Google Announces Stadia Makers, a New Self-Publishing Program for Indies

Google Announces Stadia Makers, a New Self-Publishing Program for Indies

Written by on | OpenCritic

Google has revealed a new program benefitting independent game creators called Stadia Makers. Launching with seven indies between late 2020 and early 2021, the program looks to foster a closer relationship with the indie scene.

"Since launching in November 2019, developers have launched more than 30 games and 60 game updates on Stadia," the team said in a blog post."We’ve worked with hundreds of you to start your work with us and couldn’t be more thrilled about the 120 games that’ll ship this year alone."

The blog also noted, perhaps targeting the mass of critics who say the Stadia platform is too quiet to thrive, that more developers applied than they could feasibly make time for, and only now is the program opening up more broadly.

Stadia Makers is launching with seven indie games, all built in Unity as part of the program's directive. "Stadia Makers is partnering with Unity, a team with a long history of building new platforms and gaming services hand-in-hand with the developer community. Unity has worked with thousands of game developers over the years, and today, powers 50% of all new games with optimized support for Stadia and more than 25 other platforms."

The seven studios and their debut Stadia Makers games are as follows, directly from a press release:

The Irregular Corp - TOHU is a brand new adventure game that’s set amongst a world of weird and wonderful fish planets.

Bedtime Digital - Figment: Creed Valley is a musical action-adventure set in the recesses of the human mind. The first Figment will be shipping directly into Stadia Pro ahead of the launch of Figment: Creed Valley, too!

Furyion Games - Death Carnival is a fast-paced top-down shooter with extreme weapons & online multiplayer mayhem, with cross-platform support for online co-op and PVP on Stadia.

Soedesco - Kaze and the Wild Masks embraces all the classic 90’s platformer elements and gives it a personal touch with modern-looking pixel art graphics.

Akupara Games - The Darkside Detective Season 2 is a brand new collection of comedic point-and-click adventures that will see Detective McQueen in six new standalone cases. Darkside Detective Season 1 will launch directly into Stadia Pro ahead of the launch of Darkside Detective Season 2!

Big Sugar Games - Unto The End is a 2D cinematic combat-adventure, featuring a nuanced combat system and handcrafted encounters.

Fishing Cactus - Nanotale - Typing Chronicles is an atmospheric typing adventure RPG set in a colorful vibrant world.

More games will of course be revealed in the coming weeks and months and many of these games will launch on other platforms as well. The goal, Google says, is to offer support to indie teams such as technical assistance, free development hardware, and even direct funding of projects. Teams that are eligible include those working on Unity and offering a Stadia version of their games at launch, coinciding with other platforms. Interested developers are encouraged to apply here

 

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