A lot of kids grow up thinking about how cool it would be to test video games for a living. They can think of nothing more enjoyable than playing different games over and over, searching for glitches, pushing engine limits and evaluating what users will experience once the game is released. As it turns out, this career is actually more widespread and essential to the game industry than most people think. Albeit not always as glamorous as the childhood dream would make it out to be, game-testers are indispensable when it comes to producing quality gaming technology. This component of development and its importance in relation to the games we produce is a point of emphasis for Blue Goji. Two of our top-notch testers, that always get the job done, are Brian Villareal (Lead QA Tester) and Josh Miles (QA Tester).

The wait is finally over: Furiends is now ready to download for free from the App Store! Developed and published by Blue Goji, the brand new mobile game presents the opportunity to adopt a virtual dog. Thanks to augmented reality technology, your new best Furiend appears to be in your own world. Users are expected to take good care of their virtual pets by feeding, walking, training, and playing with them regularly. Besides the regular responsibilities of owning a dog, users can enjoy dressing their Furiend up in various kinds of clothing and accessories. During all of these activities, users are encouraged to take photos of their pet to save or share, which can be done directly from the app. To celebrate the launch, Blue Goji is hosting monthly photo competitions on Instagram. Furiends are always ready for an adventure, so play, train, and take your best shot! 

This summer on July 3, 2017, Blue Goji kicked off a partnership with SuperChefs as they began their Cookery for Kids Summer Camps in Surrey, Vancouver. At its core, SuperChefs aims: “to entertain and educate young children about the power of eating good food and sharing the joy of cooking.” Beyond teaching kids how to cook, they focus on fostering healthy lifestyles in the young campers. At the camp, kids learn how to properly fill their plate with certain categories of food and portion sizes. To teach how being healthy is about more than a good diet, the camp also has a physical activity portion where they typically play basketball for an hour and half, with a snack break. With our new partnership, one of the two schools that hosts the camp was set up with our Active Gaming Goji Stations, including Bluetooth-enabled stationary bikes, Oculus Rift headsets, iPads with all of our 2D games, and Goji Play controllers. After having a team of ours visit the school to set everything up, we didn't return until the last day of camp on August 17.