Last weekend was all about "Exploring Borders" with the PLAY20 Creative Gaming Festival and our PLAY20 Game Jam, where teams from all over the world participated to create new games in about 45 hours.

Working on Public Relations for video games is challenging; it is especially so for small game developers working on tight schedules and limited budgets. That is why at Gamecity’s Games Lift Incubator, PR is a special focus. We sat in on two luminaries coaching our teams.

It may be powered by a technical achievement, but this novel VR game is all about the story. Players will walk around a dilapidated amusement park, solve puzzles and take in the scenery. There is a layer cake of a tale to discover.

And it might be done soon! Developer Roman Fuhrer has worked at a variety of successful game studios. But this action-adventure is his very own. And he wants to get it just right.

Developer Julia Reberg has a small, but enticing idea: Research alchemy in a fantasy world and find a miracle cure. If you don’t, Zombies will arrive and end the game. But we do not need to worry yet.

The Milestone Pitch on October 19 marked the end of the first half of Gamecity’s Games Lift Incubator 2020. In a two hour presentation, the awarding committee and mentors of the program got to check in on the progress of our five teams. There was a lot to see and talk about.

Ole Jürgensen and Leonie Brosz still remember the way we all used to play when we were kids. Now, they are bringing it back. The novel idea at the heart of VR game „Crumbling“ is a really natural way of controlling your character.

Or, to be more precise, it is keyboardist and composer Jonah Weingarten who gets sucked in. Players get to look like him and fight through a fantastic landscape inspired by feudal Japan. Dev team members Nico Plötz and Robin Stephan explain their wild idea.

Gamecity Hamburg invites you to participate in an online game jam that will take place during the PLAY20 Festival.

It’s time to talk teams and projects. They define the Games Lift Incubator’s purpose: The whole point of the program is to help them thrive. In the coming weeks, we will take a closer look at each of them. But in order to get a sense of their diversity, let’s start with an overview.

Good workshops are hard to find. In the Games Lift incubator, they are a main attraction of the program. It’s seasoned game devs giving personal advice to a small group. But there is a crinkle: Because of the pandemic, this time around all talks and workshops of the Games Lift Incubator are being held remotely.

In order to increase the visibility of current game projects and to support the initiation of new business contacts, Gamecity Hamburg now promotes participation in online and in-person events for game developers and studios from Hamburg with the program "Games Transfer".

As another important program to support up-and-coming game developers and the games ecosystem in Hamburg, our Games Lift Incubator finally lifts off. Time for a quick inventory: What does the program do? What does it hope to achieve? We asked Gamecity Hamburg’s project manager Margarete Schneider to get us into the details of this new incubation program.

How are the media and creative industries doing in Hamburg? What influence does the covid-19 pandemic have on media and creative companies, how does it affect business and companies‘ requirements? What do you expect in relation to the media location Hamburg?

We talked with kabuff.co developer Torsten Fock-Herde about their upcoming game REPTRAILS - Save the FRD and the ongoing crowdfunding project.

The participants for the first batch of the new "Games Lift" Incubator by Gamecity Hamburg have been selected