A SWINDON video games developer has been named in the nation’s brightest 50 creative firms and its founders are adamant the town has a part to play in their future.

Evil Twin Artworks, conceived by brothers James and Mark Carroll in 2010, was announced last week as one of the Creative England 50.

Creative England, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the creative industries, wanted to celebrate 50 organisations that had turned creative ideas into commercial success.

The Carrolls and their team were praised for their award-winning games, diverse client base, grassroots programming and outreach schools projects.

Evil Twin has a core team of six, predominantly run from the Carrolls’ home in Cranmore Avenue, plus a number of freelance workers.

James, 38, wants to prove success can be built in his hometown.

He said: “There’s always been opportunities to go elsewhere, but one of the problems of staying in Swindon is retaining the staff.

“People go to London and Bristol, where a lot of the studios are based, so we have to make ourselves a place for grassroots programming, giving young people a chance.

“We are Swindon born and bred. We don’t want to leave if we can help it. We’d rather make it happen here than anywhere else.”

The team has known about the recognition from Creative England for the past fortnight and James said the accolade has capped off a busy few months of breakthrough attention for Evil Twin.

Last year it won best action/adventure game by a small studio at the TIGA Games Industry Awards for its first major release, Victory at Sea, which sold 1,200 copies in its first eight hours.

Victory at Sea was the studio’s first real crack at making its own game after years of making them for third parties, including Channel 4’s River Cottage Get Foraging.

James said the developments, contracts and contacts it had created in the past 12 months were dream scenarios for Evil Twin.

He hopes the brand’s name in this exclusive list will bring more business and notoriety their way.

“At the end of the day, we now know there are companies out there who know what we are about and this recognition will put us in the market,” he said.

“More contacts will come to us and save us having to do all the leg work.

“It gives us the confidence to know we have had a successful launch, we are doing something right and we can work in Swindon to make it a success.”

For more information on the list, visit www.creativeengland. co.uk and for more information on Evil Twin visit www.eviltwin artworks.com