This profile forms part of a series of interviews supported by our Official Partners Red Kite Games, Double Eleven and Xsolla.
Sarah York was the recipient of the Martyn Brown Rising Star award at the Game Republic 2025 Awards. Sarah is the founder of Panda Cat Games, an indie studio focused on empowering perspectives and crafting welcoming experiences. With 15 years of experience across games and tech, she cares deeply about elevating emerging developers and supporting the growth of a thriving, UK games industry. Sarah also sits on the Game Republic New Horizons Advisory Board alongside over 20 industry experts, helping to shape 2026’s conference.
Your role and a description of what you do
I’m the founder of indie game studio, Panda Cat Games. As we’re an early-stage studio, I wear many hats, from taking care of business aspects to getting involved with many areas of development including programming, narrative, game design, you name it! We just released the Steam page of our upcoming game, Heartwood Village, please check it out and give it a wishlist 🙂
What has winning the Martyn Brown rising star award meant for you?
It was a tremendous honour to have received the Martyn Brown Rising Star award. Everyone I speak to only has kind words to say about Martyn, how he always strove to show kindness and to help others. And I have been trying my best to carry that legacy forwards through Panda Cat and through the game development community.
What do you like about working in the games industry?
There are so many great things to like about working in the games industry, but for me, there’s no better feeling than the camaraderie you get when working in a game development team. So for me, it has to be the people, and the fact that you get to craft experiences that can only be had through the video games medium.
What should people know if they want to enter the games industry?
For people looking to enter the games industry, make sure you really love it, and you can’t imagine doing anything else. It can be a tough industry to get in to and it can be hard work at the beginning of your career, but it is extremely rewarding if you can get through it!
What do you think of the role of Game Republic?
Game Republic has given so much help to people like me trying to get their foot into the games industry and has developed a really special, kind and supportive community of developers. Having a Game Republic membership, is genuinely the best thing we’ve ever done. We’ve received so much support and so many opportunities, and I’m incredibly grateful!
What influence do you think your company and similar organisations are having on the region? world? Industry?
The way things are looking now, I’m confident that the future is indie. As much as I love all kinds of game studios, I think there is a desire to challenge the status quo and do things a little differently. I think that’s going to result in changes in the ways we work and the kinds of experiences we put out — and I think that’s really exciting!