“What’s the harm in asking?” – Dlala Studios on taking a big swing to get comedy legend Bob Mortimer for the upcoming game Murals

The title Bob Mortimer may not imply a lot to those that have not lived in the UK, however he is a big deal in the world of British comedy.

He is one in all the nation’s prime comedians, having starred in the double act Reeves and Mortimer, and he lately received the UK model of Amazon’s Final One Laughing game present. He is additionally – as revealed at Gamescom Opening Night time Stay 2026 – a voice performer in the upcoming game Murals from developer Dlala Studios.

Mortimer’s involvement started when firm founder Aj Grand-Scrutton and lead author Kelsy Abbott wrote a character that was a “rip-off” of the comic. Then they puzzled whether or not they might really get the actual factor.

“Someday I used to be sitting at my desk, and thought: ‘What’s the harm in simply asking?’,” Grand-Scrutton tells GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom. “So I rung up Mark [Landers] at Facet, and I simply stated, ‘Hey dude, is there any likelihood we might attain out to Bob Mortimer’s individuals?’ And he went, ‘Oh yeah, maintain on Aj mate, I am going to get again to you’. And in a couple of hours he referred to as me again, and he was like, we have discovered his agent and supervisor, they like the thought, they’re . Bob desires to see a script.”

All that they had was a “bunch of gags” at that time, so Grand-Scrutton and Abbott stayed up all night time writing a two-to-three-page script, then waited for Bob’s verdict. The Dlala founder says it was “the longest 48 hours” of his life.

“I am like, ‘Oh my God, why did we predict we might write Bob Mortimer-style comedy and present it to Bob Mortimer?'” he recollects. “Kelsy’s dropping her thoughts as properly, she’s like, ‘How conceited are we? We have simply tried to be Bob to Bob.’ After which they got here again, and so they have been like: ‘He loves it. He’d love to be a a part of this’.”

Later down the line, Grand-Scrutton was in London for a recording session with Mortimer – Dlala at all times directs its voiceover work.

“I am not going to say we directed him, as a result of he did not want it: Every little thing that got here out of his mouth was good,” the studio founder laughs. “Truthfully, the Bob Mortimer you see on tv, he is even a hundred occasions nicer and funnier than that in particular person.”

Earned belief

Securing a superstar of Mortimer’s calibre is a far cry from Dlala’s moderately humble roots. Based in 2012 by Grand-Scrutton and Craig Thomas – who had met at Jagex – the outfit initially operated out of Grand-Scrutton’s storage in Witham, Essex. Now the firm is 43 workers robust and is predicated in an workplace round the nook from the place Grand-Scrutton grew up.

Since these early days, the studio has made a title for itself working on different corporations’ IP. In 2020, the firm launched Battletoads, primarily based on the iconic Uncommon franchise, earlier than launching Disney Phantasm Island three years later.

“Clearly Battletoads and Phantasm Island have been these two nice IPs, however we have by no means performed a conventional license deal,” Grand-Scrutton says. “We now have at all times been straight contracted or recruited by the IP holders.”

The Battletoads deal took place after a interval the place Dlala was doing work-for-hire; one challenge the firm was working on was Sea of Thieves. A mixture of earned belief and persistence helped the studio land the IP.

“With Battletoads, Microsoft let Uncommon have a lot of autonomy with that IP again in the day,” Grand-Scrutton explains. “We helped out on Sea of Thieves. Dlala was about 12 individuals at the time, and for the six months earlier than Sea of Thieves got here out, the complete of Dlala was serving to Uncommon get that completed. And I feel that earned belief.

“I met [former Rare studio head] Craig Duncan in the yr we shaped, 2012, and yearly, I despatched him a number of pitches for Battletoads, making an attempt to put on him down. It wasn’t till 2016 that he stated we must always do that, and we nonetheless did not get it over the line till 2018. That was a actual kismet of stuff; we proved ourselves with Sea of Thieves and Game Go wanted portfolio items. And as soon as that got here out, it confirmed the high quality of what we might do and ship finish to finish.”

That, in flip, led to a cope with Disney for Phantasm Island – which marked Dlala’s second cope with the agency, after an preliminary challenge did not work out. “I did a moderately trustworthy GI.biz interview that I should not have performed, the place I discussed we had a Disney game in 2015 that obtained cancelled in 2016, and I assumed we might by no means work with them ever once more,” recollects Grand-Scrutton.

“It was form of like highschool boyfriend and girlfriend assembly up after 20 years”

“After Battletoads got here out, we have been taking a look at what we might do subsequent, and I stated as a joke: ‘Oh, why do not we give Disney a name?’ and all of us went ‘Oh ha ha’. Then all of us went: ‘Oh, why do not we give Disney a name?’ So we spoke. It was form of like highschool boyfriend and girlfriend assembly up after 20 years: that is how I’ve modified, that is how you’ve got modified. And we stated on that decision: ‘Ought to we give it one other go? Ought to we attempt to do a game collectively?'”

