A massive $2.1 million AUD has been invested in a selection of upcoming titles in Queensland’s growing Digital Games Sector.
Aussie games, from big-name titles to beloved indies, have captured many people’s hearts over the years. The Games Grants and Digital Game Initiative have been helping developers create some of the next captivating Aussie titles. Thanks to these programs, $2.1 million AUD has been invested in a selection of upcoming games.
Which Projects Have Received Funding In 2024?
Currently, 17 projects have received funding from the Games Grants and the Digital Game Initiative. The Games Grants funding has given a combined $1 million AUD to 14 projects, and the Digital Game Initiative has given a combined $1.1 million AUD to three projects. This means a massive $2.1 million AUD has been put into these 17 upcoming titles.
It should be noted that thanks to the Screen Agency, they doubled project funding in the most recent Games Grants round. It is supporting the state-independent digital games sector with development funding of up to $200,000AUD each round and an increased lifetime cap of $300,000AUD per project through to release. Below, we have listed the 17 titles that have received funding from Screen Queensland.
Game Grants
- Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar by Abandoned Sheep
Schrondinger’s Cat Burglar is a puzzle adventure game for PC and console where the cat burglar, Mitten’s, heist goes wrong. However, she finds herself caught in a quantum experiment and gains incredible powers.
- Loggerhead by Affordable Cat
Loggerhead is a classic survival horror for PC that is set during the 1980s in Queensland and is inspired by PS1 classics such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
- Slumbering Woods by Chunky Quail
Slumbering Woods is a 2D exploration adventure for PC and Mac. Players will explore a hand-drawn 2D landscape as a secretive herbalist. They’ll bond with locals, uncover mysteries, cultivate plants, and terraform swamps.
- Rob & Roll by Devil Juice Studio
Rob & Roll is a strategy roguelike for PC where a team of goblins pushes their luck to deliver a stolen relic to a wizard through dice-rolling tactics.
- Gravity Bubble by Everplay Games
Gravity Bubble is a puzzle action adventure for PC and console where players save the galaxy from the Black Hole Queen. Play as Arlo the Andriod Hybrid and use their Bubble Blaster to bounce and pop your way to victory.
- Momento by Fat Alien Cat and Nomo Studio
Momento is a branching narrative cozy room decorator for PC. Players will go on a journey through life, and the objects they choose influence where their lives lead.
- Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch) by Fuzzy Ghost
Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch) is a horror-comedy escape room for PC and Mac where players will be in an escape room and experience the anxieties and horrors of what it is like to be a renter in the 2020s. Oh, and your landlord also happens to be a witch.
- Unannounced Project by Jair McBain
An early pre-production title led by executive producer Jair McBain. Jair and a team of diverse and experienced Queensland-based artists/writers and engineers are currently in the process of prototyping a kind-hearted, narratively driven simulation title for PC.
- The Apothecary of City X by Lemon Jolly Games
The Apothecary of City X is a cozy strategy game for PC and iPad where you play as a single mother trying to make ends meet by running an apothecary in a dark, dystopian city.
- Feed the Deep by Luke Muscat
Feed the Deep is an underwater exploration rogue-lite for PC in which players dive into procedurally generated caves, ‘feed the deep,’ collect gold, and buy equipment.
- Servonauts by MAXART
Servonauts is a couch co-op causal party simulation game for PC and Nintendo Switch with up to 1-4 players. In Servonauts, you’ll test your pipe-wrangling, puzzle platforming, and fuel-pumping skills across the galaxy.
- Blade of Blackwater by Salt Punk Studio
Blade of Blackwater is a roguelike action RPG with neighborhood management for PC and console. Players will take control of Ziya in the rain-slick flotilla city of Languish, where Ziya happens to be an investigative journalist by day and a salt-punk vigilante by night.
- Vanguard Exile by Tea Games
Vanguard Exile is a strategy game designed by board game designer Richard Garfield for PC and adds a new style of auto battler where squads battle each other in an ever-changing battlefield.
- Mist Forge by Lunacorp
Mist Forge is a tile-based turn-based world-building roguelite adventure for PC where players will shape worlds and forge destinies. Where strategic world-building will meet mystical challenges in an everchanging, mist-shrouded landscape
Digital Game Initiative
- Cozy Caravan by 5 Lives Studios
Cozy Caravan is currently in Early Access and is a single-player, cozy role-playing game for PC and console. Players will embark on a journey where the arts of crafting, trading, and exploration come together. Form lasting bonds on your caravan journey through charming towns, enriching lives.
- Unannounced Project by Gameloft Brisbane
- Unannounced Project
Digital Games Incentive and Game Grants Information
Thanks to the Digital Games Incentive and Game Grants starting in 2021, Screen Queensland has helped drive a 155 percent increase in local sector employment. This also includes a 123 percent increase in local expenditures through May 2024. These grants allow passionate game developers to develop their games and get released because of these opportunities. Now, the agency’s Residency Program is in its second year of operation and is supporting 16 early-career developers to build their industry and business management skills.
In partnership with Workforce Australia Self-Employment Assistance provider Birdifi Bridge, this development program gives support to participants with access to co-working space, leading industry experiences, business mentoring, and income support over a 12-month period. Screen Queensland has truly helped creators get to where they want to be, and players from all over Australia and worldwide should get excited about when these titles are finally released.
That’s everything you need to know about the $2.1. million AUD that has been invested in the growing Queensland Digital Games Sector. If you’d like to find more information like this, feel free to check out our Guide Hub.
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