{"id":4318,"date":"2009-01-16T12:48:51","date_gmt":"2009-01-16T20:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/?p=4318"},"modified":"2009-01-16T12:49:07","modified_gmt":"2009-01-16T20:49:07","slug":"carlsbadistans-appy-iphone-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/?p=4318","title":{"rendered":"Carlsbadistan’s Appy iPhone Developers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pastedgraphic\"<\/a>We’ve always known that Carlsbadistan’s<\/em> hills were loaded with high-tech gaming companies, but now a few of the founders of High Moon Studios<\/a><\/strong> have started their own game company in downtown Carlsbadistan<\/em> and they’re going to focus on games for the iPhone and iPod touch.<\/p>\n

Game industry vets Chris Ulm<\/strong>, Farzad Varahramyan<\/strong>, Emmanuel Valdez<\/strong>, Rick Olaffson<\/strong>, and Paul O\u2019Connor <\/strong>— all past founding members of High Moon Studios — have banded together to create Appy Entertainment<\/strong>. Along with Executive Producer Steve Sargent <\/strong>and Lead Programmer Marc-Antoine Argenton<\/strong>, they\u2019re bringing experience gleaned from creating console games like Ready 2 Rumble<\/em>, the Oddworld<\/em> series, Darkwatch<\/em> and The Bourne Conspiracy<\/em> to Apple\u2019s small screen. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Appy’s games will reportedly be “quick and habit forming.” And that sounds great to us. Being rabid iPhone users we’re hoping they let us test a few of the games before they go public so we can go to our<\/em> appy place before anyone else.<\/p>\n

[Link: <\/strong>Appy Place<\/a><\/strong>]<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n

APPY ENTERTAINMENT COMBATS WORLD FUN CRISIS
\nVideo Game Vets Discover Their \u201cAppy Place\u201d With New iPhone Games Venture<\/p>\n

CARLSBAD, California — January 12, 2009 — \u201cEverywhere we look, fun is taking a beating,\u201d said Chris Ulm, CEO of iPhone games startup Appy Entertainment, Inc. \u201cWe\u2019ve got mortgage meltdowns, a banking crisis, and anxiety all over the globe. The world needs a lift, even if it comes just five minutes at a time. That\u2019s why we founded Appy Entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game industry vets Chris Ulm, Farzad Varahramyan, Emmanuel Valdez, Rick Olaffson, and Paul O\u2019Connor — all past founding members of High Moon Studios — have banded together to create Appy Entertainment. Along with Executive Producer Steve Sargent and Lead Programmer Marc-Antoine Argenton, they\u2019re bringing experience gleaned from creating console games like Ready 2 Rumble<\/em>, the Oddworld<\/em> series, Darkwatch<\/em> and The Bourne Conspiracy<\/em> to Apple\u2019s small screen. <\/p>\n

Appy\u2019s mission is simple — bring laughter, friendship and fun to iPhone and iPod Touch owners everywhere. \u201cApple\u2019s iPhone is the first truly universal portable computer,\u201d Appy Brand Director Paul O\u2019Connor said. \u201cThere are twenty million customers out there and every one of them would love a laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

It takes determination to start a new business in this climate, but the Appy Entertainment crew is optimistic. \u201cJust take a look at our mascot,\u201d says Farzad Varahramyan, a world-renowned artist bringing his skills to the mobile world for the first time. \u201cAppy\u2019s been socked in the eye, but he\u2019s grinning like a fool. He\u2019s not going to let anything stop him from having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur games present five minutes of fun that people will play five hundred times or more,\u201d said Appy co-founder Emmanuel Valdez. \u201cOur past games — like Darkwatch<\/em>, Oddworld<\/em>, and Ready 2 Rumble<\/em> — all had distinct style, personality and a sense of humor. But they were complex and time-consuming games. Appy’s games are quick, habit-forming experiences for gamers on the go. Appy is a shortcut to the pleasure center of the game brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appy\u2019s first game is not yet announced, but Appy invites everyone to visit their Appy Place blog at http:\/\/goldenboat.wordpress.com\/welcome-to-your-appy-place\/<\/a>. \u201cOur blog is an eclectic snapshot of our ideas, inspirations and snarky observations as our infant company takes its first baby steps,\u201d said Appy CFO Rick Olaffson. \u201cAppy Place is our opening salvo in the fun crisis war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe iPhone changes everything,\u201d said Ulm. \u201cAppy Entertainment games are for a new generation of iPhone users and casual gamers, enriching the spare minutes of their lives, whether they\u2019re eating out with friends, waiting in line at Starbucks, or catching a five-minute brain break between classes. Games are mainstream, and the whole world will benefit from the surprises and laughter our games provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we called our company, \u2018Appy Entertainment,\u2019\u201d said O\u2019Connor. \u201cGames have always been our \u2018Happy Place,\u2019 and now, through the games we\u2019re making for the iPhone and iPod Touch, everyone can find an \u2018Appy Place\u2019 of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appy Entertainment, Inc. founders Chris Ulm, Paul O\u2019Connor, Farzad Varahramyan, Rick Olaffson, and Emmanuel Valdez are long-time entertainment industry vets. Their past game titles include Darkwatch, The Bourne Conspiracy, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, and Oddworld, along with numerous comic-book and film projects. As co-founders of High Moon Studios, the five helped grow that studio from a vision on paper into a world-class facility and helped direct it to acquisition by Vivendi in 2006. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve always known that Carlsbadistan’s hills were loaded with high-tech gaming companies, but now a few of the founders of High Moon Studios have started their own game company in downtown Carlsbadistan and they’re going to focus on games for the iPhone and iPod touch. Game industry vets Chris Ulm, Farzad Varahramyan, Emmanuel Valdez, Rick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4319,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions\/4319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}