Success sometimes starts with a typo. Take “Garden Ink”, a Games Lift Incubator project from 2024. Arne Jürgens, co-developer at Kranich Games, spotted a small mistake on the website of the German Computergame Awards (DCP). He sent a friendly mail and got a friendly hint back: His own project was eligible, too. 

Months later, he and Sven Mehlhorn found themselves on a gala stage in Munich, slightly stunned, accepting the award for best prototype of the year and thanking Gamecity Hamburg “for the great support”. “Garden Ink” is a hand-drawn cozy game that may seem unassuming compared to other games, but also very inviting. Once people start playing, they find it hard to stop. Sven had heard this feedback from demo players at events before, but having DCP jurors echoing it is an important acknowledgment for the young studio. And the prize money is enough to “keep them working for another nine months”, Sven says. 

Still in Full Sprint 

Their success also buys the team some precious breathing room. Pacing yourself is essential if you really want to build a studio. The Games Lift Incubator empowers young teams to set themselves and their projects up professionally. A heavy workload is part of the process. Even so, many teams keep pushing when the workshops wrap. 

Team Honeybeak are another apt example. The dev team behind “Forefeathers” took their project to the Baltic Games Fest. What they did not expect was winning the audience award “with our very first showing – what an amazing surprise!”, Team member Christina Luntz says. Their Steam page offers a peek into the state of the project: Cute penguin Bokki can take his time to solve light puzzles in a quiet little village. 

Audiences looking for something less cozy can keep an eye on Leif Gutowski’s project “Ungradable: Twisted Card Grading”, an observation-horror game about inspecting cursed trading cards. The title is now shorter, the vision sharper. And Leif is thrilled about an addition to his team: “Nadine Oestreich has permanently joined the project.”, he says. It looks like an optimal solution – as an illustrator, Oestreich has already shaped the visual style of the game through key and concept art. 

Persistence Matters 

These projects graduated in 2024 and 2025. But the Games Lift Incubator has been running since 2020. Alumni like Julia Reberg demonstrate the positive long-term impact. She joined the program solo with her ambitious project “Alchymia”, an alchemical roguelike deckbuilder centered around crafting and exploration. After scoring Prototype Funding from Gamecity, Julia has successfully applied for the German games funding grant Press Start. It has enabled her to fund her studio Pseudoscience Interactive. 

Curvature Games already were a team when they started in the Incubator. Their wistful VR-adventure “The Amusement” employs a self-developed technology called Redirected Walking to make play areas feel bigger than they are. After winning over Arte as a publisher, they have successfully launched their game on Steam and the Meta Store, to excellent user reviews. 

After their graduation, they recommended Games Lift as “the perfect kickoff for your studio adventure”. The Gamecity team is thrilled to see them reaching their goal. Game developers interested in joining the network can still get a consultation appointment and submit their application until June 1, 2026. 

Find out more about the Games Lift Incubator and the application process here: Apply until June 1, 2026.