Games Lift Incubator
Games Lift enables indie teams to successfully develop and market their game projects by providing them with knowledge, resources, and a strong network. Up to five teams are supported per year. They receive a workshop program held by experienced industry professionals, funding of 15,000 euros, individual mentoring, workspace for collaboration, and much more.
The application phase for Games Lift 2024 ran from May 2 to June 10.
Interested in applying next year? Leave us your name & email here and be among the first to know about upcoming application dates.
What Games Lift offers:
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15,000 euros financial support
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Additional 1,000 euros coaching budget
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Talks and workshops tailored to the needs of game developer start-ups
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Individual mentoring
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Working and exchanging with other indie teams in an office in Hamburg’s HafenCity
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Joint visit of an international industry event
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Access to industry experts through the Games Lift Network
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Peer support & playtesting sessions inside the incubator
Timeline 2024/2025
May 2 - June 10
Online Application Phase
Online applications for Games Lift 2024 are open from Thursday, May 2 (1 pm) to Tuesday, June 10 (11:59 pm) 2024. All information regarding how to apply can be found on the Application page.
May 14 2 pm
Games Lift Insights
Join the Gamecity Team and Cassia Curran, Founder and Strategic Advisor at Curran Games Agency, for insights into our Games Lift Incubator program and a workshop about Basic Market Analysis for Indies. Participation is recommended for all teams who are considering an application. Online event, access only for registered participants - get your free ticket here!
June 11 - July 16
Awarding Process
After careful consideration of all eligible applications, the Awarding Committee invites a selection of applicants to pitch their projects online. The final decision on which teams will enter the Incubator is made after the online pitches.
September 9
Kick-off for Games Lift 2024
The Games Lift Incubator program starts in early September with workshops, the first batch of financing and an introduction to their mentors in a first mentoring session.
September - December
Incubator Phase 1
In workshops and talks on several days per week, experienced industry professionals give guidance and concrete advice on topics like project management, pitching, financing, legal aspects or marketing.
December 10
Graduation
After completing the workshop program, the teams present the current state of their projects in a public pitch. You can watch the Graduation 2024 on-site or online: here
December 2024 - August 2025
Incubator Phase 2
In regular, individual sessions, the teams receive coaching by their mentors. The Games Lift Network will be available for individual questions regarding all aspects of game development throughout the year.
All funded Projects
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Tiny Garden
by Tales from the Garden
In “Tiny Garden” you slip into the role of a deity who fills a deserted planet with life. You control a group of cute leaf creatures that must be protected from evil spirits by planting various plants. If you manage to create a beautiful garden and soothe all the spirits, you can move on to the next planet.
Pubcrawler
by Triflgard
Pubcrawler is a co-op PC game for up to four player in which you and your friends navigate your wandering pub through a wasteland. In the process, you have to complete a variety of challenging tasks that can only be mastered as a team. So, work together and enjoy the adventure.
Light of Atlantis
by Duck 'n' Run Games
Funded with 70,000 €
Explore the depths of the ocean in this 2D-Puzzle-Metroidvania! Control the water levels and switch between various robots to solve the ancient puzzles of Atlantis.
Frisia - Cozy Villages
by Rouven Cabanis
In Frisia – Cozy Villages you start on an uninhabited Northsea island and are tasked with building a functional, yet cozy and beautiful little town. Inspired by the frisian architecture of the Dutch and German Northsea coast, Frisia aims to create a cozy gameplay experience in harmony with simple town-building and strategy game mechanics.
ForeFeathers
by Team Honeybeak
"ForeFeathers" is a 3D Puzzle-Platformer where you explore the sky-high ruins of an ancient civilization of birds! Traverse the flying islands with the powers of flight, solve tricky puzzles and keep your friends from getting in trouble!
Chaos Royale
by Monodot
Funded with 80,000 €
Chaos Royale is a strategic PvP multiplayer game where you take on hordes of monsters while using your wits to disrupt and take out other players – competing to be the last person standing
Map Map - A Game about Maps
by Pipapo Games
Funded with 80,000 €
'Map Map - A Game about Maps' is a cozy exploration game with a unique cartography mechanic in which you explore wondrous landscapes to find a legendary lost treasure.
