Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou | Creative Director/Lead Developer

Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou | Creative Director/Lead Developer

Alex has been a fan of video games since he fell in love with Secret of Monkey Island as a child, which he would play against his brother Mark on the PC. Unlike on the football pitch, Alex would sometimes have a chance of beating Mark when gaming! Growing up, Alex devoured comic books like Asterix and Tin Tin, and dreamed of writing his own one day.

While on an Art Foundation course in Chesterfield, Alex started experimenting with 3D animation software and became hooked. Later he studied at the National Centre for Computer Animation in Bournemouth, where he met Tom Jones, his good friend and pool adversary. They both went on to work at Sony in Cambridge for 14 years, before the studio closed down. They had two options: find new jobs or take the plunge and open their own independent studio.

They took a deep breath, made the leap and Polygon Treehouse was born. Years after his dad had banned violent games at home, Alex brought that ethos into his own company. He wanted to create a modern take on the classic adventure games he had enjoyed growing up and to develop beautiful, art-led stories that pack an emotional punch. Personally, he wanted to retain the sense of wonderment that attracted him to gaming in the first place.

Alex is thrilled with the success of Röki, and humbled by the letters he has received from players, who have really connected with the story. He discovered the game was nominated for a BAFTA when he went to order some new slippers online, and found lots of congratulatory messages on his phone! He’s delighted to be part of Breakthrough UK, and sees his selection as a great honour, and validation that the studio is heading in the right direction.

Alex's Breakthrough credit is game Röki (Polygon Treehouse / United Label)

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