Instinctively Real Media interviews RocketWerkz on Production of ICARUS, VR and unreleased games for Valve Steam

Instinctively Real Media :

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, Jan 18, 2024 – Instinctively Real Media interviews the company’s latest TrailblaXR, Elissa Snowball on life as Producer at RocketWerkz games studio headquartered in New Zealand. The company develops ICARUS the globally celebrated PvE survival game, multiple PC and VR games on Steam, including unreleased games on the horizon, attained is a greater appreciation of the complexities to keep her teams and community a well-oiled machine.

Watch the latest Frontiers DLC gameplay trailer created by Elissa

Please tell us about RocketWerkz and the genre of games the studio produces.
RocketWerkz, founded in 2015 by Dean Hall of DayZ fame, originated in Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island. In 2019 we expanded operations to Auckland, establishing a larger team and a waterfront studio. The majority of our team operates from the Auckland CBD.

As a multi-game studio, we manage multiple projects concurrently, ranging from indie and experimental ventures to more extensive survival games. Our current released titles are ICARUS, a PvE survival on a terraformed planet with open-world elements, missions, building, crafting, and hunting; Stationeers, a complex space station construction and management game; and Out of Ammo and Death Drive a VR Tower Defense slash FPS hybrid strategy game. Additionally, we are actively developing other unreleased games.

What do gamers love about ICARUS and how can they get their hands on it?
ICARUS is a PvE survival game that offers several cool features that gamers love including missions, huge bosses, the ability to play with friends, an amazing realistic art style, and so much more. We recently released a bunch of new features, like “New Frontiers” which is a Map and Missions DLC with some incredibly detailed narrative missions and brand-new alien creatures. Our players also love the new open-world function with missions to do straight from the planet while keeping a persistent base. We also pride ourselves on being super active in our community – responding to most emails and tickets that get sent through, talking to our players on our Discord servers, and playing our games on weekly livestreams where our devs answer questions and talk about bugs and new game features.

You can buy ICARUS on Steam, and play it on PC!

Can we look forward to key updates, what’s next for the game and studio?
We released a roadmap almost a year ago with a huge list of things we want to put into the game as developers, which are 50/50 drawn from feedback from the players, but also things we just really want to add. Aside from this list, we are adding a lot of new content every week, and we are constantly coming up with new ideas and things to add to the game like armour, weapons, building pieces, new items, talents and even new mounts and other creatures. We have set up ICARUS in such a way that it is super easy to add content at any point. We have also never missed a week for over two years since release, and every week we publish our entire internal change log so the public can see absolutely everything we are currently working on.

The position of Associate Producer has been described as the studio’s glue – tell us a little bit about the role you play and what’s involved day-to-day.
I do feel like the glue between people sometimes, or maybe the oil that keeps the machine working! I have the privilege of working closely with key people in the studio like the game leads, executive producer, marketing manager, and even the CEO! Because we’re a multi-game studio, I get to be involved in almost all projects and therefore get to interact with almost every talented individual across the studio.
I’ve discovered in this role that I am naturally curious (or maybe I’m just nosy!) and I love people, so being able to be so actively involved in so many aspects of RocketWerkz makes my job so much more enjoyable.
It’s been a challenge to get over my fear of being annoying but that’s a key part of being a producer – to know everyone’s business and to know the status of every project at every moment, so I can help everyone do their jobs better.

Dean Hall | CEO | RocketWerkz: “Even for relatively simple video game projects Production roles are presented with an enormous challenge. Complex work intersecting with people and team dynamics. With games like ICARUS, the challenge becomes even greater with disaster around every corner. Elissa gathers the information together for both the project and the work required to deliver it – and steers the project towards success and away from danger.”

What are the key hard and soft skills a Producer needs to master?
I recently was voted the office “Multitasker” at our End of Year Awards. Being a Producer means being a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, doing a bit of everything all at once. You’ve got to handle projects, people, tickets, emotions – all of it at the same time. It’s crucial to manage your time well and find a good balance in all these different aspects.

Great project management is obviously super important, but so are communication skills. If you can’t properly connect with your team or express yourself well, you won’t get very far as a producer. It’s also essential to know the ins and outs of the game you’re working on, understand your company’s strategies, and have a basic understanding of the tech side too. This all contributes to making effective and smart decisions in the Producer role.

Being adaptable can sometimes be a bit tough for a producer, but I’ve found that it is necessary in the constantly changing world of video games. Strong leadership and team management skills matter too, and quickly solving problems is key to keeping your team working at its best.

