RocketWerkz communications director Will Overgard speaks to a group of University of Otago students who toured the growing Dunedin games studio yesterday. Photos: Craig Baxter.

After some early teething problems a Dunedin games studio with global ambitions is set to expand again this year.

RocketWerkz chief executive Dean Hall said the company was looking at employing more staff and potentially expanding into a second building as game development ramps up.

This comes as some of its potential future employees got a chance to visit the bustling studio yesterday after it invited 41 students taking a University of Otago summer school paper for a tour and gave some a chance to pitch their game ideas.

Dean Hall.

Mr Hall said he always envisioned helping future game developers when he set up his studio and it was great finally to do it.

Half the students from the third-year computer game design paper got the chance to pitch a game idea to Mr Hall and other senior staff from the studio, with the other half pitching to fellow Dunedin games studio Runaway.

He believed having games studios in Dunedin would help budding developers in the city.

"On one hand it’s a place they can get a job, but maybe it’s also a bit of inspiration.

"I know when I was a kid, even though I was always making video games, I just didn’t think it was something you could do in New Zealand."

The visit came as things were beginning to fall into place for the studio and it was working on five projects, with two games likely to be released this year.

Things were a ‘‘little rocky’’ during parts of last year, which included the cancellation of a major project, but it had picked up since then.

The studio was now looking at adding about five new members to its 33-member team.Mr Hall said he had no regrets after his comments bemoaning "the hard truth" about virtual reality gaming made headlines across the globe last month.

"A lot of people have the same opinion as me, it’s just no-one will say it."

He made the comments after his experience releasing RocketWerkz’s first game, the virtual reality game Out of Ammo. He was surprised they were picked up by so many news outlets, but was not worried.

"I don’t think it matters. We sold more copies of the game when it happened."

He stood by the comments and believed it would be at least five years before the technology took off.

VR games would remain a niche product until VR headsets were wireless and had higher-resolution screens.

Otago University lecturer Lech Szymanski said it was "extremely important" for the students to be able to visit a working games studio.

"This year we have doubled the numbers of students [taking the paper] and I think it’s because the word has spread that they get to do this," Dr Szymanski said.

People who took the course had to make a game and getting feedback from people who actually worked in the industry was invaluable.

"These guys are professionals, they have really good intuition for what’s important."

vaughan.elder@odt.co.nz