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A new independent Melbourne-based studio has been founded by former Crystal Dynamics, Criterion, Atari and Visceral veterans.
As spotted by Tsumea, Space Dust Studios’ website says the new developer will focus on creating triple-A titles, although it does not state for which platforms.
The studio’s core team currently consists of five senior developers including ex-Visceral Australia art director Nathan Brown.
Brown recently sent a response to Screen Australia on its Australia Interactive Games Fund which aims to help spur on game industry growth in the country, and expressed his disappointment at the removal of pre-production funding support for new studios.
In it he also stated that the company’s first game would cost in excess of $1 million.
“Removal of Pre-Production funding will severely impact necessary support for new or non-established teams,” said Brown.
“This ‘seed’ investment supports early development and iteration of core game innovation by offsetting some of the considerable costs of basic infrastructure like software, hardware and development space. By sustaining a minimum income for developers, they can produce the prototypes and trailers required to secure production funding, investment interest, approach publishers and crowd-fund their project.
“In our particular case, our core team consists of 5 senior developers, with collectively over 50 years of triple-A local and international development experience (including programming on the recently released Dead Space 3).
"Our medium scale PC project has a planned 18 month development cycle, and will require significant local staffing resources during production. We also have interest from talented senior developers who are eager to return to Melbourne and join our project.
“We would benefit immensely from a pre-production ‘seed’ investment to produce the materials needed to attract the production investment required to complete the project. Our overall production budget will exceed AUD1million (inclusive of a professional marketing plan budget).”
