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Business
BEACH INTERACTIVE SARAH ENGLISH & KYLE WEIK (middle & second from left)
“I
’m a big fan of education and learning,” English said. “I have always wanted to revolutionize education but it doesn’t work like that so I was like, ‘Well, I’ll start a company that creates a product and is a solution and maybe it will change something.’” English then met Kyle Weik, who has a background in design, and explained her vision. He was able to help make her dream attainable. Beach Interactive was born and their first project, The Abettor’s Letters, began. “We wanted a new, exciting way to learn that wouldn’t rely on a flashcard…” Weik explained. “We wanted it to be an interactive world.”
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The idea started 4,000 miles away. Sarah English studied in France while in high school. When she graduated, she started traveling and wanted to be able to communicate with the locals. She began to think that there had to be a better way to learn a language and soon realized that she could help others. Slowly their team began to form until there were five members. McCal Johnson, Andrew Ihla and JoJo Seames, along with English and Weik, began to work on the project. The idea is simple. They are creating a game that puts players in the shoes of an American spy, the abettor, in France who has defected and has been hired to investigate different crimes. The player will then learn French, along with the Abettor, as they investigate the crimes. The team is in the early stages of this massive undertaking. They are currently working with Myriad Mobile in creating a working demo to pitch to investors. Once they find an investor, the team is going all in to finish up the game. They have plans to branch off into other languages.
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“Once this game gets made, it’s going to be so obvious that it’s great that we then just need to kick back and make the next one,” Seames said. “... We feel completely confident in this game.” They are priding themselves on the look of the game. Seames is the character artist while Johnson is the environments artist and Weik handles the user interface. While they all have different backgrounds, they have been able to work together very well. “What’s nice is that we form this pentagram of experience…” English said. “Everybody has this crossover.” English pointed out there is a strong entrepreneurial spirit in Fargo-Moorhead