Last month we told you about an exciting new company we had the privilege to work with. Well we are now proud to announce the launch of Ski Stash. An exciting new service set to take the stress and the expense out of transporting your winter equipment. If you ski or snowboard regularly we would definitely recommend you check them out.

So far here at Twisted we have developed the companies brand and web presence along with a great selection of merchandise that you can check out here.

And stay tuned as there is lots more still to come…..

If you are wandering what the next big thing set to revolutionise your skiing holiday experience is. Well, we know and we have the prevlidge of providing this exciting new start up with a ground up digital strategy. Throughout the next few months we will be brining you the European launch and some unique promotional activity that will put this company on the map.

Android vs iPhone - The Future

Android is open source, its being adopted by all the major mobile phone manufacturers to create the next generation of smart phones, it has an easier development process. This means more developers will create more content in the long run and new models are just as powerful if not even better than the iPhone's on the market today. Best of all, its an open market so your not going to need to worry about application rejection.

This is a shout out to all business owners looking to secure a place in the mobile applications market. Join with Twisted Studio to hedge your bets in the next generation of mobile phone applications. Next year we'll be adding Blackberry to our service offer.

Twisted Studio was commissioned to create two interactive elements of a large scale web site being unrolled in 2010.  You can see the demo versions here on our website:

• Flash Tile Game - A flash tile based game with seamless video content between stages
• Video Timelapse Journey Through London - A framework to show a series of interlinked videos as your drive really fast around London to see the sights.

We really look forward to seeing these two when they join the main website which will be completed for the launch in Spring 2010.

Firstly however, what is Cultural Lab? Here is what they say. Cultural Lab is :

• A centre for creative inquiry in the broadest sense of the term
• A world class research facility for experimentation in interactive media
• A Hub, hosting and incubating projects in art and technology
• An actor in the North East's cultural ecology, sharing knowledge in our digital society

Humaniquarium

Very cool touch screen technology using IR and cameras

These are just two of the ones we had the most fun playing with but there is more... so much more!!

For those who haven't had the pleasure of popping down to our office as of late, we now have a suitably twisted hand painted wall mural smack bang outside our office. Its visible from the main Boho corridor, so if ever you find yourself meandering the corridors of the Boho building feel free to take a peek at this unique piece of artwork:)

Gravity or Rage?

So this was the end for a beloved member of the Twisted Team, for many months it had been there to support me, cheek to cheek. Alas poor Ergo i knew him only a short time, but he and his 'Made in China' label must now live in a skip....

Just going to prove what everyone always tells me... don't sit down so hard, your not exactly a small guy... suppose there is no denying it now... anyway moving on, silver linings and all that jazz, its time for my new chair...

Whip out the plastic lads I'm going shopping!

Click to visit

Exciting times!! We're soooo... looking forward to attending Flash on the beach , we missed out last year because of a China trade mission. But no more excuses, we should be there, so much to learn and share, so many familiar flash developers to make connections with. We can't wait!! It's going to be great!!

invizimals

ghostwire

With Invizimals being of particular interest, I'm almost tempted to finally get around to buying myself a PSP to complete the olde console collection.

On another note, and of much more interest to Twisted is this little nugget...FLARToolkit

Yes AR in flash through a WebCam, some crazy people over in Japan have been playing with it for a while now, with an actionscript version of the ARToolkit, called FLARToolkit and its about time we get a little creative ourselves, watch this space as our voodoo wizards get to work on brewing up some more flash magic.

Click here to learn more about this and see it in a video
Read more about the Open Screen Project

This is big news for Twisted and all flash and Flex developers who have long been waiting for a nicer way to develop for web and mobile almost simultaneously. Cutting the cost for our customers and adding more value. Its early days but you can see the direction the market is starting to head.

"GameHorizon is the leading business network for UK-based games companies - developers, publishers, middleware firms and other service providers. Our goal is to facilitate more collaboration, improve knowledge and increase local and international trade for UK-based games companies…"

To say the least the conference was highly educational, we were able to see how self claimed traditional market routes were changing for game development studios. This wasn't entirely news to us but we were very pleased to see our fellow peers taking notes and planning new ways to take advantage of the freemium culture that casual games and online content are breeding.

