Gardens looking to cultivate healthy spaces for work and play
Brendan Sinclair
Managing Editor
Wednesday 2nd February 2022
The people behind upstart online multiplayer studio Gardens Interactive are very conscious of the connotations that come with the name.
The studio's three co-founders -- brothers Chris Bell and Stephen Bell, along with Lexie Dostal -- are looking to carefully cultivate both their workplace and their player community to ensure everyone can thrive. They've also found support to bring that vision to life, having raised a $4.5 million seed funding round last year led by Transcend Fund with participation from 1Up Ventures, FunPlus, and David Baron.
"We want to make online worlds that build upon some of the ideas in our past work, be it Journey or Sky: Children of the Light, but in particular these games that foster lasting friendships," Chris tells GamesIndustry.biz.
"In talking to investors, that was a thing that really attracted them -- particularly the investors we partnered with -- and a vision they believe in: worlds that players want to spend time in, worlds where they can foster those lasting relationships, worlds that foster memorable and meaningful moments between players online."
Gardens will draw inspiration from its developers past online multiplayer work
Chris and Stephen are well acquainted with worlds like that, having both worked on That Game Company's distinctive approach to online multiplayer with Sky (and Chris on its predecessor Journey as well). On top of that, Stephen has served as designer and narrative lead on Blaseball, the online community-led pseudosport sensation.
"Both with the game we're making and the way we're approaching the company, we often say we really believe in sustainable collective growth," Stephen says. "We can't give too much away,
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