Jun 4, 2020

Hello Neighbor" game spawned hit animated pilot

An animated series of the popular children's stealth game "Hello Neighbor" is being produced, a pilot version of which was released on Youtube on April 17 and, to our surprise, has been so popular that it has received over 12 million views to date.

The 6-minute video can be seen below:

To summarize: "Hello Neighbor," developed by Dynamic Pixels of Russia and published by Tinybuild of Seattle, is a game in which players try to break into their neighbors' homes and uncover their secrets. The game uses an artificial intelligence (AI) to create the game. The game uses an artificial intelligence (AI) that remembers the player's past moves and changes the neighbor's moves accordingly. It has been downloaded 25 million times.

The game was released in 2017 and has since spawned a spin-off and four best-selling picture books by Carly Ann West. The expansion into books and animation reflects the philosophy of Tinybuild CEO Alex Nichipolczyk:

We strongly believe that building a strong franchise and expanding it into multiple mediums is the way forward in this saturated video game world. Developers need to think about how to build long-term relationships with fans through the power of intellectual property. It is now a brand game.

In producing the animation for the series, Tiny Build has partnered with Animasia Studios, a studio based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The producers are aiming to produce 10 20-minute episodes and are currently seeking broadcast/streaming partners. The story will be faithful to the game, but it remains to be seen how the script will make up for the lack of ai gimmicks.

Animasia describes itself as "Malaysia's largest animation service provider." For the pilot, they handled everything from design to storyboarding, animation, and post-production. He is also the creator of the hit series "Chuck Chicken," which was adopted by Netflix. It is still rare for a Malaysian IP to become a huge global success. Last year we wrote about a landmark report on the animation sector in Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia.

In a statement, Edmund Chan, Managing Director of Animasia, said, "We are really excited to be working with Tiny Build on the animated spin-off of 'Hello Neighbor'. The brand has tremendous support from our fan base and audience base, and now we just need to find the right network to support this animated series. From the response we are getting, audiences are expecting to see more episodes."