Wadjet Eye Games is an American indie
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developer, voice casting/directing contractor/subcontractor and publisher which specialises in point-and-click
adventure games
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based me ...
. It was founded in 2006 by
Dave Gilbert as a means to publish his own games, but has since expanded to publishing games by other designers as well.
History
Gilbert produced ''
The Shivah'' in 2006 for MAGS, the monthly one-month
Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio (AGS) is an open source development tool primarily used to create graphic adventure games. It is aimed at intermediate-level game designers, and combines an integrated development environment (IDE) with a scripting language ...
game contest. After winning the contest, Gilbert continued to improve ''The Shivah'', adding voice acting and extra puzzles, then released it as a commercial title. It was originally sold via Manifesto Games, until Gilbert formed Wadjet Eye Games in order to sell it himself and move into game design full-time.
In 2006, Wadjet Eye released ''
The Blackwell Legacy'', the first in the ''
Blackwell series''. This was followed in 2007 by the continuation of the series, ''Blackwell Unbound''. In February 2008, a publishing deal was announced between Wadjet Eye Games and
PlayFirst
PlayFirst, Inc. is a Delaware based publisher of casual games founded in 2004 by industry veterans. PlayFirst produced the ''Diner Dash'' series, which won the 2008 Annual Casual Game Awards. and has seen over 550 million downloads. The popularit ...
. Under the agreement, Wadjet Eye Games would develop a casual adventure game for PlayFirst. The resulting game, ''
Emerald City Confidential'', a noir story set in
L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz
The Land of Oz is a magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.
Oz consists of four vast quadrants, the Gillikin Country in the north, Quadli ...
, was released on 19 February 2009. That year also saw the release of the third ''Blackwell'' game, ''The Blackwell Convergence''.
In 2010, Wadjet Eye Games published the first game developed by somebody other than Gilbert; this was ''
Puzzle Bots'', a casual puzzle game developed by Ivy Games. Further third-party games published by Wadjet Eye Games through 2011 and 2012 were ''
Gemini Rue
''Gemini Rue'' is a cyberpunk graphic adventure game made by Joshua Nuernberger, and published by Wadjet Eye Games. The game uses a point and click interface to interact with the environment to solve puzzles and communicate with characters. A port ...
'', ''Da New Guys'', ''
Resonance
Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillatin ...
'' and ''
Primordia
A primordium (; plural: primordia; synonym: anlage) in embryology, is an Organ (anatomy), organ or tissue in its earliest recognizable stage of development. Cell (biology), Cells of the primordium are called primordial cells. A primordium is the ...
''. In February 2013 it was announced that Wadjet Eye Games would be publishing their first portable release, with ''Gemini Rue'' being ported to both
iPhone and
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
.
At one point Wadjet Eye was planning a game based on comic books by
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
.
Awards
Wadjet Eye Games was nominated for the ''Best New Studio'' award at the
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.
Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
in 2007, the same year that Gilbert received the
AGS Lifetime Achievement Award In 2008,
Gamasutra
''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...
listed Wadjet Eye among their top 20 breakthrough developers.
Gamasutra Top 20 Breakthrough Developers
(cited 20 October 2008)
Games
References
External links
*
{{Wadjet Eye Games
American companies established in 2006
Video game companies established in 2006
Privately held companies based in New York City
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
Video game publishers