Screen Australia and the minister for the arts, the Hon Tony Burke MP, have announced the 31 Australian games supported through the Games: Expansion Pack fund.
Targeted at emerging or small to medium independent game studios, the Games: Expansion Pack initiative provides direct funding for original games with budgets below $500,000.
The $3 million fund announced by Screen Australia in March this year was expanded to supply over $4 million to games spanning genres including action, adventure, puzzle, arcade, building, roleplaying and more, due to the quality and depth of applications.
The Hon Tony Burke MP said, “The Australian Government is committed to supporting the Australian digital games sector – to create, innovate and flourish and achieve its full potential.”
Screen Australia’s head of online, Lee Naimo said, “We were blown away by the number of outstanding applications which have demonstrated the wealth of talented creatives and original ideas that are coming out of the Australian games sector. We’re excited to be back in this space and supporting Australian developers to continue to create distinctive games that find traction here and around the world, and help strengthen the local workforce.”
“These games are artistic, educational, inspiring and fun projects, and we’re pleased to have been able to support even more projects than we anticipated. It’s fantastic to have such a wide mix from all around the country.”
The fund will reopen for applications in September 2022.
Some of the games receiving funding include:
Bits & Bops (NSW): A collection of over 20 original rhythm mini-games filled with catchy music, snappy gameplay and hand-drawn animation. Bits & Bops is created by Tempo Lab Games, which includes Managing Director Evan Andrews, Art Director Rose Hammer and composer Julian Sanchez.
Bosswords (VIC): A grandiloquent word game for logophiles from PlayReactive where players must quickly find a word that contains a given set of letters. This may seem easy, but try ‘Q R T K’ and it becomes decidedly tricky (answer: earthquake!).
Earthlingo (WA): A language-learning role-playing game where players take on the role of an alien exploring Earth and learning local languages. Players use vocabulary skills to battle evil robots and save the humans of Earth. The Earthlingo creative team is helmed by Lead Developer Raymond Corrigan and Project Manager Zilin Su.
For the full list of funded projects, see here.