Apart From the hardcore game developers and video game lovers, we all love a little bit of fun gaming. Many of us also play games on mobile phones to kill time. Nowadays, kids also love playing video games. Among all the mobile phone games we have been playing since childhood, Temple Run is one of the tops. Temple Run has a very wide fan base and it is the topmost game ever launched by Imangi Studios. Imangi Studios is an American-based video game company. It develops video games for Windows, Android, and iOS phones. Natalia Luckyanova and Keith Shepherd the famous husband-and-wife team founded the company in 2008.
About the Founders
Natalia went to Harvard University to study Physics and Chemistry for her bachelor’s degree. After graduating in 2003, she went to Boston University and completed her master’s in Computer Science. Her career started as a Software Engineer for Vecna Technologies followed by a Senior Consultant at Appian Corporation. In 2008, she joined The Advisory Board Company as a Technical Business Analyst and carried out her game developing project simultaneously. After a year, she left the company and co-founded Imangi Studios.
Keith Shepherd, husband of Natalia worked in the computer industry for many years. He along with his wife founded Imangi studios. And, the release of Temple Run helped them make billions. He is the CEO of Imangi Studios.
The idea of a new company
Natalia and Keith always wanted to start their company. They didn’t want to go for a conventional 9to5 job and wanted to think something out of the box. Natalia said it was right after they got married, they decided to develop a gaming company. The couple was very intrigued by the products of Apple which pushed them a bit further so they finally took the big decision.
Keith is a huge fan of Apple. So, when the company announced that they are entertaining outside developers who can develop apps for it, the two decided to give it a shot. But, since the couple was newly married, job security became a very huge factor. So, while Keith dedicated all his time to Imangi while Natalia continued her job to support the family.
The first game
Back in 2008, when Apple decided to give a chance to the outside developers, the couple saw it as a great opportunity. Thus, both of them designed their first game which is known as Imangi. It was a type of word puzzle and very soon it was released in the App store of the company.
Since the first game worked out just fine, they deiced to hire an additional member of the team. Kiril Tchangov, an artist joined Imangi, and together they continued building games for iPhone. Imangi’s first breakthrough was when the company released Harbor Master, a sea traffic game.
History and Success of Temple Run
After the sale of Harbor Master started reducing slowly, Imangi studios came up with Temple Run. The development of Temple Run was to experiment on different ways of controlling the characters in a three-dimensional perspective. Imangi’s previous game, Max Adventure created a problem for the touchscreen users to control it. So, this time they wanted to create something better which finally led to the designing of Temple Run.
After the couple was sorted with the movements of the main character, the next tough decision was coming up with a proper theme. Since the main character was only running, they decided to make a maze theme in a jungle environment. Keith also said that they drew inspiration for their game theme from the Great Wall of China.
This is how the team builds most of its games. First, they try to define the characters, and eventually, everything falls into place surrounding them. But, the hardest thing about developing a game is adding the fun element in it. Because there is no rulebook for creating anything fun or mystery about a game. So, that needs brainstorming and experimenting with by hit and trial method. What the audience might like or dislike is often the hardest yet most important question to be answered.
Before, releasing Temple Run in the market, the company has moderate expectations. But, they were surprised to witness the high demand and positive feedbacks. It was released in 2011, and by mid-2012, the game has more than 70 million downloads.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more