South African game development studio Nyamakop has been been accepted onto Swedish accelerator Stugan, with 20 participants to live together in a forest for two months while working on their gaming projects.

Nyamakop launched in 2015, while co-founders Ben Myres and Cukia Kimani were studying at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand.

Their first game, Semblance, is the project with which Nyamakop was selected to join the Stugan accelerator – a non-profit accelerator co-founded and sponsored by the creators of games such as Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga and Minecraft.

Stugan sees 20 developers selected and sponsored to spend two months in a forest location in Sweden, working on independent video games. Mentors visit weekly to give feedback on the work in progress.

“This year the selected works for Stugan are of immense calibre. Being included amongst that line-up is vertigo-inducing, and acknowledges the potential for success of our first game, Semblance. It also shows that two young Africans just out of university can compete on a global level,” says Myres, co-founder and creative director of Nyamakop.

“While at Stugan we aim to finish the game, and leverage the experience of the mentors and attendees to ensure the quality of the game is world-class.”