Triangle Factory
Company typeVideo game developer
IndustryInteractive entertainment
Foundedjanuary 25, 2010
FounderTimothy Vanherberghen
Headquarters,
Websitehttp://www.triangle-factory.be

About

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Triangle Factory is an independent game developer based in Ghent, Belgium mostly known for their mobile app "Trivia Switch" based on the Belgian television show "Switch". Triangle Factory has a strong focus on Mobile ,Virtual reality and Augmented Reality content in games and various other applications. The company was founded in 2010 and currently employs around 10 employees.

They are the developer behind AR Sports Basketball and Trivia Switch. Apart from mobile games, Triangle Factory produces location based entertainment (LBE) virtual reality content and has created multiple virtual reality games. Triangle Factory also provides products for other companies in different industries including training, engineering, medical, aerospace and entertainment.

History

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Early history

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The company was founded in 2010 by alumni from Digital Arts & Entertainment in Kortrijk Belgium. It started by 4 students (Kenny Deriemaeker, Filip Van Bouwel, Timothy Vanherberghen and Jeroen van Raevels) participating in the Microsoft Imagine Cup [1] 2008 held in Paris, the first edition to include game development. The theme for the 2008 Imagine cup was based around sustainability & environmental issues. The team entered this competition with the game 'Future flow'. The idea behind Future Flow was to build a city and solve sustainability and environmental issues by solving puzzles. They reached second place in the category: Game Development.[2]

Later

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Triangle Factory started out as an independent videogame company with the focus on their own games. Later, the company started working on interactive applications for other companies as well as their own games. In 2014 they started using virtual reality to developed various applications[3] [4]. They released some of their own games over the course of the years, but never had great succes. Their first big hit occurred when Triangle Factory started working with bigger companies. They launched the mobile game Trivia Switch based on a television show in Belgium. Trivia Switch eventually went on to win best Mobile/Handheld game in the Belgian game awards 2019.[5] Nowadays the company mainly focuses on mobile games and location based entertainment (LBE) Virtual reality content [6], while still developing and maintaining applications for other companies. Working for bigger companies allowed Triangle Factory to get their games out to the public. The IP from these collaborations resulted in more media coverage for the games created by Triangle Factory.

Notable works

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Location based virtual reality

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On January the 23th 2019, De Dag (a LBVR application) was released in The Park Ghent & The Park Antwerp[7].Triangle Factory developed "De Dag" (together with Telenet and The Park Playground) based on the Belgian television series "De Dag" aired on VIER. [8] [9] According to "De Standaard"[10], De Dag was one of the first 'free roam' VR experiences available in Belgium, this and the link to the television series boosted the usage of the application. These kind of applications are mainly used by companies for teambuilding. The game is about a little town being shook up by a bank robbery that got out of hand. The players are part of a SWAT team that has to enter the bank to keep order.

Furthermore Triangle Factory has worked on The Hallow, another location based virtual reality game made for The Park Playground, and BlackStar VR, which was a location based virtual reality game created for VR Base.

Mobile

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Triangle Factory's Trivia Switch was their first mobile hit, Triangle Factory stated that their own games before Trivia Switch didn't do that well. The game was a collaboration between Panenka[11], VRT and Triangle Factory [12], which is based on the Belgian quiz show "Switch". The app was partly funded by VAF Gamefonds and the marketing was handled by één with a series of commercials that aired between prime time programs on één. [13][14] According to Belgian newspaper "De Tijd" , the popularity of Switch was an exception, being developed by an indie company such as Triangle Factory, with the mobile market being over saturated by companies such as Supercell and Tencent[15]. The game doesn't use points, instead it uses the time you take to answer to move places in the ranking. [16] Trivia Switch was nominated in the category "best Business" in the 2019 Belgian game awards, awarded by Flanders DC and also won the price for best Mobile/handheld game in the same award show.

AR Sports basketball was another one of Triangle Factory's mobile games. With Apples new iOS11, Apple also released the new category 'Amazing AR Games'. The game "AR Sports basketball" got featured by Apple in this new category[17] . The game received over +500.000 downloads within the first weeks of release [18], and in march 2018, the application became the number 5 most downloaded ARKit Game.

Awards & Accomplishments

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  • Winner for best Mobile/handheld game in the 2019 Belgian game awards[19]
  • "Winner 2nd place, game development" - Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008, Paris[2]
  • AR Sports Basketball featured by Apple under the "Amazing AR Games" category with over +500.000 downloads the first weeks of release.
  • "AR Sports Basketball #5 most downloaded ARKit game, March 2018"[20]
  • Nominated for best Business (awarded by Flanders DC) in the 2019 Belgian game awards[21]

Projects[22]

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Video games

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  • De Dag - Location based entertainment VR experience based on the critically acclaimed Belgian TV series.
  • The hallow - Location based entertainment VR experience for The Park Playground from Telenet.
  • Blackstar VR - Location based entertainment VR game launched by VR Base in Belgium.
  • AR Sports Basketball - Featured by Apple in the “Amazing AR Games” section during the launch of iOS 11.
  • Trivia Switch - mobile game based on the similarly named TV show “Switch”.
  • Poppets - augmented reality puppet theater experience.
  • Yeti, Set, Go! - mobile game for iOS and Android.[23]
  • BrightFrog Holiday - holiday themed dancing game for ages 4+.
  • BrightFrog Dinner - children's' game for ages 4+.
  • GP Awards - branded game developed for the advertisement agency Ad!Fundum.
  • Samsonite B-Lite Fresh - Game created for promotion of a new luggage line by Samsonite.
  • MyClub - Facebook game created in late 2010.
  • Crash Town - mobile game for iOS and Android.