Some of our highlights worth mentioning we're some great talks from the BBC, Jagex, Mr St. John, as well as some great discussions about self publishing. I have alot of notes and when the video's are launched there are a couple i will link here to allow you all to see the wealth of knowledge these conferences can supply!

Go to our contacts page and follow the link or you can visit it directly here but its not always on, sometimes we're sacrificing some goats or chickens, we were asked to not show that... shame...

Some may miss the old but we hope most will appreciate the new site and injection of color. We're hoping to have the first draft up by Monday and then replace the content piece by piece as we go along.

We will be showing you pictures soon but for now we will let you know its great, we love it, and its electric windows, sunroof, on suite shower rooms and kitchen and plethora of individually styled meeting areas all over the building. Yataaaaah!!!

Alas, we have been debating over a few new buildings, even a few cities at one point, but we decided that the North is where we should stay for now. Our new home will be.... drum roll please..... BoHo One. Okay so the name may bring different ideas for some of you, we've had our own laughs but different stroke for different people as they say. Name aside the building itself looks pretty damn impressive. We've stuck our flag on a very nice number on the ground floor (so all those visitors can see us as they wander around in the maze of the three towers).

We don't move for a little while yet but plenty of planning and organising to be had in the mean time.

Read more and see our very funny goofy picture (we thought it might be funny and it also doubles up to cover up some unfortunate posing). Just another knotch on the Twisted road to glory. Many thanks to everyone who voted and also the judges on the day.

Its good to dream! Dreaming today makes the reality of tomorrow they say and if any of you are avid believers in the secret you will have your little post-stick notes with £10,000,000 stuck to your monitors, re-enforcing that idea every day.

Note : This was an April fools! We didn't win the lottery. We cannot buy you a beach house, as much as we would like to.

Captain Mack the flash game for ITV's CITV and our Marketing brochure website for Advokate an up and coming UK national hard-style dance night.

Wish us luck!

"A little light humor from over the pond, whack your Bush, its okay, he's got guts, and he can take it. Here's to no more stutters, no more absurd comments.... you hope....the end of breaking the Geneva Convention and to a fresh start. Good luck U.S.A you are going to need it! We all are! But at least there is gratuitous violence and pointless humor to keep us smiling while we crash and burn."

You can find the game on most good games portals including Newgrounds and Kongregate.

Another set of resolutions to break and another birthday incoming.
We hope you had a great one, but while we're looking forward to another year just a little nostalgia for 2007.
Our first full year at Twisted Studio has seen us complete our first 5 figure contracts. We were winners at NESTA 2007 and prize winners at the Blueprint Business Plan awards 2007.
We look back seeing a plethora of finished projects and sit with pride at what we achieved. We can only hope the work keeps pouring in and we continue to grow as we want to.
Next year we will find more flash interactive projects while pushing forward on both our educational games fronts and technical projects (to be revealed in 2008).
Pushing forward like the technical voodoo masters we are and weaving our creative magic in all area's of interactive media imaginable.
Keep your eyes out for the Twisted brands as we put the pedal to the metal and make 2008 THE year Twisted breaks out and shows the world how it should be done!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It was a gruelling day with some amazing animation entrants rivalling professional production realms. We laughed and we cried and animators from around the world took us on a roller coaster of animated heaven.... oh and they fed us which makes the experience all the more fun....

We hope to see the final's judges pull out the winners and show them during the Animex week on February 4th to the 8th. You can find us there too, we do like our animations 'don't ya know'!

We hope that you’re enjoying a good mince pie and a warm fire!! Oh and you can send our presents to....

Please take the time to comment on the website, you can find comment sections inside each clip. We look forward to hearing what you think and welcome any suggestions.

Take care and see you in the New Year!

Twisted Staff

Twisted Studio, a software and design company that focuses on the development of games technology, was set up by three graduates from Teesside University and they are holding a three day long ‘Twisted Gaming Session' from Tuesday to Thursday this week in several schools throughout the region.

The event introduces people to the basics of computer games design through a game called Meteor Golf. Participants will be given a games development tool that allows them to customise the game by using their own imagination and creative talent. The aim of the session is to encourage young people to challenge their thinking and to be enterprising.

