Lazy 8 Studios is a small

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

. It was founded by Rob Jagnow in 2008 and is based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Jagnow founded the company after spending some time in

video game development Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC a ...

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

s. Jagnow soon brought aboard Brendan Mauro for art development and Luke Gilbert for sound and music. The company's first title was the 2009 '' Cogs'', a

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

-like

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...

that Jagnow had envisioned for many years. The game was successful, nominated for several indie gaming awards and winning the 2010 "Professional" prize at the

Indie Game Challenge The Indie Game Challenge is an award competition run in conjunction between the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), GameStop and The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University (SMU) to support independent video game development. Started ...

. With the game's success, the team was invited by

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

to participate in the

Potato Sack A burlap sack or gunny sack, also known as a gunny shoe, hessian sack or tow sack, is an inexpensive bag, traditionally made of fibres which are also known as "tow," such as hessian fabric (burlap) formed from jute, hemp or other natural fibres ...

, an

alternate reality game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...

(ARG) that preceded the release of Valve's ''

Portal 2 ''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC version is distributed online by Valve's Steam (service), Steam service, while al ...

''. The challenge was to modify ''Cogs'' to meet the spirit of the game. Following ''Cogs'', the company began work on a social game called ''Extrasolar'', spurred by their participation in the Potato Sack ARG. ''Extrasolar'' plans to have players working with others to solve puzzles in an ARG-like environment, but without the real-time limitations required by most ARGs. Lazy 8 Studios was invited by

Irrational Games Irrational Games (known as 2K Boston between 2007 and 2009) was an American video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. Take-Two Interactive acquired t ...

to develop a

browser-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

tie-in puzzle game for their pending release of ''

BioShock Infinite ''BioShock Infinite'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games. The third installment in the ''BioShock'' series, ''Infinite'' was released worldwide for the Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, ...

''. It is titled '' BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution''. Irrational had seen the studio's work on ''Cogs'' and felt the steampunk environment was a good match with the nature of their own game.

References

External links

* Video game companies established in 2008 Indie game developers Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies 2008 establishments in California Companies based in San Francisco {{US-videogame-company-stub