Pretty Cool Games was founded by two veterans of the hit title Human : Fall Flat – Sitara Shefta, who now serves as chief executive officer, and Will Dudley, the chief creative officer. Their shared ambition is to build a studio that operates sustainably, treats its staff fairly and rewards the whole team when a game succeeds. Shefta’s résumé includes a stint as CEO and studio head of No Brakes Games Tenerife, where she oversaw the development of Human : Fall Flat. In addition to her industry experience, she was recently appointed to the board of the UK Interactive Gaming Association (TIGA) and sits on the BAFTA Games Committee, giving her a broad perspective on both business and creative matters.
Dudley, on the other hand, was one of the original members of the Human : Fall Flat team. His résumé spans several high‑profile publishers, including Sony Interactive Entertainment, Lionhead Studios, Rare and Marmalade Game Studio, providing him with a deep understanding of both large‑scale and indie production pipelines. To get the new, fully remote UK studio off the ground, Pretty Cool Games secured an undisclosed investment from the Chinese developer Hypergryph, best known for the popular mobile RPG Arknights: Endfield.
Shefta explained to GamesIndustry.biz that while raising capital is currently challenging, the appetite for fresh gaming experiences remains strong. “From our very first conversation with Hypergryph, we clicked. They loved the concept for our debut game, embraced our long‑term studio vision and were enthusiastic about our off‑beat ideas. The fact that they are developers themselves, now supporting other studios, made them an ideal partner,” she said.
According to Shefta, the bulk of the funding will be directed toward the studio’s inaugural title. The game draws creative inspiration from a diverse set of sources: Nintendo’s legacy of approachable yet deep gameplay, Hazelight Studios’ emphasis on cooperative storytelling (as seen in *It Takes Two*), the immersive, narrative‑driven attractions of Disney theme parks, and the physical comedy of classic films such as *The Pink Panther*. Shefta summed up the ambition: “We want to craft something memorable and timeless, a game that players recall with delight years after they first played it.” Creativity is positioned as a core pillar of the studio’s philosophy, not just for developers but for players as well. Shefta described the upcoming title as a physics‑based playground that grants players freedom to experiment, supported by level‑design systems that encourage unexpected, humorous outcomes.
“The combination of a physics engine and deliberately open‑ended design lets players express themselves through play, leading to wild and surprising scenarios,” she noted. The Hypergryph investment also enables Pretty Cool Games to assemble a small, focused team that Shefta hopes to keep sustainable over the long term.
The studio currently employs four full‑time staff members and plans to grow to ten. Immediate hires include a lead designer, a level designer, an environment artist and a concept artist. Future contracts will cover quality assurance, character art, audio, user‑interface design and a composer.
Shefta emphasized that keeping the core team lean allows the studio to remain ambitious while staying realistic about scope. A central tenet of Shefta’s approach is fairness to employees.
She noted the wave of layoffs across the industry, often affecting developers whose games have performed well, and explained that Pretty Cool Games intends to avoid that pitfall by offering share schemes and other profit‑sharing mechanisms. “If our games succeed, the whole team benefits together,” she said. Shefta’s vision is to blend the best practices of AAA development—discipline, quality control and an understanding of what makes an intellectual property successful—with the agility and experimental spirit of indie studios. She reflected, “AAA projects have massive budgets, which can lead to wasteful decisions and make recouping costs difficult.
Indie development, by contrast, lets you iterate quickly, focus on a few strong ideas and bring something special to market.” Working in a smaller team, she added, gives each individual a greater influence over the final product, which is more fulfilling for creative professionals. The ultimate goal, she affirmed, is to build a studio that puts player enjoyment and employee wellbeing at the forefront. She acknowledged that launching a new studio will inevitably involve obstacles, but she is confident that the collective experience she and Dudley have amassed over the years will guide them.
“We’ll stay true to our commitment to build games the right way, learning from past successes and mistakes, and keeping our community and staff at the heart of everything we do,” Shefta concluded. Pretty Cool Games is also actively seeking additional investment and a publishing partner for its debut title, aiming to secure the resources needed to bring their ambitious, comedy‑infused, physics‑driven adventure to a global audience.