Stugan, the non-profit games accelerator launched by some of Sweden’s most influential video game developers and entrepreneurs, has announced the teams and mentor line-up for its second annual program.
13 teams making up a total of 21 participants from all around the world have been accepted into the 2016 program. There are developers from Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, New Zealand, Serbia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and US. Their games run across mobile and PC and touch on categories like action, adventure, RPG, exploration, visual novel, puzzle strategy and more.
You can meet the teams and see their games here, and check out a trailer of the new games from this year’s participants below:
“This year is going to be exceptional as the diversity, passion and energy from participants is seemingly unmatched. We have everyone from established programmers, ex-games journalist turned indie developer, to toy maker/artist teaching themselves programming to make their dream game a reality. They comprise developer teams that are long-time friends, couples and solo artists going at it alone,” said Stugan manager Jana Karlikova.
Stugan also announced that Rami Ismail and Peter Vesterbacka will be some of the several newly added mentors this year to share some of their secret sauce with this year’s “Stuganeers.” Ismail is co-founder of Vlambeer and indie game developer of games like Nuclear Throne and Ridiculous Fishing. Vesterbacka is best known as the “Mighty Eagle” at Rovio, where he has led Angry Birds into a multi-billion dollar franchise.
Additionally, Paradox VP of business development Shams Jorjani will mentor this year, as will Clint Siu, 2015 Stugan participant and creator of the hit iOS game _PRISM. Stugan has also confirmed return participation from several of last year’s mentors including Karl Magnus Troedsson (DICE), Stephen Jarrett (King), Per Strömbäck (Swedish Games Industry association), Paul Brady (Carve Communications PR), Gordon Van Dyke and Jonas Antonsson (both from Raw Fury), Tommy Palm (Resolution Games) and Oskar Burman (ex-Rovio).
This year’s program will run from 8 July until 27 August. The developers will spend seven weeks with all expenses paid in a traditional Swedish cabin, or “Stugan” in the Swedish countryside, where they will be supported and mentored while building their games. The program is steered by leading individuals in the Swedish games industry and developers from the likes of DICE, Good Bye Kansas, Mojang, Resolution Games, Avalanche Studios, Snowprint Studios and others. Top Swedish and international games industry thought leaders will also visit the cabin and hold lectures and workshops in their respective areas of focus.
About Stugan
Stugan (Swedish: “the cabin”) is a non-profit annual accelerator program for aspiring game developers. Stugan leverages the expertise of the established Swedish game industry and aims to provide opportunities for shepherding up-and-coming game designers and developers through development, publishing, marketing and more to ensure a successful games launch.
Stugan is supported by individuals including Oskar Burman, general manager of Rovio Stockholm, Tommy Palm, games guru at King Digital Entertainment and Karl Magnus Troedsson, VP of group strategy at Electronic Arts (EA).
For more information visit www.stugan.com.
