nDreams

nDreams
Basic Information
Company Type	N/A
Company Industry	N/A
Company Status	Active
Foundation	August 2006
Key People	Patrick O'Luanaigh
Products	Xi Venus Redemption (in development) iStories PlayStation Home content
Location(s)
Farnborough, Hampshire in the United Kingdom

nDreams is a video game developing company located in Farnborough, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in August 2006 thanks to former SCi/Eidos creative director, Patrick O'Luanaigh. nDreams was listed in Develop magazine as one of the hot companies to look for in 2008. nDreams was featured in the September 2009 issue of Edge magazine about their Xi project for PlayStation Home. Non-digital retail is a secondary aim of the company, but two of the projects that theyʼre creating for digital platforms lend themselves to additional distribution at retail. nDreams are registered Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo developers, and their key focus with regards to console gaming is on digital distribution, looking at Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in particular.

Games

In an interview with Edge magazine, O'Luanaigh told Edge of the company's plans to invigorate the casual market with Venus Redemption, a game which will cater to a female audience that isn't getting the attention it deserves. Venus Redemption is nDreams first title and is currently in development planned for release in Q1 2010.

The next ARG to come from nDreams, the first being Xi, is called Project SL and will not be based in Home like Xi was. Project SL will be released in 2010 from a major brand but the major brand is unconfirmed.

PlayStation Home

nDreams claims to be one of the worldʼs leading independent developers and publishers in PlayStation Home, the expanding virtual world on Sonyʼs PlayStation 3 console which now has over 10 million users. In the last two years, nDreams has released 19 Home spaces and 13 Home items across multiple territories.

The first project for nDreams was the world's first console based Alternate Reality Game, Xi. Xi was released on March 23, 2009 (with hints a month prior to its release) and lasted a total of 12 weeks. Xi was an expansion to the community-based service for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Home in the European and North American versions. It took place within PlayStation Home, across the web and in the real world. Following Xi, nDreams is working on a number of projects in PlayStation Home.

From July 30, 2009 to August 27, 2009 in Europe and North America and from August 27, 2009 to September 10, 2009 in Asia, there was an event going on for the PSN downloadable game Fat Princess. This event used the PlayStation Events Spaces, Events Landing and The Gallery. nDreams were responsible for the redecorating of the Events Landing and The Gallery spaces as well as setting up the event. They were also responsible for setting up the Gamescom 2009 event that took place in the Presentation Podium from August 13, 2009 to September 24, 2009.

nDreams next project for Home was a personal space called "The Pirate Galleon Apartment". This is the European version of Home's first personal space to have a mini-game with prizes and it's called "Man the Cannon", with four furniture item rewards, where users take control of a cannon and defend their ship. This is also the first personal space for Europe to have music in a tiki hut called "Cap'n Tarquin's". The space was released on October 23, 2009 to the European Home and on November 12, 2009 to the North American Home. They are hoping to release the apartment to Japan soon.

On February 4, 2010, nDreams released another personal space called "Musicality" for Europe, and soon after in North America. They hope to release it to Japan soon after. It features a balcony overlooking a big space for dancing and a music mini-game. Filling an entire end of the Musicality space is a stage area devoted to band equipment. Users can launch into the multiplayer music game, where they can compete against their friends for a top score playing on drums, guitar and other instruments.

nDreams has more spaces and virtual items in development and are determined to continue to push the bar in terms of what is possible in Home.

Other projects

In early 2008, nDreams completed a short piece of work on a project called iStories. It is a PC educational tool that allows people to create their own linear or interactive stories by piecing together images, sound and text.

Project Y is currently in development for the iPhone and Android. as well as another project.

Project Box will be a project in collaboration with a major TV company. More details are to be announced in December 2009.

Project Loki is an experimental facebook project that is due out in Q1 2010. It will have puzzles and narratives. There is also another facebook project that nDreams is working on that will be due out sometime later in 2010.

Partnerships

nDreams has partnered with M&C Saatchi Sports & Entertainment in a new non-exclusive strategic partnership as part of their ongoing drive to develop bespoke games with agencies and brands. They will provide "non-traditional" games products to their advertising clients. Their first joint project is already in development, with a launch announcement expected in 2010. They are going to be working closer with M&C on a range of games including, alternate reality games, social games, and console games.

Awards and nominations

nDreams was a nominee for a Develop Award in the "Best New Studio" category at the 2009 Develop Awards on July 15, 2009. The winner was Media Molecule, the studio behind LittleBigPlanet.

External links

• nDreams official company website