Mat Hart teamed up with Rich Loxam in 2015 to launch Steamforged, a tabletop game publishing company based in Stockport.
It was then that they delivered their first game called Guild Ball, following a successful crowdfunding campaign. The duo quit their day jobs and hired a number of staff, with the company growing over the years to 40 employees now based at offices in MediaCity.
Steamforged received £5m investment from Foresight Group in 2019 to support its expansion plans.
With over 14 years in the video game industry, including working as a project manager on titles such as Batallion Wars and Lego Star wars, Hart shares a week in his busy life…
Monday
The thing with a creative role is that you never really switch off. Inspiration comes from everywhere, cool movies, books, ads, TikTok videos, it all sparks an idea, so Mondays are used for capturing all the stuff I’ve been inspired by over the weekend. Then, I look at anything that’s come in from the team and external clients from all over the world. Priority is putting out any fires or identifying blockers that need to be unblocked.
Another priority for a Monday is making sure that my co-founder Rich and I have time to discuss anything and to stay in-sync with our commercial director. However amazing the team is, we can always improve, so HR is important, and we want people to be comfortable, happy, and able to work. We try to be consistent with the team and drive business forward, the best way to do that is if everyone is pulling in the same direction.
Tuesday
I generally get stuck into something creative on Tuesdays. We typically have four or five key projects in development, all with a range of styles of products. Some games will be taken to Kickstarter, some involve a retail launch. We’re trying to develop more evergreen products like our role-playing games but there’s always usually one product or project ready to be launched at any time.
A big part of my role is empowering the team, giving them the horsepower to deliver. I mainly try to give the team the tools to lead the way and then act as a sounding board, or devil’s advocate, to spark new creativity. This in turn helps with my own creative tasks.
Wednesday
Mid-week Wednesdays, I go back to playing catch-up. I like to carve out time to think to myself and analyse all the work across the business. This is important for me as I spend a lot of time on strategic layer thinking. Part of this is carving out time to make sure I properly understand the team and their successes and failures. The bonus of this is it can be done on the golf course! It sounds funny but it’s true! Some of my best ideas come to me on the golf course, for some people it’s the shower but for me is the exercise and fresh air of the fairways.
Thursday
Thursday is the best and worst day. I spent the whole day, from 9-5, doing one-to-one meetings with my team. I see all of the senior team, around nine people, and dedicate an appropriate amount of time to them. We do also have a ‘catch-up as required’ policy so I often speak to the team more than this, but I like to have the routine time booked in as well.
We catch up on projects and solutions, but also personal life is important or just general chit chat to connect and understand people. This is, of course, great on the one hand and can be completely delightful to connect with my colleagues and hear about all the wonderful things that are going on. Of course, on the other hand, it can also be hard, especially if times have been tough both professionally and personally. Either way, it’s important that everyone feels supported and empowered.
Friday
Friday is a round-up for the end of the week, tying up any loose ends. On Friday afternoons I like to sit down and do some design work and spend time on new ideas for the next week. Weekends are a quiet time so I can sit and write. The great thing about having a job you love, is that it doesn’t feel like work, and I genuinely enjoy dreaming up cool stuff.
