2000s portal Shockwave gets mobile-first reimagining with daily games and AI at its core

• Shockwave co-founder and CEO Bill Kara talks reinventing the 2000s portal for modern browsers and mobile.
• The platform will be presented to investors at a16z’s Speedrun Demo Day on October 7th.

As daily puzzle challenges like Wordle continue to draw players, more and more online games are being designed with a slice of that daily pie in mind.

Whether it’s The New York Times’ Pips or LinkedIn’s Mini Sudoku, such games mark something of a resurgence for browser-based titles, once so prevalent in the age of Flash.

Now, tapping into that 2000s nostalgia - with first-hand experience from the original Flash run - games portal Shockwave is also returning with modern tech, a mobile app, and AI advancements in tow.

The original platform peaked between 2002 and 2010 but declined with the rise of mobile games, which have since proceeded to dominate the games industry at large. Thus, adapting to modern times, Shockwave’s comeback will be a cross-platform one, returning to browsers but also landing on Google Play and the App Store.

As Shockwave co-founder and CEO Bill Kara gears up to unveil all at a16z’s Speedrun Demo Day on October 7th, we speak to gain some early insight into the platform’s return, monetisation, and AI’s "core" role in making this all possible.

"Daily games like Wordle are booming. Mobile is where casual play thrives but also, more importantly, is about the frictionless play experience. Players want to get in and out of a game without penalty," Kara shares.

"Short-form video, YouTube Shorts and TikTok are the way people engage with video content; games are just catching up."

Revamp, remix, reimagine

The new Shockwave is an employee-owned company with 12 games industry veterans in the US and Canada, including ex-Addicting Games alumni and former Jam City staff. The founding team has over 20 years of experience in the sector.

"Shockwave's peak faded with the mobile shift starting 2008-2010, as players moved to apps over browsers. Flash's 2020 end was the final nail, but corporate handoffs had already stagnated it," says Kara.

Now with a "fresh start", the reimagined platform will offer a free version with ads or a paid, ad-free experience with certain exclusives. It’s looking to "remix addictive DNA" into short, shareable formats with a focus on frictionless experiences - making appealing games that are as easy to share as possible.

"People of all ages are busy and already have many things competing for their attention. We want a role but we know that role has to fit with everything else," Kara explains.

"Daily games are something gamers and non-gamers alike can enjoy."

Those daily games will include procedurally generated Dungeon Escape, AI-driven whodunit Murderly, and puzzles ranging from word hunts to logic mazes to narrative escapes. Cross-play with be available with a mobile-first approach. Kara also teases "light" multiplayer.

"The current games are still handcrafted by designers for logic and hooks, play-tested for flow. Going forward there will be a mix: humans ideating themes and AI helping bring scale of depth to the game," he adds.

"AI can make everyone faster but that doesn’t mean it will make fun. Games remain an art and a science."

Kara calls this "nostalgic yet evolving", and notes that AI will also play a role in spawning custom worlds and adjusting the difficulty for each player, tailoring the gameplay experience for each individual. He assures that AI analyses won’t be "invasive".

"AI is core: it enables dynamic content and personalisation at scale, accelerating backend revamp, but really what it does is help us create and bring to life ideas that were not possible before."

Finally, we ask about Shockwave’s presentation at Speedrun Demo Day, and how important it is for the revamped platform’s future that the day goes well.

"Demo day is a showcase of what we have been working on but the real release is coming in a few months when we launch everything we have spent the last year building," Kara answers.

"The entire programme has been great for understanding the current landscape of development, of AI, of investing, and how to build a consumer technology company in today's environment."