Unleashing Creativity: GAMECITY HAMBURG's Pioneering Support for Digital Game Prototypes

Hamburg’s digital heart is beating louder than ever. On Hamburg’s Playground live penguins are giving impromptu dance performances next to a cat playing the keyboard. The name ‘Hamburg’ is splattered on the wall of one of Germany’s largest arcades. At the crossroads where the media and games industries converge, GAMECITY HAMBURG continues its mission to empower gaming visionaries by lending its support to five innovative game projects in a third round of funding for 2024. If we’re going anywhere in the future, we’ll need digital creativity A staggering €750,000 will be spent on developing the winning games.

GAMECITY HAMBURG: A Catalyst for Game Development

Funding award of up to 80,000 euros ($86,600) – non-refundable Useful post: ‘Gaming might change your life’ User-tested tagline to support ‘GAMECITY HAMBURG’s initiative to put its start-ups and companies on the digital track’, Hamburg, March 2011The stroke of a pen brought about change in Hamburg policies. The above slogan was used for a press release announcing the city’s decision to support the early development stages of digital games with up to €80,000 (around $86,600) in non-repayable funds. Allocating such large amounts for early game development was a bold step, with the policy showing faith in the expansionary power of gaming to help start-ups and companies localize their capital in the cultural centre of Hamburg. The slogan suggests that gaming might affect everybody, and that this digital transformation might already be underway – all in the name of fun.

Nurturing Talent Through the GAMES LIFT Incubator

One of the biggest phenomenons of the support framework is the Games Lift Incubator, which not only brought the winner Stockcar Go but also two other finalists as a result of their previous participation. This shows the studio’s dedication to support in all development stages. The Games Lift Incubator will have applications for 2024 open until 10 June – they are the best subsidy a game developer could wish for, and one that offers a real chance to turn your ideas into reality with the support and guidance of veterans in the industry.

A Glimpse Into the Future: The Funded Projects

These five projects were chosen from a diverse slate of submissions. Every one demonstrated the inventiveness of different approaches to digital game design. There’s a competitive strategic battle for control of the galaxy in Chaos Royale (Monodot), exploration and cosiness in Map Map (Pipapo Games), and a mission to restore nature in The Regreening (Positive Impact Games). Other successful submissions include A Most Honorable Bunch (Osmotic Studios), in which players step into the shoes of pirates working on a plantation in the early 1700s, and Melodies (Behind the Stone), a horror adventure that relies on the way players listen to what’s happening around them.

Empowering Diversity in Game Development

The application process for Prototype Funding in 2024 saw GAMECITY HAMBURG adopt a diversity checklist, inviting developers to share details about their projects’ diversity considerations in order to see them reviewed by the awarding committee. This move represents one of many industry efforts to recognise and celebrate diversity in games development. Hamburg is not a leader in this particular field, but it is hard to doubt that this second phase of gaming in the city will provide an important space for inclusion.

The Visionaries Behind the Scenes

The recipients of the 2024 funding were decided by a jury of industry experts, ‘the crème de la crème of Hamburg’s gaming industry’. It was composed of various members of influential studios and the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media, who provided their years of experience to select the projects with the greatest developmental potential. Each project that receives funding from the Hamburg Games fund has been selected by people with a great deal of experience in either creating or distributing games.

Looking Ahead: The Next Chapter for GAMECITY HAMBURG

Meanwhile, with the current application window winding up in spring 2025, the studio eyes the next one in the spring of 2025. The gaming world, no doubt, will be ready for the next wave of creativity. The ecology of GAMECITY HAMBURG nurtures digital game prototypes, forges flashes of brilliance and, in so doing, helps turn the city into a hotbed of the gaming world, cementing Hamburg at its global epicentre. Through providing a chance for the young creative industry to thrive, fostering diversity, and backing the brave, GAMECITY HAMBURG is building a future for digital dreams to come true.

About Gamecity Hamburg

It’s in this environment that the GAMECITY HAMBURG studio is a place of support and development in Hamburg’s thriving digital gaming scene, providing grants, incubators and a hub for community-building, helping to raise the profile of local gaming sector on the world stage. It is also a forum and laboratory for testing emerging talent and new game projects. In a city that’s a hive of digital invention, GAMECITY HAMBURG not only backs its growing band of creative developers and start-ups, but contributes to a rich, diverse games scene in an age of extraordinary innovation.