Welcome to PLA Studios. Here we make games.
PLA is a game development studio based in London. We work with brands, publishers, educators, platform holders and artists to create fun, truly engaging gaming experiences.
From day one, our development process is goal-driven. So, whether you're looking to reach a new audience, educate, or just entertain a hell of a lot of people - we can make a game that works for you.
The fact that Azealia Banks titled her mixtape “Fantasea” should tell you how fond she is of all things aquatic and mermaids in particular!
When Azealia wanted to share her love of the deep with fans, Interscope turned to PLA to produce a fun, engaging, 3D underwater world that music fans could roam whist enjoying her song “212”.
Using Fantasea album’s brilliant, colourful artwork as an inspiration, PLA produced a full 3D web game in Unity 3D, challenging players to collect as many floating stars as they can before the song finished.
When the Heinz Ketchup UK team took to facebook with their “Secret Ingredient” app, We Are Social partnered with PLA to bring an accessible, casual gaming element to the user’s experience.
The challenge was to develop a HTML5 game within the Facebook app that users would be able to access from their desktop web browser, but also via mobile browser on their smartphone, or even iPad.
A great opportunity to showcase the cross-platform capabilities of our HTML5 tools.
Have you ever tried to learn NATO map symbols? Probably not, it is incredibly boring and you probably have better things to do with your time. But for many service men and women it is a vital part of their training that is all too easy to forget over time.
This “skill fade” is a real problem for armed forces everywhere and when the Royal Armoured Corps asked us to combat it, we were all too willing to oblige.
Map Commander is a game for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that mixes the best mechanics of touch screen tower defense and time pressure gameplay to teach players map marking in a genuinely fun, engaging way.
Await orders from your general, select the right units and drag them to where they are needed in the 3D battle board. Select an incorrect unit and the game shows you where you went wrong.
Map Commander is currently in development, if you are interested in education and training through games, contact robin [at] plastudios.co.uk
When Universal Music were looking to increase up and coming US artist Mac Miller’s profile online and reward his fans for their support, they came to us for a fun, easily accessible game to promote the “Blue Slide Park” Album.
We developed a randomly generated 3D slide game of skill and quick reactions that would have players coming back to chase those high scores!
Blue Slide Park – The Game linked closely into Twitter, Facebook and Youtube and in within the first 24 hours over 100,000 individuals played the game, with an average dwell time of over 7 minutes and a whopping 32% return rate!
“A mercenary hire’an’fire’em’up”
Squaddies is PLA Studios’ current own IP project and winner of the TIGA Games contest social games category. We are currently developing a prototype of the game in partnership with Turbulenz and Abertay University.
For a sneak peak at the game’s concept art and regular news on the development you can visit the Squaddies development blog here: http://squaddies.tumblr.com/
To accompany the launch of Keane’s album “Strangeland”, which hit number 1 in the UK Album Chart, Island Records asked us to produce a short, atmospheric, game for the band’s Facebook fans.
Players explored a gradually expanding world based around the band’s imagery and album art, eventually escaping the gloom and earning themselves a free track download.
Our quickest turn around project ever! Get 182 was a simple and ridiculously addictive game we created in 2 days for Universal Music. The object was to promote the launch of Blink 182’s new album “Neighborhoods” and push it up the Amazon pre-order chart.
In a storming launch the game wracked up over a MILLION plays within the first 2 HOURS live.
Amongst a flurry of social media buzz, the game pushed the album to number 4 in the Amazon preorder chart over night and even prompted Zane Lowe to praise it openly on BBC Radio 1.
What do dinosaurs and speedboats have in common? They both star in Springbreak Hero. Developed as an experiment in user-created content and social sharing in Unity 3D, Springbreak Hero is an asynchronous multiplayer racing game playable in browser.
The game allows players to create a dinosaur obstacle-laden watery track, then race round it in their speedboat as fast as they can. Each track created and each player’s lap are recorded and stored at a unique url. Share the url and the your friends are taken straight to the game and straight to your track, where they race head to head against a recording of your best lap!
The game proved immensely popular amongst the more competitive individuals, who recorded over 40,000 tracks and ghosts in the first week
At the heart of a good application is excellent user experience. The best applications, whether native or web-based, are designed from day one to be not just practical, but also engaging and pleasant to use.
At PLA, we are expert in crafting an interactive experience, combining an efficient technical resource with the invaluable design experience drawn from the games and brand communications fields.
From platform advice to budgeting and objectives, we're here to offer guidance no matter what stage you are at. If you're not quite sure what direction you want to take, or which will best accomplish your aims and fit your audience, our team can help.
Who do we work with?
Brands
At the heart of our work is the potential for games to serve as effective brand engagement tools. In a world of rapidly evolving, converging and overlapping media channels, games are a hugely valuable part of the modern media toolkit. We can work with you to deliver a bespoke, compelling, interactive experience designed specifically to serve your needs.
Peer to peer endorsement is one of the most effective ways to get your brand, service or message noticed. PLA specialise in creating games designed specifically to encourage players to spread their gaming experience virally through their own social channels.
Whether you're looking for a stand-alone browser game in a dedicated website, or a social game hosted within an existing platform, we can produce an interactive experience that will have your players driving your message for you.
Educators
Our games can really bring a subject to life for students and casual public audiences alike. An immersive, enjoyable experience can frame a complex or difficult topic in a way highly conducive to learning. From infancy we naturally learn through play and first hand interaction and in adulthood this remains the most effective and engaging way for us to approach a new topic.
Alongside our games, PLA also develops a series of platforms that allow our clients to transform their traditional format teaching resources into interactive reference applications for tablets and smart phones. If you are interested in maximizing the effectiveness of this new generation of devices for education or training, email robin [at] plastudios.co.uk
Publishers & Platforms
The world of games is a diverse and rapidly evolving one. New hardware, social platforms and trends in online behaviour mean new opportunities for innovative game design. We work with publishers and platform holders to make sure their audiences have great, enjoyable content designed for them.
IP Owners/Other Media
The rise of gaming and the general convergence of media means huge opportunities for existing IP to expand into games. Increasingly TV, film, book and even music audiences have a huge gaming contingent. New markets and monetization channels are now opening that have never been available before and PLA are perfectly placed to help you get the most from an audience of gamers you probably already have!
Peer to peer endorsement is one of the most effective ways to get your brand, service or message noticed. PLA specialise in creating games designed specifically to encourage players to spread their gaming experience virally through their own social channels.
Whether you're looking for a stand-alone browser game in a dedicated website, or a social game hosted within Facebook, we can produce an interactive experience that will have your players driving your message for you.
We can target specific demographics, monitor player behaviour and spread a game virally to a huge audience, giving you a fantastic ROI for your budget.
Robin Lacey
robin [at] plastudios.co.uk
Tom Page
tom [at] plastudios.co.uk
PLA Studios
The Old Truman Brewery
91 Brick Lane
London E1 6QL
twitter: @plastudios