Summary:
«A Melbourne startup has raised $9m in funding for a mobile game aimed at mental wellness in what is said to be the largest venture capital seed investment for a game studio founded by women in Australia.»
«Lumi Interactive has been developing Kinder World since 2020. Its players take care of houseplants – which can’t be killed, and won’t die if they leave the game for too long. There are emotional check-ins where they can write down how they are feeling, or express daily gratitude, and message-in-a-bottle type kindness notes can be left for other players.»
«The premise was was conceived during the six pandemic lockdowns in Melbourne between 2020 and 2021 when, according to Lumi’s co-founder Lauren Clinnick, random acts of kindness made the world a better place.»
«“[It was] a really conscious design decision [for the plants to live] so that it wouldn’t feel like something you could fail or feel really pressured and never come back to,” Clinnick said.»
«She said the wellness aspect had been developed on the advice of a behavioural researcher, Dr Hannah Gunderman, and had been embraced by women and non-binary users on TikTok who provided feedback on the game’s development.»
Article written by Josh Taylor.
26|04|2022
Source:
The Guardian