Emote Games Ltd

Emote Games is a publisher/developer which creates high end multi platform, connected, PC/PS3/mobile games which integrate with their in house character creation and social networking technology to create unique social gaming experiences.

Emote was the fourth start-up company that I had joined and after securing a deal with Sony, emote opened three offices and I ran the Liverpool Studio which evaluated external projects/companies and generated all creative material including multiple design treatments.

In Dec 2008, after funding difficulties, emote closed the Liverpool Office and concentrated its development resources in the production studio in Derby.

TheHunter.com

TheHunter.com was the first product produced by emote using their in house tools and the Just Cause 2 engine from Avalanche Studios.  The Hunter is a unique production that it uses the conventions of MMORPG’s combined with social networking elements including “virtual” friends who inhabit the social network.

TheHunter was an interesting project to design as it required a multitude of skills to integrate the Participate technology, Just Cause Engine and the business needs associated with a free to play/subscription model. The design delivered all the required components for a multi platform (PC/Web/Mobile) product with RPG character progression and structure, design features released through iteration, virtual items and  a subscription model.  TheHunter.com continues to grow but sufferers from not being browser based (Unity Engine) and the overheads of this decision. I learned a great deal about animal AI, ballistics, North American flora, virtual characters , push/pull narrative techniques and MMO design and production issues.

TheHunter.com was the first product produced by emote using their in house tools and the Just Cause 2 engine from Avalanche Studios.  The Hunter is a unique production that  uses the conventions of MMORPG’s combined with social networking elements.

TheHunter was an interesting project to design as it required a multitude of skills to integrate the Participate technology, Just Cause Engine and the business needs associated with a free to play/subscription model. The design delivered all the required components for a multi platform (PC/Web/Mobile) product with RPG character progression and structure, design features released through iteration, virtual items and  a subscription model.  TheHunter.com continues to grow but suffers from not being browser based (Unity Engine) and the overheads of this decision. I learned a great deal about animal AI, ballistics, North American flora, virtual characters , push/pull narrative techniques and MMO design and production issues.

Partcipate

The Participate design consisted of three technologies which allowed for character creation, social networking functionality and offline image rendering (to be distributed to any connected digital device).

In addition to the standard design features of general look, bone structure, hair colour and clothing Participate also utilised a specific RPG system which allowed your character to “earn XP”  by playing in any genre or type of game connected to the Participate engine.

The social network design was web 2.0 with movable, scalable, customisable widgets and customisable pages, alongside the more generic friends list and banking functions.

The goal of Participate was to allow developers to concentrate on content and gameplay while utilising a robust character creation, socially enabled web content, tournaments, gifts and either precanned or dynamic video footage with character composition.

The Participate design consisted of three technologies which allowed for character creation, social networking functionality and offline image rendering (to be distributed to any connected digital device).

In addition to the standard design features of general look, bone structure, hair colour and clothing Participate also utilised a specific RPG system which allowed your character to “earn XP”  by playing in any genre or type of game connected to the Participate engine.

The social network design was web 2.0 with movable, scalable, customisable widgets and customisable pages, alongside the more generic friends list and banking functions.

The goal of Participate was to allow developers to concentrate on content and gameplay while utilising  robust character creation tools, socially enabled web content, tournaments, gifts and either precanned or dynamic video footage with character composition to enhance their products.

Sony Home

After pitching to Sony Home team we successfully landed our first deal as emote games Ltd. The design was to extend the Sony home platform to web and mobile devices. The final design allowed users to interact with members of the PS3 community from essentially anywhere. In addition to sharing your personal appearance, apartment design and media, additional functionality such as the ability to pre create multiplayer matches between friends, organise tournaments and trade/auction items.

Unfortunately the deal ran into negotiation issues at a later stage and the nearly completed product never saw the light of day

After pitching to Sony Home team we successfully landed our first deal as emote games Ltd. The design was to extend the Sony home platform to web and mobile devices. The final design allowed users to interact with members of the PS3 community from essentially anywhere. In addition to sharing your personal appearance, apartment design and media, additional functionality such as the ability to pre create multiplayer matches between friends, organise tournaments and trade/auction items was added.Functionality is shown at the start and from 3:50 in the following video:

Unfortunately the deal ran into negotiation issues at a later stage and the nearly completed product never saw the light of day