Curtain closes on milestone ProtoPlay event
Despite not being able to attend and showcase at a physical event this year, all 27 Tranzfuser teams have had a busy a week as they participated in ProtoPlay.Studio Gobo Ubisoft Tag Games Team 17 Story Juice Mediatonic Sports Interactive
With almost 1,400 new visitors coming to the site during the show, each team and game has gained exposure to the game-playing public and potential investors, publishers and employers in a manner that goes some way to replicating the sadly-missed physical events that this year is lacking.
As reported elsewhere, ProtoPlay wasn’t just about having a static site with links to playable games and social media accounts, there have been a variety of interactive and engaging events and content.
On the opening night of ProtoPlay, Games Jobs Live ran an exclusive event for the teams with some of the biggest names in games development taking part:
Whilst moving everything online can have it’s drawbacks, it would be a near impossibility to get such big players in games development in one room and at the same time to speak exclusively to our teams in a way like this event.
Over the weekend we ran our own live stream event over on Twitch with our in-house expert and enthusiastic streaming team speaking to each and every Tranzfuser team. Over the course of ProtoPlay, the UK Games Fund Twitch channel has grown by almost 200% in audience size.Our final outward-facing activity involved the games industry writer and presenter Jordan Erica Webber sharing her personal thoughts on this year’s games in an exclusive ProtoPlay broadcast.
Deborah Farley, Head of Tranzfuser, said:
“We believe that ProtoPlay has covered both bases for the 27 teams that participated. Those teams that have been really focussed on continuing beyond the competition to start a company have attracted huge interest and those with a careers focus have been introduced to top employers. The Tranzfuser 2020 teams should all be very proud of seeing the competition through to the end and proving exactly why they all deserved their place in the showcase.”
Interviews for selected teams to receive said grant funding has been going on this week behind the scenes, with further details about the successful teams to be shared soon.
Whilst not all teams may elect to continue with the development of their games, and some will inevitably secure employment at established studios, others will go on to create successful indie studios with commercial IP development.
Greg Smith from Grym Titan Studios, said:
“We are going to take some amazing memories away from this experience. The chance to meet and interact with so many wonderful people has been fantastic. Plus, the insight into the reality of game development has confirmed this is what I want to do more than anything. I want to thank everyone involved in the Tranzfuser Team from the bottom of my heart!”
An added feature of ProtoPlay this year has been the ProtoPlay Audience Award, that being the game voted as favourite by our ProtoPlay viewers. The winner of the 2020 ProtoPlay Audience Award is WordPlay! Congratulations to the team.
Further details about the teams selected to join the UK Games Fund funded community will be revealed soon. In the meantime, you can find out more about this year’s teams by visiting the Tranzfuser website.
