“Playworld Superheroes†Managing Director Clemens Wangerin breaks down the new mobile game, starting from the original concept behind the game to its hopes for the market place. Going as far to say the game has more bang for its buck than “Disney Infinity†and “Skylanders,†Wangerin is confident in the finished product.
What was the inspiration for this game?
Clemens Wangerin: The original concept of Playworld was devised by Martin Kenwright, the Starship CEO and Founder. Following the sale of his company Evolution Studios to Sony Computer Entertainment in 2007, he took a few years out of the industry after an unbroken 25-year stint. The birth of his son during that time eventually led him to take a fresh look at the market, and in particular the quality of the apps available for children on the various app store. What he found was that no one was taking kids seriously as an audience, and that production values, scale and scope of the experiences on offer were generally fairly rudimentary and relatively simplistic 2D apps. He felt there was a gap in the market for a game sold at a pocket money price point, with no IAPs, which treated kids like young adults. This meant producing an app using the same high-end production methods and skill-sets normally associated with £40 console games sold in traditional retail.
In terms of the game itself, Martin was inspired by the juxtaposition of the real world and what the world looks like through the imagination of a child. Cardboard and crafting were a very early cornerstone of the whole premise, as it felt age appropriate and opened up the door to many of the clever things you now see when you craft your suit in the game. A lot of people will have played with cardboard when they were kids themselves, and used a box as a helmet or an empty roll of wrapping paper as a sword. Our game definitely picks up on that premise and goes further by actually transforming the players’ creation through the imagination cloud and taking them on an adventure. A superhero adventure, as the case may be in our first release, and we have more adventures planned that are loosely based on similar popular children’s themes.
Continue Reading This Article From Review Fix Editor-In-Chief Patrick Hickey Jr. at Examiner.com
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
“Playworld Superheroes†Managing Director Clemens Wangerin breaks down the new mobile game, starting from the original concept behind the game to its hopes for the market place. Going as far to say the game has more bang for its buck than “Disney Infinity†and “Skylanders,†Wangerin is confident in the finished product.
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