Grand-Scrutton says when it comes to deal negotiations, Dlala is not about making aggressive pitches with guarantees of big income. “Our pitch has at all times been like, we love this IP, and we might do one thing cool with it. Hopefully it is a success if we work collectively.'”

Going it alone

After securing these IP offers with Uncommon and Disney, you’d assume that Dlala’s subsequent transfer could be one other licensed property. However as a substitute the studio has made a wager on making its personal IP. “We have been offered with a actual alternative the place we had a little bit of cash ourselves in the financial institution so we might afford to pay for half of the growth,” the Dlala boss explains. “We discovered a fantastic household workplace in Canada that was wanting to make investments in one thing. And we might discovered a lot working with Disney. We labored on Phantasm Island for, it was like 5 years together with the DLC we had individuals on that challenge, and we cherished it. It is actually a spotlight of my whole life.”

“We form of simply stated, why do not we take all these learnings, all these things we have performed, all these instruments we have remodeled the final decade, and do one thing that Dlala owns? That is our IP, that is one thing we are able to publish. We will not blame anybody for the failure if we’re completely in cost. And we determined to simply take the soar and gamble on it.”

Murals is a fight game, explains design director Grant Allen, “nevertheless it’s a fight game the place it is simple to decide up, simple to play, however has depth to it. And on prime of that, we took a lot of inspiration from rogue-likes [in terms of items] for augmenting that fight. However in our game, as a result of it is linear, they’re persistent. So that you construct up this big catalogue of what we name Eeries, which you are in a position to swap in and out.” He describes these trinkets as being like a chemistry set, the place completely different Eeries can add completely different attributes to weapons. And naturally, there’s Magic Dave, Bob Mortimer’s character, who’s in cost of the Merchandising Machine of Delights.

Price the threat

Work for rent clearly comes with some dangers; Dlala had to make workers reductions again in 2016 after that preliminary Disney deal went south. However Grand-Scrutton acknowledges that doing your individual IP is “massively” dangerous.

“We have at all times been fairly a wise studio in the sense that you’ll by no means ever discover royalties in our finance spreadsheets in phrases of projections,” he says. “So far as we’re involved, our video games will make zero, as a result of I am not going to wager individuals’s jobs on the success of the title that I am in cost of. We now have wager the home on this authentic, however we have secured the crew exterior of it, so there isn’t any threat to the crew if this game would not do properly, besides for we might all be devastated. So we’re placing every part into this. We now have sunk each penny into making this game the greatest it might presumably be.”

Dlala has opted to self-publish Murals, and has employed Marcus Purvis, head of publishing, to deal with this aspect of the enterprise. Purvis is not any stranger to the studio, having beforehand met Grand-Scrutton and co after they have been a part of Microsoft’s Elevate London incubator program.

“Final yr, Aj was speaking to me about the game and exhibiting me,” Purvis says. “It regarded unbelievable. He was saying the alternative is there and we would like to publish this and may I be a a part of that? It is a no-brainer. We’re doing it ourselves, and we’re studying alongside the manner. The fantastic thing about doing it ourselves is that we are able to make selections in a short time, and we love to try this.

”

One instance of the freedom and agility self-publishing affords is the resolution to do a limited-edition comedian ebook that ties into Murals. “We met somebody who made comedian books,” explains Grand-Scrutton. “We had a dialog, and about 9 weeks later we might written it, began the artwork, after which all of a sudden we had a comedian ebook,” he says. “We will not actually try this if another person is in cost of the funds.

“And one thing like the comedian, there isn’t any return on funding. And I feel that’s the factor that we get [from] self-publishing over working with writer, is that publishers have to be pushed by how profitable the game’s going to be. And a lot of that’s the ROI, what is going on to come again. For us, we have focus… We have superb companions in China, and Marcus is ensuring we’re ticking all the packing containers to make the cash. However then we go, ‘Ought to we waste a few grand and do one thing actually cool, like making a comedian ebook?'”

In some ways, regardless of missing a license, Murals is a continuation of what Dlala is greatest at. “What we’re actually recognized for, I feel, is how we mix our gameplay with our aesthetics,” says Grand-Scrutton, noting the studio’s focus on hand-drawn artwork and fight. “After which it is our humour, whether or not you discover it humorous or not.”

He is conscious that comedy might be subjective, and that comparatively few video games have performed it properly. However not less than they’ve the greatest in the enterprise on board. “To have the option to simply say we have Bob Mortimer is a huge bonus for us.”