GAMES developers and studios in Craven are being urged to apply for a slice of £300,000 in grants.

Applications are now open for Creative England's Gameslab Leeds, a £1 million development programme aimed at helping small developers across the Leeds city region - which includes Craven.

It is a three year programme offering £300,000 in grants up to 2019, in addition to investments, workshops and networking.

Rob Crossley, Creative England’s new head of games launched the initiative at Game Republic’s developer day at Futurelab Leeds, sponsored by Creative England, when he talked about the opportunities available.

Gameslab Leeds, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and by the Regional Growth Fund, is seeking applications for studios or digital companies that are developing something new and innovative.

It could be new IP, new technology, developing a new games engine or new ways of players interacting with gaming.

Investments will be awarded to help businesses to scale up and increase the number of staff they employ; collaborate with research institutions and or introduce new products to the market.

Creative England is also looking for four games companies to take to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco between February and March next year.

Mr Crossley said: "We know the gaming and digital industry across the Leeds region has some incredible talents. We want to find, support and develop the most exciting, innovative and disruptive people and companies to drive the sector even further forward, putting Leeds’ gaming sector on a national and international platform.

‘Gameslab Leeds in an incredible opportunity, assisting with the crucial finance, as well as development, as we’ll be offering SMEs masterclasses on identifying and exploiting IP, marketing and generating sales, access to finance investors publishers and distributors and much much more."

To find out more about applying for a grant, visit the website creativeengland.co.uk/games/gameslab-leeds