Glitchers Explained

GLITCHERS
Founded:	10 September 2013
Location:	Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland
Founder:	Matthew Hyde, Maxwell Scott-Slade, Hugo Scott-Slade
Industry:	Indie game design and development

Glitchers is a British video-game company based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 2013 by Matthew Hyde, Hugo Scott-Slade, and Maxwell Scott-Slade (of Johnny Two Shoes).^{[1] [2] [3]} Glitchers is best known for developing Sea Hero Quest in 2016. The game was developed in collaboration with Alzheimer's Research UK to help dementia research by tracking players' 3D navigation.^[4]

The company's name was GLITCHE.RS from 2013 to 2016.^[5] It uses the tagline "Games for Good",^[6] and aims to "create games that could make a positive impact on the world".

Games

• Plunderland (2010) is an interactive pirate adventure game for iPhone, released initially as part of Johnny Two Shoes but now developed by Glitchers and is available as part of GameClub
• Chippy (2013), a time management game in a simulated fish and chips shop, Chippy was developed as a self-funded app based game and is now available as part of GameClub. Chippy was well received and described by Pocket Gamer as “addictive stuff, and it’s easy to play”.^[7]
• Gumulon (2013) is a mobile app based game promoting Stride chewing gum by requiring the player to chew to activate the game.^[8]
• Kano is an experimental colour-matching arcade game,^[9] which Glitchers explain “was designed primarily as an experiment for us to test out assumptions around player retention, payment models and growth hacking.”^[10]
• Sea Hero Quest (2016) is a mobile game which contributes to research on dementia by tracking players' 3D navigation^[11] It was designed by Glitchers in association with Alzheimer's Research UK, University College London and the University of East Anglia and with funding from Deutsche Telekom.^{[12] [13] [14]} The idea for the game came from neuroscientist Michael Hornberger of the University of East Anglia who collaborated with Hugo Spiers of University College London and a group of six other neuroscientists.^[15] A new Research Edition was announced in 2021.^[16]
• Cone Wars (2017) is an online multiplayer and PC game featuring Ice cream van turf wars^[17] in which teams compete to sell the most ice creams using weapons and tactics.
• Nestlums (2020) is a money training app for children, designed to teach good financial habits using familiar gaming techniques, developed in collaboration with Cauldron.^[18]
• Crush your FOFO (2018) was developed with the Patients Association and AbbVie to explore patients' "Fear of Finding Out" which leads them to delay seeking medical advice.^{[19] [20] [21]}
• Drive Buy (2021) is described as a "short-session multiplayer vehicle combat game with a delivery twist" and is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch^[22]

In a 2023 blog post marking the 10th anniversary of the company, two forthcoming games were described:^[23]

• Forest Guardian will concern rainforest protection
• Enhance, developed with University College London, will be a "spiritual successor" to Sea Hero Quest, "targeted at the 60-80 year old audience Sea Hero Quest couldn’t quite reach".

Awards

In 2018 Sea Hero Quest was nominated for a British Academy Games Awards BAFTA in the category: Game Beyond Entertainment,^[24] a new category for games which "deliver a transformational experience beyond pure entertainment".^[25] Sea Hero Quest also won bronze in the 2018 The One Show awards.^[26]

Also in 2018 Glitchers won a Webby award for Social Impact.^[27]

In 2020 Sea Hero Quest was nominated for the Coney Island Dreamland Award for Best AR/VR Game at the New York Game Awards.^[28]

