Stuganeers 2018

Stugan Games Accelerator Announces 2018 Program Indie Game Developer Teams and Sponsors 

Stugan doubles down on diversity; Attracts new sponsors including David Helgason (Unity founder), Susana Meza Graham (Paradox Interactive COO), Patric Palm (Favro CEO) and others

Stockholm, Sweden – 23 May 2018 – Stugan, the games accelerator created by Swedish games industry veterans, has today revealed the participants for their 2018 program. This marks the fourth year the nonprofit has brought together notable games industry mentors and indie developers from across the globe to a cabin in the Swedish wilderness for two months of game making magic. 21 developers have been accepted into the expenses-paid program where they will be mentored in all core industry skills ranging from design and publishing to marketing.

Participants will be arriving from 11 countries including U.S.A., Canada, U.K., Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Ghana, Australia and New Zealand. The participant’s games touch on a range of platforms, mechanics and artistic styles and include everything from an underwater adventure game, a folklore inspired exploration puzzler, and a creature-building neuroscience game created by a neurobiologist and self-taught game developer. To see more on this year’s participants and their game concepts go to: http://www.stugan.com/stuganeers-2018. You can also see a highlights trailer with all the team’s games at https://youtu.be/sXEIgQzK1MI.

“We are so happy that 2018 marks our most diverse set of applicants yet. We had another record-breaking year of submissions and our final participants are nearly half female and from all walks of life around the globe. This is a great sign for the widespread growth of inclusiveness coming to the industry,” said Stugan manager Jana Palm. “We’re also excited to be welcomed back to the incredible location in Falun, Sweden and to have so many local organizations and individuals helping us to continue providing this platform for up and coming game developers.”

2018 program sponsors include new and past contributors including David Helgason, Unity founder; Susana Meza Graham, COO of Paradox Interactive; Patric Palm CEO and co-founder of Favro CEO; Lars Wingefors, co-founder and group CEO of THQ Nordic; Karl Magnus Troedsson; Mattias Miksche; Chris James; Per Strömbäck; Mikael Emtinger; Matti Larsson; Magnus Björkman; Tommy Palm, Oskar Burman and others. This year’s participating sponsor companies include GameFounders, Coffee Stain Studios, Resolution Games and more.

Stugan also announced that the organization has recently been nominated for the Swedish government's award for cultural and creative industries, which is a highly prominent accolade being awarded by Trade Minister Ann Linde for the first time this year. The winner will be announced on May 24, 2018.

Stugan’s 2018 games accelerator program will run from June 25 until August 11 and will provide support, skills development, and a sense of community to its 21 participants over those weeks and beyond. For more information and to follow the progress of this year’s program, visit stugan.com or follow Stugan on Facebook and Twitter.

###

About Stugan:

Stugan is a non-profit organization that organizes the annual accelerator program for aspiring game developers. The word Stugan means “the cabin” in Swedish and is also a throwback to the name of the first Swedish commercial computer game made in 1978. 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 for ensuring a successful games launch. Stugan is made possible by individuals including Oskar Burman (CEO and co-founder of Fast Travel Games), Tommy Palm (CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games) and many more. For more information visit www.stugan.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp/ and Twitter www.twitter.com/stugan_

Contact:

Paul Brady

paul@carvecom.com

Tel. (US) +1 646-491-2777

Stugan 2018 - Call for Applications

Stugan Games Accelerator Opens Fourth Annual Global Call for Applications

Mentorship Program in the Swedish Countryside invites new indie devs, celebrates past participants

Stockholm, Sweden – 8 February 2018 – Stugan, the nonprofit games accelerator formed by Sweden games industry veterans, has today opened the call for applications for their fourth annual indie game accelerator program. Selected participants will spend a summe working on their games in a traditional Swedish cabin, or “Stugan” in the countryside of Falun, Sweden, with expenses paid. Participants will also receive mentorship and support from industry luminaries across a diverse spectrum of talents, and have the opportunity to make connections and build relationships that will last a lifetime.

Many past participants have seen success after completing the Stugan program, from Clint Siu’s chart-topping mobile game _PRISM to this week’s releases of Long Hat House’s Dandara and Data Realms’ Planetoid Pioneers. Other titles still in development continue to show promise, collecting awards even before their release to the public like the AI Interactive’s The Enchanted World, the recipient of the Indie Prize for Best Games Design 2017.

“We’ve seen an incredible range of games come through our cabin door during Stugan’s first three years,” said Stugan manager Jana Palm, “and to see so many of those games get the acclaim they deserve has been nothing short of inspiring. Many of our attendees have gone on to earn nominations for the most coveted games industry awards, including those at Casual Connect, SXSW, IMGA, and the Independent Games Festival (IGF).”

