Proper Games' Smith Founds New Studio

Design lead Andrew Smith has left Dundee-based Flock developer Proper Games to start his own studio, Spilt Milk. Flock received a BAFTA award, and UK trade site Develop had placed Smith on a "30 under 30" list of promising young developers -- career developments Smith now tells Develop were part of his decision to go it alone. "I guess I felt the time had come," he said. "If I don’t do it now, I probably never will." Essex-based Spilt Milk will initially work on design consultancy and outsourcing projects to raise funds for the development of digital PC games. "If all goes to plan I’ll be setting up a team within the year," said Smith. He'll start by doing consultancy for Proper Games, which most recently developed Final Fight: Double Impact for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. The studio is now at work on an unannounced project. "I suppose I’m fairly inexperienced compared to other people doing this, and I’m not a coder, but even through my limited contacts book I know people that want to do work for me help build good quality games," Smith said.