Dottobeau
by Dottobeau
„Dottobeau“ is a cozy point & click adventure that allows you to control the atmosphere of the game world. Switch through different moods of music and colors to influence the emotions of the world inhabitants, solve a series of puzzles and create your own little adventure.
Journey Beyond The Edge of the World
by Markus Koepke
An atmospheric first person adventure game in which the player solves puzzles to unfold a mysterious and surreal story. A story told in a unique way through 5 narrated music tracks.
We The Valarii
by Bagpack Games
We The Valarii is a couch co-op racing adventure for up to 4 players! Race WITH each other and accompany the sprouts of Mithem on their spinning pilgrimage using a unique input mechanic to speed up!
Replicore (working title METACORE)
by Amberdive Interactive
Funded with 80,000 €
Replicore is an Ancient Sci-Fi Co-op Shooter where you throw your crew into the action with the Core or pull them out of tricky situations to withstand the challenges of the mysterious ruins.
Stack 'Em Up
by Godcomplex Games
Funded with 70,000 €
Absorb and combine Slimes into unique abilities and stun and "stack" your opponents in this fast-paced and crazy on- and offline Multiplayer Party Game for up to 4 players.
About Cannons + Sparrows
by About Cannons + Sparrows
About Cannons + Sparrows is a side scrolling, physics based puzzle platformer with story driven genre twists.
Babsi Bullet
by Team Marty
Part teenager, part bullet: our eponymous heroine Babsi Bullet is a living missile. The 12-year-old fights otherworldly creatures on a flying alien planet that is menacingly approaching Earth.
Evergreen Garden
by Elin Meinecke
Evergreen Garden is a farm simulation role-playing game in which the player must consider the interaction of plants with each other and with the environment in order to achieve optimal yields. To restore the abandoned farm to its former glory, herbs and flowers must be skillfully used alongside lush crops to grow a healthy, varied and productive garden.
Misgiven (Working title PROSPECTOR)
by Symmetry Break Studio
Funded with 70,000 €
Misgiven is a 2D sci-fi narrative adventure game about that lump in your throat, and how some things are harder to say than others. As an explorer, you are stranded in a city veiled in toxic fog, whose inhabitants wear masks to survive. Find people you can trust in this alien place, and experience the awkwardness, anxiety and rewards of communication.
Monstersongs VR
by Denise Koch
Funded with 28,000 €
Explore an abandoned theatre that has been taken over by monsters who are hungry for love. Escape the monster lurking within yourself in this part rock musical part adventure game.
Absolute Matter (working title The Invitation)
by tool1
Funded with 60,000 €
Absolute Matter is a PvEvP loot shooter with a clear goal: maximum player interaction.
Quests in this game are not given by NPCs. They emerge from events, players and the environment, which frequently invite you to new adventures. This game was formerly known as the Invitation and received funding with this name.
supernightshift
by consider it
supernightshift is a minimalistic puzzle racer on the nightly streets of Hamburg. Strategically combine the different means of transportation the city has to offer to reach your destination as fast as possible. Watch your travel budget and don't dawdle on your smartphone, or you'll run out of time!
The Treepoids
by SUPERNATURAL GAMES
“The Treepoids and the Island of Professor Flora” starts the adventure series of the Treepoids a plantlike alien race that travels the universe to explore distant planets. Now they need your help! Use your wits and their mental superpowers to solve puzzles, master mind battles and stop the Professor from his evil plans.
Alchymia
by Pseudoscience Interactive
Funded with 70,000 €
Alchymia is a building and management rogue-like about the art of alchemy. Build complex apparatuses, study the effects of strange ingredients, create powerful potions and save your city from an approaching horde of undead!
Crumbling
by Team Crumbling
Funded with 39,782 €
Crumbling is a virtual-reality game where you wield an action figure in your hand against plastic toy monsters in meticulously hand-crafted dioramas.
Leif's Adventure: Netherworld Hero
by OneManOnMars Art & Games
A 2D action-adventure game with a unique 2 character system and a fantastic co-op mode for consoles and the PC. A demo is available on Steam.
Jonah Weingarten’s Ninja Brigade
by Impawsible Games
A fast-paced pixel art metroidvania, where the musician Jonah Weingarten is drawn to feudal Japan via an arcade station. Once there, he must face vicious yokai hordes and beat the game to return to his own era.
