A video game company based in Northern Ireland is garnering excitement from the global gaming community as they gear up to release their first game.
Ambertail Games are set to release Amber Isle in October in partnership with Team17 Digital, one of the UK’s biggest game publishers.
Amber Isle is a dinosaur-themed shop simulation that follows a “quaint, friendly village of prehistoric residents” where players become the new shopkeeper in a town of prehistoric animals (Paleofolk).
The game has already been translated into seven different languages ahead of its release.
Jordan Bradley, co-founder of Ambertail Games, said she is thrilled to see how fans will react.
“It’s very exciting we have a lot of interest from people not just in Northern Ireland and it is a whole range of ages too, from little kids to older men,” she said.
Ambertail Games- Marc Gregg, Jordan Bradley and Caolan McKendry
Jordan founded Ambertail Games in 2020 alongside Noel Watters. The pair based their company in the heart of Belfast, having been eager to establish a gaming company in Northern Ireland.
“It has been interesting building the company because back in 2020 it was just myself and Noel in my spare bedroom, building together a prototype with the pennies in our pockets,” Jordan said.
“It’s great to see where we have gotten to now with this team around us.”
Ambertail Games now has 10 full-time employees and supported 30 short-term international contracts throughout the development of Amber Isle.
Amber Isle game
The game piqued the interest of many in the gaming community even in the very early stages of development. “I was sharing images online and I already had a bit of a following but people were like ‘I can’t wait for this to come out’ so it was amazing to see that community developing around the game,” Jordan said.
Due to the buzz, Team17 Digital quickly became interested in partnering with Ambertail Games.
“They reached out to us and it was a bit of a shambles trying to pull together a pitch but it’s been brilliant having them involved so early,” Jordan said.
Amber Isle is expected to be a hit with fans of games like Nintendo’s Animal Crossing.
It will see the player create their own personal Paleo-sona and, as the new (and only) shopkeeper on Amber Isle, it falls to players to stock their store with everything their Paleo-pals might need.
The idea was inspired by Jordan’s love of dinosaurs but was written by Samantha Birth and Marc Gregg.
Amber Isle
“For me, it has always been a lifelong passion. Dinosaurs are awe inspiring, they have this sort of mystical quality because we don’t really know what they looked like,” Jordan said.
“We see people talking on forums, who are like, ‘My favourite dinosaur has never been in any game and it’s in this one’ and they are really excited to see them which is a credit to Jordan,” Marc said.
This is the first video game Marc has written for but he is excited to see fans’ reaction. “I think dinosaurs are something that you have such a large audience with, yes we are more of a cosy, cutesy game but if you are a dinosaur fan you like the scary stuff and the cute, so I think a lot of people will like it,” he said.
Ambertail Games- Marc Gregg, Jordan Bradley and Caolan McKendry
Caolan McKendry, operations director of Ambertail Games, is excited to be involved with a “passion led company” and Jordan is thrilled to see more young people begin careers in gaming.
“Northern Ireland might be behind compared to England or even Scotland but we are getting there and there are also a lot of good courses now for people interested in getting into video games.”