What is Gbanga, Millform Inc?

Gbanga, Millform Inc is a studio that focuses on the development of mixed-reality games and playful experiences that operate at the boundary between reality and digital fiction. That is games that analyse the player’s current situation such as location, local weather and friends nearby to deliver a game experience that is more fun.

Our most renown games include Urban. Hunt., the world’s largest massive-multiplayer geo-game, Galaxy Invaders, a VR arcade game, Gbanga Famiglia, a mafia-themed game where players compete over real-world establishments like bars and restaurants and extend their territory on a shared global map.

When was Gbanga, Millform Inc founded?

Gbanga, Millform Inc was founded by Julio Perez and Matthias Sala, two computer scientists from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich in 2007 in Switzerland. After working on mixed-reality games for the pre-smartphone area, we have started to create mixed-reality games for iOS, Android, HTML5, HTC Vive and other platforms.

What is the meaning of the name?

Our trademark Gbanga is based on a town in Liberia which is spelled GbaRnga. Because our mixed-reality games are often based around locations, we picked a name of a location far, far away.

The name of the Swiss registered company Millform Inc is based on the Italian words mille and forma and literally means thousands of designs. Millform Inc. owns the trademark Gbanga.

Who is behind Gbanga, Millform?

Gbanga, Millform consists of an interdisciplinary team of enthusiasts and experts with an international background and a divers track record.

François is an experienced programming wizard. Here is his underused social presence on Google+.

Robin is a talented game mechanics designer. He loves to tweet animated gifs of his side projects.

Matthias is a believer in the mixed-reality genre. He tweets and instagrams quite often.

Benjamin is the pro in unreal and VR things.

Manuela is a virtuosic 3D-artist with a fondness for animation.

Yury is the console playing artist and 3D wizard with a passion for complicated levels.

Dominik is an experienced game developer that has levelled-up skill levels of all sorts.

Jonas is a full-stack developer who enjoys all sorts of games, from thinking seven steps ahead of his opponent in chess, to sailing the Great Sea in Wind Waker.

Alex is a full-stack developer who likes old school games.

Ramona’s sharp eyes spot every error in our games. The dangerous part are the claws though.

Andreas steers our projects even through the most severe storms.

Marc likes both cats and modern technology, even if he doesn’t always understand them. As a system administrator he takes loving care of our servers.

Who are the investors?

Gbanga Millform Inc is a founder- and partner-owned self-funded company that received additional seed funds from 3 business angels.

Logo & photo download

You can download the Gbanga logo as PNG and as a vector-based EPS and you get the photos of our team here.

Milestones

2018

2017

  • Thousands of people discover post locations around them in a playful way with Postman.
  • Attendants of the Swiss lawyer congress learn about working together in the multiplayer virtual reality experience SLX Arena.
  • Gbanga celebrates its 10th anniversary.

2016

2015

  • More Space for you!, the playground atlas game for children is launched.
  • Thanks to the mixed-reality multiplayer game Gross. Stadt. Jagd.  thousands of players run through the city of Zurich.
  • Gbanga develops the HTML-based game EBL On Tour for EBL Elektra Baselland.

2014

2013

2012

  • Gbanga was nominated for the second time for the Swiss ICT Award in the category Newcomer
  • Beta HTML5 app is launched for Gbanga Famiglia
  • Gbanga’s Pilotifant game wins the App of the Year 2012 award.

2011

  • Various awards and nominations such as winner of AppCircus at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona; only European nominee at GamesBeat’s “Who’s got game competition” and; European finalist in the Top 100 Red Herring Europe
  • Mafia Dog is launched for Gbanga Famiglia
  • World Domination Satellite purchasable item is launched for Gbanga Famiglia, the most expensive in-game item at time price at $99 US. One is sold within 3 hours of going on sale.
  • Gbanga launches its API at the The Next Web Hackaton in Amsterdam
  • Gbanga launches the new Phonebooth side-quests for Gbanga Famiglia

2010

  • Gbanga was nominated for the Swiss ICT Award in the category Newcomer
  • Gbanga Famiglia, a mafia-themed location-based game is launched on the Gbanga platform. It is available world-wide (open beta)
  • Gbanga Ballenberg, a virtual scavenger hunt for tourism in cooperation with IMIUniversity Center Lucerne
  • Various award nominations such as IMGA International Mobile Game Award,Business Idea 2010, Best of Swiss Web Award Shortlist 2010

2009

  • Venture leader participation
  • Gbanga Zooh, an educational location-based campaign for Zurich Zoo is launched in the City of Zurich (closed alpha)
  • Coaching acceptance by Swiss Confederation’s Innovation Promotion AgencyCTI

2008

  • Gbanga Mr. X, a public transport racing game for Zurich
  • Millform Inc. is founded by Matthias Sala, Julio Perez and Werner Sala

2007

  • Paper prototype is created in a shared student flat in Zurich
  • Technical prototype is created

2006

  • Matthias Sala and Julio Perez, two Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) graduates, discuss the idea of a mixed-reality monopoly game during their research placements at Xerox PARC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US.

Press contact

You need more information? Please email press@gbanga.com or contact us at Militärstrasse 90, 8004 Zurich, Switzerland. We’re a very small team , so we apologize in advance if we’re not able to get back to you immediately. If you’re on deadline, please include the word “URGENT” and the date and time of your deadline in the subject line of your message, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.