The Amusement
by Curvature Games
The Amusement is a narrative VR adventure that uses real walking to let you explore and discover the history of an abandoned amusement park in the 1920s.
Melodies (Working Title)
by Behind the Stone
Funded with 60,000 €
On the edge of the fair stands the organ grinder, a ghastly figure whom no one dares to approach—no one except a single girl, who is drawn to the macabre melodies. The dark short stories that the bizarre minstrel shares with his rare audience form the core of Project "Melodies," the 2D horror anthology where players step into the roles of its unfortunate protagonists.
The Regreening
by Positive Impact Games
Funded with 80,000 €
The Regreening is a cozy nature restoration simulation game inspired by real world projects. As the last human on the planet, plant seeds to restore biomes, mend friendships with folklore animals, and bring back life to the Earth. The game is a twist on the classic cozy farming simulation game that puts the player in a position of having a positive rather than exploitative role in their environment.
A Most Honorable Bunch
by Osmotic Studios
Funded with 72,000 €
A Most Honorable Bunch is a narrative heist game that captures the spirit of gangster films such as “Reservoir Dogs” or “The Usual Suspects” in game form. The game tells a story about five more or less dubious characters who meet - seemingly by chance - on a long-abandoned island. Only they themselves know the reason that drove them here. But none of them can shake off the feeling that the others are also looking for something from the past of this “lost place” - and will go to any lengths to find it.
How to Find Friends
by Beardshaker Games
Funded with 30,000 €
How To Find Friends is a cozy game that lets you take your time and relax.
Reddie - ReRun of Reality
by Curvature Games
Funded with 80,000 €
"Reddie - ReRun of Reality" is a mixed-reality puzzle game where the player takes on the role of a test subject in a series of eperiments, using the unique abilities of the Reddie characters to shift between different dimensions and realities.
Dein Skat
by Bestjack Entertainment
Funded with 70,000 €
In the mood for Skat, but all alone? Not a problem. With "My Skat" the classic card game will become available as a captivating single-player-game
Super Party Verse
by Super Crowd Entertainment
Funded with 80,000 €
Super Party Verse is a Hybrid Gaming Event App. Use your personal avatar to play multiplayer party games, visit hybrid entertainment events or create your own digital events!
Into the Emberlands (working title Wanderful/HEXAGONE)
by Tiny Roar
Funded with 80,000 €
Into the Emberlands is a Wholesome-Strategy-Game with a narrative touch, set in a colorful multidimensional setting. Place tiles to create a world piece by piece and send explorers on quests for loot and new pieces - while building up your highscore on the search for the ultimate adventure. Formerly first known as HEXAGONE and then Wanderful, the game got a new title in May 2024 and is set to release in Early Access in the Summer of 2024.
CR4NKUP
by CR4NKUP
Funded with 40,000 €
CR4NKUP combines gaming and sport in one world! Through the gamification of indoor bike training and innovative smart trainers, CR4NKUP brings indoor training to a new level and creates a virtual world in which thousands of players worldwide can ride with and against each other at the same time.
Mambio
by neurodactics
Funded with 39,273 €
Mambio can be used independently by elementary school children with and without disabilities. The learning software combines classic learning methods and new developments from research to provide children with mathematics lessons specifically designed for them.
ARC Break
by SpiceVR
Funded with 50,000 €
In the VR Game ARC BREAK, an Arcade Game comes to life and breaks free from its digital borders, threatening to conquer the world. The player is earth's last chance to save us all.
Fantasma Ville
by Torito Games
Funded with 19,140 €
Fantasma Ville is a puzzle-platformer game about guilt and redemption, where the player controls a memoryless ghost tasked to uncover why the village inhabitants and himself died.
Rocket Science GONE WRONG
by Soapbox Interactive
Funded with 48,000 €
Rocket Science GONE WRONG is a competitive first person shooter with a 100% destructible world.
The Hunt for Epic Treasure
by Elecular
Funded with 35,200 €
The Hunt For Epic Treasures is set during the medieval Viking ages in northern Europe. This game is a mix of Action Role-playing Game (ARPG) and strategy where you fight your way to become the leader of your tribe, and eventually start developing your small Viking village into a grand settlement.
