Pre-GDC: Rebel Monkey Launches Casual MMO Game, Platform

New York-based Rebel Monkey has launched its casual web-based MMO CampFu, as well as the Monkey Wrench platform on which it runs. CampFu had been running in beta form since February, racking up some 30,000 players. The free-to-play game allows players to join teams and participate in cooperative challenges, as well as purchase in-game items. The Monkey Wrench platform itself forms the backbone of the game's social community, and powers numerous games within CampFu including FunGeez, WordMob, Critter Smackdown, and Veg-Out. Its APIs are not yet available to outside developers, but the company plans to allow externally-created games to plug into CampFu once Monkey Wrench is released more broadly. "Monkey Wrench makes CampFu possible -- allowing for rapid, scalable and cost-effective deployment of real-time multiplayer content," said CEO Margaret Wallace. "We've taken care of all the technical heavy-lifting and intend to make the Monkey Wrench application programming interface available to developers for launching their own co-op games on CampFu."