A Derby independent studio that makes competitive shooters, best known for the World War II game Battalion 1944.
Bulkhead Interactive is an independent game studio based in Derby. It is best known for Battalion 1944, a fast-paced World War II shooter built for competitive PC play, later released under the name Battalion Legacy. Before that it made Pneuma: Breath of Life and The Turing Test, which was published by Square Enix.
The studio does not appear to publish a mission statement in the sources we read. Its approach, described by creative producer Howard Philpott in an interview, centres on skill-based, accessible competitive games and on involving the player community. Battalion 1944 was designed to be fast and back to basics, with no killstreaks or perks, matches of around 20 minutes and no unlocks, so a new player can join straight away.
The founders met at university and started the company during the mid-2000s games industry downturn, when few studios were hiring, as a way to break into the industry. Their first game took about six months to make and built a dedicated fanbase. A later Kickstarter campaign for Battalion 1944 gave the studio a core community that also helped as alpha testers. Trade press named Bulkhead one of its top 20 developers to watch, and a later report described a new studio in Munich, Germany, alongside the Derby base.
In the interview, the team describes itself as small, and the community plays a visible part in how the game was built and tested. The studio was careful about esports, saying a scene has to grow around a game rather than being declared by developers. These are the studio's own words from a trade press interview, and the interview is several years old, so it shows the early culture of the company.
Competitive shooter development uses programmers who care about performance, designers who tune maps and weapons, artists, sound staff, community managers and producers. If you want to work in this area, building maps or small game modes in popular tools, taking part in game jams and joining player communities are practical ways to learn how competitive games are balanced. The studio's story is also a reminder that many game companies begin with a few friends and one small project. If you cannot find a studio that suits you, building a first game with people you meet through a course, a game jam or an online community is how the Bulkhead founders started.
Website: bulkhead.com
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