At the start of the Global Game Jam Regina 2020 event, Massive Corporation announced the successful applicant for its Massive Sacks of Cash grant program. We received 36 applications for the grant program, far surpassing what we expected and a sign of how much opportunity there is for Saskatchewan to grow its game industry if viable support programs are made available.
The quality of submissions was outstanding, it was a very hard decision reducing the list to a short list, then finalists and finally our single recipient. While we would love to support more developers, sadly there’s only so much cash we can hand out to people, but we hope that this program, and programs inspired by it will only increase so more people can help get their gamedev dreams kickstarted.
The applications covered computer, mobile, console and VR projects with submissions from Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and Yorkton. Our applicants identified primarily as Artists, Writers, Musicians, Programmers and Designers covering a full spectrum of professional skills.
After careful deliberation we made our choice for 2020:
Sam Ramsay
Massive Sacks of Cash 2020 Recipient
Sam’s submission highlighting her current project: Moonshell Island, is simply outstanding. Any studio would be lucky to have such a talented artist and storyteller leading a project. Her art style is captivating, capturing at once the simplicity of good pixel art, while also creating a vivid and stylistic world.
Massive Corporation is proud to support Sam Ramsay and the Cheekynauts team. Sam will receive $500 / month for 12 months that she can use however she wants, to help her gamedev dreams come true. We hope that the grant will help take some of the pressure of indie game development off, open doors or possibilities, help make Moonshell Island the amazing game we know it can be and most importantly help Sam achieve her dreams.
Hopefully everyone will help Sam out too, you can follow Sam and the Cheeknauts team:
on Twitter: @goawayimcrabby
on the web: www.cheekynauts.com
on Patreon: www.patreon.com/cheekynauts
The Cheekynauts have been doing some amazing work on Moonshell Island and it’s looking fantastic. They’ve already well surpassed what progress we thought they’d do. They’re pushing hard to get a playable demo ready in the first half of 2020. Check out the video in this tweet from Sam:
As a bit of a surprise we were able to offer Sam an extra bonus with this inaugural Massive Sacks of Cash grant. In addition to the $6000 in funding over the year, we also had a very generous donation by local IP/Corporate lawyer Brandon Hicks with McDougall Gauley LLP who offered $12000 in pro-bono (free) legal services for Sam!
We’re so happy to have such talented people in this province, we hope we can help get this industry growing, and help people achieve their gamedev dreams. We couldn’t be happier with how Massive Sacks of Cash 2020 has turned out and we look forward to seeing Sam’s progress and what future applicants have to show!
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