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Archive for the ‘Simple Lifeforms’ Category

Startup Diary – Fund Raising for a Video Game Company

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Jul 10, 2009 | Filed under Simple Lifeforms, Startup Diary

Setting up a company is always tough but has been made even more difficult for Simple Lifeforms because of two factors. One is obviously the current financial market which is truly terrible for all start-ups and continues to be so and the second is the fact we decided to make Social Games which is an entirely new games sector which a lot of investors really don’t know anything about yet. So for this start up diary I wanted to talk about the good, bad and ugly of fund raising for a games company as the biggest financial bomb in living memory blew up the investment market.

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8 Types of Social Game

Posted by Tadhg | Mar 20, 2009 | Filed under Personal, Research, Simple Lifeforms, Social Games

This article describes 8 kinds of social game operating today (mostly on Facebook) and provides many examples. We hope it does a better job of explaining what is going on in social games and why we’re so very excited by social games in general.

Social games as an industry is about the conversation. We realised recently that the  conversation about social games is still waiting to be had but it can’t be forced. Social games are still very unfamiliar terrain to most, and so this article is all about grounding that conversation so that it can begin.

We hope you find it useful.

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Startup Diary – Tadhg’s Story

Posted by Tadhg | Jan 14, 2009 | Filed under Personal, Simple Lifeforms, Startup Diary

And lo! It begins!

A few weeks ago, I resigned my position as Senior Game Development Manager working for British Sky Broadcasting. It was a good position, working with good people, as a producer over a whole line of interactive TV games, working with great clients such as Denki. I was leaving behind career prospects, a great salary and a benefits package, to join up with a tiny new company named Simple Lifeforms. Simple Lifeforms was formed under the most interesting financial circumstances that have been seen for a generation, with banks collapsing, vast Ponzi schemes being unearthed and the entire world terrified by the prospect of President Palin. It was not what any sane person would regard as a normal time for starting up a company.

There never is a normal time. Alan O’Dea (my oldest friend, harshest critic, soon-to-be best man and co-partner) and I spent many years working on, dreaming of, and occasionally trying to start a company. Yet there was always something in the way:  A realisation that the target market was too small, a lack of skills, a lack of confidence, lack of financing, etc. The time was never right. We knew that we wanted to form a company, control our own destiny and make great games. It was a question of how and when.

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Startup Diary – Alan’s Story

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Sep 27, 2008 | Filed under News, Personal, Simple Lifeforms, Startup Diary

I found myself reading an article entitled Starting a Games Company in Recession by Brett Terrill. The article is personally relevant as I have recently left my role as Business Development Director at Online Game, Virtual World, and Technology developer Monumental Games to form a new start-up company Simple Lifeforms.

Some may question my sanity at leaving such a uniquely rewarding position, certainly when working at Monumental was a dream job where I got to work with an unbelievable team of people which I am glad to all call my friends. Ok you may all question my sanity but leave I did. A fundamental reason for my departure is my belief that social gaming, i.e. games that blend the best features of online games and social networks represent a massive step change and industry shift in the future development of online games.

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Simple Lifeforms

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Aug 3, 2008 | Filed under News, Simple Lifeforms

Who are Simple Lifeforms?

Simple Lifeforms is a new start-up company based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. The team have a passion for all types of games and have worked throughout the video game industry making massively multiplayer, online, causal, mobile and console games.

Simple Lifeforms create games that blend the best features of Online Games and Social Networks. We call these Social Games.

What games will Simple Lifeforms make?

We know that if you’re anything like us you live busy and complicated lives and don’t have a lot of time to play games. We also know that you don’t want to spend a lot of money on new computers, hardware or software just to play games. You want games that are easy to play on any computer, easy to access, quick to learn and fun to play in the short periods of time you have set aside to enjoy yourself.

Our social games will be Free-to-Play. Our games can be played on any computer with a web browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. You won’t need to buy a new computer or get new hardware to play our games. Our games will be available on our website but you will also be able to play our games from your favourite social networking site such as Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, Orkut, Hi5 and MySpace. Our games will be available on mobile devices and eventually handheld and other Internet enabled games consoles.

What are Social Games?

Social Games combine the best features of online games such as World of Warcraft and Runescape and also of social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

What’s so different about Social Games?

The web has become a huge social network where everyone is linked to everyone else. People have blogs, social network profiles, characters within online games, avatars within virtual worlds and there all talking, linking and chatting with each other, all day, every day.

We think this is seriously cool.

We believe that this new socially connected Internet is a great place to launch new games that allow people to enjoy fun and entertaining gameplay but also share all that cool gameplay with their friends using social networks.

What will players be able to do in a Social Game?

Players log into our website. Players create a character, choosing from a wide range of character customisation options. Player can participate in adventures, quests and stories on their own or with friends. Players gather items, prizes and rewards as part of their adventures. Players will be able to create their own content making items, images, movies and sharing these with other players in the game. Players will be able to link their character profile to blogs, feeds and social network sites such as Facebook and monitor their game progress.

What is the first game about?

In our first game, players take the parts of unborn spirits living in a spirit world that closely resembles the real world, but is more surreal. There is a spirit-world version of London, of New York, of smaller and larger towns all throughout the world. Within each of these locations, players live little virtual lives. They are spirits, trying to see themselves along the path toward being born.

You are a character in another world. This world is only a click away. You play with your friends, sending messages, trading goods, creating gifts, socialising and having adventures with them. You do so from your desktop, from your workplace, on the phone, on the move. You strive to be the best, by being the most active, the friendliest and the most helpful. You check in with it every day, or leave it for a few days and come back to check your progress.

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