Technology company Turbulenz are providing an opportunity that is too good for any Train2Game student to ignore.

They’ve created a Launch Pad Funding Programme which will “will subsidise and promote the development of up to ten games created with Turbulenz. Awards of €10,000 to €50,000 per game are available for products that help push the social gaming revolution.”

The good news is that anyone can apply to get involved, and that of course includes Train2Game students.

The idea of the Turbulez Launch Pad Funding Programme is to help ambitious developers to build unique, new browser based games.  There’s funding for up to ten teams, to help cover salaries of the people building the games. This game doesn’t even have to have been started yet, which means this is a great opportunity for Train2Game students to pitch their original ideas to Turbulenz.

Turbulez are looking for games that take full advantage of their game engine and online platform, and they are therefore looking at four key criteria, as listed on the Launch Pad Funding Programme website.

• Mass appeal. Games that have mass market appeal online. The more inclusive a game can be, the better. Think about something that captures everyone’s imagination and creativity. Make sure you think about boys and girls, and especially all the mums and dads. Everyone is playing games online now.
• Online payment. Games that naturally suit the payment models which are becoming successful online. People don’t want to pay 50 bucks anymore. So how is your game going to entice people to play and ultimately pay
• Iterative development. Games that can evolve over time. Just look at how all the Flash games have developed. They start small and light, and gradually ramp up, developing new features in response to their playing community. It’s great to have a vision, but try and pull it back to something that can grow step by step.
• Something new. Games that can take browser games to the next level. The web gives us the opportunity to blend everything it has to offer into our new games. Social gaming is only in its infancy and we fully expect a new generation of games to blow everyone away.

The deadline for Launch Pad Funding Programme submissions is Friday 14^th January.  Turbulenz say they’ll start looking at applications as soon as they receive them, so the earlier your application gets in the better chance you’ll have!

All the information required for any Train2Game student that wishes to submit an idea to Turbulenz can be found on the Launch Pad Funding Programme website.

As usual, you can discuss this here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.