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 create a studio that operates sustainably, treats its staff fairly and shares the rewards of success with the whole team. Shefta brings extensive leadership experience to the venture. She previously ran No Brakes Games Tenerife as its CEO and studio head, where she oversaw the development of Human: Fall Flat.
In addition to her industry work, she has been elected to the board of the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (TIGA) and sits on the BAFTA Games Committee, giving her a broad view of the sector’s challenges and opportunities. Dudley, a founding member of the Human: Fall Flat team, adds a deep production background. His résumé includes stints at Sony Interactive Entertainment, Lionhead Studios, Rare and Marmalade Game Studio, where he contributed to a range of projects across different genres and platforms. To get the new, fully remote studio off the ground, Pretty Cool Games secured an undisclosed investment from Hypergryph, the Chinese developer best known for the mobile RPG Arknights: Endfield.
Shefta explained to GamesIndustry.biz that raising capital is difficult in the current climate, but the appetite for fresh, inventive games remains strong. She said the partnership with Hypergryph formed quickly because the Chinese studio loved the concept for Pretty Cool Games’ debut title, embraced the founders’ whimsical vision and, crucially, is itself a game‑making company eager to support fellow developers. The bulk of the funding is earmarked for the studio’s first game, which draws creative inspiration from several distinct sources. Nintendo’s legacy of playful, accessible design, Hazelight’s narrative‑driven co‑op experiences (most famously Split Reality), the immersive storytelling found in Disney theme‑park attractions, and the physical comedy of classic films such as The Pink Panther all inform the project’s direction.
Shefta summed up the ambition: the team wants to craft something memorable, timeless and endlessly enjoyable – a game that players look back on with a smile years after their first play‑through. Creativity sits at the heart of the studio’s philosophy, both for the developers and the players. By leveraging the open‑ended physics that define the genre, combined with carefully crafted systems and level design, the game will encourage players to experiment, improvise and generate surprising, often hilarious outcomes. This focus on player agency is intended to turn each session into a sandbox for self‑expression and spontaneous fun.
The Hypergryph investment also enables Pretty Cool Games to build a small, tightly‑focused team that can be sustained over the long term. At present the studio employs four full‑time staff members, with plans to grow to ten.
Immediate hires include a lead designer, a level designer, an environment artist and a concept artist. Future recruitment will expand into quality assurance, contract roles for character art, audio, user‑interface work and a composer to round out the creative pipeline. Shefta emphasized that keeping the core team lean allows the studio to be ambitious while remaining realistic about scope. "We want to be fair to our employees," she said, noting that recent industry layoffs have shown how even successful games can leave developers without security.
To counter that, Pretty Cool Games intends to implement share‑scheme arrangements, so that when a game performs well, the financial upside is distributed among the whole team. The overarching goal is to blend the best practices of AAA development – rigorous quality standards, thoughtful IP management and polished production values – with the agility and experimental spirit of indie studios. Shefta reflected on her time in large‑scale development, observing that big budgets can lead to wasteful decisions and make recouping costs a daunting task.
In contrast, smaller teams can iterate quickly, focus on a handful of core ideas and bring a product to market without the crushing overhead that often plagues blockbuster projects. Working in a compact environment also means each individual has a larger impact on the final game, a factor that resonates strongly with creative professionals. "When everyone’s voice matters, the work feels more meaningful," Dudley added, highlighting how this collaborative atmosphere fuels innovation. Ultimately, Pretty Cool Games aims to put player enjoyment and employee wellbeing at the forefront of its mission.
The founders acknowledge that launching a new studio will inevitably bring challenges, but they plan to rely on the extensive experience they have accumulated over years of game development. By staying true to their commitment to build games “the right way,” they hope to set a new standard for sustainable, rewarding game creation in the UK and beyond.