I just received this news from the folks at the Fantoche Animation Festival:
Let's play together! For once, we're not looking for the latest animated films - no, today we're opening a competition for the development of computer games. For a long time, Fantoche has been interested in the crossover between animation and game design. Now, together with our partners, we have a fantastic opportunity to promote the development of games of high artistic quality.
In collaboration with the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, the Federal Office of Culture and the SUISA Foundation for Music, Fantoche is launching the first call for proposals for Swiss computer games. The "Call for Projects: Swiss Games" is now open, and you can submit your games using the application tool at www.fantoche.ch. The deadline for submissions is 15 March 2011 - a playable prototype of your game must be ready by that date.
The scheme seeks to promote unreleased projects of a high standard, with artistic merit and strong distribution potential. We are interested in creations of any kind from the field of computer games that are bold enough to take a chance on innovative game concepts, tell interactive stories, and use jaw-dropping graphics to push open doors to new visual worlds. And if creative people from a variety of different disciplines team up to break new ground together - all the better.
The "Call for Projects: Swiss Games" is aimed exclusively at games developers in or from Switzerland. A jury of international experts will award grants of up to CHF 50,000.- per project - for this first award of grants in 2011, a framework credit arrangement for a total of CHF 300,000.- will be available. The SUISA Foundation for Music is donating an additional CHF 15,000.- as a prize for the best original sound composition.
The Swiss games which are awarded grants will be presented to the public in a special exhibition at Fantoche 2011. Further details on the "Call for Projects: Swiss Games", information on the eligibility requirements, and the competition rules can be found at www.fantoche.ch.
We look forward to receiving your entries!
