An independent games studio in North Uist promoting Gaelic folklore and island culture has high-fived Business Gateway for its support.

Siar Interactive, founded earlier this year by Calum MacIntosh, is developing story-driven video games rooted in Hebridean culture and mythology and currently working on a first-person adventure revolving around outlaw Mac an t-Srònaich.

Describing that project on its website, Siar Interactive said: “This experience unfolds across vast moorland and is shaped by Hebridean folklore. The story of Mac an t-Srònaich lingers in the landscape, where every step feels uncertain, and nothing is quite as it seems.”

The game is due to have its first public demo at OH!Con in October.

Siar Interactive work with local artists, musicians and storytellers. The games aim to put Gaelic language and culture front and centre, addressing what Siar Interactive says is the lack of authentic cultural storytelling in modern games.

Calum MacIntosh said: “The Outer Hebrides has a rich culture and history that deserves to be told on a global stage, and games are a powerful way to do that. 

“Siar Interactive is about creating experiences that are genuinely rooted in this place, its language and its stories, while also building creative opportunities here in the islands. The Business Gateway team has been fantastic to work with, and their support has been invaluable in helping us get to this point.”

To get the business off the ground, Calum worked with Business Gateway, which provided one-to-one support on his business plan and routes to funding. 

Through their support, the studio obtained grant funding from the Outer Hebrides Digital Support Scheme (OHDSS), funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and delivered by the Comhairle’s Business Gateway team. The funding allowed the business to purchase the digital equipment and tools essential for developing commercially viable games and interactive experiences.

Mac an t‑Srònaich is a figure who blurs the line between history and myth — a 19th‑century outlaw from Lewis whose life of violence became woven deep into the island’s folklore.

The story goes that he fled to Lewis after killing his own sister during a bungled robbery, spending years hiding out in caves. He was, by all accounts, a man people were genuinely terrified of — blamed for as many as 20 killings, a prolific cattle thief, and the kind of name parents would drop to scare children into behaving themselves. 

Eventually he was caught and hanged... but the legend never died. Island places have been named after him, such as Mac an t-Strònaich's cave in the Lews Castle Grounds, and his notoriety refuses to fade, continuing to make his mark on Hebridean culture even as it modernises.

Image content - Business Gateway