Two years ago this week we started the first round of The Games Hub!! And from a top ten place in Creative Englands top 50 Future Leaders award to the very recently won Innovation 50 (more on this soon) it’s been an incredible, breathtaking and award winning couple of years.
As we are about to start the 4 round we’ve all had some amazing achievements and successes. Having had more than 50 people take part and helped set up and establish 5 companies, we have even bigger ambitions for the future!
We still haven’t migrated over to the proper hub web site….the office move is still pending…and we’re stupidly excited about what the next year is going to bring! Without the support, help and advice from all our experts (you know who you are!!!), all the amazing things the University of Essex has (and is) doing and the excellent work from Heidi from EEH on the business, bookings, organising, oh and biscuits, plus the incredible teams, the hub simply would not be the success it is!!
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
The amazing Teaboy Games took part in the first round and are still at the hub going from strength to strength, they helped define and shape the hub. Now working on their second title ‘Pendulum’, as a follow up to the hugely popular ‘Fallen’ and along with other smaller projects, Teaboy have helped shape and design the programme and set the benchmark for others taking part.
http://teaboygames.com/
@TeaboyGames
Sketchbook games, founded by designer Mark Backler, joined the hub in 2015, bringing a huge amount of experience and support whilst working on their multi-award winning game Lost Words. Set amongst the pages of a girls diary, this highly original game with its story written by Rhianna Pratchet, takes players through an emotional journey complimented with highly original game-play.
Being a part of the Games Hub is truly awesome. Receiving the benefit from the industry talks, Steven’s support and having like-minded teams to work alongside as well as a really great workspace and all for free is really incredible. The Hub is going from strength to strength and is building a strong game development community in Colchester. I can’t wait to see what the next two years bring!
http://lostwordsgame.com/
@LostWordsGame
Novo Games, who also took part in the first round have just recently released their second game Mirror Dash. Founded by 3 University of Essex students Laurentiu Cotiuga, George Negoita and Cristian Olteanu.
http://www.novogames.co.uk/
@NovoGamesUK
Nysko Games and Randomly Selected, who joined the hubs 3rd round, are still with us. Nysko, hard at work with their in-depth Dwarf exploration game and University of Essex student formed Randomly Selected are on a break whilst founder Sorin spends a year in America, but will return to continue with their game Ultimate Sin!
Games Hub is a place where great minds come together to achieve amazing things. I made a lot of friends and met a bunch of interesting people through Games Hub. Steve is an awesome organised and if you ever need help with something, he’s always there for you. Couldn’t think of a better place for me to start my game development career. Happy Birthday Games Hub and to many more years!
https://www.facebook.com/nyskogames/
@NyskoGames
http://rndselected.com/
@RSelected