Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Screen Australia invests over $2 million in Australian Games Industry

04/09/2024

04 09 2024 - Media release Screen Australia invests over $2 million in Australian Games Industry

Zodiac Mountain

Screen Australia has announced over $2 million in funding to boost the Australian games sector. This includes support for 12 games through the Games Production Fund, 27 games through the Emerging Gamemakers Fund and funding for three events through the Games Event Fund.

The Games Production Fund and Emerging Gamemakers Fund offer critical support to Australian independent gamemakers, aimed at providing funding for original games with budgets below $500,000; and fostering new talent with professional development opportunities.

These initiatives are backed by the Federal Government's National Cultural Policy Revive, which includes a commitment of $12 million over four years from the 2023/24 financial year to Screen Australia's games funding.

Minister for the Arts Tony Burke said, Video gaming has come a long way now this global multi-billion-dollar industry offers a staggering variety of unique ideas and techniques for storytellers to connect audiences and explore their creativity. Our Government is committed to nurturing emerging talent in this booming field with $12 million to press play on gamemakers' careers.

CEO of Screen Australia, Deirdre Brennan said, This significant investment highlights our ongoing commitment to fostering growth and innovation within Australia's games industry. By supporting these projects and industry events, we're nurturing local developers and small to medium studios, reinforcing our position as a global leader in independent game-making.

Demand for games funding is growing, with Screen Australia receiving over 370 applications, twice as many as the previous year. This reflects the increased role of targeted support for our local industry in an increasingly competitive landscape, said Brennan.

Since March 2022, Screen Australia has provided over $12.5 million in tailored games funding programs, for projects including Feed the Deep, Diets and Deities and The Sacred Acorn. The agency supports games across a variety of platforms, such as PC, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch and iOS/Android, with games aimed at release on the App Store, Google Play, Steam, itch.io, Nintendo eShop and more.

The projects supported through the Games Production Fund include:

Cozy Commons (SA): A life simulation game where players take on day-to-day activities as they discover the secrets of the town and the inhabitants who live there. Players can engage with the community, build their skills, search for collectables and decorate their home, all while discovering the rich world of stories from the characters they meet along the way. The team includes lead developer Tom Longo and lead artist Rebecca Hadland.

Doggy Don't Care (NSW): In this comedic, adventure platformer, players unleash adorable chaos as a mischievous pup. By exploring, collecting and smashing their way around the house and beyond, players fetch the approval of their feathered friends - digging into a list of fun-filled tasks to earn mischievous badges. The team includes founder/creative director Rohan Nowell, graphic designer Carlo Delos Santos and composer/SFX artist Dominique Parker.

Frogreign (QLD): In this story-driven platformer, players join frog prince Rill on an amphibious action-adventure to unravel a royal conspiracy. Using Rill's tongue as a grappling hook and other frog abilities to seamlessly leap, swing, dive and swim through a variety of locations and challenges. Players can explore the depths of the realm of Callidrya, filled with chaos and secrets. The team includes creative director Bryce Watson, designer Dallas Smart, writer Natasha Cox, lead developer Nico Plotz, composer Alejandro Perez Heinze and audio engineer Andres Buitrago.

Jupiter Junkworks (VIC): A fast-paced new take on the arcade puzzle genre featuring a narrative campaign mode where players rebuild a spaceship salvage yard. Jupiter Junkworks is from lead developer and producer Will Deragon, character illustrator and narrative designer Georgia Pedersen, composer Jam Nawaz (JAMATAR), sound designer Zander Hulme, 3D artist Paul Mahoney, animator Kiat-Boon Pierce and voice artist Audrey Willowbrook.

Zodiac Mountain (WA): In this roguelike deck-building adventure game, players embark on a mystical journey as a determined Panda, seeking to prove their worth by challenging mythical creatures and the Chinese Zodiacs. The team includes CEO/MD/Founder Kevin Jiang, game designer/2D artist James Knight, 2D artists May Huang and Sylvia Lian, lead programmer Laurence Anthony Valentini, UI/UX designer Daisy Chan and sound designer Ian Chen.

The projects supported through the Emerging Gamemakers Fund include:

Aussie Rules (SA): A sports party roguelite game fusing action-packed gameplay with absurd Aussie humour. Players can challenge friends to unpredictable matches driven by wild mechanics, all tied together by a retro aesthetic and surrealist satire based on Australian culture. The team includes producer David Ashby, developer Tyler Roach, writer and voice artist Broden Kelly and composer Dario Russo.

