Now is the time of year that a few funding companies start accepting applications, particularly the UK games fund. We've been working hard to put a pitch deck and a short video together, explaining the game as a whole. It has meant that actual development has been a little slow, but we are only 2 people and there's a lot of other things going on. I think we have a very strong concept for our game, and so if we managed to get funding, we could focus more serious time on its completion. Currently Luke has been working a lot of freelance jobs, into the early hours of the morning and I've been focusing on retail positions, so that we're able to pay our mortgage and bills.
There are little to no job listings for artists in the games industry at the moment, especially in England, it is the worst I've ever seen it. The very small handful of England based game art positions are either hundreds of miles up North (or on the Isle of Wight) and require in office work, as I live in Leamington Spa, it isn't really feasible. Companies outside of England don't seem very keen on hiring from outside of their countries, even for remote positions, which is fair as there's probably a load more paperwork and taxes to sort out, plus there is a huge wage difference in some cases. I don't believe I ask for a high wage, I have even been told that I'm asking for lower than the wage range for certain UK companies, but that still seems too expensive for some other countries. I do feel very let down, as Leamington Spa is supposed to be a tech/gaming hub, and that's a big reason why we bought our house here, but it seems like the companies have all locked up their doors and they're not letting anyone else in! If we got funding then this would free us both up to focus fully on the development of this game. By the time it's released, maybe the games industry will have sorted itself out, or we'll just focus on our next big idea!
Currently we have sent our pitch out and filled out all the necessary application forms to around 12 funding companies, including the UK games fund, so we're really hopeful that at least one will be interested.