In 2022 the company was awarded funding from the UK Games Fund to support the development of Cone Wars.^{[29] [30]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Lomas. Natasha. Chippy Is A Fish & Chip Shop Simulator For iOS That Puts The Fun Into Deep-Fat Frying. Techcrunch. 5 May 2016. 2 November 2013. 18 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160518230045/http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/02/chippy/. live.
2. Web site: Maxwell Scott-Slade. ICE Totally Gaming. 5 May 2016. 13 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160513035258/http://www.icetotallygaming.com/node/35581. live.
3. Web site: Company Profile: Glitchers . The Scottish Games Network . 11 December 2023 . 5 February 2021 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211102016/https://scottishgames.net/2021/02/05/company-profile-glitchers/ . live .
4. Web site: 'We can change lives': How one Scottish games company is helping to fight dementia . The National . 11 December 2023 . en . 31 October 2023 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211125935/https://www.thenational.scot/community/subscriber/23892050.one-edinburgh-based-gaming-company-helping-tackle-dementia/ . live .
5. Web site: Glitchers Ltd overview . find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk . Companies House . 10 November 2021 . en . 10 November 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211110120659/https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08683349 . live .
6. Web site: Glitchers - Games for Good . Glitchers . 11 December 2023 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211102019/https://www.glitchers.com/ . live .
7. Web site: McKeand . Kirk . Chippy . Pocket Gamer . 10 March 2021 . 26 February 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210226214125/https://www.pocketgamer.com/articles/054982/chippy/ . live .
8. Web site: Gumulon Case Study. W+K LDN. Wieden+Kennedy. 5 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160611191659/http://wklondon.com/work/view/stride-gum-gumulon-case-study. 11 June 2016. dead.
9. Web site: Kano. 5 May 2016. 9 June 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160609190340/http://www.kanoapp.com/. live.
10. Web site: Kano . Glitchers . 10 March 2021 . 10 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210310112056/https://glitchers.com/project/kano/ . live .
11. News: Mobile game Sea Hero Quest 'helps dementia research'. 5 May 2016. BBC News. 4 May 2016. 5 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160505000511/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36203674. live.
12. Web site: Partners. Sea Hero Quest. 5 May 2016. 13 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160513152506/http://www.seaheroquest.com/en/credits. dead.
13. News: Titcomb. James. Playing this smartphone game can help fight dementia. 5 May 2016. The Telegraph. 4 May 2016. 5 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160505171056/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/05/04/playing-this-smartphone-game-can-help-fight-dementia/. live.
14. Web site: Home page. Glitchers. 5 May 2016. 13 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160513181842/http://glitchers.com/. live.
15. News: Kaplan. Sara. Two minutes playing this video game could help scientists fight Alzheimer's. 8 May 2016. Washington Post. 7 May 2016. 10 June 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160610063715/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/05/07/two-minutes-playing-this-video-game-could-help-scientists-fight-alzheimers/. live.
16. Web site: Sea Hero Quest relaunches as a new Research Edition . Blog . Glitchers . 11 December 2023 . 12 October 2021 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211105948/https://www.glitchers.com/blog/sea-hero-quest-research-edition . live .
17. Web site: Cone wars. 5 May 2016. 21 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160521085832/http://conewars.com/. live.
18. Web site: McLaughlin . Aimee . Meet Nestlums, the app teaching kids all about money . Creative Review . 10 March 2021 . 20 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210420081956/https://www.creativereview.co.uk/nestlums-app/ . live .
19. Web site: Crush Your FOFO . Glitchers . 11 December 2023 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211104625/https://www.glitchers.com/crush-your-fofo . live .
20. News: A new quiz app wants to help users beat their fear of finding out bad news from the doctor . 11 December 2023 . www.expressandstar.com . 15 February 2018 . en . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211104625/https://www.expressandstar.com/news/science-and-technology/2018/02/15/a-new-quiz-app-wants-to-help-users-beat-their-fear-of-finding-out-bad-news-from-the-doctor/ . live .
21. News: Quiz aims to help understand the fear of finding out medical conditions . 11 December 2023 . Digital Health . 20 February 2018 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211104625/https://www.digitalhealth.net/2018/02/online-quiz-which-aims-to-help-understand-the-fear-of-finding-out/ . live .
22. Web site: Craddock . Ryan . Multiplayer Vehicle Combat Game Drive Buy Speeds Onto Switch . Nintendo Life . 10 March 2021 . 20 February 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210220150519/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/02/multiplayer_vehicle_combat_game_drive_buy_speeds_onto_switch_next_month . live .
23. Web site: Celebrating 10 years . Blog . Glitchers . 11 December 2023 . 21 September 2023 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211110835/https://www.glitchers.com/blog/celebrating-10-years . live .
24. Web site: Game Beyond Entertainment: Sea Hero Quest VR . BAFTA.org . 10 March 2021 . 8 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191208060831/https://www.bafta.org/games/features/game-beyond-entertainment-sea-hero-quest-vr . live .
25. Web site: Makedonski. Brett. BAFTA names What Remains of Edith Finch its best game of 2017. 13 April 2018. Destructoid. 12 April 2018. 25 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180425185417/https://www.destructoid.com/bafta-names-what-remains-of-edith-finch-its-best-game-of-2017-498392.phtml. dead.
26. Web site: The One Show - Archive of Winners The One ClubOne Show Glitchers / London 2018 Interactive . www.oneclub.org . 11 December 2023 . en . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211130723/https://www.oneclub.org/awards/theoneshow/-agency/Glitchers+%5Bs%5D+London/2018/3/all . live .
27. Web site: 2018 Winners. 10 March 2021. The Webby Awards. 24 April 2018.
28. Web site: Sheehan. Gavin. The New York Game Awards Announces 2020 Nominees. 4 January 2020. Bleeding Cool. 2 January 2020. 4 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200104041855/https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/01/02/the-new-york-game-awards-announces-2020-nominees/. live.
29. Web site: Three Scottish Studios Awarded £25K By UK Games Fund . The Scottish Games Network . 11 December 2023 . 13 May 2022 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211102015/https://scottishgames.net/2022/05/13/uk-games-fund-awards-grants-to-three-scottish-studios/ . live .
30. Web site: Cone Wars . UK Games Fund . 11 December 2023 . 11 December 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211015749/https://ukgamesfund.com/funded-project/cone-wars/ . live .