Kevin Jones, Technical Director at Twisted Studio, said: "Level design in computer games is great for introducing the industry to young people, it is quick and simple and most importantly fun. It can result in students competing among themselves to design the best level which is a very entrepreneurial trait and will hopefully make people stop and think ‘I really can do this!'"

Pamela Hargreaves, Head of the Make your Mark campaign, which is running Enterprise Week in Tees Valley, said: "The guys from Twisted Studio are a great example of an inspiring business start up in Teesside. They can help drive the message that young people can make their bright ideas work right here in Tees Valley and there are so many people out there to give help and advice."

Twisted Studio is based in Teesside's creative hub DigitalCity. Its objective is to create a vibrant, successful and self-sustaining supercluster in the Tees Valley based on the digital technologies, digital media and creative sectors.

Article taken from bdaily.inf

Twisted Studio, which designs video games and other software, says it is ready to approach gaming giant Nintendo after a year of impressive growth.

The business was spun out of Teesside University last year by Graham Bryan, 24, Kevin Jones, 25, and Michael Kirby, 25, and has already managed to grow by working with companies such as the BBC and a number of Asian gaming companies including Inixsoft.

Twisted plans to use its rapid growth to impress Nintendo in order to produce software for its Wii and DS consoles which it believes to be among the key platforms for the company’s future development.

Graham said: “We are focusing on games that include user generated content, for which the Nintendo consoles are known. Also, as the Wii can connect to the internet, we see greater integration between our mobile phone and console game designs.”

Its core product is a software package known as the Logic Project and is a toolkit designed to help other software companies create video games for mobile phones.

The trio worked with the BBC earlier this year to create an animated backdrop to this year’s Proms in the Park in Middlesbrough.

The team has already outgrown its current office at the Teesside University campus and is moving to a larger site on the premises over the coming months. It is also looking to employ a team of designers and sales staff.

Kevin said: “The games industry is massive. However, we think we stand out from the crowd. As an up-and-coming games designer, we want to grow in various markets, which we have already made steps in doing so. We also want to become more involved with companies outside the gaming world in order to get our name out there.” The company has developed unique branding, with a quirky design that incorporates a new cartoon character for every member of staff. The team has discussed launching an online competition to help name the characters. Stephen said: “We have created a very identifiable brand which we feel is important. My character designs have been compared to Tim Burton’s, which I am pleased with as they stand out. We are also planning to use these characters in our game designs.”

Twisted Studio this month was named a runner-up in the Business Award category at this year’s North-East Universities Business Planning Competition.

Well we definitely impressed someone because we walked away with the “Overall Winner” prize from the Teesside leg of the competition and landed a well received cash prize, oh and some nifty looking Lamborghini  pens . So now it’s on to the grand finals where we will face the winners for each of the five universities including esteemed Durham and Newcastle who boast strong reputations.  We’re not scared though, we were born to be winners… will we live to regret that bold statement? Tune in during October to find out more…

So we should probably start brushing up on the Japanese , Ichi Ni, San!! Hashimashite...

• Activity in proprietary technology with the launch of the Rapid Application Development, (RAD) toolkit, LOGIC.This innovative product will offer support to those involved in developing advanced and addictive game play. The LOGIC toolkit is designed to provide users with the fastest and most flexible technology available.
• Products form the next sector of Twisted's plans, developing its own imaginative and original titles, using in-house technology to minimise production times.
• Twisted will offer services within the industry, as a third party team to develop interactive media for personal computers, video games machines, smart mobile devices and web platforms.

"Our development team has a range of revolutionary games and applications conceived, devised and prepared, and in the process of completion," said Graham Bryan, Twisted's Production Director. "We are also working on fully licensing our LOGIC toolkit to empower developers to produce high quality software with noticeably lower overheads. It's an incredibly exciting time and the entire team is looking to the future with great confidence."

Twisted Studio’s Kevin Jones was successfully accepted into the exclusive business development programme NESTA Insight Out. The course is a five week intensive business exploration quest to refine and understand your business expertise. The accepted applicants are awarded a £1000 cheque for their successful presentations. Applicants will receive a second chance to present to a panel of peers at the end of week 5 with a chance to win a maximum pot of £5000.

LOGIC – Get More – Spend Less

More games, more success, more creativity, more profit!!!

