Shortly after pong was released by Atari in the 70s, my cousins received the game as a Christmas present. In those years, we would video tape portions of our holiday celebrations to send my grandparents who were down in Florida. The recorder was accidentally left on that year and we ended up with 7 hours of video taped carpet with the soundtrack of pong playing nonstop in the background. My brother and cousins had stayed up all night playing the game.
While I never developed the video game bug the way that they did, my daughter, who is in art school studying communication design, has a strong passion for it. Her dream is to get into video game design and world building. Why not? It’s an explosive industry with so much creative opportunity, but she will most likely need to work away from Maine to make this dream a reality. There aren’t a lot of video game designers in Maine. But, I did find one!
Eagre Games is located in Orono, Maine. Their mission statement reads…
“Devoted to developing non-violent, beautifully immersive, story-driven games.”
Eagre Games is currently developing ZED a KickStarter funded adventure game. Updates on the development progress are posted on their KickStarter page with a recent update posted last month. They are in final stages of development and should be releasing the game soon. I haven’t been this excited with a KickStarter campaign since Veronica Mars.
Here is the official trailer for the game from the Eagre Games YouTube Channel. It’s from May 2016, so I’m sure a lot may change before the final release but it gives an idea of the beautiful visuals and dreamlike quality of the world.
Eagre games was founded by Chuck Carter who has worked on many other video games including Myst and the Command and Conquer series. I listened to a great podcast interview with Chuck Carter on The Maine Show | Episode 042. The podcast goes through Chuck’s background and path to opening a video game design company in Maine with both joys and the challenges, as well as insight into the industry.
I love the fact that there is someone in Maine carving out a niche in an industry not generally associated with our state.
Do you like to play video games? Do you have a favorite?
| things to know | |
|---|---|
| Company Name | Eagre Games |
| Location | 20 Godfrey Dr, Ste 212 Orono, Maine |
| phone | (207) 907-0800 |
| Website | Eagre Games |
| Favorite ♥ | Dreamlike Quality |
Weekends in Maine 
I remember my step children playing pong. And I used to play Donkey Kong. That was absolutely ages ago.
@msdeniseh553
Denise at My Life in Retirement Euromast Tower, Rotterdam
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Ah, the classics. I think they’re making a come back.
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I worked in game design for a year, it was lots of fun. Good luck to your daughter! 🙂
The Multicolored Diary: WTF – Weird Things in Folktales
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Thank you. She’s really into the world building aspect of game design.
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I don’t play video games, but my son on the other hand. He’s in Signals with the Army and apparently gaming is everyone’s pastime.
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It’s amazing how popular and wide spread video games are especially the online role playing games. I’ve never tried them myself but people love them.
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I used to play a lot of video games, back when I was much younger! I recently read a book on the era of games I was part of, Masters of Doom. I think it would probably appeal to someone who didn’t play games, but I really don’t know – there is a lot of talk of the games I played growing up.
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Masters of Doom sounds like an interesting book. I might have to check that one out. I love behind the scenes stories.
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It was good – I never really thought about what went into making video games at all before I read it.
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I have never been fascinated with video games, but my nieces and nephews are devoted to them. I wish your daughter all the best, I am sure she will succeed! It IS a fabulously lucrative industry. Thank you for coming by my blog, Karen! To me, Maine always spells Stephen King!
Vidya Sury
VidyaSury.com
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Thank you! Stephen King says Maine to me too He’s also really funny on Twitter.
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I really like the ethos behind these games – so nice for it to not be about shooting people or running them over in speeding cars! It’s great that someone can create something peaceful and beautiful and still be successful. It’s a long way from Pong though!
Leanne | cresting the hill
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I like that they are creating something kinder and gentler too.
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