If you’re one of the millions of people who play video games on a computer, cellphone or mobile device, you might imagine that the games come from a giant complex in Silicon Valley, or a high tech company in a foreign country.
But sometimes they come from Lutz.
(Courtesy of Adam Bohn)
“We are a carefully-guarded secret treasure of Lutz, and we love being here,” said Adam Bohn, chief executive of Artix Entertainment.
The company began in 2002 in Bohn’s spare bedroom, and today the company employs nearly 50 people and operates out of Northpointe Village.
Artix has had great success creating online role-playing games, also known as RPGs, and massive multiplayer online games, or MMOs, that are playable through an Internet browser. The company boasts more than 170 million players who have signed up for the games, which are free to play with upgrades and other in-game advantages available at a price.
But with a trend toward mobile-platform gaming, Artix didn’t want players leaving the company’s games at home with their computers. So, after eight months of development, they’ve recently entered the mobile game market with “Battle Gems,” a free game that combines puzzle, fighting and role-playing elements.
Players can battle more than 100 different foes, collect items and complete quests, all through their cellphone or tablet. The entire game can be played with no cost to the user, Bohn said, but faster play options and other perks are available for a one-time $10 upgrade.
The game currently is available on Apple’s iTunes Store, and should be available soon on Google Play as well.
Strong user reviews and early adopters are important to making a game successful, and with nearly 80,000 downloads in the first week of release and good word-of-mouth, Bohn said his team’s first attempt at mobile gaming has been a satisfying one.
“We’ve put a lot of heart into this game, but we didn’t expect the kind of reaction that our players are giving us,” he said of “Battle Gems.”
“Very consistently, from people who know us and people who don’t know us, we’re getting (user grades of) 4.5 out of 5, and 9 out of 10. The reviews have been just overwhelmingly positive.”
Bohn acknowledges that “Battle Gems’” flat-fee upgrade option might not produce the most revenue possible, but he believes that many “free” games end up costing players too much money in the long run. Bypassing time restrictions in some games could cost an additional dollar each time, and individual items might cost anywhere from a few dollars to upwards of $40.
While Artix’s games aren’t designed to extract that kind of revenue for the right to keep playing, he believes that providing value is more important, and Bohn wants them designed so players can enjoy it without being asked for extra money at every turn.
Instead of focusing just on revenue, Bohn said that his team put extra emphasis on creating a wide variety of monsters and characters the player will face.
“We built this game with more monsters than most mobile apps would ever dream of having,” he said. They also made the game larger than originally planned, boosting the number of levels from 256 to 480.
While Artix is enjoying the positive feedback from “Battle Gems” and is looking forward to introducing it on the Google Play store, the future is constantly part of the discussion for a technology-based company. Bohn expects the turnaround time for their next mobile game to be shorter, but he wants the content to be even more creative and outlandish.
The company also is looking into bringing versions of their popular browser-based games to the mobile platform. Bohn indicated that original content will always be part of Artix Entertainment’s future projects.
“Honestly, we have no shortage of game ideas,” Bohn said.
For more information about Artix Entertainment and its games, visit Artix.com, HeroMart.com.
Published April 2, 2014
