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Gamecity Hamburg has announced that it is supporting five game projects in its Financing round 2024 with a maximum of 80,000 euros ($86,600) in non-refundable funds.
As seed funding, the funding supports start-ups in Hamburg and helps companies develop prototypes of digital games. The award committee sees great market potential for all funded projects.
Two of the five funding recipients were previously completed Gamecity Hamburg's Games Lift Incubator. Game developers can do that to apply for the Games Lift Incubator Program 2024 until June 10.
The award committee recognized the high quality and diversity of the 29 projects submitted this year. Including this sixth round of funding since 2020, a total of 31 prototypes have been supported as part of the prototype funding. The application phase for the next financing round will start in the spring of 2025.
“The increased quality of the applications once again made the award committee's decision challenging. Experienced teams and studios in the making are equally working on promising games in Hamburg. As part of our funding opportunities, we are very pleased to be able to support five teams that will enrich the diversity of teams and games from Hamburg,” said Dennis Schoubye, head of Gamecity Hamburg and member of the awards committee, in a statement.
The funded projects
Chaos Royale by Monodot – €80,000
Card Card – A game about cards by Pipapo Games – €80,000
The Greening by Positive Impact Games – €80,000
A Most Honorable Bunch by Osmotic Studios – €72,000
Melodies from Behind the Stone – €60,000
Chaos Royale by Monodot
Chaos Royale is a strategic player-versus-player (PvP) multiplayer game where players face off against hordes of monsters while using all their skills to disrupt and eliminate the competing players in their arenas. The goal is clear: be the last one standing. Monodot is a newly founded studio and successfully completed the Games Lift Incubator in 2023.
Map Map — a game about maps from Pipapo Games
Map Map is a fun exploration game in a colorful 3D world with a unique cartography mechanic. Players explore wondrous landscapes with the goal of finding a legendary lost treasure. In the game, players not only use a map, but create it themselves, explore the island and complete tasks for their companions. Pipapo Games successfully completed the Games Lift Incubator in 2023.
The greening by Positive Impact Games
The Regreening is a fun nature and restoration management game in which players befriend animals and grow folkloric spirits and plants to restore the desolate earth. As the last human on Earth, players plant seeds to restore biomes, make friends with other creatures, and bring life back into the world.
A very honorable group from Osmotic Studios
In this narrative deduction adventure, players take on the role of several characters who find themselves on an island with a big secret. The characters each have their agenda that they follow and investigate in their own way. The story gradually unfolds through different characters and events, depending on the decisions the players make.
Melodies from Behind the Stone
Melodies is a horror adventure game with side-scrolling mechanics in a 2D look, where players experience three self-contained horror stories. Introduced by a brooding organ grinder at a fair, players gradually take on the roles of the protagonists of the three stories and experience creeping, nightmarish changes in their daily lives.
From March 7 to April 8, 29 developers, startups and companies from Hamburg applied for Gamecity Hamburg's Prototype Funding. In 2024, Gamecity Hamburg introduced a diversity checklist when applying for Prototype Funding, whereby the answers to this checklist can optionally be used by the award committee in the evaluation process.
The 2024 funding recipients were selected by an awards committee consisting of Hamburg industry experts Nina Müller (VP Publishing & Development Services, Goodgame Studios), Jonas Hüsges (Publishing Director, Daedalic Entertainment), Valentina Birke (Director Indie Arena Booth / Super Crowd Entertainment), Jens Unrau (Head of the Media and Digital Economy Department of the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media) and Dennis Schoubye (Head of Gamecity Hamburg).
The next application phase for prototype funding will start in spring 2025.