Voice-Overs Feed

New Release: 'Mood Bloom' by Hedonia Will Boost Your Mood!

Mood bloom title

By Lisa Brunette

I'm excited to announce our client Hedonia's new release: Mood Bloom. This is a very different title for our studio in a lot of ways, as the intent with this game is not merely to entertain, but to heal. 

This therapeutic game has been shown through scientific testing to relieve the player's symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

Mood bloom improve your mood

I enjoyed the challenge of a heightened mission with this game through my narrative consulting, scriptwriting, and editing to support the Hedonia team. Marqui Maresca, a Brunette Games voice actor, recorded the intro cutscene voice for Rose, your guide through the game.

Mood Bloom works, and not just as evidenced in clinical trials. From a recent comment in the Google Play store:

Surprisingly, the game does help a little with my anxiety, by refocusing my thoughts. I'm hopeful things continue to improve for me. - Mike Biese

Here's more about the game from Hedonia:

Play your way to well

Millions of people live with depression and anxiety. Are you one of them? Now there’s a new treatment approach proven to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety by up to 45% - Mood Bloom’s Mobile Game!

Mood Bloom is filled with therapeutic games designed by Neuroscientists using the FTP - Facilitating Thought Progression™ method.

Embrace this groundbreaking therapeutic experience and join us on our journey to bring relief to as many people as possible.

Mood bloom boost mood

I can tell you that I always felt better playing the game, which I fortunately got to do as part of my work on its content. What I love about it is that it combines many of the aspects of casual gaming that attracts us to games like Lily's Garden and Fiona's Farm–interaction with a beautiful environment we can customize, along with a compelling story peopled with interesting characters–with game interactions that elevate as much as they delightfully challenge us.

Mood Bloom is in soft launch in Israel and the US, where it's available via Google Play.

Here's the official app store description:

Whether you’re feeling anxious, depressed or just feeling down in general, the Mood Bloom™ - therapeutic game, can help bring long-lasting relief in a fun, easy way. In this game, your mood is the winner! Designed by neuroscience experts to help you feel better.

Mood Bloom’s scientifically-proven mobile games help you think in a broader, more creative and quicker manner, which cognitive neuroscience research has shown to improve mood and relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression. It is a powerful tool that works alongside existing treatments.

Best of all, you can boost your mood with just 15 minutes a day of play, which you can do from anywhere, at any time. A few game breaks a day, breaks down the anxiety & builds up your mood.

Why Mood Bloom™ - Therapeutic Game?
⭐ Mood Bloom is fun and effective. Games that take place in a lush world with fun characters where you work to build your very own village.
⭐ Mood Bloom works. Designed by neuroscience experts from Harvard Medical school, Mood Bloom is science-based and clinically-proven to improve mood and reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety.
⭐ Mood Bloom works alongside existing treatments. It can be used alongside any other mental health treatments as it’s complementary to them.
⭐ Mood Bloom is free to get started. Our tool costs significantly less than traditional options for ongoing care.

More About Our Science-Based Therapeutic Games:
💭 Word Chains: Follow the path of associations and expand your imagination.
💭 Zoom Out: Think "Globally" and identify the bigger picture.
💭 Clouds: Use your imagination to find shapes in the clouds.
💭 2Belong: Expand your world through associations.
💭 Speed Read: Gradually increase the speed in which you read, in order to reach exhilaration.

Build your village, improve your mood

Follow us and Join our community:
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083364760000
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hedoniahealth/
• Company website: https://www.hedonia.io/

Disclaimer: Mood Bloom is made available pursuant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Current Enforcement Discretion Policy for Digital Health Devices for Psychiatric Disorders. These devices are intended for patients aged 18 years and older who suffer from mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Mood Bloom have not been cleared by the FDA for these indications. Hedonia’s app is in the process of a clinical trial that has not been completed yet and may therefore have unknown benefits and risks. Patients should contact their medical provider prior to using Hedonia’s products. These apps may be used without a prescription as an adjunct to your medical care. Hedonia’s products should not be used solely, or be primarily relied upon, to treat your mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Hedonia’s app does not replace the treatment of your medical provider and is not a substitute for any medication.

Mood bloom personalize

 


New Release! 'Kingdoms: Merge & Build' by Cherrypick Games for Apple Arcade

Welcome to the kingdom

We've been deep in development on a few subscription-based game projects, and one of those just released via Apple Arcade: Kingdoms: Merge & Build.

Having worked with awesome client Cherrypick Games since 2017, we were thrilled to support this terrific game as well, bringing our years of narrative prowess to the table on the character concepts, narrative design, and all in-game dialogue and messaging. Our voice actors also chimed in with recordings for the intro cutscene and marketing video. Shout-out to Andy Mack and Nicole Perez for their talented help!

