Hololabs

Hololabs releases New Detective Game for Kids

Based on the best-selling books, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency brings history, mystery and coding to mobile

Hololabs has released a new kids puzzle game, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, for iOS and Android. Set in the fascinating time period of England's Regency Era, players aged 9 & up join a young Ada Lovelace (the world's first programmer), Mary Shelley and Charles Dickens as they catch "clever criminals" in 19th Century London.

Based on the best-selling book series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency combines whimsical storytelling with exploration, history and computer science to create a compelling educational experience for kids. Over 20 thrilling mysteries (written by series author Jordan Stratford) provide the backdrop for players to hone their detective skills through reading, logic and coding as they use the world's first computer to crack cases.

The world of 19th century London sets the stage for a suite of detective activities designed to put sleuthing skills to the test. Investigate suspicious crates on the Thames. Question witnesses at a popular Piccadilly tea salon. Puzzle over broken printing presses in Fleet Street. Use Ada's computing machine in Marylebone to track down hideouts, suspects and more. There's even a music machine to play with in augmented reality!

Complete with historical content illuminating little-known female scientists, writers and inventors of the time, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency is designed to inspire a new generation of curious minds.

Features

  • Over 20 original mysteries written by the author of the Wollstonecraft book series

  • 20+ hours of story-based gameplay, plus endlessly replayable content

  • Explore beautifully detailed neighbourhoods in London for clues

  • Learn to code on Ada's "bleh" machine (based on the world's first computer)

  • Multiple Mini Activities: Hidden object searches, repair puzzles and pop "quizzlers"

  • Over 100 new vocabulary words and history facts to discover and collect

  • Historical content with a focus on famous female scientists of the Regency era

  • Unlock new areas and achievements

  • Track progress with a detective leveling system

  • Collect and play tracks on Ada's AR Music Machine

  • Free playable demo

  • One time purchase to get the full game - no subscription fees

Floor Kids Launches on Steam!

Hololabs is proud to launch Floor Kids on Steam on May 16, 2018.

Floor Kids is a one-of-a-kind breakdance game featuring a unique trick-style rhythm gameplay. Innovative controls allow you the freedom to play the way you like with a dynamic scoring system that rewards your moves based on musicality, originality, and style. Discover stylized hand-drawn graphics by award-winning animator JonJon set to an original soundtrack by world-renowned scratch DJ/producer Kid Koala.

More information at www.floorkids.com.

Floor Kids Launches on Nintendo Switch!

Floor Kids is now available on Nintendo Switch!: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/floor-kids-switch

Floor Kids is a new breakdance battle game for Nintendo Switch™ featuring unique freestyle gameplay, rhythm challenges, and multiplayer sessions. Discover stylized hand-drawn graphics by award-winning animator JonJon set to an original soundtrack by world-renowned scratch DJ/producer Kid Koala.

Hololabs launches VR/AR meetup group in Victoria

There's no question that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are rapidly growing industries. Given Hololabs' expertise in both and a lack of a formal organizations on Vancouver Island, we have decided to launch and maintain the VVAR Meetup Group for these topics. We plan to host events every month, with technical talks, demos, and social events for people interested in the industry.

Here's a photo from our first meetup (held at SpaceStation on June 21st), where we held introductions and demoed several games on the HTC Vive and Oculus. We had about 25 people in attendance, ranging from developers with games already available on Steam, to investors, audio engineers, and enthusiasts eager to get into the industry.

Floor Kids selected for presentation at GDC

Hololabs was in San Francisco for GDC from March 14-18, showing Floor Kids to a number of publishers and developers. But the highlight of the event was presenting the game at the Experimental Gameplay Workshop among a number of other super innovative projects. The game was selected from almost 200 submissions to present its unique gameplay, and received cheers from the crowd when the touch controls were demonstrated!

A video of the full session can be found in the GDC Vault:
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023585/Experimental-Gameplay

Hololabs creates inter-studio partnership: MERJ Media

Hololabs has partnered with three other amazing companies to create a new multi-disciplinary studio called MERJ Media. This initiative brings together experienced players from the fields of music, video games, animation, film, publishing, technology, live performance, management and production. Together, they embark on their first project - a touch-based breakdancing game called Floor Kids.

The team is made of veterans from four different but complementary industries. Ryhna Thompson’s team at Envision Management and Production has been in the business, production and marketing management for almost 15 years. JonJon has been doing art and animation for over a decade, and Kid Koala has been producing innovative music and live shows for almost 20 years. Finally, the development team at Hololabs will be handling programming, implementation, and deployment for the studio.

While the official partnership is new, many members of the team have been working together for years, forming a collaborative and synergetic relationship. Envision has worked alongside Kid Koala since the company was formed almost 15 years ago, directing his career and projects, providing management and production through a range of ventures including the release of recorded music, books, live musical and theatrical tours. Hololabs has collaborated with Kid Koala and Envision on prior projects as well, such as the outdoor installation called Phonophotopia produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 2014. JonJon and Kid Koala originally came up with the concept for Floor Kids back in 2007, when they collaborated on the original short film, and they have been discussing the brand ever since.

Hololabs moves head office to Victoria BC

This summer Hololabs makes the move out west, re-locating its head office to Victoria BC. While projects will continue with Montreal, a new set of initiatives will launch in the Pacific Northwest.

Victoria is a growing scene in the games industry, with an active IGDA chapter and organizations like VIATEC that support and promote technical innovation. We're excited to be closer to other creative tech communities on the west coast, including those in Vancouver, Seattle, and all the way down to California.

We'll be opening a new studio in a coworking space called Spacestation, so if you're interested in visiting or have projects that you'd like to discuss, contact us.

Hololabs wins Best Social Game for Papercade (GameConnection 2015)

Mike shows GameConnection award for Best Social Game
Mike shows GameConnection award for Best Social Game

Papercade won a Development Award for the "Best Social Game" at GameConnection 2015 in San Francisco. Taking place at the same time as GDC, GameConnection is a parallel conference that brings together professionals in the video game industry to develop their businesses and products.

Hololabs was nominated in three categories for their work on Papercade, which also included "Best Mobile/Tablet" and "Most Creative & Original Project". The full list of nominees is here: http://www.game-connection.com/development-awards.