Less time, less costs, less bottlenecks, less stress, less code, less porting, less risk!!

MOBILE GAMES INDUSTRY: THE PROBLEMS…

“9 out of 10 mobile games released on the mobile market fail to make profit”

ACTeN Mobile Games Report 2005 (Anticipation of future technology needs round table)

With hundreds of phones, developers are required to create multiple binaries (versions) of a game at additional expense and then maintain those binaries. Such expenses are crippling to lesser funded development studios.

“We are already seeing the pressures to increase development budgets, and we expect to see the average dollars spent to develop a title nearly double this year.”

Greg Ballard, CEO of Sorrent - 2006(US mobile game publisher and developer)

New and innovative mobile games are scarce. Inflating development costs push developers to clone proven game recipes. The result is a stagnating market with consumers left uninspired.

“Developers lacking in a comprehensive middleware solution will fail to meet the raising demands of the mobile gaming industry.”

IGDA - 2006 Mobile Games White Paper (International Game Developers Association)

Mobile gaming has come a long way since the era of Snake™; mobile device evolutions such as 3G see consumers wanting more quality. More gameplay and more graphics, consumers demand more bang for their buck.

LOGIC: THE SOLUTION…

What is it?

LOGIC is the vision for mobile game development. A visual development environment for rapidly prototyping more games in less time for more mobile devices.

A suitable analogy would be to combine the visual web development techniques of Dreamweaver and the cross platform game development capabilities of Renderware. Create the game in a visual framework and view or edit the code at any time. Deployment is as easy as the click of a button to any mobile phone device.

Who is for?

Primarily, its target customer is mobile game developers. Currently there are estimated around five hundred mobile development studio’s producing mobile content worldwide. Each one of these studios is a potential customer to use LOGIC.

LOGIC puts a lot of focus on a growing market. Rapidly growing consumer demand will leave room for more development studios. LOGIC aims to be a cost effective bridge for any development studio wishing to enter the mobile games industry.

Why should they care?

Game Development Management

• LOWER DEVELOPMENT COSTS – create one version of your game to work on many platforms. Eradicate device conversion expenditures.
• CHEAP RAPID PROTOTYPING OF GAME CONTENT – cheap concept exploration allows you to find that next huge innovative success in mobile games. Additionally it allows you to identify potential failures sooner.
• BE A CUTTING EDGE GAME PROVIDER – High Quality Games for the latest mobile phones will keep you in the limelight of mobile gaming.

Game Developer Teams

• LESS STRESS – less need for specific device development, LET LOGIC worry about the optimisations per model.
• HAPPY ARTISTS – Have more control over the game and work in familiar visual environments while game developing.
• EFFICIENT PROGRAMMERS – Spend less time writing out code – code generation through LOGIC will reduce development overheads dramatically.

Twisted Studio, what are we?

At heart we’re all prodigal children of the games and games technology industries. Educated in the creative gaming arts of fun and trained in technical voodoo degree’s (shhhh lets just call it voodoo juju its better for both of us!)  we like to think of ourselves as the guys who can make things work better and still make it look good doing it.

Company quote you could say would be “That’s nice but you know it would work so much better if you did….” Follow shortly with a “and this is how we would do that for you”.

So in short there is what we could do for you, apply our creative and technical voodoo in games technology to your company and show you have we can use creative solutions in a digital world to help you company STAND OUT!! After all it’s the first impressions that make the magic happen.

Our own goals in this industry is to break in on many levels, the first is through the technical voodoo in the form of gaming tools for developers who make the games themselves (think of it as giving something back). A number of articles will follow this one but they will describe to you the plans to create an software suite we call the LOGIC PROJECT to make game development in the mobile phone gaming market easier, faster and cheaper. Open up the doors for more innovation and really start to un-tap a rapidly growing market.

We also want to break into the market on a creative gaming front, this can be better realised once the development of our own in-house gaming technologies is completed to a usable state, wise man say : “ he who holds the hammer holds the power and the purse strings”.

We’re slightly insane , a little weird… at times…. but we’re talented and we will show you that independents really still can break through into a market which looks like a conglomerate stronghold singing battle chords from the not so well known Empire Choir “Join us or Die”. But scream on banshee’s we’ve tuned you out, we’ll be still hear when your throats run dry!