Introducing the biggest little celebrity on the planet…
Matmi are very excited to announce the launch of PocketWARWICK, the brand new app for international actor and all round good guy Warwick Davis.
Matmi were approached by technology investors Offficial, who are producers of the app, and Warwick Davis to develop Pocket Warwick. Working alongside Warwick and Offficial over the 7 month development time was incredible, providing more laughs than any other project.
Warwick loves his gadgets and saw PocketWARWICK as a perfect extension to his onscreen persona, allowing his creativity to flourish. The aim of the app is to give his fans a brand new, unique way of interacting with him; and having fun while doing so. It is a great showcase for bridging the gap between celebrities and gaming.
Within the first 3 DAYS, PocketWARWICK had reached number 14 in the iPhone free games chart and number 1 role playing game.
“Matmi are exactly the kind of company I enjoy working with, Jeff and his team are so creative. Whilst making ‘Pocket Warwick’, I’d call up Jeff and say, “I’ve got a great idea”, and he’d say, “Yes, and here are three more ideas”. It was so amazing to see all of those new ideas incorporated in the next beta version of the game only a day or two later. I was so impressed by the way Matmi work, that I went straight back to them for my next project, an autograph and collectables website for my company, The Signature Shop.” – Warwick Davis
Have your very own Warwick in your pocket!
Warwick Davis fans can get closer to their favourite celeb than ever before with this new free-to-play app. Combining elements of The Sims and Tamigotchi, PocketWARWICK features the star himself -feed him, tickle him, dress him as frog, take him to auditions, send him to the Gym – whatever it takes to keep him happy. Be part of and help him along his journey from Z-list to A-list celebrity status. At launch, the game will contain 100s of tasks to take part in with more added over time.
Development
The Matmi team worked very closely with Warwick to ensure his personality and unique sense of humour was accurately conveyed via the games AI system- over the months of development he visited and chatted to the team constantly about how his character would react to certain events, his favourite foods (chocolate biscuits!) likes and dislikes – so we feel we have digitally captured his characteristics to a tee.
This is Matmi’s first Freemium based app with a bespoke integrated shop and asset bundle system.
This system enables us to keep adding to the app new elements, updates, novelties, costumes and auditions – it’s a perfect way to keep a user engaged on top of keeping the game fresh and up to date.
The app was created using Unity 3D, a development engine that Matmi has been working closely with for some years (we were one of the first games company to publish on android).
Unity is free to download, has a fantastic following and allows a developer to simply and easily port a game to multiple platforms – we are huge fans.
“As PocketWarwick is the first game that Offficial have produced we were entering the unknown somewhat when we started the project. Matmi have managed our expectations and offered advice guidance throughout which has led to a successful relationship from our perspective. We’re already actively seeking out opportunities for other projects we can take to the talented team at Matmi! “– Offficial
Celebrity culture and mobile apps
Celebrity apps are revolutionising the relationship between celebrities and gaming.
Matmi has already worked with a number of music industry celebrities (Lily Allen, Gorillaz, Iron Maiden) producing great games with fantastic results; and have been championing bridging the gap between the digital and celebrity worlds; turning film, TV and music stars into app stars. Celebrities will have an increased presence in this digital form, representing a whole new platform, audience, branding opportunity and revenue stream.
“The world of celebrities and games are becoming closer all the time and we wanted to take this even further. PocketWARWICK attempts to blend these worlds together more than any app before. Fans are already used to being able to interact with their favourite celebrity through social networks; PocketWARWICK is a mere extension on this. We expect the trend of celebrities getting more heavily involved in the digital world (and games in particular) to grow and we look forward to being part of it.” – Jeff Coghlan, Matmi MD
Warwick already has a huge online social presence, with Pocket Warwick we hope to extend this audience reach and encourage fans to find new, fun ways to interact with their favourite celebrity.
For Matmi, PocketWARWICK is just the beginning…an exciting one at that!
Download: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pocketwarwick/id547257601?mt=8
The app is available on all iOS platforms now (soon to be released on Android).
November 2012