote. Graphine was officially founded in order to sign the NDA for that event.

Dragon Commander by Larian Studios was the first game to use Granite. Three years on, you just signed a huge deal with Wargaming. Seems like you’re doing it right.

We’re very grateful that Swen Vincke gave us the chance to show what Granite was capable of in a live game. After three years, we’re certainly happy with where we are. But as an entrepreneur, you always think things will go faster. Creating middleware means building trust and forging a bond. Things like that take time. The comparison to MegaTexture didn’t do us any favours either. A great piece of technology, it didn’t do very well commercially. We often had to fight that bias and convince prospective clients that Granite had more on offer.

How do you feel about the rising popularity of VR?

There are several reasons Granite is a great technological match for VR. The screen resolution of the head-mounted displays is a lot higher so VR-applications require more texture data. Second of all, the nature of VR makes it possible for the player to carefully inspect objects from a very close distance, so they have to look super sharp. Last but not least, the goggles require the games to run at a steady 90 frames per second to guarantee the best user experience.

Most VR companies are also start-ups that are open to new technology. It’s very interesting for Graphine to embrace this new medium and try to grow along with it. For instance, we’re very proud that Raw Data, one of the bestselling mainstream VR applications on Steam, utilizes Granite.

Most VR companies are also start-ups that are open to new technology. It’s very interesting for us to embrace this new medium and try to grow along with it.

I also noticed a vacancy for a mobile developer on your website. How do you marry tiny screens and limited processing power with the benefits of texture streaming?

That’s an astute analysis. Granite and mobile development isn’t exactly a match made in heaven. As a small company, you have to cherry pick what you want to work on, and there was a time where we didn’t actively pursue mobile projects. However, as the hardware gets better every day and VR is also making its way to mobile devices, we have rethought this strategy. Recently, we’ve been working on a very cool mobile project but unfortunately, we can’t unveil more at this time.

Do you think it’s more sustainable to develop middleware than to become an independent game developer?

I think both provide a very different challenge. With game development the biggest task is to get noticed. Unity often proclaim they have democratized game development and they are right. There are millions of different games out there – certainly on mobile – and trying to make your game stand out is a very difficult task. The biggest challenge of middleware companies is to carefully win the trust of the client. Your tools to succeed are the strength of your product and the quality of your service.

How do you urgently support clients in different time zones?

Depending on the license, we guarantee support within 24 or 48 hours after the incident has been flagged. We value customer service very highly and have a high rate of client satisfaction as a result. Issues that are extremely urgent aren’t common. We might get a panicky email in the run up to the launch of a client’s product, but that’s about it. Even when we’re quite sure that the issue has got nothing to do with us, we always double check to be sure.

Would you rather have started your company outside of Belgium?

I’m not convinced this is such a bad place to start a company. There are a lot of organizations that offer support and there’s quite some ways to get additional funding. The IWT (now VLAIO) offers significant subsidies to support research and innovation. These subsidies allowed us to focus on creating innovative technology instead of shorter term goals. Having these subsidies also helps to find additional funding on top of the subsidies since the risks are lower for these financiers. There’s a lot of work involved in writing good proposals to apply for those funds, though. We spent almost seven weeks on it. Luckily, there are other organizations like the “Innovatiecentrum” that offer help.

It’s true that Belgium doesn’t have a big game development ecosystem. Because of that we were forced to think globally from the very beginning.

It’s true that Belgium doesn’t have a big game development ecosystem. Because of that, we were forced to think globally from the very beginning. I never realized this, but our website isn’t even available in Dutch or French. A lot of our clients are located in the UK, Canada and the United States. We have a sales agent in Canada, but I handle commercial relations with US clients myself.

How can we nurture a Belgian ecosystem?

Everybody’s talking about a more favorable financial climate. But what does that mean? Obviously lower taxes allow companies to invest more in product development or marketing. However, for a thriving ecosystem we need experienced talent, financiers that know the industry and entrepreneurs that start new companies. It’s a slow process to create this and it builds on local success stories like Larian. I was very happy to see the Belgian booth at gamescom where all these ambitious developers were pitching their games and services.

I can’t speak for game developers, but for tech companies the mantras of Silicon Valley ring true. Try stuff. Fail. Learn. Start over. Fail again. You’ll never win if you’re not even trying.

What does the future hold for Graphine?

We’re currently in the process of equipping Granite with all the latest bells and whistles. Apart from that we’re going to continue to focus on virtual reality. Next to Granite, there are also plans to develop a new product. I can’t say much about that, but it will be connected to Granite.

I can’t speak for game developers, but for tech companies the mantras of Silicon Valley ring true. Try stuff. Fail. Learn. Start over. Fail again. You’ll never win if you’re not even trying.

Some last minute tips for people who want to start up a tech company?

*thinks long and hard* Well, it’s best that you don’t exactly know what you’re getting yourself into. Try to always keep some of that naive and enthusiastic spirit. It won’t be a walk in the park and you will be up for some emotional highs and lows. One moment you’re on the stage with Microsoft, the next three companies tell you the deal’s off on the same day. Take it step by step. The process of turning your prototype into a product, forge a bond with prospective clients and extract information from feedback to improve your product, takes time. But you know: just do it.