Lost Sector
by Invariant Games
Funded with 73,270 €
Explore the threatening sci-fi world of Lost Sector and master the souls-like combat. Defy overwhelming odds to overcome evolving creatures and gradually changing environments in this unforgiving third-person action-roguelike.
PROJECT MORPH
by THREAKS
Funded with 70,000 €
TRANSFORM INTO THE MONSTERS YOU KILL!
Utilize enemy DNA to transform yourself into various alien creatures and save the galaxy from the apocalypse in this souls-like sci-fi action-RPG.
Soulitaire
by Beardshaker
Funded with 48,000 €
The prototype of "Soulitaire" will give a first polished impression of the planned solitaire gameplay and dark fantasy setting.
Stadtkinder
by Studio Monstrum
Funded with 48,000 €
In the VR game "Stadtkinder" the player accompanies a group of youths on their expedition through a seemingly deserted Metropolis in search of a lost friend. These challenges have to be tackled by employing a mechanic called "multithreading" which enables the players to cooperate with their own avatars from the past.
Turbo Shell
by Radioactive Dreams
Funded with 31,273 €
Turbo Shell is a fast-paced 2D platformer with a unique movement mechanic: instead of running and jumping, you push and pull yourself through a sci-fi world with the help of a special tool. The release of the final game is scheduled for 2022. A free demo including all levels of the first world in Turbo Shell is available on Steam.
Wild Woods
by Octofox Games
Funded with 80,000 €
Wild Woods is a couch coop action game with roguelike elements. One to four players take on the roles of brave little cats defending their wooden wagon on its way through a dangerous forest.
Out of Place
by Bagpack Games
Funded with 80,000 €
Prove yourself in the mysterious world of Mithem! Defeat your enemies using your companion while also protecting him courageous during frightening segments. Help Simon to find a way back home and restore a war-scarred world in a tale of friendship, hope and courage.
Mentoring
The participating teams will be accompanied by five industry professionals who will give individual guidance in several mentoring sessions throughout the year. Topics for these mentoring sessions range from business development to general feedback on the game concept, production planning, business operations or team building - all based on the teams' individual needs.
Watch the Graduation of the 2023 teams
Application
Find out everything you need to know about applying for Games Lift, eligibility criteria, and the application process here.
The application phase for 2024 ran from May 2 to June 10. Interested in applying next year? Leave us your name & email here and be among the first to know about upcoming application dates.
FAQ
What are the goals of the Games Lift Incubator?
↓The Games Lift Incubator aims to enable young developer teams to create successful concepts for digital games with high market potential. Its mission is to provide the developer teams with the necessary resources to allow them to work on their projects with high concentration accompanied by input from experienced industry professionals.
Who can apply for the Games Lift Incubator?
↓Eligible to apply are both natural persons as well as Small and medium-sized companies (SMEs); developers and developer associations, student teams, start-ups, and teams in the process of founding a company.
Please note:
- Team size should not exceed 5 members per team.
- All team members should be available to attend Games Lift events and workshops during the incubator year. Please note that Phase 1 (September to early December) can be very time-consuming with several workshops and meetings per week.
- The precondition is always that the team is already based in Hamburg or can prove that they will relocate their residence to Hamburg or open a subsidiary or branch establishment in Hamburg upon entering the Games Lift Incubator program.
When and how can I apply?
↓Gamecity Hamburg runs one application period for Games Lift each year. The application phase for Games Lift 2024 ran from May 2 (1:00 pm) to June 10 (11:59 pm). To make sure you are up to date with all deadlines regarding our funding programs, join our Discord Server and subscribe to our monthly newsletter. A detailed document on How to apply for the Games Lift Incubator can be found here and will take you through the application form step by step.
We strongly recommend a consultation appointment before submitting the application. Please contact us at funding@gamecity-hamburg.de to set up an appointment and include the following information:
- Short project outline (max. half a page of text or a slide) of the project
- Background of the team (max. half a page of text or a slide)
- All your questions regarding the application
Interested in applying next year? Leave us your name & email here and be among the first to know about upcoming application dates.
What does the Games Lift Incubator offer?
↓Games Lift supports participating teams for one year: they receive financial support of 15,000 euros, individual mentoring, access to a broad network of industry professionals, and the opportunity for close exchange with other games start-ups. At the heart of the incubator program, there is a workshop program tailored to the needs of game developers from September to early December.