Announcing our Indie Fund family!
We’re excited to reveal the ace lineup of indie developers who were selected to create the first wave of games for Crayta. We received a huge number of applications, and it took us a while to whittle them down, but we’re thrilled to be working with a variety of small 1-person-bands and part-time indies alongside established teams and mid-sized studios, from Europe and North America.
Regardless of size and experience, they were all selected because they totally get what we’re trying to achieve with Crayta, and they’ve come up with some fantastic, varied, bizarre and inventive games that we know you’re going to love.
We’ll be sharing plenty of behind-the-scenes info, development diaries and other cool stuff over the next few months, but first off let us introduce the Crayta Indie Fund family:
*drumroll*
Please say hello to Spilt Milk Studios, Bearcat Games, Team Cats & Bears, Funsolve, The Dangerous Kitchen, Just Asix, Viewpoint Games and Double Blit Games!
Spilt Milk Studios, making Super Doom Wall
What they say about themselves: “Spilt Milk Studios is a tiny independent game developer based in London, UK. Nearly a decade in the business, we’ve made games for every platform going, and are defined by our sense of humour combined with the respect we give to our games, the people who help us make them, and of course the people who enjoy playing them.”
What we say about them: Spilt Milk have long been leading lights in the UK indie scene; well-respected, super creative, and always keen to collaborate with and support other devs — a perfect fit for Crayta. The two Andrews (Smith and Roper) are joined by Juju Adams on Super Doom Wall, and notable previous games include Tango Fiesta and Lazarus.
So what’s Super Doom Wall? A madcap multiplayer arena battle game that sees players fight each other in an attempt to survive the inexorable, unstoppable DOOM WALL. As it scrapes slowly but surely across the arena pushing hapless fools into the abyss, will you be fast enough to blast a hole and make your escape? Or will you try to smash your competitors into the nether and dominate the game with one of the many bonkers, brilliant and bombastic powerups that drop in from above?
Bearcat Games, making Scavengers Assemble
What they say about themselves: “Bearcat Games is a one-man indie game studio consisting of Mark Neesam — a games industry veteran of 20-something years. I want to make games that I’d like to play. Hopefully fun, funny, smart, charming, and with a bit of style and swagger, wherever possible.”
What we say about them: Mark Neesam, now in the guise of Bearcat Games, has been making games in one form or another since before many of the Unit 2 Games gang were born. Now working on indie projects in his spare time after a long career in-house at large developers, he’s bringing his usual unique creative eye and wicked sense of humour to Scavengers Assemble.
So what’s Scavengers Assemble? It’s a team-based collect-em-up, where the rules keep changing to keep everyone on their toes. Work together, move fast, don’t die.
Team Cats & Bears, making Crayta Sprint League
What they say about themselves: “Team Cats & Bears is Johnny Wallbank, a solo indie developer who’s worked in the games industry since 2009. After almost 10 years as lead designer on games such as Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade and Drop Dead, Johnny started Team Cats & Bears as a break from a sometimes cynical games market. Together with talented freelancers, Team Cats & Bears’ mission is to make games that are bright, upbeat and inclusive while remaining focused on crafting quality, curated gameplay experiences over monetisation and grinding.”
What we say about them: Johnny is a talented and experienced developer, who also happens to be local to the Unit 2 Games office here in the UK. He made the move into indie development in early 2019 and is already attracting a lot of attention for his madcap feline platformer Bubbles The Cat. We were particularly impressed that he included an accessibility-friendly version of Crayta Sprint League in the original design he pitched us.
So what’s Crayta Sprint League? Sprint, dodge and jump your way through three obstacle courses in a speedrunner’s paradise.
Funsolve, making Pumpkin Battle & Zombie Tag
What they say about themselves: “Funsolve are an independent video games developer focusing on characterful, multiplayer games and have recently created Jumanji The Video Game. Located in the historic town of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, the team is comprised of programmers, artists and designers.”
What we say about them: Funsolve is the biggest team we’re working with, and their team brings a huge amount of experience in big, successful studios including SEGA and Exient before launching their own development outfit in 2017. They’re a creative bunch who pitched multiple great ideas, and because they have a few more hands on deck we asked them to create two different games for us.
