Christophe De bont 
06/04/2018The decision to start up your own game company is a big step, that requires a giant leap of faith. Here’s a quick look at two brave individuals who recently chose the path of independent game development.
Having some experience and shipped games under your belt is always a good idea before starting your own studio. In that respect all-round game developer Thomas Meynen is playing by the rules. His credits include programming on big productions such as Divinity: Dragon Commander, Divinity: Original Sin and the latest Hitman, but trained as a technical artist at DAE he also knows his way around 2D and 3D graphics.
With his new Studio Waterzooi – named after a famous Ghent dish – he wants to try and create more deep and meaningful game experiences. According to their Twitter bio, the studio makes low threshold games inspired by culture (like waterzooi, obviously) and arts. When he’s not working on the studio’s debut game Please, Touch The Painting, you can also find him alongside Pepijn Willekens organising Indie Game Salon.
The story of Polygoat founder Frederik Smolders is a little bit different. While working as a researcher at PXL Smart ICT, he developed all kinds of serious interactive 3D applications and mobile apps, such as a serious game to prepare little children for a hospital intake. In his spare time, he learned 3D modelling and used his new skills to create cute mobile platformer Sticthy: A Scarecrow’s Adventure.
Fueled by the passion of game development, Smolders founded Polygoat back in March 2017 to apply for a VAF grant to start pre-production on a Stitchy sequel. He succeeded and during the most recent VAF call Polygoat received over € 50.000 to help produce Stitchy 2. Next to his passion project, Polygoat is also doing work for hire in game, mobile app and website development.
We wish both of these young studios all the best and are certain they can become valuable additions to our beautiful industry. Good luck, guys!
