Video game play dynamics encompass core gameplay loops, challenge scaling, feedback systems, player agency, progression mechanics, resource management, risk-reward balance, pacing, emergent gameplay, and multiplayer interactions, collectively creating an engaging and immersive player experience. These dynamics often target dopamine release, contributing to games’ captivating and potentially addictive nature, while raising ethical game design questions. MOTHER Games is an independent gaming studio that just emerged from stealth, focused on building titles that build an immersive experience without continuously harvesting attention. Their debut game, Le Zoo, is a multiplayer 3D open world that takes players on a metaphorical zoo journey, emphasizing serotonin-driven emotional responses and social bonding to expand player perception. Adopting an iterative development model, MOTHER Games allows early players to directly influence the game’s evolution, avoiding the disengagement often associated with static, finished games. The game uses a freemium model with options for paid functional and hedonistic benefits.
AlleyWatch caught up with MOTHER Games CEO and Cofounder Kelsey Falter to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, recent round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
BoxGroup, Shine, and Lerer Hippeau. We’re not really sure what “round” to call it because round naming convention feels fluid these days, so we’re saying pre-seed. So far, we’ve raised $5M. It’s not just about the money, though – our investors believe in our mission to take a quantum leap forward in transforming reality as we know it. The funding fuels the creation of our debut title Le Zoo and everything that comes next.
Tell us about the product or service that MOTHER Games offers.
MOTHER creates transformative experiences through play. With Le Zoo, our first free-to-play multiplayer game, players take a psychedelic journey through a metaphorical zoo, exploring surrealist landscapes and a library of mini-games. The game is designed to expand the inner world of every player who jumps into the zoo all while making you laugh with witty dry humor within the game’s interactive and emergent storyline. As you play Le Zoo, your reality will be reflected back to you – showing players they are the author of their own reality and the only way out is within.
What inspired the start of MOTHER Games?
MOTHER was born from disillusionment, motherhood, psychedelics, and our own mind-body practices. We have a message, and games are an amazing message delivery system.
How is MOTHER Games different?
At MOTHER Games, we’re focused on creating an experience of opening and expansion for our players. We are not trying to addict anyone or harvest attention. While traditional games hook players with dopamine-driven casino antics, we focus on the serotonin system to expand perception and spark inspiration within players. We recognize humans as ever-expanding beings who can evolve and grow through play.
We are inventing a new delivery model. Many games on our scale would take years to see the light of day. Incumbent gaming and media companies operate on a waterfall release cycle, giving players access to a multi-year creation at a long-awaited delivery date. Whereas, we’re inviting players to participate in our process of creation. We set up Le Zoo similar to how many other consumer applications deliver their product. We are letting players into the Le Zoo theme park while construction is ongoing. We are happy to share how we are inventing ourselves, and we believe players are ready for this level of transparency.
What market does Mother Games target and how big is it?
MOTHER Games targets smartphone users aged 17 to 30, with a focus on all genders equally. Our audience craves fun, escape, mastery, and social interaction. The mobile gaming sector is vast and expanding, with billions of potential players worldwide seeking meaningful and transformative experiences especially as they age out of other live-service games or seek a gameplay experience that offers various session types within a single title.
What’s your business model?
At MOTHER Games, our business model mirrors value systems present in life on earth. For example, features like transparent character skins cost more because there are higher resource requirements associated with supporting them. Although Le Zoo is free to play, any paid goods in game have pricing that reflects the complexity and resources required to support the digital goods and power-ups.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
During economic slowdowns, having an outlet for expansion and creativity and seeing reality with new eyes is exactly what humans crave. Throughout the course of history, we see that when economic downturns happen, fun pastimes and infusions of joy see an uptick in popularity. Our game and our approach to media is uniquely positioned for the wild and crazy reality that exists on our planet. It’s not just about being prepared for economic slowdowns… we are prepared for the present state of our world. In fact, Le Zoo’s tagline is: “The only way out is within.” We are inviting players to find their way out of whatever life throws at you by going inward through play.
What was the funding process like?
