If your project includes an app, game or interactive resource, the funder will want to see that it has been costed properly and that someone credible will build it. We provide the costed outline, the letter of support and the technical approach for your bid, then deliver the work once the award is confirmed.
Before founding Ocean View Games, our team built educational games at a previous agency, including the Great Fire of London interactive for London Museum and Navigo, developed within the EU Horizon 2020 iRead research consortium. That work was delivered there, not as Ocean View Games projects.
An unfinished brief is fine. The first conversation helps establish scope.
Most enquiries come from an organisation preparing a bid, or one that already holds an award and needs a delivery partner. We are also the industry partner on a final-year games module at the University of Roehampton.
Principal investigators (PIs) and research teams applying to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) councils such as AHRC, ESRC and EPSRC, to the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and to similar funders, where a digital output is part of the proposal.
What we provide at bid stageMuseums, archives and heritage organisations planning an interactive, including projects supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Our team rebuilt London Museum’s Great Fire of London interactive at a previous studio.
See the Fire of London rebuildEducation organisations and charities that hold the subject expertise and the audience, and need a team to design and build the resource around them.
See the Vocab Builder projectThere is no charge for any of this. Send us your deadline and an outline of the digital output, and we will tell you what else we need.
An outline of the digital output with an indicative budget, broken down so it can go into your costings.
A letter confirming our involvement as the technical partner, written for your funder and your call.
A short technical approach section for your case for support, covering platform, architecture and delivery.
Input on the sustainability and maintenance plan, so the output has a costed life after the grant ends.
Some bids need more than an outline. This work is charged, and universities can often fund it through pump-priming or Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) budgets.
A full specification of the digital output, where the funder or your own review panel expects one before a decision.
A playable prototype or a demo to include in the bid, showing reviewers what the finished output will do.
Workshops with your research team and partners to agree the audience, the content and what the output must achieve.
Funded projects have fixed budgets, fixed dates and reporting obligations. We plan the work around them from the start.
The project opens with a paid scoping phase that confirms the scope, the content plan and the technical approach before the build begins.
The build runs in agreed milestones, each with something your team can review, which also gives you clear points to report against.
Hosting and maintenance are priced across the full grant and sustainability period, not left as an open question for the final year.
The audience drives the platform. A resource for schools is often browser-based, because locked-down devices and app store restrictions are common there.
Accessibility to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA is built in from the start, not tested for at the end.
Where the audience includes children, we design for UK GDPR and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Children’s Code from the first specification.
Funding calls move slowly and then quickly. Getting in touch early gives us time to cost the work properly.
You send your deadline and outline. We provide the costed outline, the letter of support and the technical approach in time for submission.
The funder assesses the bid. A decision often takes 4 to 9 months, and nothing is needed from us while you wait.
Once the award is confirmed we agree dates and begin the paid scoping phase, followed by the milestone-based build.
Educational projects delivered at Ocean View Games and during our team’s previous employment.
The Challenge: Turn pedagogical research from the EU Horizon 2020 iRead consortium into activities for young learners.
The Result: 15 mini-games across four languages, built at a previous agency. Adam led the project, which received a Serious Games Society award.
The Challenge: Turn The Language Conservancy’s vocabulary research for endangered indigenous languages into a playable learning experience.
The Result: Nine vocabulary mini-games for iOS and Android, used across 14 published language apps.
For a content library designed to keep growing after launch, read the Bookwood content architecture case study. We’re also the industry partner on a final-year games module at the University of Roehampton.
Start by sending us your funder, your deadline and an outline of what you want to build. An unfinished idea is fine. We will reply with questions and tell you what we can provide in the time available.
We can be named in your bid as a subcontractor or supplier, and we can provide what your university procurement team needs to set us up.
David and Adam stay close to the engineering and technical decisions throughout. We work alongside your researchers and subject experts, who keep ownership of the content.
Meet the teamFree tools to put a first figure on the digital output while you prepare the bid.
Estimate the build in the cost estimator, then download an Excel budget broken down by role, month and cost category.
See how long the build takes phase by phase, so the work fits inside your funding period.
Capture the audience, platforms and requirements in a structured brief you can send with your deadline.
What to decide before you commission a learning game, from audience to accessibility.
A costed outline with an indicative budget and a letter of support are free. So is a short technical approach for your case for support.
Detailed specifications, prototypes or demos for the bid, and scoping workshops are paid work. Universities can often fund these through pump-priming or IAA budgets.
Yes. Our cost estimator gives a cost range and timeline for the build, and exports a grant budget spreadsheet in Excel, broken down by role, month and cost category.
It is a starting point, not a quote. Send it to us with your deadline and we will turn it into the costed outline your bid needs, at no charge.
Usually not directly. Most funders require a registered organisation, match funding and a track record or prototype, so individuals are rarely eligible.
We offer a paid idea review covering scope, a rough budget and an honest funding assessment. It tells you what the idea would take to build and whether a grant is a realistic route.
Send us your deadline and an outline of the digital output. Use the form below, or book a call with David if you would prefer to talk it through.
Send us your deadline and outlineTell us your funder, your submission deadline and what you want to build. We'll reply with questions and what we can provide for your bid.
Location
London, United Kingdom
Response Time
We typically respond within 1 to 2 business days.