Failbetter (Fallen London, Sunless Sea) just announced a funding initiative for indie narrative games and IF, with a particular interest in text-based fiction.
Wow, that’s great.
I’m curious, what other shops (I mean not solo developeres) exist in the same niche as Failbetter? Perhaps Inkle, Tin Man, others…?
Well, not quite the same as you mean, but the Interactive Fiction Fund is fairly recent and has been doing what Failbetter has just announced:
iffund.net/interactive-fiction-fund-creations/
EDIT - And of course there’s Choice Of Games. That counts as what you meant, doesn’t it?
Oh. I must have missed that.
Everyone that I’ve spoken to that has had experience with Sub-Q has only the very best things to say about it.
There are a few key differences that set Fundbetter apart from either of those examples.
- Scale: Fundbetter is funding projects in the £2K-£20K range (so potentially as high as 28k USD).
- Monetization: Fundbetter is specifically for commercial works, because this is an investment on their part. They hope and expect to get their money back when those works see daylight. (With potential exceptions.)
- Technology: Fundbetter does not restrict you to a specific engine.