PORT ANGELES — Multi Axis Games, a Port Angeles-based Web development company, has created the first online game based on Twitter, a social networking Web site.
“People have been talking on Twitter for years about how there should be a Twitter game,” said Margaret Staples, Chief Operations Officer for Multi Axis Games.
Staples gave an 50-minute presentation on social networking, the Twitter phenomenon and the recently-launch Tweet Lord at the First Friday Coffee meeting at the Lincoln Center.
Twitter is a microblogging tool based on short posts answering the question, ‘What are you doing?’ in 140 characters or less.
Twitter entries, or Tweets, can be made over a computer or cell phone.
Tweet Lord basically keeps track of Twitter interactions using different levels and avatar costumes to track progress. At level 2, for example, you hatch out of your egg.
The game opened for Beta testing on May 16 and was officially launched May 18.
It can been viewed at www.tweetlord.com.
“With this game, we’re aiming for the age demographic of Twitter, which is 17 to 45,” Staples said.
“We’ve been surprised. People are making Twitter accounts just to play the game.”
With no marketing or press releases to date, Tweet Lord has already generated 700 accounts.
The company sells sponsorships and promotes products through the game.
The Port Angeles group will mount a media push next week.
Multi Axis Games didn’t want to get buried in last week’s news cycle with the E3 electronics convention, Staples said.
“We expect to be able to do even better,” she added.
Multi Axis Games is based at the skills center at the Incubator@ Lincoln Center.
“We have zero paid employees,” Staples said. “We’re all unpaid interns here. We all have other jobs in order to keep the bills paid.”
Lead designer Matt Mitchum came up with the idea for Tweet Lord just six weeks before it launched.
“One night, at like 11 o’clock, Matt, my partner, said, ‘You know what we should do?” Staples recalled.
“When you hear that, that’s when it’s time to pay attention.”
Mitchum loosely explained to Staples how the game would work. They talked through the basic mechanics and fired an e-mail to back-end programmer Marcia Burrows, who quickly jumped on board.
Soon, all nine Port Angeles member of Multi Axis Games were working around the clock to see the idea to fruition.
They faced some tall hurdles along the way. Building a game around Twitter is difficult, Staples said, because of the application programming interface, or API.
Staples said the challenges were morale-generating for the group.
“It’s all about making compromises,” Staples said.
“It’s all about figuring out how much information you can do with out.”
Shortly after Multi Axis Games released Tweet Lord, another company attempted to come up with Twitter game, but failed.
“We’re just lucky we got out of the gate first,” said Eli Owens, art director for Multi Axis Games.
Owens said everyone in the group was committed to the project.
“We were 100 percent focused on this,” he said. “Twenty-four seven almost.”
Staples by trade is a Web developer who sets up social networking sites for businesses. Previously, social networking occurred in bars and coffee shops. But over the past 15 years, it has moved online, Staples said.
Staples opened her remarks at the Lincoln Center by giving an overview of the major social networking sites.
She discussed MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter in front of about 20 attendees at the monthly business-focused meeting.
“MySpace has been around longer than most social networking sites, and it’s usefulness for business is nil unless you are a band or promoting a band,” Staples explained.
“If you are not a band, or promoting a band, avoid MySpace as if it were the plague. It’s a place for teenagers.”
Conversely, LinkedIn is “actually very useful to any business because it is the professional social networking site,” Staples said. “This has basically replaced the face-to-face recommendation and the paper resume.”
Facebook is a good way to connect with a close, personal network of friends, she said. It enables third parties to put individuals or businesses in contact with each other.
“This is how people get and stay connected,” Staples said.
Twitter has been the hot social networking site for about six months, Staples said. It has about 7 million users.
“Twitter is really great for focused marketing,” she said.
Using a laptop with a projector, Staples typed “wine” into the Twitter search bar. The search produced a list of every Twitter user who was “Tweeting” about wine.
Olympic Cellars Winery is Multi Axis Games’ main sponsor.
“You can reach out to people in the moment that they’re thinking about your product, and catch them in that moment,” Staples told the audience.
“It’s way better than TV, where you just have to guess.”
Online social networking has become so big that it can’t be ignored by business, Staples said.
“Everything that’s about your personally now happens online,” Staples said.
“Your Web page is now like your physical person. You need it to match the products that you’re selling. If you’re selling fine wine you don’t want to be wearing overalls, and if you’re selling peanut butter you don’t want to be wearing a ball gown. … It is an extension of your store. It is your storefront.”
As quickly as it became a fad, Twitter is headed for a quick exit, Staples predicts. She said the Web site will fall off its perch in six months to a year, likely to be replaced by Google.
Staples moved to the region from Dallas about five years ago to attend the University of Victoria. She says she has never felt more at home than in Port Angeles..
Asked to describe Tweet Lord in 140 characters or less, Staples said: “Casual role playing without spam. It’s fun.”
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com
