A couple years ago, Cliff Bleszinski, the former Epic Games design director best known for Jazz Jackrabbit (but also Unreal Tournament and Gears of War), left retirement to found a new game studio in Raleigh with fellow Jazz Jackrabbit creator and Guerilla Games co-founder Arjan Brussee. Last week, I visited the offices of Boss Key Productions and was allowed to take a few photos of Bleszinski and co's operation, which I've collected here. I can't say much about it just yet, but later this week I'll have impressions from my hands-on session with Boss Key's first game, multiplayer shooter LawBreakers.
The building's history combined with the studio's taste in games and art makes the office feel like a private eye's den overtaken by a 20-year-old from 1995. Some areas are decidedly modern and cleanly professional, especially where two rows of QA testers mash on WASD, but other areas are cozier and more likely to harbor snacks and Pac-Man art.
The office is a bit warm and stuffy in places, a standard feature of old downtown buildings. There is a sort of historic air conditioning, though: a shaft runs up the center of the building, the idea being that hot air rises, and so air should flow through the exterior windows, into the shaft, and then out the top. I was told that it isn't entirely effective, and also that Cliff once dropped something down it.
Raleigh's Triangle Downtowner Magazine was apparently so enamored with Bleszinski's Twitter account it gave him a plaque. However, the publication won't go so far as to say that he's the best person in downtown Raleigh to follow on Twitter. That would be too far for them, apparently.
