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 ambition is to create a studio that operates sustainably, treats its staff fairly and shares the financial upside of successful games with the people who build them.
Shefta brings a strong leadership pedigree to the venture. She previously ran No Brakes Games Tenerife as CEO and studio head, overseeing the development of Human : Fall Flat.
In addition to her industry experience, she has been elected to the TIGA Board of Directors and sits on the BAFTA Games Committee, giving her a voice in shaping the broader UK games ecosystem. Dudley’s résumé is equally impressive. He was part of the original Human : Fall Flat team and has held positions at Sony Interactive Entertainment, Lionhead Studios, Rare and Marmalade Game Studio. His background spans both indie and AAA environments, providing a balanced perspective on game creation and production pipelines.
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 challenging in the current market, but the appetite for fresh, inventive games remains strong. She noted that the partnership with Hypergryph formed quickly because the investors loved the concept for the studio’s debut title, supported the long‑term vision, and appreciated the team’s off‑beat ideas. “They are developers themselves who now want to help other developers,” she said, adding that this alignment of enthusiasm was a decisive factor.
The funding is earmarked primarily for the studio’s first game, which draws inspiration from a diverse set of sources: Nintendo’s timeless design sensibility, Hazelight’s narrative‑driven co‑op experiences (the makers of *It Takes Two*), the immersive storytelling found in Disney theme parks, and the physical comedy of classic films such as *The Pink Panther*. Shefta emphasized the desire to craft something “memorable, timeless and so much fun that you recall it with delight years after you first played it.” Creative freedom sits at the heart of the studio’s philosophy. The upcoming title will give players a sandbox of physics‑based tools, encouraging them to experiment, solve puzzles and generate absurd, unexpected moments.
By combining open‑ended physics with carefully designed levels and systems, the team hopes to foster a space where players can express themselves through playful exploration. The Hypergryph investment also enables Pretty Cool Games to assemble a small, focused team that can be sustained over the long term. Currently the studio employs four full‑time staff members, and they plan to grow to ten.
Immediate hires include a lead designer, a level designer, an environment artist and a concept artist. Additional contract roles are slated for quality assurance, character art, audio, user‑interface design and a composer. Shefta stressed that keeping the core team lean allows the studio to be ambitious yet realistic about scope, while also ensuring that each employee’s contribution is meaningful and fairly compensated. In response to recent industry layoffs, Shefta said the studio intends to reward success through mechanisms such as share schemes, so that if a game performs well, the entire team benefits.
“We want to build something that rewards our team for success, for instance through share schemes, so if our games are successful we all benefit together,” she explained. The overarching goal, according to Shefta, is to blend the best practices of AAA production—high standards of quality, disciplined pipelines and a deep understanding of what makes an IP thrive—with the agility, experimentation and rapid iteration typical of smaller indie teams. She reflected on her AAA experience, noting that large budgets can sometimes lead to wasteful decisions and make recouping costs difficult.
By contrast, indie development allows for faster decision‑making, focused iteration on a few core ideas, and the ability to pivot quickly based on what feels right. Working in a compact team also means each member has a larger influence on the final product, a factor that Shefta finds creatively fulfilling.
“Being part of a smaller team means that everyone has more of an influence on shaping the game and that's more meaningful to us as creatives too,” she said. Ultimately, Pretty Cool Games aims to put player enjoyment and employee wellbeing at the forefront of its operations. Shefta acknowledges that launching a new studio inevitably brings challenges, but she is confident that the collective experience of the founders, combined with a steadfast commitment to ethical development practices, will guide the studio toward building games “the right way.”