Announcing the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group (EDIAG)
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Creative Enterprise is excited to announce the new Game Scale Up cohort for 2022/23.
The 12 companies are embarking on a six-month programme that will equip them with the skills and knowledge to scale up their operations and take their business to the next level. The participants will attend a series of masterclasses, workshops and networking opportunities with industry-leading experts.
The Creative Enterprise: Games Scale Up is a prestigious 6-month programme, developed in partnership between Creative England and games trade body Ukie, to support games developers, publishers or support services. The programme has been devised with industry leaders for games businesses who are looking to develop and grow their business.
We’re excited to have partnerships in place with InGame, Clwstwr and Northern Ireland Screen which means we are able to support Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish businesses in the Games Foundations programmes.
InGAME is the UK’s world-class centre for research and innovation in games and immersive technologies, funded by the AHRC Creative Industries Clusters Programme as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, led by Abertay University in collaboration with the Universities of Dundee and St Andrews. Industry partnerships include Sony Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft, Roblox, Outplay Entertainment, 4J Studios, the BBC, Innovate UK, Creative Dundee, Creative Scotland, Dundee City Council Scottish Enterprise, V&A Dundee, Ukie and Women in Games.
Northern Ireland Screen is the national screen agency for Northern Ireland. We are committed to maximising the economic, cultural and educational value of the screen industries for the benefit of Northern Ireland. This goal is pursued through our mission to accelerate the development of a dynamic and sustainable screen industry and culture in Northern Ireland.
We’re also excited to announce that the 22/23 Games Scale Up cohort is brought to you by Barclays.
Now let’s meet the cohort:
Games Scale Up 2022/23 Cohort:
Astrodreamer Studio – Jordan Hastings
We are an indie game studio based in the gaming hub of Scotland, Sunny Dundee. We have an excellent team of talented developers from all over the UK, that love making games and unique experiences.
https://www.astrodreamerstudio.com
BearHammer Games Ltd – Brian Allen
Team of 10 unreal engine developers building a VR fitness product called Adventure Fitness VR.
Cave Monsters – Charlotte Sutherland
Cave Monsters is a small (one person), independent game studio based in Sheffield. The company’s first game, Lord Winklebottom Investigates, released on July 28th 2022 on Steam, Nintendo Switch and Xbox.
Cloth Cat Games – Ben Cawthorne
Cloth Cat Games is an award winning development studio based in Cardiff, making games and interactive experiences for a variety of platforms. Specialists in Unity with several releases to their name for PC and mobile, as well as web, studio and installations.
CCG is a sister studio to Cloth Cat Animation and with a funky fresh rebrand comes an exciting change and laser focus on games development for PC and console platforms. Looking to originate new IP and work collaboratively with other studio’s on projects, jump in where needed, and also offer experience in optimising and porting to mobile.
Foggy Box Games – Alastair Callum
Founded in 2017, the company was the slightly haphazard creation of two veterans of PlayWest – the University of the West of England’s games division.
Both Chris and Alastair ruminated over the possibility of starting their own respective companies; each drawn by the creative freedom that this could generate. But it wasn’t until the possibility of joining forces arose that those vague plans found some purchase in reality.
https://www.foggybox.co.uk/
Gritstone Games Ltd – James Battersby
“Founded in March 2021 Gritstone Games aims to develop what it calls Crossplay Plus games – games that provide unique experiences on different platforms within the same game worlds, taking advantage of the different features of each platform.
Building on the success and technology used for its first title, Tafl Champions: Ancient Chess launched on desktop and mobile platforms, Gritstone Games intends to be the UK’s leading developer of crossplay style games and grow the genre through its licensed technology.”
https://gritstone.games
I N F I N I T Y 27 LTD. – Dan Baird
I N F I N I T Y ²⁷ are a full-service immersive design studio creating next-generation experiences using our collaborative, objective-led creative process in partnership with our clients, to help them solve problems with measurable impact.
We provide next-gen 3D services through the meaningful use of real-time and immersive technology.
We don’t believe in using tech for tech’s sake.
Our next-gen team is comprised of experienced and qualified professionals working alongside fresh rising talent. We are an established team and professional design studio based in the UK.
Italic Pig – Kevin Beimers
Italic Pig is a kickass entertainment company located just outside of Belfast.
Our talented and attractive team develops sarcastically-epic properties for the video game and animation scenes, such as Paleo Pines, The Infinite Hotel, Schrödinger’s Cat, and Quest Quest: The Quest for Quests.
We’ve won three Big Indie Pitches, a Worldwide Indie Award, two Future Screens grants, three Creative Europe awards, have been nominated for Best Script by the Writers’ Guilds of both Great Britain and Ireland, and are two time winners of NI Game Studio of the Year.
www.italicpig.com
Konglomerate Games – Jamie Bankhead
We are a video games company specializing in developing serious games. We take the best parts of video games and apply them to non game scenarios like healthcare and education. From physiotherapy games for children with cystic fibrosis to clinical assessment training games for doctors and clinicians all over the world our goal is to create games to improve lives. So if you have a problem that you think games can solve please reach out!
https://konglomerate.games/
Meteor Pixel Limited – Sam Ibbitson
Meteor Pixel Limited is a Bristol-based outsourcing partner specializing in the Unreal Engine, who provide external development services for the Video Games and XR industry. Our experienced team are able to help at any point during the development cycle, from early prototyping all the way through to optimization and polishing ahead of a release.
https://www.meteorpixel.co.uk/
Pocket Sized Hands – Gary McCartan
We are Pocket Sized Hands. A passionate, talented and dedicated team that loves making games and creative experiences.
Based in Dundee, Scotland, we are an Independent Game studio with extensive experience across PC, mobile, and Consoles.
We work with a number of different clients big and small and currently are leading live-ops development on the Rick and Morty title: Pocket Mortys and recently helped bring Oddworld Soulstorm to release on PS5 and PC.
www.pocketsizedhands.com
Retro Drive Studio – Joe Coggins
Retro Drive Studio, a new and small studio based here in the UK. It started by wanting to create a game that could be released to prove their capabilities. With a love of synthwave at hand they drew their attention to the retro 80s theme and decided to create a game nodding back to 80s cheesy quotes, outstanding neon lights, and awesome speedsters. Creating games based on the 80s retro and synthwave genre, Retro Drive Studio hopes to become The synthwave games studio, based here in the UK known worldwide.
https://www.retrodrivestudio.com/
