Independent Swindon games developer Fayju has won a major innovation award for Amazing Frog? – a game which features the firm’s hometown as the backdrop to its character’s free-running exploits.
Fayju, based above the Wyvern Theatre, won the Best Game category at last night’s Sparkies, the awards which showcase the West of England’s growing role as one of the UK’s most innovative regions for tech-related firms.
In Fayju’s own words, Amazing Frog? “combines ragdoll physics, a crudely-rendered approximation of Swindon and a flatulent frog prone to slapstick falls”.
The two-person business began work on the game two years ago but previously had designed games featuring ragdoll frogs in 2009 with a free experimental App called FrogBox for iPhone 3G.
Amazing Frog? was launched on the OUYA console last year and Fayju has since added new environments, weapons, vehicles and the Swindon Space Program.
Judges at the Sparkies had to choose from a record field of 225 nominations across 14 categories. Winners ranged from hardware innovators and those competing on the global stage along with businesses such as Fayju which are building the region’s reputation as a game development cluster.
