Kixeye Logo |
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | July 2007 |
| Founder(s) | Paul Preece David Scott |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, United States |
| Products | Backyard Monsters, War Commander, Battle Pirates, Desktop Defender |
| Owner(s) | Kixeye |
| Website | kixeye.com |
KIXEYE (formerly called The Casual Collective) is a Flash gaming company created by Paul Preece and David Scott, game developers who are known for Desktop Tower Defense and Flash Element TD, respectively.[1][2] It developed several games, including newer versions of Desktop Tower Defense and Flash Element TD, the flash game Minions, and other games developed by Preece, Scott, and hired game developers such as Backyard Monsters, which achieved the Mochi Award for Best Social Game of 2010.[3] KIXEYE is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners[4] and Trinity Ventures.[5] The company's CEO is Will Harbin.[6] On 28 April 2011, Casual Collective officially changed its name to KIXEYE.[7]
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KIXEYE was founded in 2008.[8] Originally called Casual Collective, the website was launched as early as July 2007.[9] At this time, the site was in beta mode, and registration on the site was by invite only until December 2007, when the site was made public. In November 2008, KIXEYE received $1 million in seed funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners,[10] and the site was redesigned. The redesigned site was dubbed "CC2".[11] A later update ("CC2.5") introduced AJAX script to the site.[12] On 27 February 2011, the main domain was replaced with an information page about the company, and the old website was moved to a subdomain of the site, old.casualcollective.com.[13] On 28 April 2011, Casual Collective officially changed its name to KIXEYE.[7]
KIXEYE currently offers sixteen games, thirteen of which are found on the old Casual Collective website and three of which on Facebook. The thirteen games currently available on the old Casual Collective website are: Attack of the Buggles, Buggle Connect, Buggle Stars, Desktop Armada, Desktop Tower Defense, Farragomate, Flash Element Tower Defense 2, Minions, Minions on Ice, Push, The Space Game, The Space Game: Missions, and Splitter 2. Backyard Monsters,[14][15][16] Desktop Defender[17] and "War Commander" (newly added game) and Battle Pirates[18][19] have been published on Facebook; Backyard Monsters is noted as offering something slightly different than most other facebook games, and has a slow but steady growth rate; and it is also available on Bebo and on kongregate.[20] War Commander is currently in private beta. [21]
About the games :
Battle Pirates : This is a naval strategic warfare game.The players are termed as pirates and a computer character of 'DRACONA' exists . The objective of the game is to make better ships and win in naval fights and base(resource storage) fights .
Besides the flash games, the old Casual Collective website also features a social side with forums, user-created clubs and teams, a wiki[22] and an internet radio, amongst others. There is a special "tasks" feature which helps new users to explore the various features of the site.[23]
KIXEYE has its own virtual currency, "Casual Credits". With Casual Credits, one can buy gifts and website enhancements (amongst others) for oneself or other members. They can be purchased using PayPal, Amazon and Google Checkout or other services. They can also be earned for free through special offers.[24]
KIXEYE radio is a live broadcast service provided by Live365. The radio is streamed live, and is controlled by a disk jockey (DJ). The DJs are volunteer users of KIXEYE who have been approved to broadcast by a special committee. When streaming, the bubble shows up on the top of old Casual Collective website to notify that the radio is broadcasting.
KIXEYE's wiki contains information on various topics related to the site such as its games and player-created content. It can be edited by logged-in members who have reached a certain 'site level'.[22]
KIXEYE offers social networking features. These include clubs, which interested users can create and join. It also offers moderated forums and chat rooms provided by Meebo. Chat is also enabled in all of the six multiplayer games. In addition, all user profiles and clubs contain shoutboxes. Individual users can also add blog entries on their profile.