DunDev 2025
Four promising early-stage studios will be invited to join the residential programme in Scotland’s Sunniest City in January 2025, tasked with focusing on nothing other than nailing the business and creative aspects of their current project.
Expressions of Interest are now open.
The outcome of DunDev 2024 has been announced. Find out more here.
What is DunDev?
DunDev acts as a catalyst for entrepreneurial early-stage studios to focus on the important stuff; making games and the business of making games. Teams are provided with accommodation, office space and prize money to ensure the time spent on the programme can be channelled exclusively into the development, the team’s game and their studio.
- Four studios were selected from a competitive application process to join us in Dundee in January 2024 for four weeks.
- During this time, the studios received structured support to build on their successful endeavours.
- Each studio was provided with top quality living accommodation, office space and a prize of value up to £10,000 (dependent on team size) to support their time at DunDev.
- At the end of DunDev, the participating studios were invited to pitch to the UK Games Fund for prototype fund grants for the continued commercial development of their games. Importantly, as part of this pitching process, teams were asked to demonstrate what they have learned during DunDev.
Whether selected for funding or not, all participating studios received tailored one-to-one support from hand-picked UKGTF community members, helping to translate any ideas for growth as a sustainable studio generated during DunDev – into practical application.
Entrepreneurialism, creativity, business management skills and technological innovation will form the pillars of DunDev, with teams encouraged during the hot-housing to accelerate their learning in the art of running a successful independent game development studio.
The following information is relevant to the DunDev 2024 programme and is supplied for reference only.
- Studios must have 3-6 team members that are available to attend for the full duration of DunDev.
- Studios will be established and must have been registered with Companies House (having been formed for some time).
- All participating studios are expected to have already worked on the IP they bring to DunDev to some degree, with at least some early concept work demonstrable at time of application.
- All individual team members in attendance must be committed to actively contributing to DunDev in-person during working hours over the course of the event.
What can the studios get out of DunDev?
DunDev is now closed. The following information is supplied for reference only.
- Participating studios will be awarded a prize of up to £10,000 in value (Ts & Cs apply). This will be a mixture of cash and in-kind project support.
- DunDev will provide each team with tailored support by way of expert consultancy, specific to their needs.
- All studios will be invited to pitch to the UK Games Fund review panel at the end of DunDev for grant support of up to £25,000 for the continued commercial development of the project worked on during the event.
What will the studios learn?
Our experience has taught us that co-located early-stage teams and companies face synergistic needs and challenges. Tackling these with the asset of being able to benefit from benchmarking against other young companies brings significant wins and accelerates progress towards financial sustainability.
But it’s not all about money; cross-testing and creative reviews of content development, interfaces and game mechanics provides useful externality.
Teams will experience opportunities that will prove transformational for their entrepreneurial success, with structured support and the possibility to expand their professional networks as well as the potential of securing further development funding from the UK Games Fund.
With input from industry veterans, as well as vital peer support from the UKGTF community, DunDev is a unique collaborative learning opportunity for the selected teams, with exclusive access to bespoke business development interventions and tailored one-to-one expert support.