Andrew Chambers, formerly associated with bigwig studios such as Activision Blizzard and Netflix Games, is on a new venture. He leaves behind a successful career to embark on a fresh journey as the Director of Games at Genies, a leading avatar technology company.
Key Takeaways:
– Andrew Chambers, ex-Activision Blizzard and Netflix Games employee, takes the helm as Director of Games at Genies.
– The company is building an interoperable identity layer across the internet to power gamified avatar experiences.
– Using the Genies' Tool Kit, creators can design unique interactive universes.
– Andrew Chambers believes Genies' approach exceeds the recent Disney-Epic partnership.
– Chambers is focused on revolutionizing gaming by promoting transparency and creativity.
Setting The Stage For Avatar-driven Internet
With its revolutionary Genies' Tool Kit, the company aims to facilitate developers, artists, creators, and platforms to construct avatar experiences and universes. All of these will then be connected through the Genies' interoperable layer. This innovative approach aims at creating a unique player identity across the internet, facilitating social communication via these avatars.
Breaking The Status Quo in Gaming
Genies' goal is to transform how individuals interact and spend time together online by infusing gamification into social platforms. This is quite akin to how platforms like Facebook evolved from being a simple medium for sharing updates or photos to fostering interactive gaming experiences. The company is keen on integrating Genies' toolkit into this social platform, encouraging users to express themselves, spend time together, and play games through gamified avatars.
Game Development at Genies: A Creative Uplift
Prioritizing creativity and innovation over profitability, Chambers warns against the traditional model for making games which lays heavy emphasis on funding and large-scale game production. Genies centers its attention on solving compelling problems and building fun, interoperable games. By deploying small teams to rapidly prototype ideas, the company strives to inject creativity and fun into the game development process.
Encouraging Creative Freedom and Collaboration
Drawing from his past experience with companies like Relic and Blizzard, Chambers applies the lessons he learned to establish an environment that encourages creatives to produce their best work. He holds a strong belief in having transparency, candor, and visibility which in turn, empowers individuals to make informed decisions and deliver quality result.
Challenges in the Avatar Technology Space
While Genies focuses on fun, their major challenge lies in creating an interoperable gaming experience. This goes beyond visual interoperability limited to item or character appearances spanning multiple games. The company strives for behavioural interoperability, where a player's actions are understood across different environments, thereby aiding in shaping future game developments.
Why Genies Over Others?
Chambers exudes confidence in Genies' capabilities by drawing comparisons with the recent Disney-Epic partnership. He maintains that Genies' approach to avatar technology and interactive gaming is not only similar but superior due to its focus on behavioural interoperability. In simple terms, Genies is not merely creating a visually enhanced gaming platform, but an ecosystem where every player and their unique actions contribute to the overall gaming experience.
Keeping The Balance
To prevent creative freedom from spiraling into chaos, certain constraints are deemed necessary. While prototypes are encouraged, the company ensures that the projects are kept well within the set time and resource limits to avoid any potential pitfalls. The key is in striking the right balance between fostering creativity and maintaining discipline.
In conclusion, Genies with Andrew Chambers at the helm, aims to revolutionize the gaming industry by focusing on user experience, creative freedom, and innovation. It is heading towards a future where social avatars are not limited to a single platform, but are interoperable throughout the internet's diverse landscape.
