Meet the HEJ Collective – Hungary’s new indie game label launching its first season

Havi Egy Játék (HEJ), the Hungarian game development collective, has been bringing together developers through monthly game creation challenges since 2019, pushing the boundaries of what small teams can build in a short time. Alongside the monthly challenges, HEJ supports the Hungarian indie game development community through local meetups, livestreams and gaming expos.

Now the collective is taking the next step – publishing games.

About the HEJ Collectiv

HEJ is excited to announce Season 1 of the HEJ Collective, a seasonal label that publishes the best games emerging from the collective’s monthly challenges. Each season, only two to three titles are selected to make the journey from game jam prototype to commercial release.

To get them there, HEJ runs the HEJ Collective Mentoring Program. Over a focused 4- to 6-month development period, participating teams receive mentorship from experienced Hungarian game developers, designers, artists, and QA testers, gaining practical experience in preparing and releasing games on Steam.

Season 1

The two titles making up Season 1:

Grapple Bear (releasing July 17th 2026)

A fast-paced competitive platformer with more than 40 handcrafted levels and a weekly procedurally generated challenge where players compete on Steam leaderboards for the highest score.

YouTube Video：

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4151550/Grapple_Bear/

About This Game

A mama bear searching for her lost cub. A grapple hook is her only way forward.

Grapple Bear is a competitive online platforming adventure where your grappling hook is your only tool to move. Swing, launch, and cling your way through over 40 handcrafted levels as a determined mama bear searching for her lost cub. What starts as a simple journey quickly becomes a test of precision, momentum, and survival as increasingly dangerous obstacles stand in your way.

Simple controls. Brutal challenges. And something is following you.

Weather Dragger (out now)

A strategy and simulation game where players grow and protect a village by directly controlling the weather.

YouTube Video：

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4254840/Weather_Dragger/

About This Game

• Weather Dragger is a strategy-simulation game about growing a village by controlling the weather itself.
• Grow a happy village by dragging clouds and sunlight across the map. Build, harvest, and shape a world through weather.
• Rain turns dry land into fertile ground. Sunlight dries flooded fields. Every tile reacts differently, and the success of your village depends on how you guide the sky.
• But the weather doesn’t stay still.
• Forecasts shift, patterns drift, and carefully planned systems slowly fall out of balance. You adapt, rebuild, and unlock new tools to keep your village growing.
• Everything you do leads toward one goal:
• Building a waterslide for your villagers.

It turns out that maintaining food, resources, and infrastructure is the foundation of good waterslide construction.

Weather Dragger features three handcrafted levels and a daily challenge mode, designed for slower, thoughtful play and experimentation.

Key Features

• Drag clouds and sunlight to control weather across hex maps
• Grow crops by managing moisture and terrain conditions
• Build and expand a small village over time
• React to shifting forecasts and changing environmental systems
• Unlock new buildings and upgrades through research
• Three handcrafted levels + a daily challenge for replayability.