David Doak gets £50k for Facebook project

Two former bosses at fallen studio Free Radical have been given a £50,000 to develop a Facebook game.

David Doak and Steve Ellis have both received the generous grant from a regional investment body, and will develop the Facebook title GangstaPets at their new microstudio, ZinkyZonk.

The ZinkyZonk business emerged following the late 2008 collapse of Free Radical.

The renowned TimeSplitters developer was placed into administration following disappointing sales of its PS3 title Haze, and in early 2009 the group was rescued from liquidation by German independent development giants Crytek.

The Free Radical offices are now run under the name Crytek UK – headed up Karl Hilton, also a Free Radical co-founder.

Originally, it was believed Doak left Free Radical during the final days of the studio’s life to form a new social game venture, Pumpkin Beach.

Develop understands that Pumpkin Beach, as a business, is no more.

The Social game firm ZinkyZonk emerged in August 2009, and now has been given a rich injection of cash from the East Midlands Development Agency.

Doak and Ellis have used the money to work on social game GangstaPets, a title which the group says is derived from the popular Facebook titles Mafia Wars and Pet Society.

Image: Flickr