Draknek & Friends, the publisher and developer behind A Monster’s Expedition, A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, Bonfire Peaks and more, has announced a new grant aimed at helping underrepresented individuals establish themselves as puzzle game developers.
The fund, which offers grants of $5,000 & $20,000 USD, is specifically aimed at diversifying the puzzle-games industry and has an extensive, but not exhaustive, list of eligibility clauses. In addition to the funding, it also offers mentorship opportunities in partnership with puzzle-game focused Astra Fund.
The New Voices fund, as with many others, is no-strings attached, and operates independently of Draknek & Friends’ publishing efforts and Astra’s own funding and mentorship programmes.
Notably, the fund is for individual developers, however this doesn’t mean that those who are members of a team cannot apply. If you have a member of your team who qualifies then you should definitely encourage them to apply, if not for the funding but also for the additional opportunities that can potentially come from it. Those without active projects are encouraged to still apply.
Draknek & Friends are presenting the upcoming Cerebral Puzzle Showcase on Steam which will run from May 19-23rd. Within the showcase is the second annual Draknek Direct mini-conference, and within that is a section titled New Voices which is expected to discuss the fund further.
For now, those interested can find out more on the New Voices fund page, applications close at 23:59PST on the 3rd of July 2022.