What we love most about this game is the quirky humor: Prince Edward is a... complicated hero. He blames others for his misdeeds, seems to care more about his golden bathtub than the welfare of his people, and keeps forgetting the name of his kingdom. But will he rise to the occasion and save his father's empire from ruin? Play the game to find out!

Kingdoms Merge and Build

You can play the game for free if you're a member of Apple Arcade. Here's the official app-store description:

Enjoy a soothing merge-2 experience blended with kingdom-building gameplay in this story-rich adventure exclusive to Apple Arcade!

The kingdom needs your help! During the king's absence, a mysterious magical power destroyed the kingdom. Now it's up to Prince Edward, Desmond, Megan, and other friends to rebuild the land and restore it to its former glory. Embark on this magical adventure and unfold its mystery.

* Merge hundreds of unique items, discover new resources, use boosters, and complete tasks!

* Complete quests to progress through chapters and unlock new buildings, kingdom improvements, characters, and landmarks!

* Renovate the fallen kingdom from the old harbor and pier to the glorious castle!

* Follow the story, make new friends, and uncover the mystery!

* Participate in events, work with other players towards global goals, and get special rewards!

WWW: kingdomsarcade.com

Discord: https://discord.gg/H6RbCjQUjn

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arcade.kingdoms

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arcade.kingdoms

X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/arcade_kingdoms

And here's the promo video, voiced by our very own Nicole Perez:


Top of Our Game: A Cover Story, PocketGamer, and a Podcast to Help Ukraine

CN Cover Story

 

We celebrate our seventh anniversary as a studio this month, and we've enjoyed a bit of fanfare around the milestone. Here's a roundup of Brunette Games in the news as we reflect on how far we've come.

Cover This

Our team landed on the cover of the Community News, a newspaper that itself has been in business more than a hundred years. As reporter Wendy Todd points out in her lede, while women make up 46 percent of video-game players, they represent only 16 percent of executives in the industry. So our founder's place in the industry was not without its hard-won aspects, though Lisa Brunette herself cites Brunette Games' status as a small business as her number one challenge: "Increasingly, the world is built to work against us, with rules and regulations often favoring large corporations at the expense of mom-and-pop shops like Brunette Games."

Fun Fact: Community News is Brunette Games team member Sara Hardin's former employer; she penned stories on beekeepers and veterans for this well-loved paper before joining us as a writer/designer.

In the Pocket

Our story was picked up by PocketGamer.biz, which highlighted Brunette Games' status as a niche storytelling studio, a key aspect of our success: 

For a diverse, female-led studio like Brunette Games, this anniversary will not only be an achievement in itself but also symbolic of how a specialist studio can maintain its place in the mobile gaming industry. While many may think that a studio has to be all things at once, being able to focus on providing critical narrative support has helped their games consistently chart across top 20s.

We couldn't agree more.

Stairs to the Top

CEO Lisa Brunette was a guest on the GameDevStairs Podcast, a free philanthropic community whose mission is to help people start their careers in game development. They outreach especially to those affected by the current war in Ukraine, connecting 2000+ subscribers in their Telegram channel from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and elsewhere. Here's the hourlong interview with Sergey Gres of GameDevStairs:

It was an honor for us to help out GameDevStairs, which offers such an important service to the game community.

The 7-Year Itch

It's said in US culture that a relationship can suffer from the "seven-year itch," as the couple might feel tempted to stray from their mission together when they cross that milestone. As  for us, we're fully committed to our focus on great game storytelling. We added voice acting to our suite of offerings back in 2019, and we're exploring some new services you might see on our menu in the year ahead. We're very proud of our accomplishments, which include:

  • We have credits for the narrative in 36 games, many of them top-performing, genre-defining hits, including Merge Mansion, Lily's Garden, and Matchington Mansion. Our clients' games consistently rank in the top 20 in the app store charts and are played by billions.
  • Our expertise spans casual mobile genres: hidden object, match-3, slots, merge, jigsaw, and others. We also have extensive experience on deep interactive novels with branching dialogue, including the first mystery novel published in the Choices app. We've recently expanded into subscription-based games as well, with Netflix and Apple projects currently underway, and we've worked on some mid-core projects, including one NFT/blockchain title.
  • Our clients include large, well-established studios such as Jam City and Metacore, as well as talented up-and-comers like Trollgames and ZiMAD. We've worked on some of the best IPs in the world: M&M'S, Family Guy, Disney Frozen.

We've weathered incredible change over our seven years in business, and we've witnessed great creativity and innovation in our clients' projects as well. We look forward to what lies ahead. Here's to another seven years!