Feral Scape (NSW): From developer Joseph Dowsett (BARCHboi), Feral Scape is an open-world fantasy RPG where player choices drive exploration, crafting, and game modding. Drawing inspiration from Australian locations, players engage in exploration and community-building within a fantasy setting in order to complete quests related to a wolf prophecy - aiming to unite different factions.

LunaGenesis (VIC): An adventurous, experimental RPG where players take on the role of a young witch lost in a cursed city whose residents are trapped in their own nightmares. To escape, players navigate dream realms and uncover secrets about a shape-shifting antagonist. LunaGenesis is from creative director/prog
LINK: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2024/09-04-2-m...
See more stories from screenaustralia

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

16/07/2026

The Gauge: Poland | June 2026

June brought stabilization to the television market. Poles spent an average of 3 hours and 36 minutes a day in front of their TV screens exactly the same as i...

16/07/2026

New studio monitoring leads Glensound's 60th year line-up...

Glensound returns to IBC with a major new addition to its intelligent loudspeaker range, the Greater Divine Supernal studio monitor, alongside recent developmen...

16/07/2026

Complete spectrum of innovation from British exhibitors a...

33 leading exhibitors are taking part in the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions and linked locations across IBC2026 (Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September)...

16/07/2026

Hitomi Broadcast to showcase HDR colour verification and...

Hitomi Broadcast will introduce Spectra, a new HDR colour verification solution measured in picture, not using VPID, at IBC2026 (Hall 10, Stand A40). Expanding ...

16/07/2026

SMPTE Kicks Off 110th Anniversary Campaign

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Cox Media Group Taps Waymark for AI Ad Creation Tools

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Parks: Cable Broadband Sub Losses Slow Down

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

CatchLight, Sony Launch Initiative to Help Local Newsrooms

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

XR Launches XR ONE Ad Ops Platform

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions Partner to Provide...

Zixi, a leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) today announced a strategic new integration to deliver ...

16/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Cameras Capture Immersive Flight for New Cirrus App

Blackmagic Design Cameras Capture Immersive Flight for New Cirrus App Brie Clayton July 15, 2026 0 Comments Leader in Personal Aviation taps URSA Cin...

16/07/2026

XenData Announces LTO Archive Appliances with both File and S3 Object Storage Interfaces

XenData Announces LTO Archive Appliances with both File and S3 Object Storage In...

16/07/2026

Sharpen the Sword, Skip the Downloads - Onimusha: Way of the Sword' Is Coming to GeForce NOW

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is coming to GeForce NOW at launch, with the playable...

16/07/2026

FIFA World Cup semi-finals deliver whopper audiences as RT Player surpasses 21 million streams across the tournament to date

Together the semi-finals had a combined reach of 1.98 million unique individuals...

15/07/2026

Inside DAZNs Multi-Market World Cup Effort With CTO Sandeep Tiku

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a big deal for DAZN, which has distribution rights in three markets: Italy, Spain, and Japan. Each requires a different editorial app...

15/07/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Qumulo's Chris Horn on Powering Global Media Workflows Across Edge, Core, and Cloud

As sports-media organizations manage rapidly growing content libraries and incre...

15/07/2026

FIFA World Cup 2026: Inside the HBS Non-Live London Production Hub

HBS director of digital Johannes Franken talks SVG Europe through the operation built to serve FIFA World Cup 2026 rights holders remotely from Stratford, east ...

15/07/2026

IBC2026 to Spotlight AI, Live Sports Production, Creator Economy, and Trust in Media

IBC has unveiled the conference program for IBC2026, with this year's event ...

15/07/2026

Vanessa Paradis Tour Adopts Sennheiser Spectera Wireless Ecosystem for 2026 Production

Software-defined wideband RF platform supports 96-kHz monitoring, streamlined fr...

15/07/2026

Telos Alliance Integrates AudioShake Source Separation Into Minnetonka AudioTools Server

New AI-powered module enables broadcasters and content owners to extract dialogu...

15/07/2026

AIMS Schedules Second IPMX Product Certification Event for August

Weeklong gathering at EBU headquarters will test new IPMX capabilities and expand certified product ecosystem...

