Gamelab

Gamelab was an independent game studio in New York City founded by game designer Eric Zimmerman and Peter Seung-Taek Lee in 2000. It is best known for creating Diner Dash, one of the most downloaded games of all time (over half a billion times across multiple platforms in its first six years),[2] as well as its two spin-off companies, the non-profit Institute of Play and the online game and community site Gamestar Mechanic.

Gamelab
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2000
FounderEric Zimmerman
Peter Seung-Taek Lee
Defunct2009 (assets acquired by Arkadium)
Key people
Eric Zimmerman (co-founder, chief executive)
Peter Seung-Taek Lee (co-founder, president)
Frank Lantz (director of game design)
Nicholas Fortugno (director of game design)
Katie Salen
Number of employees
40[1]

History

Zimmerman and Lee (with audio by Michael Sweet) created a game called BLiX, which was named a Finalist (and eventually won Best Audio) at the 2000 Independent Games Festival[3] at the Game Developers Conference, Zimmerman and Lee then incorporated gameLab and used an advance on BLiX royalties from their exclusivity deal with Shockwave.com to open an office in downtown Manhattan.[4] gameLab released 34 video games on multiple platforms between 2000 and 2009, published by companies like LEGO, HBO, PlayFirst, VH-1, and iWin, plus eight massively multiplayer social games created exclusively for and played at the yearly Game Developers Conference from 2001 to 2008.

In 2004, gameLab released the award-winning Diner Dash, a strategy and time management game published by PlayFirst,[5] then-director of game design Frank Lantz and students in his Big Games class (including gameLab employees Greg Trefry and Mattia Romeo) at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program created Pac-Manhattan, a real life version of Pac-Man played in the streets surrounding NYU, which was one of the earliest and most influential pervasive games, covered by the New York Times[6] and receiving worldwide press.[7] In 2005, gameLab employees Trefry, Romeo, Nicholas Fortugno, and Catherine Herdlick plus co-founder Lee co-founded Come Out & Play, an annual festival of new original big games played in the streets of New York City,[8] Lantz left to co-found the game studio area/code, which was acquired by Zynga in 2011 and became Zynga New York, and is now the director of New York University's Game Center.[9]

In 2007, gameLab spun off the non-profit Institute of Play to promote game design and play as educational tools for students, within six months of its founding, Institute of Play received a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to develop Quest to Learn, a New York City public school designed around game design principles.[10] In 2009, supported by another grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, gameLab partnered with Katie Salen and released the award-winning game and community site Gamestar Mechanic. gameLab closed its doors in 2009 and sold its assets to Arkadium.[11]

Video games
YearTitleTypePublisher/Financer
2000BLiXwebgameLab
2001FLUIDtouchscreen installationSwiss Re Center for Global Dialog
2001JunkbotwebLEGO
2001LEGO Stack-ItwebLEGO
2001LOOPwebShockwave.com
2002BLiX Level Constructor KitwebgameLab
2002Drome Racing ChallengewebLEGO
2002Junkbot UndercoverwebLEGO
2002LEGO World BuilderwebLEGO
2002Spybotics: The Nightfall IncidentwebLEGO
2003ArcadiawebgameLab
2003CrashwebgameLab
2003FATE: The Carnivale GamewebHBO
2003LEGO InventorwebLEGO
2003LEGO World Builder 2webLEGO
2003Motobike BlastwebLEGO
2004LEGO X-Pod Playoffboard gameLEGO
2004Mighty Beanz Trading Card Gamecollectible card gameGenio
2004Subway ScramblePC/webPlayFirst
2005Arcadia RemixPC/webgameLab
2005Diner DashPC/webPlayFirst
2005LEGO X-Pod Playoff 2board gameLEGO
2005ShopmaniaPC/webiWin
2006Ayiti: The Cost of LifewebgameLab/Global Kids
2006DownbeatwebVH-1
2006Egg vs ChickenPC/webPlayFirst
2006LEGO FeverPC/webLEGO
2006Miss ManagementPC/webgameLab
2006PlantasiaPC/webPlayFirst
2007Jojo's Fashion ShowPC/webiWin
2007Out of Your MindPC/webgameLab/Curious Pictures
2008Jojo's Fashion Show 2: Las CrucesPC/webiWin
2008Top ChefPC/webBrighter Minds Media
2009Gamestar MechanicwebgameLab

Massively Multiplayer Social Games at GDC
YearTitle
2002Bite Me
2002Leviathan
2003Alphabet City
2004Supercollider
2005ConfQuest
2006Pantheon
2007Gangs of GDC
2008Destroy All Developers

References
  1. http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/en_uk/creators/peter-lee
  2. https://venturebeat.com/2010/09/21/with-diner-dash-playfirst-has-a-game-that-goes-everywhere/
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2009-10-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130740/a_man_for_all_seasons_gamelabs_.php
  5. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/technology/27casual.html
  6. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/fashion/09GAME.html
  7. http://www.pacmanhattan.com/press.php
  8. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24037
  9. http://gamecenter.nyu.edu/people
  10. http://www.instituteofplay.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/MACARTHUR+NYC+School+Press+Release.pdf
  11. https://venturebeat.com/2009/09/29/arkadium-acquires-gamelabcom-game-development-firm/
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