A few years ago, I established my own company, MindPol. We developed several games for mobile platform with our own game engine technology. I ran my company for about 3 years and 6 months. Today, I’m going to tell you some memorable moments of MindPol.
MindPol and Galatea Engine 2007-2010
The company MindPol was started with technology on game engine at first. The Galatea Engine, a name of our engine, supported rendering 3D models with software skinned animations, massive particle systems with editor, various texture formats with tool, useful user interface classes, and also rendering fonts for Hangul character system. Furthermore, Galatea Engine was designed to support portable platforms including PC at first. It supported experimentally Nintendo DS platform too with specialized features such as Fixed-Point data type or rendering 3D models in cartoon style.
We also developed a game called The Flower And The Wind (꽃과 바람) to introduce our technique. It was a arcade game with adorable action characters in 3D graphics. We demonstrated our engine skills effectively with it even if we couldn’t publish the game to the end.
Now we have a couple of great game engines, however it was way different back then. There were tons of game engines, and lots of solutions had their own specilized features with own philosophy. Since we focused on mobile platforms like Windows Mobile or Android early, we could have a chance to make our own business.
We also participated in G-TEK 2009, Global Technology Exhibition in Korea, and demonstrated our engine with mobile 3D graphics running smoothly on Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 device. It was quite impressive at that time because Xperia X1 was a device accelerated 3D graphics officially with very first GPU chip by Qualcomm. We’ve got attentions from XDA forum and companies who want to cooperate and share our experiences on mobile platforms.
- Galatea Engine Demos on Xperia X1 for G-TEK 2009
- Galatea Engine Samples on Samsung Omnia 2 (i8000)
Now, let’s talk about games after we developed a game engine.
2009-2010 10 Games for Betting (Windows Mobile, iPhone)
10 Games for Betting was a collection of tiny betting games. It was very fun and light to enjoy. Lots of people downloaded and enjoyed it from various market. We estimate there were more than 200,000 downloads altogether. Actually, it achieved quite good because there weren’t plenty of games on Windows Mobile at that time. This game was awarded a bronze prize too in Samsung Application Store Developer Challenge 2009.
- 10 Games for Betting on Windows Mobile Xperia X1
2009-2010 Run Kattie (Windows Mobile, iPhone)
Run Kattie was a casual 3D game that a cat is a hero jumping between buildings and avoiding obstacles on the roof. People loved the cat character because she was so cute and adorable. There were 3 amazing maps with theme songs, and various items to play fun.
- Playing Run Kattie for iOS (Apple iPhone)
- Playing Run Kattie on HTC HD2 (Windows Mobile)
After we released Run Kattie, we thought now it’s time for heading towards new platform, iPhone market. With a little work on our engine code, we could simply make our products run on iPhone platform.
2010 Sweety Ball – Fairy Tale Edition (iOS, iPhone)
Sweety Ball – Fairy Tale Edition was a kind of snow ball toy. It was an entertainment app designed for everyone. There were 3 themes with songs, and also was a feature for creating customized theme with a user message and picture. People loved this tiny interactive snow ball app.
- Sweety Ball – Fairy Tale Edition for iOS Playing
2010 Sys-Cake – Shut Da Mouth (iOS, iPhone)
The Sys-Cake was a very special project of our work. It was so experimental, and we wanted to make something unique with electronic music. We contacted a few musicians, and we could have a chance to collaborate with Shut Da Mouth, one of great DJ duos with DJ Beejay. It was so great opportunity to us actually. We enjoyed working on this project, and we could release Sys-Cake – Shut Da Mouth proudly. It was a collaborated DJ app with awesome club music. You could make and play your own club music with this tiny DJ app on Shut Da Mouth style. It was really fun there! Wherever you go with it, you could make it club style!
- Sys-Cake – Shut Da Mouth for iOS Introduction
- Sys-Cake – Shut Da Mouth for iOS Ghost Playing
2010 House Rulez – Magic Television (iOS, iPhone)
After Sys-Cake project, we wanted to continue developing music app more. We this time decided to develop music album app with musicians. House Rulez was one of impressive musicians in groove and house music. Their music style was so special and unique. We fortunately could have a chance to meet them to discuss our next project. It was so great since we had a great idea for music application on mobile platform. We finally published House Rulez – Magic Television which had entire songs of their 3th album, lyrics, and also a special hidden song. It was very special because extra song was only provided with our app. We also provided lots of animations in the style of album jacket.
- House Rulez – Magic Television (3th Album) for iOS
Remember the mind for precious our life..
Over a long term of years, MindPol developed various games and apps on mobile platforms. We can’t say that our business was successful, however it was priceless time. I was young, and guts and passion were the only things I had. No matter how much I spent my time, it’s a valuable experience which I don’t want to exchange forever. We had lots of partners at that time including big firms such as Microsoft or Samsung. I hope MindPol contributes a little bit to mobile industry. Thank you for reading my old memories.
Here’s the list of all products and platforms of MindPol.
- 2010 Techno Bone Galaxy Tab (Android, Galaxy Tab)
- 2010 House Rulez – Magic Television (iOS, iPhone)
- 2010 Sys-Cake – Shut Da Mouth (iOS, iPhone)
- 2010 Sweety Ball – Fairy Tale Edition (iOS, iPhone)
- 2010 Run Kattie (iOS, iPhone)
- 2010 10 Games for Betting (iOS, iPhone)
- 2010 Buggy Exterminator (iOS, iPhone)
- 2010 Galatea Engine iOS (iOS, iPhone)
- 2009 Run Kattie (Windows Mobile)
- 2009 10 Games for Betting (Windows Mobile)
- 2009 Buggy Exterminator (Windows Mobile)
- 2009 Galatea Engine WM (Windows Mobile)
- 2008 꽃과 바람 (Nintendo DS)
- 2008 Galatea Engine DS (Nintendo DS)
Seungwook Chi 