The Team

Mark Williams

Hi, I’m Mark, and I’m the Technology Director here at VooFoo, which basically means I oversee the coding team. My first foray into coding was with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, on which I wrote my first game at the age of 8 – a simple test of reflexes in which you had to move a bucket around to catch apples falling from a tree. My first commercial success was Max Rally on the Amiga, a top-down racer which was a twist on the ever popular Micro Machines. I worked on this with John while we were still at school, and released it just as I was completing my A-levels.

After my A-Levels, I went to Warwick University where I studied Mathematics and Computer Science. While I was there, I did part time and freelance work for Elite, where I wrote the physics engine for Ford Racing. Once I had graduated, I started working for Rage Games’ studio in Warrington, where I wrote the graphics engine for the critically acclaimed but unreleased Lamborghini for Xbox. When Rage folded in 2003, we formed a new studio called Juice Games, which was later acquired by THQ and is now called THQ Digital Warrington. While at Juice Games, I wrote the graphics engine, tools pipeline, and large parts of the systems code for Juiced and Juiced 2 : Hot Import Nights.

Ever since we were teenagers, working on Max Rally, John and I have always had the desire to set up our own studio. It just so happened that in 2007, everything seemed to be falling into place, the timing just seemed so perfect as Rich, John and I were all on the lookout for a new venture, so we grabbed the opportunity and started VooFoo. Making games is always fun, but with such a relaxed atmosphere, and dedicated and highly talented team members, I couldn’t wish to be doing anything but what I love here at VooFoo.

Chung Wong

VooFoo's Mickey Mouse wearing a great T-shirt.

Hi all, I’m Chung, a 3D artist here at VooFoo. I joined the team a couple of months into the development of Hustle Kings and have enjoyed every minute of it so far. It feels great working in a small team that offers a lot of creative feedom and a super relaxed atmosphere! When we’re not doing graphics, we’re playing office football with a ball that we ingeniously made from plastic bags and tape. John holds the kick-ups record of 34 but I reckon I can better it if I’m not playing in my woolly socks and sandals. Making games is ace. That’s all I have to say. Goodbye.

Sam Faulkner

Sam in 3D glasses, unleashing his inner ninja with our Henry Hoover.

Hi, my name is Sam Faulkner, a 3D artist and the youngest addition to the team. As you can see above I’m the butt of all jokes here at VooFoo! That awesome movie above started off with John saying “I dont want you to have a boring picture”, 10 minutes later I was wearing my jumper like a ninja and wielding a hoover like Chuck Norris. This pretty much sums up VooFoo – it’s a really fun place to work and I’m loving every minute of it.

Tam Finlay

Meet Tam and his triplet brothers!

Hello! My name is Tam. I am a game designer and problem solver extraordinaire here at VooFoo Studios. My journey here has been a fairly varied roller coaster so if you are sitting comfortably, I’ll begin.

I grew up in a quiet town in Scotland and had no idea what to do with my life when I left high school. My favourite subjects were Computing and Art so I chased those and ended up getting enticed to Carnegie College where I studied for a HND in Multimedia. We did a 3D module in college that introduced me to the wonders of 3D modelling and convinced me multimedia was getting ditched and 3D art was where I was going.

I’d always played games but never considered how they were made until I picked up 3D and looked into the Computer Arts course at Abertay University. “I can do 3D and make games?!”, I thought to myself so went to Abertay and made some wee games, met a lot of clever people and had fun learning loads more than just 3D while gaining my degree.

Towards the end of Uni I applied to Dare to be Digital and joined a team from Sweden. We made Twang! over the ten week time limit and went on to win the competition. This meant we were put forward as one of three teams to be nominated for the Ones to Watch BAFTA as part of the BAFTA Video Game Awards. And would you know it, my team won the BAFTA too!

After some dabbling in freelance and a stint designing at Setgo Games I made the move to VooFoo where I am working hard to make our games as awesome as possible, and not get run over on my cycle to work.

Matthew Golder

Matthew meets Matthew meets Matthew

Hi, my name is Matthew Golder and I’m a Programmer at VooFoo. I have been putting off writing a bio on the website for over a year now mainly because I don’t really know what to say but I suppose it’s about time to give it a try.

Growing up I was a huge games geek and would pretty much schedule my life around playing them with odd excursions outside to play football.

My first experience trying to create a game was with RPG Maker 2000 and a crumby hand me down laptop when I was 14 unfortunately my inexperience showed at the time however that was all the inspiration I needed to know this is the industry I wanted to be in when I grew up.

So there’s a quick summary about me and I hope it wasn’t too boring. Bye.

My favourite games
Shadow of the Colossus
Final Fantasy 7
Resident Evil 2

My least favourite games
Bubsby 3D
Final Fantasy 13
Dino Crisis 3

Chris Gilkes

Chris attempting to hoover up a right mess

Hello, I’m Chris and I’m a Senior Programmer here. Like a lot of people I started programming on the Spectrum 48k in the mid 80′s, typing in pages and pages of basic from magazines or library books, and then trying to work out why it wouldn’t run.
Not knowing what to do on leaving school, I remembered what I enjoyed doing the most, reminiscing the joy of getting a jumping man scroll from side to side on the screen. This dream sequence lead me to study Computer Science ‘Software Engineering’ at Wolverhampton Uni, and began building game demos to send to companies in the industry.

The guys at Silicon Dreams Studios in Banbury saw ‘something’ in me, hiring me as a junior programmer on their Lego titles. My journey then took me closer to home to Swordfish Studios in Birmingham, working on sports titles, Rugby,Brian Lara Cricket, and Fifty Cent 2: Blood in the Sand using Unreal Engine 3. I then transitioned to Codemasters Birmingham working on and eventually leading the User interface and game flow team for the F1 titles.

I joined the VooFoo team at the beginning of 2013, attracted by the small team, relaxed atmosphere and creative input on the titles we work on.

I bid you good day.

Kam Chana
Hello, my names Kam, I’m the Lead Artist here at VooFoo, I’m also classed as granddad seeing as I’m older than all these other kids here.

I’ve always had a passion for art and photography but back in my day there were no courses to go on let alone University degrees so I had to pretty much teach myself. I was lucky enough to land a job with the BBC and then in 1997 was fortunate enough to be taken on by a small games company in Leamington Spa and over the years became the Art Manager there but as with all things in this industry that came to an end when the company folded after 6 years.
So now, a few years on (about 16, but who’s counting), after working for a few different companies, including the likes of the now defunct Free Radical Design, and working freelance for many other firms I now find myself working here at Voofoo, the smallest team I’ve worked with (which is a good thing because at my age it gets difficult remembering people’s names).