The UK Games Fund (UKGF) have announced DunDev, a new game development project to be hosted in Dundee.
Featuring four high-profile teams from this year’s Tranzfuser competition, DunDev will be a four-week residential hothousing experience, giving the teams access to resources and expertise, and letting them battle it out for a £25,000 grant.
Survival of the Fittest
The four teams that will be taking part in DunDev 2023 have been chosen because they have “survived and thrived despite the challenges of the pandemic.” They consist of RAA Studios, JFi, Alarming Ladder Studios and Solar Flare London.
This quartet of studios represents a diverse range of projects; from a cutesy 3D platformer, to a first-person survival horror experience. All four will be given the chance to thrive at DunDev, while aligning themselves with the project’s core themes: Collaboration, Ambition and a Willingness to Learn.
Core Pillars
These themes are essential not just for the project’s participants, but for its organisers as well. Kirsty Gibson, Head of Impact at UKGF, had this to say of the project: “DunDev has been long in the planning as bringing talented teams of entrepreneurial game developers to the city has been a goal of ours for some time. The facilities, contacts and connections the city offers are unrivalled and we look forward to welcoming our DunDev studios to Dundee. These four weeks will pass by quickly as the talented development teams build on their existing successes and thrive on the opportunities that collocated work offers.”
The teams themselves, all of whom started out under the shadow of the pandemic, are eager for the extensive in-person studio experience that DunDev offers: “We’re extremely pleased to have been selected for DunDev and very excited to work in-person again and in close contact with many other talented people.” Said JFi developer Anthony Clarke. “DunDev for us represents an opportunity to start our second title with everything we learned from and since Tranzfuser. Being able to start this new title working together in-person, with mentorship, creative input from other teams and additional funding will help even more to put us on our best foot forward with our studio’s future.”
You can learn more about DunDev here, and sign up for the post-DunDev showcase event here.