As of now, developer teams can apply for the next round of our Games Lift Incubator. This includes not only 15,000 euros in financial support; it also means workshops with renowned experts, opportunities to network, and personal mentoring that caters to each team and each project individually. 

"It is important to us to stay in contact with our teams in the long run," says project manager Margarete Schneider. Keeping in touch with alumni has always been a goal of Gamecity Hamburg. Over the years, the benefits of doing so have become abundantly clear. 

The network works 

One person who can attest to that is Ole Jürgensen – in 2020, he participated in the first Games Lift round, Work on his cute but challenging VR roguelike "Crumbling" is well underway. "I got to meet a lot of good people," Jürgensen attests. It has helped him in all sorts of ways: On the one hand, he says, the exchange with other teams has given him courage and motivation. On the other hand, there were very concrete effects. Roman from "Leif's Adventure" is making a contribution. The knowledgeable colleague from another team was the perfect fit to animate the comics that tell the story in Jürgensen's VR game. 

The workshops mark an intensive three-month-phase at the Incubator’s beginning. They aim to keep each team on the right track for quick progress. Jürgensen is eager to highlight Michael Schieben’s workshop on his Product Field Method. To Jürgensen, the course was "helpful in gaining a new perspective" on his project as a whole and identifying what was essential about it, Jürgensen recalls. Getting his priorities right and re-checking them was essential for him, so that he didn't "get lost in the nitty-gritty." 

Jürgensen has evidently taken his steps in the right order. "Crumbling" is heading for a release later this year. 

A year together

Gamecity Hamburg’s project team is always aiming to enable sustainable success. Even during the Incubator’s runtime, it's about more than networking, money, and workshops. Individual mentoring plays a key role. And it will only grow in importance. Gamecity plans to "intensify" the mentoring of the teams over the whole year, explains Margarete Schneider. "Regular meetings throughout" will help identify challenges and opportunities for support. 

The new measures aim precisely at a challenge that Jürgensen addresses and that everyone who has ever managed a project knows all too well: Keeping an overview, staying aware of the status, and regularly identifying the best steps to take next. Gamecity Hamburg has set up additional assistance aimed at this challenge. Starting this year, a group of five mentors will accompany the teams and provide them with direct and individual support. The meetings will focus on reviewing concept and strategy. 

The group of mentors may be new, but the idea is not. Our Games Lift Incubator was always meant to last a full year, to go beyond the workshop phase. It is designed to give teams a safe space and time to move forward quickly; and to do so in a caring and respectful environment. This year, it will also include a new innovation space in HafenCity, bringing together different sectors of Hamburg's creative community under one roof. We will be able to share more about it in the coming months. 

But developer teams shouldn't wait for that. If they have an interesting project, they should apply. And they should do so now. 

Apply here: https://gamecity-hamburg.de/incubator/