Among Us devs reveal indie game fund Outersloth alongside new games from the creators of Celeste, Venba and Thirsty Suitors
Innersloth want to "share their success"
Among Us developers Innersloth have announced Outersloth, a fund for independent game developers, alongside a bunch of games funded by the aforesaid fund for independent game developers. They all look rad, and Outersloth itself is a cool initiative.
“It’s no secret the games industry has been through a lot of turmoil with layoffs and a lack of funding,” reads the announcement release. “Innersloth is incredibly lucky to have been able to find success and stay truly independent: no investors, no publishers, no acquisitions. This is all thanks to the support of players and industry friends. Sharing their success and seeing more indies games become sustainable is incredibly important to the team, which is why Outersloth was created!”
Behold - they've done a video.
The opening Outersloth line-up – Outersloth, Innersloth, I am absolutely going to get these mixed up in an article at some stage – includes a new game from Thirsty Suitors devs Outerloop Games. Working titled Project Dosa, it’s about two sisters, Samara and Amani, exploring a floral and fantastic world in a “spirit-mech”, which I imagine is powered by ghosts rather than oil. “In their efforts to reconnect with old relationships, they will reconcile with past friends and family members, discover and devour delicious new recipes, and battle it out in turn-based narrative combat,” a second press release explains.
There’s also Rogue Eclipse, a space dogfighter from Huskrafts with destructible environments and an “Arabesque Futurism” aesthetic. “Easy to learn, tricky to master, and impossible to put down,” quoth a third press release.
And then there’s One Btn Bosses, a “minimalistic bullet hell game” with a synthwave soundtrack, which has a demo out now. According to a fourth press release, the full version features “a full handcrafted campaign spanning over 50 branching levels with a story focusing on workers rights, and a roguelite mode where they will be able to craft totally-broken builds to crunch through the bosses.”
Those are just the three I could hammer through while writing up the announcement in the face of Geoff Keighley's relentless Summer Game Festing. You can read about a few more Outersloth projects on the official site - they've signed up unannounced new games from Venba studio Visai Games, Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator devs Strange Scaffold, and Coldblood Inc, a studio co-founded by one of the makers of Celeste.
The page also includes some detail of how Outersloth funding works. They'll "most likely fund things between $50k-$2m", and they won't accept pitches for blockchain or web3 games, VR games or games that are already out in early access.
We’ll have more on each Outersloth-funded game separately in the fullness of time. For now, let me reiterate: rad games, cool initiative.
The flurry of summer games events are now underway! Hit up our Summer Game Fest 2024 hub and our Day Of The Devs roundup for all the news worth caring about from the shows so far.