Serious games/ Other

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  • Crashpunt - mobile game for iOS and Android.[24] [25]
  • Africa VR - African themed VR experience using the Oculus Rift.
  • Historium Brugge - recreation of Bruges during the 15th century (virtual reality).
  • Jori - 3D product configuration.
  • Safegate VR - Virtual simulation of docking an Airbus A380.
  • neoPAL - mobile application to teach the basics of neonatal postural alignment.
  • Quantum Caring for Parents - interactive application to introduce parents to neonatal intensive care.
  • Class Compete - educational game for kids.
  • Virtually Safe - educational game for the University of Kent (UK).
  • Rosalie - Game created for De Panne, targeted at families with children aged 8 to 14.
  • Graphine Mines Demo - Tech demo showcasing texture streaming technology


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Triangle Factory website

References

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  1. ^ https://news.microsoft.com/2008/07/08/microsoft-announces-imagine-cup-2008-winners/ , Article Microsoft, retrieved 14 February 2019
  2. ^ a b https://www.digimedia.be/News/nl/4176/studenten-digital-arts-and-entertainment-bij-wereldtop-in-microsoft-imagine-cup.html , Article (Dutch) Digimedia, retrieved 14 February 2019
  3. ^ https://www.hln.be/regio/gent/flat-verkennen-voor-hij-gebouwd-is~a853f2a5/ , Article (Dutch) HLN, retrieved 15 February 2019
  4. ^ https://kanaalz.knack.be/embed/video/556037 News fragment (Dutch) KanaalZ, retrieved 28 February 2019
  5. ^ https://www.1up-conference.com/news/bga-winners ,best Mobile/handheld category, retrieved 17 February 2019
  6. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiWuaUD37GQ , TEDx Talks Youtube, retrieved 13 February 2019
  7. ^ https://pub.be/nl/telenet-beleeft-de-dag-in-virtual-reality/ , Article about 'De Dag' (Dutch) PUB, 14 February 2019
  8. ^ https://www.demorgen.be/tvmedia/na-de-tv-reeks-de-shooter-de-dag-is-nu-ook-een-game-b9beb832/ , Article about 'De Dag' (Dutch) De Morgen, 14 February 2019
  9. ^ https://www.9lives.be/special/vr-ervaring-van-de-dag-eerste-vlaamse-swat-shooter , Article about 'De Dag' (Dutch) 9lives, retrieved 14 February 2019
  10. ^ http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20190124_04129727 , Article about 'De Dag' (Dutch) De Standaard, retrieved 14 February 2019
  11. ^ https://www.mediarte.be/nl/point-of-view-kato-maes , Article with Kato Maes (One alinea about the development of switch), managing partner Panenka, retrieved 14 February 2019
  12. ^ https://www.flandersdc.be/nl/magazine/triangle-factory-switch , Article about Trivia Switch (Dutch) Flanders DC, retrieved 14 February 2019
  13. ^ http://www.flega.be/switch-shows-what-a-great-crossmedia-production-should-look-like/ , Article about Trivia Switch (English) Flemish game association, retrieved 14 February 2019
  14. ^ http://www.madeinoostvlaanderen.be/nieuws/triangle-factory-boekt-ongezien-succes-met-nieuwe-app/ , Article about Trivia Switch (Dutch) MadeInOostVlaanderen (regional business news) , retrieved 13 February 2019
  15. ^ https://www.tijd.be/nieuws/archief/Mobiel-is-zegen-en-vloek-voor-games/9926322 , Article (Dutch) De Tijd, retrieved 14 February 2019
  16. ^ https://www.vrt.be/nl/over-de-vrt/nieuws/2017/06/25/switch-spel/ , Article about Trivia Switch (Dutch) VRT , retrieved 14 February 2019
  17. ^ https://www.hln.be/ihln/games/gents-bedrijfje-werkt-zich-op-slimme-manier-in-de-kijker-in-app-store~a3449e6e/ , Article about AR Sports Basketball (Dutch) HLN , retrieved 13 February 2019
  18. ^ https://www.sporttechie.com/arkit-powered-app-lets-users-shoot-hoops-anywhere/ , Article about AR Sports Basketball (English) Sporttechie , retrieved 19 February 2019
  19. ^ https://www.1up-conference.com/news/bga-winners ,best Mobile/handheld category, retrieved 17 February 2019
  20. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/28/arkit-only-apps-top-13-million-installs-nearly-half-are-games/ , Article about ARKit (English) TechCrunch , retrieved 12 February 2019
  21. ^ http://www.flega.be/and-the-belgian-game-awards-2019-nominees-are/ , Best Business Category , retrieved 13 February 2019
  22. ^ https://www.triangle-factory.be/portfolio portfolio pieces, retrieved 12 February 2019
  23. ^ http://www.digitalartsandentertainment.be/article/44/Triangle+FactoryreleasesYeti+set+go%21, Article (English) , Digital Arts & Entertainmen Howest Kortrijk, retrieved 13 February 2019
  24. ^ http://www.meerveiligverkeer.be/ , City of Antwerp belgium, retrieved 14 February 2019
  25. ^ https://www.hln.be/nieuws/binnenland/-roekeloze-fietsers-moeten-gedrag-aanpassen~ad49b3ff/ , Article (Dutch) HLN , retrieved 14 February 2019

Category:Video game companies of Belgium