Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) A mobile application made by a Taiwanese gaming startup has received rave reviews among smartphone users in Asia, and the year-old company is considering making physical dolls out of the popular game.
Mandora, a fast-paced arcade-style mobile gaming app, allows users to shake off their daily stress by plucking various plants with cute human-shaped roots from the ground.
The name of the app is inspired by a mythical plant from the medieval period called Mandrake, which shrieks when it is being pulled from the earth, said Tony Lee, game director of the year-old Rayark Inc.
But instead of all the undesirable shrieking, Lee said his developer team thought the best way to entice the often stressed out office workers is to make the plants make cute, adorable sounds.
The app also keeps its users hooked to the game by constantly adding new characters and letting users collect them in their "farming diary."
Lee said the company is now looking to launch physical dolls made from the app's most popular characters, marking its first attempt to venture into the physical world.
It is not uncommon for mobile apps to move into physical stores. The Finnish mobile game giant Rovio Entertainment, developer of Angry Birds, and the mobile messaging service Line are some of the well-known examples.
The Mandora app, launched in November last year, reached one million downloads within three weeks since its launch, and will soon meet its 1.5 millionth user.
The game has received good traction in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea, according to data compiled by app store analytics and market intelligence firm App Annie.
The game is rated 4.8 out of a score of 5 on Google's Play Store and a 4.5 stars out of 5 on Apple's App Store.
(By Ann Chen)