Electrotank Universe Platform

Wilson, North Carolina - Feb 23, 2011 – Electrotank, a leading provider of high-performance cross-platform game technology, today announced the release of version 2.0 of the Electrotank Universe Platform (EUP), the company’s unique software architecture for creating massively multiplayer games and social apps in Flash and Unity 3. 

With the launch of version 2.0, EUP adds a new player behavior stats system, enhanced community and operations tools, and the option to use AvGen, Electrotank’s proprietary approach to rendering Avatars in Flash. In addition, EUP 2.0 now runs on ElectroServer 5, the most robust cross-platform networking engine available.

As a platform, EUP combines scalable and extensible server architecture and game services with a set of powerful content and operations tools to make it easier for developers, game designers, and artists to create games that are original, engaging and fun.

“EUP’s core game services support an incredibly rich variety of gameplay—from simple social mechanics like chat, email and buddies, to more complex features like animations/abilities, crafting and questing. The next step is to give our partners the ability to capture information about player behavior, down to each individual in-game action—not only for analytics but also to drive new features and game progression.” said Electrotank CEO Michael Gold. “EUP’s new stats system does just that.”

EUP’s stats system utilizes Couch DB, the same open source solution behind many massive social applications, such as Twitter. The data captured in the system can be fed into external analytical applications, and also can be made available to the game itself, so that past player experience can directly influence the type of actions a player can take in the future, such as unlocking quest tasks or triggering rewards.

“When we were evaluating approaches to tracking player behavior we had a couple of key requirements,” said Electrotank CTO Michael Grundvig. “We wanted a solution that was in keeping with our philosophy being platform agnostic, so our clients could plug into any analytics service they choose; and, above all, we wanted a solution that could handle a massive amount of player data without constraining EUP’s ability to perform at scale.”

In addition to the stats system, EUP 2.0 comes with an enhanced version of its suite of content and operations tools, including a new tool called the Universe Inspector. The Universe Inspector gives moderators the ability to view a live snapshot of games built on EUP in real-time, and to take immediate action (muting, banning, messaging, teleporting, etc.) to manage the community experience.

EUP 2.0 also comes with a fully integrated version of AvGen, Electrotank’s proprietary approach to rendering 2D avatars in real-time using 3D models stored and cached on remote servers. The key benefits of AvGen is that it allows unmatched ability to support both highly detailed avatars and scores of animations, without sluggish performance or bulky downloads.

“We’re very excited about AvGen, particularly with respect to how it can be used with other aspects of EUP,” said Mr. Gold. “For example, in the very near future we will see live projects built on EUP that make creative use of AvGen, EUP’s item system, and our questing engine to bring together virtual goods, creative animations, and narrative arcs in ways rarely, if ever, seen in Flash-based MMOs.”

Electrotank will provide demos of both EUP and ElectroServer 5 at both the Flash Gaming Summit (Feb. 27) and the Game Developers Conference (Feb 28- Mar 4) in San Francisco.

About Electrotank

Electrotank is a leading provider of high-performance game technology. Our products include ElectroServer, the most robust real-time multi-player game server for Flash, Unity 3, iPhone, Android, XNA, and HTML5; and, the Electrotank Universe Platform (EUP), an extensible end-to-end platform for the rapid development of unique virtual worlds, MMORPGs, and social games in Flash and Unity 3. Our clients include Ubisoft, Webkinz, Neopets, Beanie Babies, Meez, Mattel, Spinmaster, MTV, Comedy Central, and many others. Visit us at www.electrotank.com.

About the Electrotank Universe Platform

The Electrotank Universe Platform (EUP) provides scalable and extensible end-to-end architecture and tools that make it easy for developers, game designers, and artists to create MMOs and social applications in both Flash and Unity 3. EUP provides fully extensible data model tied to a core framework of comprehensive game services: Avatar and inventory, rich and interactive world items, scriptable NPCs, in game trade, customizable private and shared spaces, chat, email, player relationships (buddies, enemies, etc.),  questing, crafting, item spawning, user-generated content, and more. In addition, EUP comes with a powerful set of content and community management tools with which non-developers can build world maps, create rich interactive world items, author quests, moderate and track player data and behavior, and much more. EUP has been licensed to create over a dozen full-featured virtual worlds and MMOs for clients such as Ubisoft, Mattel, and MTV, to name a few.

About ElectroServer 5

ElectroServer is the most robust real-time multiplayer networking engine for Flash, Unity 3, iPhone, Android, XNA, and HTML5. ElectroServer runs everything from social applications supporting millions of users, to fast-action real-time multiplayer games, to data-rich collaborative tools incorporating real-time audio and video. Easy to use, fast, secure, scalable and truly multi-platform. ElectroServer powers rich real-time applications that bring people together.

Matthew Wiesner

mwiesner@electrotank.com

(212) 796-2565