The funding journey for MOTHER Games was an affirmation of our mission and the foundation of relationships we have built. We secured $5M in pre-seed funding for our bootstrapped prototype from BoxGroup, Shine, and Lerer Hippeau Ventures, who didn’t just back us financially but were genuinely excited about our vision. I worked closely with David Tisch and Box Group who incubated MOTHER to consider who we should partner with. I’ve known Mo Koyfman (Shine) for almost a decade, and he is able to see a big vision in the consumer space and understand where it could go. Ken Lerer, Eric Hippeau, and Ben Lerer are all people I’ve known since my first company, which they backed a decade ago in the early days of LHV. During our funding process we were super candid that with timing in gaming being on the money with the AI boom, that’s not the only reason we are building a game. All three of our investors understood that the timing of MOTHER is just as much about the state of our world and the stories we are telling for the future, as it is about market timing. All of our investors believe that the media landscape is dramatically shifting and there is room for a newcomer with a unique approach and a mission-driven focus.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
VCs don’t always know all the ins and outs of the gaming industry. Certainly, this expertise is coming online as games become more balanced with tech and art foundations. But, in some cases talking to an investor was more of us explaining player trends etc. vs. actually having a conversation with a fellow industry expert. This isn’t a slight on the VC community. It’s just a comment that we wanted to partner with capital that was smart and had gaming, media, or consumer track record.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Technology boom: There are two major trends that could accelerate the creation of a new generational storytelling company: hardware advancements (mobile raytracing GPU, VR, etc.) and advancements by leveraging generative or AI-driven tooling.
Market growth: Consumer shift toward interactive media (over linear/passive media, i.e. TV/film) continues to grow. We are in a post-play pass landscape where players are accustomed to various session and media types, and for Gen Z and younger, games are now the #1 way they spend free time, beating out TV/film.
Team & ability to attract talent: We have a stacked roster. Matias Corea, the cofounder of Behance joined us to lead design; we have award-winning artists like Christof Stanits who worked on GTA and many other Nordic titles. Brian “1st” Alcazar from Rockstar with a history of over 20 titles under his belt. Yvgen Kopa, an ex-Ubisoft engineering lead… the list goes on.
Prototype: We built a prototype that we bootstrapped. We tested many different approaches and we did initial play tests with our prototype. This helped us define the remote data config model that we use to deploy many experiences within our game, and it helped us understand core mechanics of the world we were building. It also featured sexy game art and our vision for the Le Zoo world we wanted to build.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We want to significantly grow our Le Zoo player base, starting first with casual gamers, and as more features come online within Le Zoo, we will grow with RPG enthusiasts. We’ll be releasing the Le Zoo alpha with new minigames, attractions, and macro play loop to deepen gameplay and replay value as Le Zoo builds with forever game mechanics. On the tech side, we’re investing in our in-house LLM, our ML-driven asset tooling, our emergent storyline model ,and in-house 3d modeling method that combines meshless assets with AI.
We want to significantly grow our Le Zoo player base, starting first with casual gamers, and as more features come online within Le Zoo, we will grow with RPG enthusiasts. We’ll be releasing the Le Zoo alpha with new minigames, attractions, and macro play loop to deepen gameplay and replay value as Le Zoo builds with forever game mechanics. On the tech side, we’re investing in our in-house LLM, our ML-driven asset tooling, our emergent storyline model ,and in-house 3d modeling method that combines meshless assets with AI.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Follow your heart. When you have deep conviction about what you’re building, it’s palpable. Your conviction will inspire a customer or a teammate. This chain reaction will grow. You will see if you’re on the right track by how tangible you make the reality you are building. Traction through capital injection is only one way of measuring success – and it’s arguably not the most effective measure. Trying to bring a vision you have to life, going from 0 to something, is not easy, but the more real you can make your vision, the more believable and attractive it becomes to the right person.
Where do you see the company going in the near term?
In the near term it’s critical the Le Zoo release a more advanced version of it’s emergent storyline mechanic. We want to show cause and effect in a dramatic way using the interactive storyline within Le Zoo, reflecting that you are the author of your own reality (not only within Le Zoo, but also within the game of life.) We also aim to deepen our relationship with our playtest community and Discord community because without our players, we don’t have a chance. (We love you!!!)
What’s your favorite fall destination in and around the city?
Wow, this is mega difficult to answer. The best fall destination is no destination at all – just being outside and walking around the city. I am enjoying seeing places below Union Square come back online post-lockdown. I am enjoying seeing new restaurants open in Greenpoint and Gowanus. Brooklyn already was stronger coming out of Covid shutdown, but I love to see how that foundation of growth is fueling even more experiences within BK neighborhoods.
