Charlottetown game developer receives funding for next game

The husband-wife team behind Charlottetown's Queen Bee Games is working on a new project, thanks to some financial help from the Canada Media Fund.

After the developer released its first game, Onion Force, a hybrid action adventure and tower defense game, in 2016, the company is now planning a speed running, platform game.

Another Now will launch in early 2018, with most of the $230,000 in funding going towards marketing the game and hiring people to help with its production, said Queen Bee co-founder Kathleen Cassidy.

'Whatever it takes to get the job done'

She added the name is still tentative.

"Whatever it takes to get the job done, to get the project complete, the money will be very well spent," she said.

Cassidy said the amount in funding dollars is relatively low compared to what other developers work with.

Queen Bee started out in 2013, when Cassidy and her husband Steven moved back to the Island after living in Ottawa. The company now employs three full-time and one part-time staff.

Psychedelic art and music

For Another Now, they're also bringing in Ontario-based comic artist and graphic novelist Jesse Jacobs, and Montreal-based musician Oxygenfad.

The game starts the player off in complete darkness before unleashing an explosive chain reaction of light structures which he or she must then traverse through.

From there on, the player must find the shortest path to get to the end of each level, all the while surrounded by psychedelic and constantly shifting textures, said Cassidy.

The soundtrack for the game will be equally experimental, she said.

"It's going to be a sensory overload in a way but that's the aim," she said. "It will be a highly competitive game but it's a very unique type of game."

Getting to the next level

Until now, Cassidy said the company never worked with any investors, though they previously received a grant and entrepreneur loans from Skills P.E.I.

But the money from the Canada Media Fund certainly will help make the game that much better, she said.

"We needed that support to get us to the next level," she said.

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