The £100,000 TIGA Games Contest will be launched tomorrow (Friday25 November, 2011), offering four £25,000 prizes to games developers to build a
prototype and use it to secure further development funding. The funding, which
was announced by Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey at the NESTA Investment
Conference earlier this week, comes from Abertay University’s Prototype Fund.
There are three categories for applications: games on-the-move, games
in-the-home and social web gaming. Two prizes are available for the social web
gaming category, with one for each of games-on-the-move and games-in-the-home.
Four prizes are on offer, which include the £25,000 funding per project, as
well as free TIGA membership for six months, mentoring, and support from the technical
teams at contest supporters Antix Labs or Turbulenz.
Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey said:
“Being able to show a potential investor a prototype can make a real difference
in securing all-important funding, so this competition will provide direct help
to budding developers. I hope that it will prove key to making some brilliant
ideas into successful businesses.”
Paul Durrant, Director of Business Development at Abertay University, said:
“Abertay University is working hard to give start-ups and young companies the
opportunity to create original IP supported by the Prototype Fund and use it to
secure funding and grow their companies. Working with TIGA, Turbulenz and
Antix gives us a fantastic opportunity to improve the success potential of the
companies who receive our support.”
Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said:
“As the trade association for UK game developers, TIGA is focused on making the
UK the best place in the world to do games business. One of TIGA’s top
priorities is to improve access to finance for studios. I am delighted,
therefore, to be working with Abertay, Antix Labs and Turbulenz in running this
competition which will provide finance for small studios to develop game
prototypes.”
The successful applicants will be judged on their market potential, having a
commercially viable business model, and the fit with the category briefs.
Applications must be received by noon on Thursday 26th January 2012.
To apply, register from Monday 28th November at https://ktn.innovateuk.org/web/tiga-games-contest
for the TIGA Games Challenge group.
(Ends)
For media enquiries, please contact Chris Wilson (Communications Officer) – T:
01382 308522 M: 07837 250284 E: chris.wilson@abertay.ac.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Competition categories
Applications must address one of the following specific challenge areas:
Games on-the-move
supported by Antix Labs (1 Award) – should be
designed for a shared experience for players in immediate proximity and run on
tablets and phones. The developer may choose that the game can also be run on
TVs, set-top boxes and PCs but the most important emphasis should be on a
strong mobile experience supporting a flexible business model. Games
should be shared via Wi-Fi and possibly Bluetooth to another user to play in
multiplayer mode without having to return to the service provider’s store.
Games in-the-home
supported by Antix Labs (1 Award) – should be
designed for friends and family to play together around a TV or set-top box
using their phone or tablet as an active part of the game. The TV would
be used as the game’s public display viewed by all competitors and observers.
The mobile platforms would be connected via Wi-Fi and used for displaying any
private information. The game business model should be ad-based, freemium or
pay-per-play.
Social web gaming
supported by Turbulenz (2 awards) – browser video
games are now a multi-billion pound sector of the industry. How can this fast
growing platform be taken to the next level? Turbulenz aims to enable the
evolution of browser games through its unique web games platform that brings
social connectivity and high quality games together for the first time.
How can a game take advantage of playing with friends in real-time –
collaborating, competing and challenging your friends directly online – all
with instant access in the browser? Applicants should carefully consider
making their game relevant to a broad audience of casual gamers online. Make it
fun, keep it simple and connect gamers with their friends online.
More details on each challenge can be found at https://ktn.innovateuk.org/web/tiga-games-contest
The same technology solution will not be considered across multiple challenges.
About Antix Labs, Ltd
The Antix Game Player (“AGP”) is an on-device software client for native games
services licensed to multiple tier one device makers. Third party casual,
advanced casual and premium games are distributed in a device-independent
format similar in concept to MP3 or PDF. This format lets consumers access and
share games from any of their connected AGP-powered 'screens', which include
mobile phones, TVs, STBs, PMPs, and PCs. In much the same way as they do
already with music, photos and videos, consumers can distribute trial games
virally across networks and off-line to their friends and family while still
protecting the rights and revenues of operators and publishers. In addition to
AGP itself, Antix provides the corresponding tools, certification mechanism,
optional white-label store, and optional game warehousing necessary to deploy a
complete service offering. Antix Labs Ltd., headquartered in Reading, England
was founded by Francis
Charig, a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. For more
information, please visit: http://antixlabs.com/or
contact Neil Curtis, Marketing Director, Antix Labs Ltd, neil.curtis@antixlabs.com, +44 7747
474234
About TIGA
TIGA is the trade association representing the UK’s games industry. The majority
of our members are either independent games developers or in-house publisher
owned developers. We also have games publishers, outsourcing companies,
technology businesses and universities amongst our membership. In 2010 TIGA won
two business awards including ‘Trade Association of the Year’ from the Trade
Association Forum. In 2011,
TIGA won six business awards including ‘Trade
Association of the Year’ from the Trade Association Forum and ‘Outstanding
Organisation’ from the Chartered Management Institute. Richard Wilson won
the ‘Leadership Award’ from the Trade Association Forum and the ‘Outstanding
Leader’ award from the Chartered Management Institute. TIGA is an Investors in
People organisation. For further information, please contact Dr Richard Wilson,
TIGA CEO on: 07875 939 643, or email richard.wilson@tiga.org.
About IC tomorrow
IC tomorrow, a Technology
Strategy Board programme, enables content owners and application developers –
any business with a new service, new business model or new way of deploying
hardware or software technology – to trial their ideas with UK consumers
through its test bed. The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led government
body which works to create economic growth by ensuring that the UK is a global
leader in innovation. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research
and the public sector, supporting and accelerating the development of
innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal
challenges and help build the future economy. For more information please
visit: Technology Strategy Board website.
Media enquiries about IC tomorrow should be directed to: Richard Botley, Sarah
James or Karel Kumar at Mi liberty – Tel: 0207 751 4444, email: ictomorrow@miliberty.com.
About Turbulenz
Turbulenz is a games platform built exclusively for the web. Offering the
widest possible audience for brilliant content, Turbulenz brings social
connectivity and high quality games together for the first time.
The Turbulenz games platform is an internet destination (turbulenz.com) that
combines a new console-quality gaming experience with a social network. Powered
by the Turbulenz HTML5 JavaScript SDK and social APIs that hook your game in
with Facebook and Twitter, Turbulenz brings high quality 3D games and social
features such as badges, leaderboards, live online multi-player and chat into
one single web platform.
For more information, visit Turbulenz at www.turbulenz.comor
contact Gavin Shields on 01483 338 720 or email gavinshields@turbulenz.com
About Abertay University
Abertay University launched the world’s first ever computer games degree in 1997.
This postgraduate Master’s course was followed by a complementary undergraduate
course, and later by specialist courses in production management and game
applications development. Abertay has the highest number of Skillset
accreditations for computer games courses (four out of ten across the UK) as
well as holding full Skillset Media Academy status, a recognition of the
important industry skills that are developed on our courses. More
information at www.abertay.ac.uk
About the Abertay Prototype
Fund
Abertay University’s Prototype Fund is specially designed for start-up and
small, established developers requiring additional working capital up to
£25,000 to cover the staff costs to produce a prototype for a new intellectual
property. The grant funding does not dilute equity ownership or create a
balance sheet liability. The development team for the prototype can also be
supplemented with graduates from any UK university and funded within the grant
budget. Students and graduates can register now for work experience as part of
the Talent Pool at the Prototype Fund website – http://prototypefund.abertay.ac.uk/