Three games that participated in Stugan will be competing for prestige this year at IGF 2018: Vignettes (Excellence in Audio), 10 Mississippi (Nuovo Award), and Heat Signature (Seamus McNally Grand Prize). And other participants with games still in development find themselves building critical new relationships to help them on their journey following Stugan. Other Tales Interactive, the creators of the upcoming multiplayer puzzle game Tick Tock, have recently announced that they have received funding from Coffee Stain Studios - one of Stugan’s 2017 sponsors.

As in previous years, Stugan’s 2018 program is steered by leading individuals in the Swedish games industry, with the involvement of developers from Supercell, Unity, Paradox, King, DICE, Mojang, Goodbye Kansas, Resolution Games, Fast Travel Games, Snowprint Studios and more. Top Swedish and international games industry thought leaders will visit the program to engage in conversations and workshops focused on their areas of expertise.

Applications will be accepted today through March 31, 2018. The application process is simple and includes a 90 second video, where applicants present themselves and their game idea, along with a short written description of themselves, the game, and the goal they want to reach. Applicants can be for games developers across any platform and from anywhere in the world. Unlike traditional accelerator programs, all participants will keep the rights to the games they work on.

To submit an application and see additional program details go to www.stugan.com.

###

About Stugan:

Stugan is a non-profit organization that organizes the annual accelerator program for aspiring game developers. The word Stugan means “the cabin” in Swedish and is also a throwback to the name of the first Swedish commercial computer game made in 1978. 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 for ensuring a successful games launch. Stugan is supported by individuals including Tommy Palm, CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games and Oskar Burman, CEO and co-founder of Fast Travel Games. For more information visit www.stugan.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp/ and Twitter www.twitter.com/stugan_

Contact:

Paul Brady

Carve Communications for Stugan

Tel. 646-491-2777

paul@carvecom.com

Stugan 2017 Finale

Stuganeers 2017 revealed

Stugan Games Accelerator Announces Indie Participants and Mentors for Their 2017 Program; Unveils New Sponsored Teams Initiative

2017 mentors include Rami Ismail (Vlambeer), Karl Magnus Troedsson (Raw Fury), Mikko Kodisoja (Supercell) and many more

Stockholm, Sweden – 25 May 2017 – Stugan, the nonprofit games accelerator created by notable Swedish games industry veterans, has today revealed the participants for their third annual program that takes place in a cabin in the Swedish wilderness. 15 teams comprised of a total of 26 developers have been accepted into the seven week, expenses-paid program where they will be mentored in a variety of essential industry skills ranging from design and publishing to marketing.

This year’s games offer an eclectic mix and are being designed for a diverse set of platforms. Highlights include an experimental game about a jazz band, a virtual reality (VR) game about managing a puppet theater, and a platformer where you change the world. Participants will be arriving from all corners of the globe, with creators hailing from Kenya, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Czech Republic, USA, UK, Denmark and even Sweden itself.

“The third year of Stugan is our biggest yet,” said Stugan manager Jana Palm. “We received a staggering number of applicants that highlighted the very best in indie games development. It was hard to narrow our choice down to just 15 teams, but we’re confident that we’ve selected the participants who will benefit most from what Stugan has to offer. Once the summer concludes, these teams will have everything they need to set out into the wider games industry and expand their mark.”

Interest in Stugan has continued to grow year over year since its 2015 debut, with more applications for this year’s program than ever before. There was a 20 percent increase in applications, which were received from 53 countries - with particular growth seen among virtual reality (VR) projects. Of the 15 projects accepted into the program, two are from teams working exclusively in VR. Stugan has also seen an increase in the number of applications from female game developers this year, showcasing the strength that independent games find in diversity.

Stugan also announced a new element to its program centered around sponsored teams, where prominent game studio publishers sponsor one of their portfolio team’s participation in the accelerator. The sponsoring companies will provide not only monetary support for the entire program, but also mentoring from their top talent. 2017 sponsored teams will be represented by Raw Fury and Coffee Stain Studios.

Stugan’s 2017 edition of their games accelerator will run from June 26 until August 12 and will provide support, skills development, and a sense of community to its 15 participating teams over those weeks and beyond. Stugan is steered by top talent in the Swedish games industry, including individuals from DICE, King, Mojang, Resolution Games, Snowprint Studios and others. Past mentors like Rami Ismail (Vlambeer), Tommy Palm (Resolution Games) and Oskar Burman (Fast Travel Games) will be joined by key members from Oculus, Supercell, Raw Fury, Coffee Stain Studios and others. 

