Screen Australia has announced the recipients of a new game investment worth A$2 million. Twelve of the games in development will be supported through the National Game Production Fund, and a further 27 games will be supported through the Emerging Game Makers Fund. Three gaming-focused events will also be supported through a dedicated gaming event fund.
These separate funds have been established to support independent Australian game makers and are open to projects with budgets of less than AU$500,000. Its purpose is to foster the sharing of culture and creativity through the medium of games, and to empower developers to bring their best ideas to the world. The program is part of the Australian Government’s National Culture Policy, which has provided Screen Australia with A$12 million to support national game development over four years.
“This significant investment underscores our continued commitment to driving growth and innovation in the Australian games industry,” Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan said in a press release. “By supporting these projects and industry events, we are nurturing local developers and small and medium-sized studios and strengthening our position as a global leader in independent game production.”
Read: What video game funding actually means for local developers in Australia
Arts Minister Tony Burke also confirmed that these funds are part of the federal government’s commitment to “nurturing new talent in this fast-growing sector”.
Screen Australia reportedly received more than 370 funding applications for this round, twice as many as in 2023. Several projects have been selected to receive funding, and the following new games will support their creative journeys:
New support project from game production fund
Frogreign (Arkanpixel) – “Join Lil, the Frog Prince, on an amphibious adventure where his tongue turns into a grappling hook!” Zodiac Mountain (Mystic Road) – “Zodiac Mountain is the world’s first planet to become part of the Chinese zodiac. A roguelike deck-building game about a panda’s journey as he embarks on an adventure.” Cozy Commons (PixelCake) – “A life sim with a backstory revealed to everyone you meet. Your challenge is how to get each character to open up to you. ” Paper Plague (Studio Squish) – “Play as a toilet paper roll and save your friends in this cute platformer!” Doggy Don’t Care (Rotub Games) – “As a mischievous puppy. Unleash adorable chaos!” Matchstick (Technology Mythology) – “A cosmic intelligence that bends time and space has found its way to Earth. Your family has been taken. Into the horrors of a warped world. Stand up and fight the infected to save your family.” Spellbound Shire (Maxart) – “A cozy world-building VR game where you build a small terrarium with an island full of magical creatures.” Split Signal (Worm) Club) – “Split Signal is a new puzzle game where players traverse a vast landscape filled with hundreds of tetromino-inspired puzzles and repair what’s broken.” Insignia (Upon Hill) – “An apprentice blacksmith follows in the footsteps of his late father, searching for a way to combat foreign threats in his homeland.” Salvage (Strings Attached Studios) – “Abandoned in an asteroid belt, Salvage finds a company that continues to mine. You play as a group of stranded AI desperately trying to disagree with each other on how to get home while being threatened by a mining operation that is best left out of sight. ” Cooperative Space Survival Game – Working Title (Escape Pod Game) – “Embark on an epic journey across the galaxy in this 1-4 player first-person cooperative survival game. ” Jupiter Junkworks (Pixel Drake) – “A fast-paced new take on the arcade puzzle genre, featuring a narrative campaign mode where you rebuild a spaceship salvage site.”
Projects newly supported by Emerging Gamemakers Fund
Project Backbone (Alex Murphy) – “Zeke the technomancer and Percy the alchemist climb the growing tower.” Anura (Alex Nader Dorian Pale George) – “Use creativity, strategy, and magic to help the mysterious frog Follow them to the top of a forgotten mountain, build a path up the mountainside, and restore their natural glowing habitat.” Sinew (Odd Critter Games) – “Play as a biomechanical aquatic creature in this dark adventure game. and adventure into the mysterious and frightening depths of the cold and terrifying abyss.” Rocketcard Defense (Space Dragon Games T/A SD Games) – “Rocketcard Defense is a roguelite deck with a retro-futuristic feel. Direwind: Garden of Egan (Palliat) – “Join Egan in a 2D platform adventure as he rescues a team of explorers in a dangerous jungle, brought to life by unrelenting magic. ” Project Dairy Cat (Wali Studios) – A deck-building tactical heist game set in a sci-fi future. Bes Mora: Unsettling Wellness (Fuzzy Ghost, Georgia, Patch Harrison) – “A found footage investigation into a cursed wellness app and the strange disappearance of successful male fitness influencer Jalen Booker” Pixel Wizards – Working title (Caspar Georgius Johannes Krieger) – “a spell-casting platformer where every level and spell itself is an individually simulated pixel.” Frame by Frame (Paper Giant Games) – “Frame by Frame is a combination of a fighting game and a trading card game.” Monster Snap (Moo Duck Games / Clinton Ellard) – “Monster Snap brings Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, An on-rails VR photography game filled with elusive mythical creatures, including Dracula.” LunaGenesis (Michaela Jayne Vranic-Peters) – “A transland filled with magical eggs and dreamers trapped by a shape-shifting witch. ” Momentum Knight (Jett Overton) – “In this medieval movement-based action platformer, you play as an apprentice on a quest for revenge to regain your humanity.” Necromancer (Josh Salske) – “Reanimate a team of creatures, choose the ideal moveset, and form the best three-monster team possible to gain the upper hand in epic turn-based battles.” Bumper Bout (Rocco Loria) – “Bump your friends in Bumper Bout” Yakshini Lokam (Orlando Mee) – “A quirky fantasy couch co-op with strategy and puzzle elements that confirms the ancient Indian origins of the classic board game ” Humanove (Joshua Alan Bradbury) – “Create a little man from a jumble of body parts and compete to win the approval of your father, the universe.” Management in Space (Silver Stitch Productions) – “ Build a space station, defend it, make a profit, die, and repeat until the universe collapses.” Aussie Rules (David Ashby) – “Aussie Rules is a game of unpredictable, action-packed gameplay and absurdity. A sports party roguelite with a touch of Australian humor.” Mist Forge (LunarCorp) – “Shape your world and battle the Mists in Mist Forge. Strategic terraforming takes you through an ever-changing fog-covered landscape. It’s a turn-based roguelike adventure where you face mysterious challenges inside. ” L8r Sk8r (Alexander Driml) – “A roller skating, time-travel game with ‘speedrunning for everyone’ gameplay and a nostalgic late 90s/early 2000s aesthetic.” Kamata (Niesch Group) – “Kamada Join Nia, a spunky kid on an epic adventure to clean up the planet, one plastic at a time.” Alexithymia (Natalie Jeffries) – “Alexithymia is a way of dealing with your emotions. A healthy and accessible simulation of life with the condition alexithymia, which impairs the ability to recognize, articulate and explain.” The Troll and the Witch’s House (Ditte Wad Andersen) – “A little troll wakes up to find himself trapped in a strange house.” Night Shift (Georgina Owasapian) – “Arriving on New Year’s Day 1999, a century-old vampire finds himself trapped in a strange house. You must come to terms with the changing landscape of the world while overcoming a dark past that threatens to drag you down.” The Unforeseen Resurrection – Otome Isekai RPG (Nanasu Sayao T/A Inuneko Nanita) – “Life Sim elements. A 3D open world farming RPG with a maiden isekai theme.” Jammed (Team WHIRLIGIG) – “Set in a dilapidated “heritage” apartment building, players must follow the absurd and ever-increasing rules set by the landlord. ” Feral Scape (Jospeh Dowsett) – “Feral Scape is an open-world fantasy RPG set in an Australian-inspired landscape where player choices drive exploration, crafting, and game modification.”
Full details of Screen Australia’s latest round of funding can be found on their website.