15/07/2026

Force Tech Appoints Bryan Adams as Vice President of Integration

Force Tech has announced the appointment of Bryan Adams, CTS, as Vice President of Integration. Adams will oversee AV and broadcast integration project delivery...

15/07/2026

USA Sports and Bundesliga Announce Exclusive Multi-Year U.S. Media Rights Agreement

USA Sports has announced an exclusive English-language agreement with the Bundes...

15/07/2026

Inside ITV Sport's Stunning FIFA World Cup Studio in New York City With Paul McNamara

ITV Sport's FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage has been produced from one of the m...

15/07/2026

CatchLight, Sony Launch Equipment Initiative for Local Visual Journalists

Program will provide professional camera kits, training, and technical support to participating local newsrooms...

15/07/2026

CornerstoneSF Installs FOR-A HVS-Q12 Switcher in New UHD Production Facility

San Francisco church becomes first U.S. deployment of the 2 M/E production switcher...

15/07/2026

Steve Bornstein Joins Advisory Board of Scott Cokers New Global MMA Promotion

Former ESPN and NFL Network executive to advise startup league on media, distribution, technology, and fan engagement...

15/07/2026

Space City Home Network Executive Producer John Valek on Leaning Into Innovation, Access, and Opportunity

The Houston-based RSN is the live-game home of the Astros and Rockets...

15/07/2026

Freqport unveil the Dual FreqInOut FO1-2RK

Launched alongside new FreqSoft installer Designed to bridge the gap between hardware and software, Freqport's FreqInOut FO1 unit provides a simple way ...

15/07/2026

Expressive E's Summer Offers

Save up to 55% on software until 23 July 2026 Expressive E have just launched their Summer Offer sale, with discounts of up to 55% now applied across their ...

15/07/2026

Peel Stems 2 from zplane

Real-time stem-separation tool updated zplane have recently released a new and improved version of their real-time stem-separation plug-in which they say ma...

15/07/2026

Baby Audio SubCulture

A new benchmark in bass enhancement Described as a new benchmark in bass enhancement , Baby Audio's latest release has been designed to augment the lo...

15/07/2026

DMC Production Reimagines Live OB with Calrec

DMC Production's AR 1 and AR 2 units reverse the conventional OB workflow, keeping all production-critical processing at the venue while operators work remo...

15/07/2026

FCC to Vote on Replacing National Broadcast Ownership Cap

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/07/2026

ATSC Updates Industry Audio Loudness Guidance

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/07/2026

GigaCloud and Cubbit partner to deliver sovereign and res...

GigaCloud, a leading Ukrainian cloud service provider, and Cubbit, the first geo-distributed cloud storage enabler, today announced a new Business Alliance Part...

15/07/2026

SMPTE Launches 110th Anniversary Campaign to Advance Its...

SMPTE, the global society for media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has announced the launch of the SMPTE 110th Anniversary Campaign, a fundraising...

15/07/2026

STUDIO TECHNOLOGIES UNVEILS MODEL 762 STEREO LEVEL CONTRO...

Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, unveils the new StudioComm Model 762 Stereo Level Control, ...

15/07/2026

COW Jobs: Producer, Virtual Events - Hybrid, Full Time, Salaried

COW Jobs: Producer, Virtual Events - Hybrid, Full Time, Salaried Brie Clayton July 15, 2026 0 Comments Producer, Virtual Events (Hybrid | Full-time | ...

15/07/2026

SIMBA powers new streaming delivery network with Broadpea...

Brazilian media organization builds nationwide CDN with Broadpeak's high-performance software for low-latency streaming and new content distribution service...

15/07/2026

DHD Introduces Discovery Utility for Network-Connected Au...

DHD announces a new utility designed to increase the efficiency of its audio mixing systems during initial installation and subsequent configuration. Anyone w...

15/07/2026

BCNEXXT Brings Next-Generation Vipe to IBC2026 Breaking t...

BCNEXXT Brings Next-Generation Vipe to IBC2026, Breaking the 1:1 Channel-to-Server Ratio New innovations liberate broadcasters from legacy playout infrastructur...

15/07/2026

S&P Analysis: Three Quarters of Americans Watch Live Sports

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/07/2026

Scripps Sports, Ion Score Women's Volleyball Rights

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/07/2026

NVIDIA Introduces New Jetson Thor Computers to Advance Mainstream Robotics and Edge AI

General-purpose robots and autonomous machines are moving from research labs to ...