So what are Pumpkin Battle and Zombie Tag? Pumpkin Battle is a unique spin on tower defence — devastate the opposing team with your pumpkin cannon across three awesome levels! Grab the pumpkin power-up for 3 x extra-destructive shots and lay waste to your opposition’s platform to take glory.
Zombie Tag — In a world of super infectious zombies, keep your distance and run for your life, or risk joining the mindless horde and hunting down those pesky, healthy humans! Run, hide and escape, or chase, trap and infect in this fun game of zombie tag across two fun-filled levels!
The Dangerous Kitchen, making Master of Faster 20XX
What they say about themselves: “The Dangerous Kitchen is like that nostalgic, homemade dish you loved as a child. The one you rushed home from school for. The dish that even now, the thought of devouring it, melts your mind. Now imagine that dish was spiked with a ton of hot sauce. Yep, that’s us in a nutshell. We also make games, and are based in London, England.”
What we say about them: The Dangerous Kitchen team are a well-regarded, up-and-coming indie team based in London. Their distinctive and fun approach to game design has already led to success with fast-paced one-button action platformer De Mambo — a hit on Nintendo Switch. Their ‘tag in reverse’ pitch for Master of Faster 20XX piqued our interest as soon as we saw it.
So what’s Master of Faster 20XX? In the year 20XX, become the master of faster, ace the chase and become the thief of the millennia! Snatch the crown before your rivals and activate the towers of doom to crush your adversaries!
By Just Asix, making D.I.V.E. (Diamond Infiltration vs Expo)
What they say about themselves: “By Just Asix is a one-man game design team comprised of Asix. Being inspired by Cave Story and Chrono Trigger, Asix has always wanted to use games to tell amazing and epic stories. While he is not above seeking help, Asix enjoys the solo dev life as he loves composing and drawing pixel art as much as development and design. Asix is merely a creative doing what makes sense to him… Creating.”
What we say about them: Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Asix intrigued us with his inventive take on a classic cops-&-robbers game idea. His gameplay-purist approach, honed through game jams, suits Crayta perfectly and D.I.V.E. is already looking great.
So what’s D.I.V.E. (Diamond Infiltration vs Expo)? The Diamond Expo has begun and the diamonds are up for taking. Will you dive in to take them all or defend them with your life?
Viewpoint Games, making Outlaw
What they say about themselves: “Viewpoint Games was founded in 2014 by Neil Campbell and Neil Wigfield, two industry veterans with a combined 40 years games industry experience. Having launched its successful debut title VR Karts across all major VR platforms, the studio has continued to release its own IP as well as partnering with external IP holders to release their content on VR platforms. Viewpoint Games is now developing multiple new IPs for the traditional PC, console and mobile markets as well as current and future VR platforms.”
What we say about them: The two Neils are hugely experienced and have built a small but growing studio in the notoriously challenging market of VR. Their tenacity and creativity, alongside their fun multiplayer game ideas made them an obvious choice for Crayta.
So what’s Outlaw? The railroad’s been robbed, Outlaws are on the loose and money is scattered around the map! Play as the evil Outlaws or the heroic Sheriffs and townsfolk as you try to defeat the opposing side while collecting as much cash as possible.
Double Blit Games, making Huddle For Warmth
What they say about themselves: “Double Blit Games is an indie game studio located in Edmonton, Canada — so it is appropriate that a winter-themed game is its contribution to Crayta. Huddle for Warmth was developed by Dean Roskell and Fernando Melo, both 20+ year game industry veterans who’ve worked on numerous titles including the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises at BioWare. The studio, founded in 2019 by Fernando Melo, is working with a small core team of industry veterans on its next game as well as collaborating with a few fellow indie developers on their titles.”
What we say about them: A combination of AAA development experience and an indie sensibility made us excited to work with Double Blit Games. Once we also saw their amazing game idea for Crayta, we were sold!
So what’s Huddle For Warmth? A fun co-op survival-light experience where players explore a sprawling landscape to find and destroy air conditioning units that have gone awry and are freezing over the environment! True to its name, by staying in proximity to one another, players can generate enough heat to survive more dangerous and rewarding areas.
