nDreams

nDreams

Type	Video Game Developer
Industry	Video game
Founded	August 2006[1]
Headquarters	Farnborough, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Key people	Patrick O'Luanaigh
Products	Xi PlayStation Home content Lewis Hamilton: Secret Life Facebook games/apps
Website	ndreams.co.uk

nDreams, Ltd. is a video game developing company located in Farnborough, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in August 2006 thanks to former SCi/Eidos creative director, Patrick O'Luanaigh. nDreams was listed in Develop magazine as one of the hot companies to look for in 2008.^[2] nDreams was featured in the September 2009 issue of Edge magazine about their Xi project for PlayStation Home.^[3] Non-digital retail is a secondary aim of the company, but two of the projects that they're creating for digital platforms lend themselves to additional distribution at retail. nDreams are registered Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo developers, and their key focus with regards to console gaming is on digital distribution, looking at Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in particular.^[4]

Games

In an interview with Edge magazine, O'Luanaigh told Edge of the company's plans to invigorate the casual market with Venus Redemption, a game which will cater to a female audience that isn't getting the attention it deserves. Venus Redemption is nDreams first title and is currently in development.^[5]

The next ARG to come from nDreams, the first being Xi, is called Lewis Hamilton: Secret Life^[6] and was not based in Home like Xi was.^[7] Lewis Hamilton: Secret Life was released in March 2010 and ended in November 2010 and was co-developed by Reebok, starring Lewis Hamilton.^[8]

PlayStation Home

nDreams claims to be one of the world's leading independent developers and publishers in PlayStation Home, the expanding virtual world on Sony's PlayStation 3 console. In the last two years (from 2009), nDreams has released 19 Home spaces and 13 Home items across multiple territories.^[4]

The first project for nDreams was the world's first console-based and virtual world-based alternate reality game, Xi. Xi was released on March 23, 2009 (with hints a month before its release) and lasted a total of 12 weeks. Xi was an expansion to PlayStation Home in the European and North American versions. It took place within PlayStation Home, across the web and in the real world.^[9] Following Xi, nDreams is working on several projects in PlayStation Home.^[10] On December 23, 2010, nDreams released the "Xi Museum" giving users access to a majority of what Xi offered, minus the game itself.

nDreams is responsible for the design and decoration of the PlayStation Events Spaces when an event is held in one of the various event spaces.

nDreams next project for Home was a personal space called "The Pirate Galleon Apartment".^[11] This is the European Home's first personal space to have a mini-game with prizes ("Man the Cannon"; users take control of a cannon and defend their ship). This is also the first personal space for Europe to have music (a tiki hut called "Cap'n Tarquin's"). The space was released on October 23, 2009 to the European Home^[12] and on November 12, 2009 to the North American Home.

On February 4, 2010, nDreams released another personal space called "Musicality" for Europe, and soon after in North America.^[13] It features a balcony overlooking a big space for dancing and a music mini-game. Filling an entire end of the Musicality space is a stage area devoted to band equipment. Users can launch into the multiplayer music game, where they can compete against their friends for a top score playing on drums, guitar and other instruments.

On March 17, 2011, nDreams released a new game space in Europe and North America called "Aurora" which according to nDreams "is a unique game world full of challenges and secrets to uncover that will evolve over time with new features, characters, games, and narrative."^[14] It was updated to Aurora 1.2 on October 6, 2011. There is also a personal space dedicated to Aurora.

nDreams has more spaces and virtual items in development and are determined to continue to push the bar in terms of what is possible in Home.^[4]

Other projects

In early 2008, nDreams completed a short piece of work on a project called iStories. It is a PC educational tool that allows users to create linear or interactive stories by piecing together images, sound and text.^[15]

• Project Y is currently in development for mobile phones running Android and iOS.^[16] It features a highly unique funding model and is a lifestyle application.

• Friday Town is a groundbreaking new social game created through a partnership between Cadbury Crunchie and nDreams for Facebook. The game invites players into a virtual world, called Friday Town, and challenges them to help its inhabitants brighten up their lives with a series of puzzles that will unfold over the coming weeks and months.^[17]

• Spirit of Adventure is the first ever soap opera on Facebook. It combines a compelling tale and strong characters with a variety of puzzles to create a unique narrative-driven Facebook experience.^[18]

• StreetDance 3D, a Facebook app, is the first collaborative project between nDreams and Vertigo Films, and is an action-packed dance game inspired by the movie. The game features motion-captured dance moves (recorded at Pinewood Studios) and music from the film.^[19]

Partnerships

nDreams has partnered with M&C Saatchi Sports & Entertainment in a new non-exclusive strategic partnership as part of their ongoing drive to develop bespoke games with agencies and brands. They will provide "non-traditional" games products to their advertising clients. They are going to be working closer with M&C on a range of games including, alternate reality games, social games, and console games.^[20]

