Thanks to Apple and a group of talented video game designers, Saskatoon can claim bragging rights to being one of Canada鈥檚 most buzzworthy mobile gaming companies.
Noodlecake Studios is a small indie game studio proudly based in Saskatchewan鈥檚 biggest city since 2011. Apple recently recognized the company as one of Canada鈥檚 top game makers in the newly minted 鈥渕ade in Canada鈥� section of the App Store.
鈥淭o be profiled by a company like Apple as one of the top makers in Canada, the first one, is you know pretty humbling and we鈥檙e very excited to see where it can lead, because you never know,鈥� said Ryan Holowaty, Noodlecake鈥檚 vice president of business.
The company acknowledges that it鈥檚 based in an unlikely city. On its website, Noodlecake describes Saskatoon as 鈥渁.k.a. the middle of nowhere Canada鈥� and pokes fun at the fact it chose to plant roots in a 鈥渂ig patch of barren land in the middle of the country鈥� over Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.
But its headquarters hasn鈥檛 held Noodlecake back. The studio started in its founder鈥檚 kitchen and had early success with games like Stickman Golf. The app has since had several sequels, was named one of the best apps of 2013 and has been translated into more than 10 languages.
In six years, Noodlecake has designed hundreds of mobile games for both Android and Apple devices. The company now employs 15 game developers and also makes third-party video games comes to life.
In a roundabout way, Noodlecake has become an ambassador of sorts for Saskatchewan.
鈥淚f we go to San Francisco to a conference and people ask where we鈥檙e from and we say Saskatchewan, and people are like, 鈥榃here is that?鈥� They have no idea where it is,鈥� said CEO Jordan Schidlowsky.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think many people know that stuff like this is happening in Saskatoon or Saskatchewan, so it is cool to shed light on the tech industry.鈥�
With files from CTV Saskatoon
