Adam Powell (game designer) facts for kids

Adam James Powell is a talented Welsh computer programmer and game designer. He is best known for creating the popular virtual pet website Neopets and for co-founding the gaming company Meteor Games. He was born on December 20, 1976.

Adam Powell's Early Career

Adam Powell studied computer science at the University of Nottingham from 1995 to 1998. During his time there, he helped create a text-based online game called Dark Heart.

Before he started Neopets, Adam also founded a few other companies. These companies focused on online advertising and designing websites.

Creating Neopets

Adam Powell first thought of the idea for Neopets in 1997 while he was still at university. He and Donna Powell (who was then Donna Williams) began programming the website in September 1999. Just two months later, on November 15, 1999, Neopets officially launched! Adam programmed the entire site himself and created most of the first games and activities.

In April 2000, Neopets.com received a big investment, and the company moved from the UK to Los Angeles, USA. Adam stayed on as the creative director and technical lead. Under his guidance, Neopets grew incredibly popular, reaching over 140 million accounts. On June 20, 2005, a large media company called Viacom bought Neopets, Inc. for a lot of money.

Adam continued to work for Neopets.com until June 2007. He helped with the changeover after the company was bought and kept developing new ideas for the site.

Adam Powell also helped design and write for many Neopets products. These included the PlayStation Portable game Neopets: Petpet Adventures: The Wand of Wishing (released in 2006), the Neopets Trading Card Game (released in 2003), and the PlayStation 2 game Neopets: The Darkest Faerie (released in 2005).

Founding Meteor Games

In 2007, Adam and Donna Powell started a new company called Meteor Games. This company was an independent studio focused on making exciting new games for the web, social media, and mobile phones. Meteor Games was located in Los Angeles and grew to have 100 employees by 2010.

Meteor Games' first big project was Twin Skies, a 3D online game that mixed casual gaming with social networking. In March 2009, they released their first web-based game, Vikings, Pirates and Ninjas. This game was free to play on the web and on Facebook.

The company then shifted to making games mainly for Facebook, which was a fast-growing market. Some of their popular social games included Island Paradise, Serf Wars, and Ranch Town. The company was doing well and making a profit.

However, in late December 2011, Meteor Games had to let go of most of its staff. They also shut down one of their games, Treasure Keepers, and eventually stopped all operations.

The Moglings Project

Around June 2013, Adam announced that he, Donna, and another former Neopets developer were planning to make a new game. In May 2014, Donna shared that the game's working title was Moglings. On September 22, 2014, Adam posted that the Moglings project would be paused for a while, possibly to be picked up again later.

See also

In Spanish: Adam Powell para niños