Playdek is an

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 development company founded in 2011, based in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...

. Playdek specializes in developing

board games Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

and

card games A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

for the

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

platform.

Overview

The core of Playdek's team worked together in console game development with their previous company

Incinerator Studios Incinerator Studios was an American video game developer, based in Carlsbad, California, known for developing several racing games, three based on the animated film franchise ''Cars'' and one ''MX vs. ATV'' game, with all four of them featurin ...

, a subsidiary of

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...

. As part of cost-cutting measures, THQ spun off Incinerator studios as an independent studio in 2009; in chief technology officer Gary Weis' words, "We offered to take ourselves off their payroll and go off and make it on our own." After a transition period during which the developer was under contract with THQ to complete two projects, Incinerator launched Playdek, a company focused on developing

tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games. Classification according to equipment used Tabletop games c ...

s for

mobile device A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

Games

Tabletop conversions

Playdek has collaborated with various tabletop game publishers to develop iOS versions of board and card games.

Board game conversions

* '' Can't Stop'' (2012) * ''

Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mid ...

'' (2013) * ''

Lords of Waterdeep ''Lords of Waterdeep'' is a German-style board game designed by Peter Lee and Rodney Thompson and published by Wizards of the Coast in 2012. The game is set in Waterdeep, a fictional city in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the ''Dun ...

'' (2013) * ''

Twilight Struggle ''Twilight Struggle: The Cold War, 1945–1989'' is a board game for two players, published by GMT Games in 2005. Players are the United States and Soviet Union contesting each other's influence on the world map by using cards that correspond to ...

'' (2016)

Card game conversions

* '' Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer'' (2011) * ''

Food Fight A food fight is a form of chaotic collective behavior, in which foodstuffs are thrown at others in the manner of projectiles. These projectiles are not made nor meant to harm others, but to simply ignite a fight filled with spontaneous food ...

'' (2012) * '' Nightfall'' (2012) * ''

Summoner Wars ''Summoner Wars'' is a videogame developed by Plaid Hat Games and Playdek, and based on the 2009 board game of the same name. The iOS version was released on July 4, 2012. The Android version was released on May 15, 2014. Both versions are now u ...

'' (2012) * ''

Fluxx ''Fluxx'' is a card game, played with a specially designed deck published by Looney Labs. It is different from most other card games, in that the rules and the conditions for winning are altered throughout the game, via cards played by the players ...

'' (2012) * '' Penny Arcade The Game: Gamers Vs. Evil'' (2012) * ''Tanto Cuore'' (2013)

Kickstarter projects

In September 2013, Playdek announced a collaboration with

Yasumi Matsuno is a Japanese video game designer. Matsuno was first introduced to video games in arcades while waiting for the train, and first played '' Space Invaders'' and '' Xevious'' there. He attended Hosei University for foreign policy but dropped ou ...

to develop two games in the new ''

Unsung Story ''Unsung Story'' is a tactical role-playing game in development by Little Orbit. The game was announced via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in early 2014 by developer Playdek under the creative direction of Yasumi Matsuno. The game is mean ...

'' series. The first was to have been a digital card game designed by

Christophe Boelinger Christophe Boelinger is a prolific game designer and game artist from France. His most famous game is ''Dungeon Twister''. Boelinger is credited as the designer of over 60 board games or game items. He is known as a fan of theme, unique styles, an ...

and the second a tactical RPG, ''Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians''. For the latter game a successful

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign was held in January and February 2014 on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

collecting 660,126 USD from supporters. A game release was scheduled for July 2015. In February 2016 Playdek announced that they had no resources to develop the game and no timeline to develop the project further. In August 2017, Playdek announced that Little Orbit has taken over all the rights and assets to Unsung Story from Playdek, and is now the project creator.

GMT Games GMT Games is a California-based wargaming publisher founded in 1990. The company has become well known for graphically attractive games that range from "monster games", of many maps and counters, to quite simple games suitable for introducing new ...

launched a Kickstarter campaign in June 2014 for a video game conversion of their ''

'' boardgame. The project targeted 50,000 USD and collected 391,047 USD from backers. The implementation of the video game version of the game was contracted to Playdek and released on April 13, 2016 on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and Mac.

References

{{reflist Video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 2009 Video game development companies Companies based in Carlsbad, California