To see more on this year’s participants and their game concepts go to: http://www.stugan.com/stugan-2017aaa or see the 2017 team trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxveLWv-xJ4&feature=youtu.be. For more information, visit stugan.com or follow Stugan on Facebook and Twitter. 

###

About Stugan:

Stugan is a non-profit organization that organizes the annual accelerator program for aspiring game developers. The word Stugan means “the cabin” in Swedish and is also a throwback to the name of the first Swedish commercial computer game made in 1978. 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 for ensuring a successful games launch. Stugan is supported by individuals including Oskar Burman, CEO and co-founder of Fast Travel Games and Tommy Palm, CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games. For more information visit www.stugan.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp/ and Twitter www.twitter.com/stugan_

Call for applications opens!

Stugan Opens Applications for Third Annual Games Accelerator Program in Sweden

Call for new applicants joined by updates, successes and upcoming launches from Stugan alumni

Stockholm, Sweden – 8 February 2017 – Stugan, the nonprofit games accelerator launched by Sweden’s most influential video game developers and entrepreneurs, today opened its application process for its third-annual program. Some 20 aspiring game developers will be selected to spend two months with expenses paid in a traditional Swedish cabin, or “Stugan” in the countryside of Sweden, where they will be supported and mentored while building their games.

“The first two years of Stugan have been amazing. We are constantly shocked by the growing support from the global games community, along with all of the progress we continue to see from Stugan participants on their projects,” said Stugan manager Jana Palm. “We had always intended for Stugan to become an effective community of support for talented global games developers, but we had no idea how effective a place of inspiration this would become for the mentors and sponsors who have dedicated resources and energy towards to program, too.”

In addition to opening their third year call for applications, Stugan is announcing several game launches, updates, and successes coming out of their 2015 and 2016 teams:

• João from the Stugan 2015 team Rosvita has moved to Sweden to launch Really Interactive with members from another Stugan 2015 team, That Brain. They are working on Toran, a holographic puzzle game in VR coming to the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

• GoNNER, a game made by 2015 Stuganeer Ditto, was released on Steam in October 2016 and is coming to Nintendo Switch soon. GoNNER is being published by Raw Fury, a mentor team Ditto met with during his stay at Stugan. GoNNER is currently nominated for Audio Design in the Independent Games Festival awards. (http://www.gonnergame.com)

• 2015 participants from Data Realms launched a version of their game Planetoid Pioneers on Steam Early Access, and have already won several awards, including Best in Show at Quo Vadis in Berlin. They are planning additional version launches for the game in the coming months, and have also released a significant update to their earlier title, Cortex Command.

• 2015 participant Clint Siu launched his mobile game “_PRISM,” that was part of Humble Mobile Bundle 21, nominated for Gamer's Voice Award SXSW and for Best Upcoming Game IMGA, and featured on the App Store and Google Play.

• Vignettes will be the first game from Stugan 2016 when it launches on the App Store in March. The iOS game is made by the French duo Armel Gibson and Pol Clarissou. (http://vignettesga.me/)

• Induction, a game from 2015 Stuganeer Bryan Gale, launched on Steam February 7 (http://www.inductiongame.com).

“Stugan was such an inspiring event and important component of our team’s overall development,” said Dan Tabar, CEO and co-founder of Data Realms. “It had such an impact on us that we now do our own ‘mini Stugan’ twice a year internally. We highly recommend it for any game developer, whether just starting out or looking for a jolt of inspiration.”

Like years past, this year’s program is steered by Sweden’s leading individuals in the games industry and developers from the likes of Mojang, Paradox, King, DICE, Resolution Games, Fast Travel Games, Snowprint Studios, Goodbye Kansas and others. Top Swedish and international games industry thought leaders will visit the cabin and hold lectures and workshops around their respective areas of focus.

Applications will be accepted today through March 31, 2017. The application process is simple and includes a 90 second video, where applicants present themselves and their game idea, along with a short written description of themselves, the game, and the goal they want to reach. Applicants can be for games developers across any platform and from anywhere in the world. Unlike traditional accelerator programs, all participants will keep the rights to the games they work on.

To submit an application and see additional program details go to www.stugan.com.

###

About Stugan:

Stugan is a non-profit organization that organizes the annual accelerator program for aspiring game developers. The word Stugan means “the cabin” in Swedish and is also a throwback to the name of the first Swedish commercial computer game made in 1978. 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 for ensuring a successful games launch. Stugan is supported by individuals including Oskar Burman, CEO and co-founder of Fast Travel Games and Tommy Palm, CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games. For more information visit www.stugan.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp/ and Twitter www.twitter.com/stugan_

Contact:

Paul Brady

Carve Communications for Stugan

Tel. 646-491-2777

paul@carvecom.com

Stugan Finale

Friends of the indie scene! Come and join us at an event celebrating game development. Stugan finale is here again and the Stuganeers will be ready to show what they have been working on during the two months in the beautiful Swedish countryside. With this, we are going to officially close Stugan 2016.

