A retirement gift for a coworker: a whole career, as a video game

How a retirement game works

1. Tell us who they are

   Our guide asks the right questions, about 10 minutes: what they did, who they worked with and the stories told at every coffee break. It saves itself and you can finish another day. Photos if you like, for their pixel portrait.

2. We write and build their game

   We show you the script before building it. It's ready 7 days after we have their full story, or in 72 hours with the rush option.

3. Give it to them at their leaving do

   They get a private link. It plays on a phone, a computer or the TV, with nothing to install.

Ideas for what their game could include

• Their job, one last time

  A chapter at the office, the hospital or the school, with colleagues as characters asking for one final favour.

• Monday is the final boss

  Or the photocopier that never worked, or the quarterly report. Whatever they suffered most, as a boss fight.

• What comes next

  An ending on the beach, in the garden or travelling: their retirement plans, with messages from the whole team.

• The coffee break quiz

  Questions only the team can answer: their mug, their parking spot, their legendary email.

How to give it

Project it in the room at the leaving lunch and let them play in front of everyone. With the Celebration edition, colleagues can pass the controller in the minigames; if the whole team should star, the Special commission is built for that.

Scenes their game could have

• 

  Work

  The printer that always jams, turned into the final boss. And the meeting that could have been an email, as a choice to laugh at.

• 

  Their job

  The ER, the classroom or the workshop: their working day, with their colleagues as characters.

See every scene →

Play a demo for this occasion

• The team saying goodbye to a colleague

  Pam retires

  34 years of elevenses, a rebel printer as the final boss and her first Tuesday of retirement, cycling up Box Hill.

  ▶ Play the demo

Made-up people: this is what a complete game looks like before you order yours.

Why it's different

Not a template with their name on it

Some “personalised” games swap the hero's name and little else. We write a story with chapters, and what really happens in their life becomes what you play. Three examples from the demo:

1. What we were told“At his niece's wedding in 1998, he took the waiter carrying the four-tier cake for a cha-cha-cha.”

   What you playA rhythm minigame: you dance with the waiter to the beat… and the cake ends up on the floor, just like that day.

2. What we were told“His little dog Biscuit eats whatever she shouldn't.”

   What you playA puzzle: Biscuit has the car key. You have to fill her bowl so she drops it.

3. What we were told“His old Mini hardly ever starts: every Sunday he pushes it down the road with his mate and the neighbours.”

   What you playA race against the clock pushing the Mini down the road, collecting cha-cha records on the way.

Every game is directed by a person in the studio: they write the humour for that person, play it all the way through and nothing ships without their OK. 16-bit pixel art and original music, composed for the studio.

Price

Choose their edition

You get it within 7 days of completing the guide (72 h with Rush).

Rush 72 h · +40 € Adds to any edition: you get it within 72 hours of completing the guide.

Give it as a group: a 179 € Special commission split between six friends is under 30 € each. One person pays and you split it however you like.

You start free: tell us their story with the guide (about 10 minutes) and pay at the end, once you've seen how it looks. Before building it we show you the script: if it doesn't convince you, we refund 100 %.

Your game will stay online for at least 5 years from delivery; if we ever had to take it down, we'll warn you well in advance and give you a way to keep it.

Changes

What changes include

Before building the game we show you the script: you can change anything there. Once the game is built, you get 1 round of changes with Adventure, 2 with Celebration and 3 with the Special commission.

Frequently asked questions

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