Awards and nominations

nDreams was a nominee for a Develop Award in the "Best New Studio" category at the 2009 Develop Industry Excellence Awards.^[21] The winner was Media Molecule, the studio behind LittleBigPlanet.^[22]

nDreams was nominated for a Develop Award again in 2010, this time in the "Business Development" category.^[23] The award was won by Sony XDev.^[24]

nDreams was included on Guardian Tech Media Invest 100 list (top 100 companies for innovation) for Games and Entertainment. nDreams was also nominated for the prestigious Kemp Little Innovation award, for outstanding business innovation (which was won by Cortexica) in 2010.^[25]

In 2011, nDreams was nominated for another Develop Award in the "Business Development" category for the second year in a row.^[26] The award was won by Mind Candy.^[27]

References

1. ^ Jenkins, David (2009-08-25). "Eidos Exec Forms New nDreams Studio". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10628. 
2. ^ Doerr, Nick (2008-01-23). "Studio nDreams announces plans with Sony". Joystiq. http://playstation.joystiq.com/2008/01/23/studio-ndreams-announces-plans-with-sony/. 
3. ^ "nDreams featured in EDGE magazine". nDreams. http://www.ndreams.co.uk/node/40. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} OʼLuanaigh, Patrick. "A letter to our stakeholders". nDreams. http://ndreamsdocs.s3.amazonaws.com/ndreams09-10.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-23. 
5. ^ Edge Staff (2007-07-16). "nDreams and the Female Goldmine". Edge. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/ndreams-and-female-goldmine. 
6. ^ "Project SL". nDreams. http://www.ndreams.co.uk/projectsl. 
7. ^ "The Long Haul". nDreams. http://ndreams.co.uk/node/38. 
8. ^ "Lewis Hamilton: Secret Life finishes with epic London finale". http://www.ndreams.co.uk/secretlewis. 
9. ^ "Xi". IGN. http://ps3.ign.com/objects/142/14230569.html. 
10. ^ "nDreams expands further onto digital distribution platforms". nDreams. http://www.ndreams.co.uk/node/29. 
11. ^ "The Pirate Galleon". nDreams. http://ndreams.co.uk/pga. 
12. ^ Linger, Elliot (2009-10-21). "Calling All Fortune Hunters! Uncharted 2 Space Enters PlayStation Home!". Sony Computer Entertainment. http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2009/10/21/calling-all-fortune-hunters-uncharted-2-space-enters-playstation-home/. Retrieved 2009-11-04. 
13. ^ Weekes, Alex (2010-02-03). "It’s Disco Time with Musicality! Plus PixelJunk Arrives!". SCE. http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/02/03/its-disco-time-with-musicality-plus-pixeljunk-arrives/. Retrieved 2010-02-03. 
14. ^ Locust_Star (2011-03-16). "This Week in PlayStation Home: Aurora, Top Spin 4, Hard Corps: Uprising and More!". SCEA. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/03/16/this-week-in-playstation-home-aurora-top-spin-4-hard-corps-uprising-and-more/. Retrieved 2011-03-17. 
15. ^ "iStories on sale". nDreams. http://www.ndreams.co.uk/node/5. 
16. ^ "Project Y". nDreams. http://www.ndreams.co.uk/projecty. 
17. ^ "Crunchie Friday Town". http://www.ndreams.co.uk/projectft. 
18. ^ "Facebook's first interactive soap opera launches". http://www.ndreams.co.uk/soalaunch. 
19. ^ "nDreams and Vertigo Films announce StreetDance 3D Facebook game". http://www.ndreams.co.uk/node/67. 
20. ^ "nDreams partners with M&C Saatchi Sports & Entertainment". nDreams. http://ndreams.co.uk/node/51. Retrieved 2009-12-23. 
21. ^ "nDreams nominated for Develop Award". nDreams.com. http://www.ndreams.co.uk/node/32. 
22. ^ McElroy, Griffin (2009-07-15). "LittleBigPlanet, Media Molecule sweep Develop Awards". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/15/littlebigplanet-media-molecule-sweep-develop-awards/. 
23. ^ "Major news update: Develop Awards, a Hollywood actress and E3". http://www.ndreams.co.uk/node/68. 
24. ^ "Develop Awards: The 2010 winners list". http://www.develop-online.net/news/35364/Develop-Awards-the-2010-winners-list. 
25. ^ "nDreams nominated for prestigious innovation award". http://www.ndreams.co.uk/node/72. 
26. ^ "nDreams nominated for Develop Award". nDreams. http://www.ndreams.co.uk/node/85. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
27. ^ "Independent developers dominate Develop Awards". http://www.develop-online.net/news/38288/Independent-developers-dominate-Develop-Awards. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 

External links

• Official website