The event will be held in Stockholm’s Tekniska Museet on August 27th from 1pm to 4pm. You will get to talk to the developers and try their games and meet other people from the games industry.

Feel free to bring your friends and help us share this event. In the meantime you can follow what's going on in Stugan on our Facebook page and our YouTube channel:

https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-oTi9DV7NhwtUL8-BfxuXw 

We look forward to see you all!

Jana, Oskar & Tommy

PS. The event will take place in "Eventrummet". Please be aware that you need to buy an entrance ticket to the museum.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/997575847020444/

Teams and mentor line-up for Stugan 2016 announced

Peter Vesterbacka, CMO of Rovio Entertainment, and Rami Ismail, co-founder of Vlambeer, added as a mentor for 2016 program

Stockholm, Sweden – 9 June 2016 – Stugan, the non-profit games accelerator launched by Sweden’s most influential video game developers and entrepreneurs, today 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: www.stugan.com/stugan-2016. You can also see a trailer of the new games from this year’s participants here https://youtu.be/E7h6-sjLwLg.

“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 longtime 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 cofounder of Vlambeer and indie game developer for games like Nuclear Throne and Ridiculous Fishing. Vesterbacka is best known as the Mighty Eagle at Rovio, where he leads Angry Birds into a multi-billion dollar franchise.

Additionally, Shams Jorjani, Vice President VP of business development at Paradox will mentor this year as will Clint Siu, 2015 Stugan participant and creator of the hit iOS game _PRISM. And, Stugan has 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 & 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 Sweden’s leading individuals in the 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 visit the cabin and hold lectures and workshops around their respective areas of focus.

For more information go to www.stugan.com or follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp/ and Twitter www.twitter.com/stugan_

###

About Stugan:

Stugan is a non-profit organization that organizes the annual accelerator program for aspiring game developers. The word Stugan means “the cabin” in Swedish and is also a throwback to the name of the first Swedish commercial computer game made in 1978. 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 for ensuring a successful games launch. Stugan is supported by individuals including Oskar Burman, ex general manager of Rovio Stockholm; Tommy Palm, CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games and Karl Magnus Troedsson, VP of group strategy at Electronic Arts (EA). For more information visit www.stugan.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp/ and Twitter www.twitter.com/stugan_

All trade names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:

Jana Karlikova

jana@stugan.com

New location for Stugan 2016

Stugan sheds light on the diversity and magnitude of this year’s applicants

 Stockholm, Sweden – 13 April 2016 – Stugan, the non-profit games accelerator launched by Sweden’s most influential video game developers and entrepreneurs, today announced the new location for its 2016 summer program along with details around its applicant submissions. Stugan 2016 will take place in a new location in the locality of Bjursas, which is in the same Falun municipality as last year’s program. The region is a popular ski destination for locals and boasts beautiful landscapes and recreational attractions like lake Bjursen, where the program will be overlooking.  

This year’s program will run from July 8th until August 27th. Stugan received applications from developers from 43 countries across all continents outside of Antarctica. And, submissions ran across all different genres and platforms. 

“We are very excited to return to the Falun municipality for the 2016 program and this new location, which is just as scenic and inspiring as last year’s location,” said Stugan manager Jana Karlikova. “We received twice as many applications as last year with an unprecedented level of quality and are now carefully going through them to pick the final participants.”

Once selected, 20 talented game 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 Sweden’s leading individuals in the 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 visit the cabin and hold lectures and workshops around their respective areas of focus.

We will be revealing the teams in the coming weeks along with more program details. For more information go to www.stugan.com or follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp/ and Twitter www.twitter.com/stugan_

###

About Stugan:

Stugan is a non-profit organization that organizes the annual accelerator program for aspiring game developers. The word Stugan means “the cabin” in Swedish and is also a throwback to the name of the first Swedish commercial computer game made in 1978. 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 for ensuring a successful games launch. Stugan is supported by individuals including Oskar Burman, General Manager of Rovio Stockholm; Tommy Palm, CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games and Karl Magnus Troedsson, VP of group strategy at Electronic Arts (EA). For more information visit www.stugan.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stugancamp/ and Twitter www.twitter.com/stugan_

All trade names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:

Jana Karlikova

jana@stugan.com