Briefly explain what attracted you to forge a path in the games industry and how you got there?
I kinda stumbled into this whole thing, honestly. Back in my third year of university, we had to come up with and make something for a real client. Most of my friends decided to make a game as that is what they had majored in, and I realised I could transfer most of my film and tv skills towards producing a game. I also happened to attend a guest speaker lecture at the university. The speaker was a woman holding a high-up position in a game studio, sharing her journey in the industry. After the lecture, I thought, “I could do that,” and so, I did.

It was a lot of hard work managing a team of six university boys for a whole year, but the experience was awesome, and it eventually got me to where I am at RocketWerkz. My lecturers at university were also incredible – tutoring me, letting me into extra classes, getting me up to speed, and inviting me to industry events to introduce me to people – I couldn’t have done it without their support.

What recent successes have you had professionally and as a studio?
I’ve recently been elected to the Board of the New Zealand Game Developers Association, and I’ve also been selected to serve as the Secretary for the upcoming year. I’m excited about the possibilities that the next year holds and eager to see what happens!

As a studio, we’ve recently achieved “mostly positive” reviews on Steam, showing increased public recognition for the quality of our game. This is something that we’ve been pushing towards and looking forward to since we had our rocky launch, but we hope that our two years of weekly updates and improvements have helped us get to this point.

Which team communications platforms is integrated into your production and community pipelines to ensure a smooth workflow?
At RocketWerkz, we use tools like Jira for keeping track of tasks, Confluence for documentation, and the Google Suite for our main work, especially Calendar and Meet. We communicate through Slack and Discord, and for customer support, we use Discord, Steam, emails, and FeatureUpvote. Personally, as a producer, I find Notion handy for organizing my own notes and to-do lists.

As a NZGDA Board member, does the future look bright in New Zealand locally and internationally, and adversely what challenges are facing the industry sector?

Honestly, I haven’t kicked off my term with the NZGDA properly yet, so I’m eager to dive in and discover what’s in store. There have been numerous positive articles about the game development sector rebate in NZ to counter the tax rebate in Australia, but there have also been many company layoffs in NZ and around the world. I believe the industry is always going to have its highs and lows, but it’s exciting to be involved and to be able to see where it will go.

What do you think are the most exciting trends across the industry right now?

The indie gaming scene around the world is experiencing more attention in finances and popularity, with games like Lethal Company outselling major franchises like Call of Duty in sales. Lethal Company is only made by one person and won the Steam award “Better with friends” voted by the community so it goes beyond even sales, highlighting that it is even more accessible than ever to get into the gaming industry with compelling and engaging experiences.

It’s also pretty cool when I’m doomscrolling on social media and I see people talking about new games they’ve discovered or are looking forward to, and it makes me want to share more of what we make online and get it out there.

Are there any words of wisdom you would give to others considering entering the games and technology industry, including tips and advice for young women so the industry is able to escalate positive change?

You CAN do it and you CAN be that person! Just like I listened to that university lecturer and thought “I could do that”, I am now in the position where I can tell people the same thing she told me. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. With a bit of hard work and the right people you can get there. You don’t need to be super tech-savvy or a programmer to join the gaming world – there are plenty of jobs that don’t require those skills. Feeling like you’re not good enough is normal, but remember that your effort is what got you where you are, and you deserve it.

Image Credits: RocketWerkz

About Instinctively Real Media
Instinctively Real Media is an award-winning global Marketing, PR and Creative agency headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, founded in 2020 by Siobhán Hofma. The company is uniquely placed for global marketing and communications across industry sectors of games, Media and Entertainment, motion capture, live immersive experiences, real-time animation, digital humans and virtual characters, training & simulation, and high-performance technologies. TrailblaXR B2B service amplifies and connects service providers with new projects and showcases investment-ready brands. During Siobhan’s 10 year tenure she led at IKINEMA, a UK software firm specialising in real-time animation and motion capture; the company was acquired by Apple, Inc. in 2019.

Siobhán’s career portfolio includes Animatrik, AltspaceVR, Digital Domain, Epic Games, Framestore, Google Stadia, Globo, Gree, Linden Lab Sansar, LiveSwitch, Lockheed Martin CHIL, MANUS, Microsoft Studios, NASA Hybrid Reality Lab, NVIDIA Holodeck, Pixotope Technologies, Shocap Entertainment, Sumo Digital, Tencent NExT, The Void, Xsens and many more.

For more information, please visit the Instinctively Real Media website.

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