Game developer with U.P. connections gets major funding for new launch

A video game developer with ties to the Upper Peninsula and Innovate Marquette Smartzone has successfully completed a major round of fundraising to help launch a new action-packed sports brawler called “Sparkball.”

While it will be a few weeks before video game players are able to get their hands on Sparkball, the funding – $2 million –is a pivotal milestone, according to officials at Opti Games, the creators behind the game. 

Opti Games was co-founded by Silas Talley, who grew up in Marquette and earned an associate’s degree in computer science at Northern Michigan University, Chandler Thomlison and Alvin Lee. The company works remotely.

“I think Sparkball has amazing potential. I fell in love with the game two years ago when I met Chandler and Alvin, and it's impossible to deny the passion that’s been poured into making Sparkball,” says Talley, who is the company’s head of development. “Chandler’s been working on the game for nine years, after starting it as a passion project. Eventually, we joined forces, and Opti Games has brought together an amazing team of talented people.”

What’s happening:  Opti Games, a video game company co-founded by Silas Talley, a Marquette native and a graduate of Northern Michigan University, has secured the first round of funding for a new action-packed sports brawler called “Sparkball.” The funding amount: $2 million. Among the other co-founders, Thomlison is CEO of the company and Lee is art director. Initially founded as Ambitious Games, the company was rebranded as Opti Games earlier this year.

"As a passion-driven studio, we’ve always been believers that true conviction is what makes good games great,” Thomlison says. "This isn’t just a $2M raise for Sparkball, it’s the official beginning of a tight-knit village of incredible people and resources who possess that conviction to help make the Sparkball experience even more magical in Season Zero and beyond.”

Funding source: The funding round was led by L1D, with significant contributions 
from CMS Holdings, Impossible Finance, YGG, and others. Capitalizing on the momentum from their recent announcement to build natively on Monad, the round also included prominent Monad angel group ‘Purple’ and Monad CEO Keone Hon. 

Keone expressed his excitement for the game's future, saying, “Not only am I thrilled to see Sparkball building on Monad, I’m personally excited to support their growth. The response from the Monad community after the first game night has been phenomenal and we’re all eager to cheer on Sparkball as they head into Season Zero and integrate the Monad Protocol.”

About Sparkball: Sparkball is a 4v4 adrenaline-packed ‘sports brawler,’ where players select from a cast of lovably unique heroes and carefully balance both ballin’ and brawlin’ to score in the enemy team’s goal. The game has been widely described as League of Legends meets Rocket League.

Courtesy of Opti GamesThe game’s unique blend of “ballin’ and brawlin’” has consistently received praise from gamers for its high-intensity action and endless replay ability.  The game, which the team calls “Sparkball 2.0,” represents the summation of all their lessons learned throughout the journey. 

What’s next: Sparkball 2.0 is set to be officially unveiled during ‘Season Zero,, a massive one-month campaign where players across the globe will compete to earn rewards on their way to becoming a world-famous Sparkball athlete. Season Zero is set to launch in late November through Steam, with Sparkball fully releasing on PC and Xbox in Q3 2025.

Innovate Marquette: Innovate Marquette Smartzone, a nonprofit organization that provides resources to innovators, entrepreneurs and business owners in the Marquette area, has supported Talley and the endeavor for the past few years. Opti Games is among Innovate Marquette’s technology-based clients. Talley also won Innovate Marquette’s City Arts Award last year.  Joe Thiel, who is CEO of Innovate Marquette, calls Opti Games “a super cool story. Unfortunately, no Michigan investors saw the value, so they had to go to California for funding.”

Say Talley: “I’ve been an entrepreneur-client of Innovate Marquette for at least five years. While in the early stages of building a game studio, Innovate Marquette provided me with guidance in establishing the company, branding efforts, and other resources. They’ve continued to support us through the years with access to co-working spaces, mentorship, and introductions to investors.”

For updates on Sparkball, follow the game on X: @playSparkball.