Contest #1 11/11/09 – 11/17/09
Eiffel Tower
Winner: Andreas Brynervall!!
Guessed it on the second day!!!
Correctly guessed "Eiffel Tower" off this photo! Wow!!
Contest #2 11/18/09 – 11/24/09
Eiffel Tower
Winner: Brian Wanbaugh
Guessed it on the 5th day!
Brian correctly guessed "Pork Sandwich" off this picture!
Game startup Gravity Bear is unveiling its first original game for Facebook today. Battle Punks is a “3-D social game” that will debut this holiday season.
The game is set in a variety of fantasy locations, combining in-depth game design with social networking. As such, it’s one of a new generation of Facebook games that aims to deliver a better experience than the simpler two-dimensional games such as FarmVille that dominate Facebook today. Players create avatars and enter them into combat against others in a bid to become the scrappiest fighter in a kingdom.
Emeryville, Calif.-based Gravity Bear, which came out of stealth mode last month, will likely get some attention because social gaming is so hot. Last week, the leaders in the market made a lot of news. Electronic Arts bought social gaming firm Playfish for as much as $400 million; Playdom raised $43 million in venture capital, while market leader Zynga raised $15 million. Even though these hot companies are growing fast, the Facebook market can still accommodate new entrants. Crowdstar, for instance, managed to score big with its Happy Aquarium game, which has 27 million users.
In the game, players battle their way through towns, forests, swamps and more. The character creation tool is advanced enough that players can create one-of-a-kind characters. In battles, players can win weapons, spells, experience points, and treasure. But the company is making a bet that its 3-D graphics will dazzle users, who are more accustomed to lame but fast graphics on the social network.
The game will debut with analytics technology from SQLstream, which measures activity in an app and will allow Gravity Bear to tweak the game to suit the tastes of users.
The company was founded in 2008 by Phil Shenk, one of the many game veterans who came from the diaspora of Flagship Studios, a San Jose, Calif.-based game studio which imploded a year ago. Veterans from Flagship went on to form Runic Games, which we chronicled today, and they joined Cryptic Studios to work on Star Trek Online. Gravity Bear has six employees.
Gravity Bear announces debut title Battle Punks
New Social Games Company Blasts Out of Hibernation to Deliver Unique Social Gaming Experience
Emeryville, California – November 18, 2009 – Gravity Bear, a new breed of social games company, announced today its debut title, Battle Punks, an original game application built for the Facebook® Platform. Primed to launch this holiday season, Battle Punks is the first 3D social game of its kind. Set against a vibrant tableau of fantasy locations, it combines stellar game design with the latest in social networking technology. Players will take their custom-created avatars on a heroic journey, proving themselves in boisterous combat against millions of other avatars in a bid to become the toughest, scrappiest fighter in the kingdom.
Battle Punks delivers a raucous journey where players tromp and battle their way through festive towns, shadowy forests, gloomy swamps, and beyond. Using an advanced character creation tool, players craft one-of-a-kind personas, then throw-down against anyone in the Battle Punks community, in order to win prized weapons, spells, experience and treasure. Strategically outfitting their characters before each fray, players choose from their armory of collected Battle Items, in order to give their dauntless champion the best tools for the job.
“Our goal with Battle Punks is to help people have fun and deeply memorable experiences with their friends through games”, said Phil Shenk, Co-Founder and CEO of Gravity Bear, “This is the primary mission of Gravity Bear, so our first title is designed from the ground up to be a shining example of that philosophy of community and fun. We can’t wait to build a new community of people who simply love games as much as we do.”
In Battle Punks, players can test their mettle in a beautifully realized world unlike anything currently available on social networks. Using a sophisticated 3D engine to render both characters and environments, the Battle Punks Universe is filled with colorful environments, towns and characters. Battle Punks introduces a bold new look to the exploding world of social gaming.
