Whyos

Superfluid has been my obsession for the past year, as we’ve been working on creating a system that can enable an elegant liquidity for business and creative initiatives. To this, my partner Branimir who was previously a physicist and remains a master of the 8-bit, brings a cold assessment of how an economy can work most legitimately and honestly. I bring a knowledge of what people find compelling in games, and how business, large and small, works.

It seems to us that in the current economy, most entities and individuals are straightjacketed by either a lack of clients, a lack of available investment dollars, or a lack of credit. And while all of these are real issues, they’re a bit pathetic in hobbling worthwhile efforts. So, we came together with an idea for a project that could bypass these problems, and help businesses to thrive and better enjoy what they do have.

Our goal with superfluid is to provide a barter exchange in which businesses can sell the surplus time and goods that they cannot quickly move in money-based transactions. Using superfluid, participants don’t need to find someone in the system with whom they can directly swap goods, they simply use in-game currency (Quids) to buy and sell from each other.

So, you may be wondering what the hell this has to do with games; and, as that’s the background I bring to this project, clearly I think it’s a valuable aspect:. On the one hand, we’re bringing the experience and understanding of negotiation from gameplay, and the structure of an MMO economy. On the other, we think that a significant subset of interest for the userbase could be the creation of games. If a base of programmers, designers, etc., come into the system to offer their own skills, and purchase the skills of others, it could enable a variety of projects by professionals.

On September 8, we begin a closed beta release of superfluid, and I’d very much like to begin testing its facility in the development of games. -I should emphasize that superfluid is entirely business to business, so all skills should be at professional level. The beta will be free of charge, and the initial participants will have a year of free usage, before we begin charging an annual fee of $200.

If you’re interested in helping to test superfluid for game development, please shoot me an e-mail at nathan[at]superfluid [dot]biz to request participation. A membership will enable you to post your skills and a Quid-based price for services.