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July 14, 2021
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
Payload Studios | In March 2021, British independent games studio, Payload Studios, launched the Tentacle Zone incubator, a 4-month virtual games incubator programme for early stage founders from underrepresented groups, including POC, lower socioeconomic backgrounds, LGBTQ+, underrepresented genders (cis women, trans women, trans men, non-binary and other non-cisgender identities), disabilities and neurodiversities.
The incubator was originally open to eight participants, however due to the calibre of the applications, Payload Studios extended the programme to accommodate twelve early-stage developers. Nine of the 2021 cohort will be showcasing their games at the ‘Tentacle Zone Incubator 2021 Showcase’ at EGX Rezzed at 17:00 BST on Thursday July 15th, in an online event hosted by award-winning presenter and journalist, Elle Osili-Wood.
Featuring ten titles from early stage development to upcoming launches, viewers of the showcase will enjoy presentations from the founders as they introduce their games. The line-up includes:
Nature life sim, Wholesome - Out and About from Yaldi Games
Schrodinger’s Catgirl, a mystery adventure game from Spider Lily Studios
Narrative adventure game, Maive from Flightful Pear
Days Lost, a narrative puzzle game from Wordplay Games
Wabisabi Play’s 2D robot adventure, Growbot
Sea of Leaves, The Sea and the Forest’s contemplative PC and console game
As yet untitled 2D narrative puzzle game from Clockwork Raven Studios
Tap Tricks, one button skateboard game from Gesinimo Games and;
BBBlaster, rogue-lite space shooter with dogs from Gesinimo Games
2D party game, Squishy Sports, from MADE BY TITANS
Nisha Valand, programme director of the Tentacle Zone Incubator 2021, said:
“We launched the Tentacle Zone Incubator to help promote some of the incredible, diverse talent that exists within the games development industry. In this showcase you will see a first glimpse of some of the amazing, highly-original work from the 2021 cohort of early stage devs and founders. We are incredibly proud to bring you this showcase and want to extend our thanks to all of the partners who helped make this happen, but most importantly to the 2021 cohort themselves. Enjoy!”
The Tentacle Zone Incubator, which ran from March to June 2021, offered training and mentorship across five tracks from industry experts on topics such as design and production, marketing and PR, finance and business advice, as well as training in pitching and public speaking. The Incubator is supported by industry partners such as Tonic Games Group (creators of Fall Guys), Creative England’s Creative Enterprise, Green Man Gaming, UKIE, and the University of Greenwich. Participants will be awarded a Continuing Professional Development certificate from the University of Greenwich upon completion.
For more information on the Tentacle Zone Incubator click here.
For more information on the 2021 cohort click here.
To watch the Tentacle Zone Incubator Showcase at EGX Rezzed on Thursday July 15th, 17:00 BST click here.
Ends
For UK media enquiries:
Eva Field – Noisy Communications, [email protected], +44 (0) 781 403 9983
Helen Jones - Noisy Communications, [email protected], +44 (0) 778 922 6939
About Payload Studios
Payload Studios is a British independent game studio founded by Russell Clarke and Vincent Scheurer to develop the ultimate exploration sandbox game - TerraTech.
Studio history
Payload Studio’s co-founder Russell Clarke left London's Ideaworks mobile studio 2012 to go on his very own indie adventure, pulling in his experience from working on beloved franchises like Metal Gear, Call of Duty, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Fable.
Terratech started development in late 2013 and progressed rapidly, launching on Steam’s Early Access platform in February 2015. Building upon a wealth of community feedback, it was fully released on Steam in August 2018, with console versions following soon afterwards on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
The team expanded at pace and is now based in London Farringdon as founders of the Tentacle Zone, a co-working space for game industry professionals. The team’s hard work and dedication was recognised when Payload Studios won TIGA’s “Best Small Studio” Award of 2020.
In February 2021, Payload Studios announced that Tencent, a leading internet and technology company, had invested a minority stake in the company, stating that “this investment will support the growth of the team and development of future titles with Payload’s signature community-driven model”.
About Tentacle Zone
The Tentacle Zone is the moniker Payload Studios gave to the independent developer collective they created in 2015 when they wanted to bring their early access game, Terra Tech, to gamers via events. Initially conceived as a way for several small studios to split the costs of attending events, it quickly evolved and has supported 200 games through the stand. Tentacle Zone now includes a shared workspace in London for other game developers, talks and events. 2020 saw Tentacle Zone activities change to reflect working practices and game development during the global pandemic, with events being delivered online and recently launched a virtual incubator for underrepresented founders.
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