Game-technology delivery diligence
Know what the build can support.
A technical view of delivery capability: the build, engine and pipeline, engineering dependencies, technical ownership and the credibility of the remaining plan.
Technical delivery diligence
Fixed scope. Remote by default. Typically two to three weeks.
Red-flag screen
A focused go/no-go view before committing to full diligence. Four consulting days over a committed ten-working-day window. What it covers.
Start here
The red-flag screen.
Most investors should buy this first. It establishes whether a target deserves a full technical diligence engagement before you commission one.
What you get
Deal-breakers only
- Whether the build runs, on what, and how far from its stated performance target
- Engine version, fork depth and how much of Unreal has been modified
- Third-party and licensed technology that follows the deal
- Whether the technical schedule is arithmetically possible
- Which engineers or technical owners are essential, and what knowledge they hold
What you do not get
Not a short diligence
- No full risk register or cost model
- No management-response version
- No IC-ready report — a memo and a call
- No interviews beyond one technical conversation
It is a filter, not a verdict. Used properly it kills one target in three before anyone spends real money on it.
Commercials
How the credit works
The screen fee is deducted from a full diligence engagement on the same target, or on another target in the same process. Nothing to negotiate, nothing pro-rated.
Running screens on several targets? Two can run in parallel; three or more run sequentially. See availability and the portfolio arrangement.
Questions answered
The risks that change the deal
What is genuinely playable today, how many milestones have slipped and by how much, whether the remaining schedule is arithmetically possible, and the cost to finish in people and months.
Frame time against target hardware, memory headroom, how far the engine has been forked and how painful the next Unreal upgrade will be, licensed middleware and what it costs after close.
What has actually shipped, what the pipeline contains, which assumptions remain unproved and where technical capacity is concentrated.
Which two people understand the build system, who owns the publisher relationship, which subsystem has no second maintainer, and what any of them leaving at close would cost.
Deliverables
Written for the decision.
The report connects technical findings to time, cost and the delivery decision. Robert Troughton’s advisory practice can cover wider company or transaction questions separately.
What the evidence supports, what it does not, and what must be resolved before the decision.
Severity, confidence, evidence, likely impact and mitigation.
People, time and cash required to address the material findings.
A direct session for investment, legal and operating stakeholders.
Access
Remote first. On-site when needed.
I work through the target's approved environment. When physical presence will improve access, candour or confidence in the findings, on-site work is available worldwide and quoted separately.
Track record
Three exits, from the other side of the table.
Client names are never published — that policy is part of why studios open a build in the first place. Engagement counts, deal-size bands, the buy-side and sell-side split and geographies are being prepared as ranges and are not published yet; ask and you will be told the shape directly. What is already a matter of public record is below.
Deal windows
What can actually start, and when.
Deal timetables are unforgiving. Vague availability is not an answer, so here are commitments rather than aspirations.
- Red-flag screen
- Four consulting days over a committed ten-working-day window from access being granted, provided the data room and one management call are available in the first three.
- Full diligence
- Two to three weeks from access. A compressed timetable is possible and is priced as such, rather than promised and then missed.
- Proposal
- Within two working days of the intro call, including scope, fee and the access the work needs.
- Multiple targets
- Screens on two targets can run in parallel; three or more run sequentially at roughly one per fortnight. Say so up front and the sequence is planned rather than improvised.
- Portfolio arrangement
- Where three or more targets are expected inside twelve months, a retained portfolio arrangement fixes the rate, reserves capacity and removes the scoping cycle for each one. Priced on the expected volume.
If a date cannot be met, you will be told at proposal stage rather than at the point it slips.
What is outside the scope?
Does Dino Sloth cover every technical discipline?
How are conflicts handled?
Can I speak to someone who has used this?
What is the track record?
Can the target see the report?
Working inside a deal window?
Send the target, stage and decision date. NDA first if required.