Gamecity Hamburg announced it is supporting five game projects in its 2024 funding round with up to 80,000 euros ($86,600) in non-repayable funds.
As early-stage funding, the funding supports start-ups in Hamburg and helps companies to develop prototypes of digital games. The awarding committee sees high market potential for all the funded projects.
Two of the five funding recipients previously completed Gamecity Hamburg‘s Games Lift Incubator. Game developers can apply for the Games Lift Incubator Program 2024 until June 10.
The awarding committee acknowledged the high quality and diversity of the 29 projects submitted this year. Including this sixth funding round since 2020, a total of 31 prototypes have been supported as part of prototype funding. The application phase for the next funding round will start in spring 2025.
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“The increased quality of the applications once again made the award committee’s decision challenging. Experienced teams and studios in the process of being founded are working on promising games in Hamburg in equal measure. 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 awarding committee, in a statement.
The funded projects
Chaos Royale by Monodot – € 80,000
Map Map – A Game About Maps by Pipapo Games – € 80,000
The Regreening by Positive Impact Games – € 80,000
A Most Honorable Bunch by Osmotic Studios – € 72,000
Melodies by Behind the Stone – € 60,000
Chaos Royale by Monodot
Chaos Royale is a strategic player-versus-player (PvP) multiplayer game in which players take on 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 by Pipapo Games
Map Map is a cozy 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 fulfill tasks for their companions. Pipapo Games successfully completed the Games Lift Incubator in 2023.
The Regreening by Positive Impact Games
The Regreening is a cozy nature and restoration management game in which players befriend animals and folklore spirits and grow plants to restore the desolate earth. As the last human on the planet, players plant seeds to restore biomes, make friends with other creatures, and bring life back into the world.
A Most Honorable Bunch by Osmotic Studios
In this narrative deduction adventure, players take on the role of different 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 unfolds gradually through the different characters and events, depending on the decisions made by the players.
Melodies by Behind the Stone
Melodies is a horror adventure game with side-scrolling mechanics in a 2D look, in which players experience three self-standing horror stories. Introduced by a gloomy organ grinder at a carnival, players gradually take on the roles of the protagonists of the three stories and experience creeping, nightmarish changes in their everyday lives.
From March 7 to April 8, 29 developers, start-ups, and companies from Hamburg applied for Gamecity Hamburg’s Prototype Funding. In 2024, Gamecity Hamburg introduced a diversity checklist when applying for Prototype Funding, with the answers to this checklist can optionally be used by the awarding committee in the evaluation process.
The 2024 funding recipients were selected by an awarding 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 at the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media) and Dennis Schoubye (Head of Gamecity Hamburg).
The next application phase for prototype funding will start in the spring of 2025.