Where does our inner child go when we “grow up”? That endless source of vitality and creativity.
When I was a kid, I was interested in everything. I wanted to experience it all. Saturday morning cartoons in my Superman pajamas. Running Zelda strategy on Nintendo while my brother navigated the screen-by-screen maze. Collecting the OG Marvel Cards (I made it through Series 1 to 4). Cruising around the neighborhood with my red Radio Flyer wagon, selling anything I could think of from Kool-Aid to cards. Loud and proud: busting out fly dance moves with my best friend everyday after school (yes, I am talking about Dance Dance Revolution). Hi 👋, my name is Davis Brimer. I’m the Founder & CEO of Gamisodes, and I invite you to join me on an adventure.
When I was 13 my family got a CD-ROM that could burn CDs. At 4x speed🎉 (PS: that’s my favorite emoji). I discovered these things called MP3s and started burning mix-CDs for friends. Interestingly, people seemed to like how I ordered the songs, and I was inspired to take a trip to the local Radio Shack where I bought my first DJ setup. I started DJing at parties when I was 15 – not much skill to write home about, but there’s nothing like the thrill of entertaining people and building a crowd’s energy on the dance floor.
These loves in life traveled with me into college. Halo tournaments and ultimate frisbee games by day and DJing by night – with a degree in computer engineering and entrepreneurship on the side. When it came time to graduate, it was time to “grow up” as they say. So I teamed up with a professor and launched my first tech startup – a medical device company (bonescore.com) – launching a decade-long career in the life sciences.
Over time, the DJing took a back seat and gaming waned. We set up a Nintendo Wii in our offices, but it would get stern looks when we’d have executives visit from top pharmaceutical companies. I guess they don’t like Mario Kart. Their loss. All jokes aside, the life sciences is an incredibly noble industry and one that requires a special type of seriousness (and for very good reasons). As I followed suit (figuratively and literally), my priorities shifted. The Wii ended up in storage and I even gave my parents the “okay” to put my Marvel Card collection out in a garage sale. Sad, I know 😢.
Fast forward a few years, I most recently co-founded and helped my good friend get his biotech company up and running (Gallant.com, stem cells for pets). By now all of my DJ equipment was either sold off or in storage – cartoons and video games a thing of the past. Don’t get me wrong, we had a lot of fun starting Gallant, but I felt like my inner-child was starting to get left behind. The fond memories felt further away – and were becoming harder and harder to channel.
So, after a 12 month whirlwind getting Gallant’s flagship product launched, I made the most terrifying decision of my life – a literal career 180 – returning to my beginnings, my roots, my inner child. Friends and colleagues thought I’d lost my mind. Perhaps they were right, but I had a plan to find it again. For starters, I had a circuit of conferences lined up across all my favorite topics to help figure out what’s next, ranging from VR/AR to music production to comic conventions, gaming, entertainment, and more.
Enter COVID pandemic. Awesome.
Stuck at home for long periods of time with grand, undiscovered ambitions, I did what any 30-something year old would do in this kind of situation. I ordered a VR headset and a six-foot tall K’Nex Ferris Wheel complete with 8,000 fun and colorful pieces. Hours upon hours spent playing Beat Saber, building a masterpiece Ferris Wheel, and watching virtual conferences – pondering what’s next. I dove head first into the deep end learning as much as I could while meeting extraordinarily fascinating people along the way (many now part of the Gamisodes team).
One of the most pivotal conversations I had during that time was with the former President of Warner Brothers Animation, the one and only Emmy-award winning Sander Schwartz. Interestingly, our discussions always seemed to come back to one fundamental topic. Computer and video games have beautiful and engaging cut scenes that tell amazing stories. They whisk you away to far-off lands and let the imagination run wild. Whether hyper casual or AAA hard core, gaming truly has become interactive entertainment. And, to no surprise, it does so by tapping into our inner child. Playing into that endless source of vitality and creativity. Much more than passive entertainment like a TV series or movie, with gaming you are often the main character. The hero.
So we got to thinking…[queue inner child]… why can’t traditional entertainment (e.g. cartoons) become more interactive (e.g. gaming)? Sure, there’s ‘choose your own adventure’ and other interactive shows on Netflix. They’re cute and fun to do with friends, but ultimately they’re confined to the limitations of a platform built for traditional streaming.
Okay, but what if we weren’t confined to legacy platform limitations? What if we built an entirely new platform from scratch? A platform that doesn’t just allow for entertainment that is interactive, but is designed for it from the ground up. A platform where your avatar drops into a show that you can watch play with your friends; even play with your kids. Imagine being shoulder to shoulder with your favorite childhood characters, fighting crime and solving puzzles: nostalgia to the max! You beat the episode, you level up, and you’re given a limited edition magic item.
I’m talking about gamified episodes. I’m talking about: Gamisodes. A platform by, and for, the inner child.
What exactly is Gamisodes? Well, we’ve assembled a rock-star team with some pretty exciting stuff lined up. Whether you’re 2 or 122, go get your inner child and join the journey. Trust me, you don’t want to miss what’s coming next.