Helping optimize the game experience behind the scenes are the innovative technologies from strategic partner SQLstream. Their application allows developers to monitor and analyze metrics in real-time, which will be a huge benefit to the deployment and growth of Battle Punks. With SQLstream’s tools in their arsenal, Gravity Bear has the power to connect with gamers as never before. With the explosive growth of the social games space, Battle Punks is uniquely positioned to bring something new and unique to all kinds of gamers– casual, hardcore or anywhere in between.
Developed by Gravity Bear, Battle Punks is currently scheduled to enter open beta during the 2009 holiday season on the Facebook Platform.
For more information on Gravity Bear, please visit: http://www.gravitybear.com/
For more information on Battle Punks, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gravity-Bear/89961808421
Hey all! Our weekly “Where O Where is Gravity Bear?” contest has been kicked off!
You can cast your vote on our Facebook fanpage. Click Here to vote now!
A new contest will go up every Wednesday at 9am PST. A new photo will be revealed very day until someone gets the correct answer! Good lucks!! =D
Where is Gravity Bear?
Hi everyone! Its contest time!!! Our first contest is The Thanksgiving Logo Contest.
The rules are simple: Design a Thanksgiving Day version of the Gravity Bear logo! Be as creative as you want…Post all entries on our wall, and add to the Thanksgiving Logo Contest album. You can use either logo… Safe for work entri…es only please!
Winner will get the logo posted on our website and our Facebook Page,
get their name and logo featured on our website, and will get early
access to our closed beta.
1st and 2nd runners up will get a mention on our website (as runners up) and will get early access to our closed beta.
Fans are encouraged to comment and like the entries that they love!
Contest will end on Thursday November 19th at 11:59pm PST.
Final winners will be announced on Monday November 23rd at 6:00pm PST.
A Look at Who’s New in Social Gaming: Gravity Bear
Gravity Bear, the latest social gaming startup, is not shy about its objective: To take on the big three developers, Playfish, Zynga, and Playdom and carve out a piece of the social space that is projected to be worth over $1 billion for 2009.
The California-based company is founded by Phil Shenk, the co-founder and Art Director of the former Flagship Studios. However, he is perhaps best known as one of the lead artists for the ever popular Diablo 2 from Blizzard Entertainment. After Blizzard, he was Studio Director for Wild Tangent where he is also credited with helping big name companies such as Microsoft and Sony with the creation of online casual games.
Considering his experience, Gravity Bear is looking to focus on the latest in graphical technologies as it is applied to social networks. Nonetheless, Shenk does point out, in a brief interview with Games.com that his experience at Flagship moved him far more into a management and design realm and that it will be a combination of these two areas – top notch visuals along with with innovative and engaging design – that will give the new company an edge.
Most successful social games have simple graphics, compared to most console titles. Part of the reason for this, however, is that your average casual or social player is intimidated or uninterested by visuals seen in mainstream games. Remember, that most of these users do not consider themselves gamers, thus something that looks like a “game” may not see as much use as it deserves.
Nonetheless, that stigma feels to be slowly dissolving. Shenk, in fact, seems to be aware of this as greater numbers of Facebook titles become more sophisticated (simply compare the older Mafia Wars to newer FarmVille). To that end, Gravity Bear is looking to “push the bar higher, and provide a more compelling, more immersive experience,” Shenk tells Games.com.
Currently, the startup only has six employees and has yet to state the amount of angel funding it holds. However, Gravity Bear has already formed its first alliance, partnering with analytics company SQLstream, allowing it to bring “real-time analytics to games for social networks.”
What makes the partnership more significant, is that SQLstream is the first to actually provide this service using the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard SQL language. What this means, simply put, is that information transfer between products and their providers is significantly faster, and virtually real-time.
Unfortunately, beyond the SQLstream announcement, no further light has been shed on the going-ons at Gravity Bear. All the same, Shenk seems quite confident in this undertaking: “We’re just at the beginning of this industry,” he says, as players will expect better and better game quality.
You can find the original story at http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2009/11/05/a-look-at-who%E2%80%99s-new-in-social-gaming-gravity-bear/