Strike Suit Zero developer hit by Guildford floods (update)

Born Ready Games, the studio best known for its work on Strike Suit Zero, was hit by the same floods that affected No Man's Sky developer Hello Games over Christmas Eve, the studio announced today via Twitter.

Over the Christmas period, parts of the U.K. experienced severe storms, which led to broken riverbanks and flooding. Born Ready Games posted photos to Twitter today showing parts of its office under an inch of water. While there appears to be damage caused to the office itself, the studio tweeted: "Fortunately we were able to get PCs on desks before the worst of it hit."

Thanks for everybody's concern RE: Guildford floods. Unfortunately the studio has indeed been hit -- pic.twitter.com/znqXsglvhJ

— Born Ready Games (@BornReadyGames) December 26, 2013

Fortunately we were able to get PCs on desks before the worst of it hit. pic.twitter.com/G8txjcnVxp

— Born Ready Games (@BornReadyGames) December 26, 2013

It certainly seems our poor neighbours @hellogames were hit worse, and we'll be doing our best to help them out. Also: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

— Born Ready Games (@BornReadyGames) December 26, 2013

We have reached out to Born Ready Games for comment on the extent of the damage and whether current and future projects will be affected.

Guildford is home to a number of game development studios, including 22Cans, Electronic Arts UK, Fireproof Games, JiggeryPokery, Kinesthetic Games, Lionhead Studios, Media Molecule, Pitbull Studio, Rodeo Games, Supermassive and Twistplay. We have reached out to all these studios to find out if they have been affected.

JiggeryPokery CEO Matthew Wiggins told Polygon that the studio was fortunate enough to be "relatively unaffected" by the floods because it is located on higher ground. "Our hearts go out to Hello Games, and any others who have been affected," Wiggins told Polygon via email. "We've offered to help in any way we can — we have some desk space they can use if needed."

Update: Born Ready Games's CEO James Brooksby told Polygon that it was fortunate that the development team was around when the flooding happened because it gave them a chance to save some of their hardware.

"As soon as water started coming through the walls on Christmas Eve afternoon, [the team] moved all the PCs on to desks and took the server to bits and moved it out of the way," he told Polygon via email. "The water rose to over a foot deep in the whole office that night, and so all our trunking and switches and power blocks are now full of sandy water and the odd PC that got missed as well as one dev kit.

"I feel very sorry for our neighbor studio Hello [Games], as they had gone off for the holidays a day early so had nobody in, and we could not get in easily, and so they had a lot of machines damaged by the time the door could be got open. We have been in today as the water has subsided, but we have a hell of a lot of cleaning up to do. We really don't want to delay our next projects as we have some great things coming, but this is going to be tough."

Brooksby said the game development studios in the region have been very supportive of those affected by the floods, and many have reached out to offer studios like Hello Games and Born Ready Games desk space so they can return to work. In the mean time, the clean-up continues.

"Tomorrow will be back on with the boots and start to rip out the carpets and get some heaters in to start to dry the place up," Brooksby said. "Luckily, game studios are, in the end, about the people, and Hello and us have good people, and they will triumph through this adversity!"