Screen NSW invests more than $870,000 in creative digital projects

Screen NSW have announced today that $879,379 has gone towards 12 interactive media companies to fund the growth of their business or develop projects for games and mobile applications. It's the latest round of funding from a three year and $3 million initiative for NSW based creatives on commercially viable digital content for internet, mobile, and other emerging platforms and devices.

The list of recipients include KMM Interactive Productions who will receive $200,000 for their 'Whore of the Orient' title which we had previously thought was placed on hold, as well as Intuitive Games Studios, formed recently by L.A. Noire lead designer Alex Carlyle and storyboard artist Kelly Baigent. Intuitive Games are working on Canonical Five, a "thrilling interactive detective game."

The complete list of recipients for this round of funding are:

• $200,000 to KMM Interactive Productions - a partnership between Team Bondi which created the internationally-acclaimed game LA Noire and Kennedy Miller Mitchell which developed some of NSW’s most successful screen productions including the Mad Max films and Happy Feet 1 & 2 - to help develop Whore of the Orient, an open world crime drama set in 1930’s Shanghai for next-generation video game consoles.
• $150,000 in enterprise funding each for Wasabi Productions and Nnooo to grow their businesses and develop projects across web, console and mobile games, including original children’s storytelling for touch screen technology.
• Soap Creative ($45,000), Bubble Gum Interactive ($10,000) and Epiphany Games ($15,000) to engage high-level business and marketing expertise to enrich their business strategies.
• $15,000 to Garoo Games to develop the mobile game Trainology, a multi-dimensional game in which players guide a train from one city to another through a challenging and beautiful landscape.
• $161,928 to Elevator Entertainment for Habitat The Game, a web-based game that is part of a wider transmedia project to teach children and tweens about environmental sustainability through gameplay.
• $30,451 to Intuitive Games Studios for Canonical Five, a thrilling interactive detective game.
• $12,000 to Creative Nonfiction for mobile game Cockatoo Island Ghost Story, a geo-locative story app for smart phones that will lead users through a non-linear, dramatic story on the island’s history and local folklore.
• $85,000 to Frosch Media for Touch Skate, a skateboarding game for mobile devices set inside famous real-world street courses and skate parks.
• $5,000 to Blowfish Studios to attend the Games Development Conference in San Francisco held 27 – 29 March.

And finally, a word from Screen NSW CEO, Maureen Barron...

Congratulations to this creative digital dozen for successfully applying for funding and contributing to the enhancement of our digital economy while keeping the innovation flame burning brightly in NSW...

Over the life of the Interactive Media Fund we’ve seen outstanding digital talent and some stunning achievements, including the recent news of the International Digital Emmy Award to the creators of the acclaimed NSW children’s multi-platform series dirtgirlworld, for which the Government funded a spin-off iPad game last year.