Film Victoria has invested over $550,000 in nine Victorian game developers. Seven of the projects are set to begin production, creating close to 50 employment opportunities for the games sector and generating $1.29 million for the state.
While gender balance is still being gradually addressed across all sectors of the Victorian screen industry, this funding round showed a marked rise in female-led projects, some of which were developed primarily for a female audience. They won their place in a highly competitive funding round.
Recent recipient of Film Victoria’s Tim Richards award, Lumi Consulting is brewing a calming and explorative adventure game in Faraway Tea (working title), while Geeiz will develop Intergalactic Space Princess - a hyperactive adventure game about mistaken identity and travelling around the universe.
Clara Reeves was funded to further develop an as-yet untitled narrative project while Necrobarista by Route 59 features the talents of Art Director Ngoc Vu. Additionally a new yet-to-be-announced project by League of Geeks will be specifically built around a collection of strong women characters.
The stunning art of Nina Bennet is on display in Paper House’s playful short story of the Australian bush in Paperbark. It was supported through the Games Release program along with the AAA-quality mobile petrol-head game Torque Drift by Grease Monkey Games, which features female stars of the sport alongside their male counterparts.
Other funded projects include an exciting future project by Tin Man Games and a free-to-play mobile game, Wall Jump Ninja by Super Constructor with Kumobius co-founder Ivan Neeson at the helm.
Film Victoria CEO, Caroline Pitcher congratulated the recipients saying “In an incredibly competitive round, the successful teams and creators have put forward terrific and original content that will speak to the people who interact with it.”
“The latest round of games indicate a slightly different focus that steps nicely into a largely under-serviced market and I hope to see this trend continue to grow in the sector.”