Gamer.no Covers WebandCircus MMO
March 14, 2008
Background: Todd Macadangdang, Sven Myhre and Eric Kolb. Front: Chris Hildenbrand and Carl Lydon
Translated from Norwegian
Kristiansand makes MMO Game
A brand new game developer, Web & Circus Inc. is currently developing two MMO Games for younger gamers. Web & Circus is a new game developer based in Kristiansand. At the moment, the company consists of five team members (of which two live in Norway, one lives in Australia and two live in USA).
Todd Macadangdang, Project Manager at Web & Circus, says that he has found a positive environment in Kristiansand, and the company has received great support from among others Cultiva Foundation and Innovation Norway. “There are a handful of us that are trying to build up the game industry here in the southern part of Norway. In Oslo you have larger companies like Funcom, Artplant and so on, and we hope that we can build up this type of industry and environment in and around Kristiansand”, he said to Gamer.no.
Web & Circus plans to pursue both serious gamers and “casual” players, and the current team has broad experience in both game markets within the overall industry. They want to show that they can play on the same level as developers in other areas of Europe.
The company’s first project is a two-dimensional MMO game designed for children, and Todd Macadangdang says that the game can be compared with such names as Habbo Hotel and Club Penquin.
Zoovolution is a multi-player online game that uses MMORPG (Massive Multi-player Online Role Play technology). Our target group is children ages 4-13 years of age and up. The game will be distributed via Internet. Both the 2D MMO game and a 3D MMO game will be playable from the browser.
Thematically this deals with creating a “greener” and better earth for all of its population and especially for endangered species.
Later on this game will follow up with a three dimensional MMO having to do with the same universe. Also this game will be directed towards a young audience may broaden out to other platforms.
“We plan to make a massive multi-players game that is along the lines of Disney’s Toontown or Pirates of the Caribbean”, says Macadangdang.
Web & Circus expects that their first project will be ready for beta testing around Christmas of this year. The official launch will take place during the summer of 2009 at the Comic-con Convention in San Diego.
The 3D project will be launched step-by-step, and Todd believes that a portion of the 3D game may be completed in time to debut at next year’s Comic-con Convention.
(MMO game is extremely popular on the Internet and the largest game in the world within the genre called World Warcraft (WOW). It has over 9 million users who pay approximately 150 Norwegian kroner per month in game fees.)
Both Zoovolution projects are free to play and will offer a localized Norwegian version in addition to the international versions.