Clocktower Games Ltd, a company born in Dunedin last year, has signed a deal to distribute its first game, Casebook, Episode 1, through the Big Fish Games website.
The website - which promotes a new game each day - enjoys a significant slice of the $20 billion global computer gaming industry, regularly attracting up to one million daily visitors to the site.
Clocktower chief executive Graham Hambleton, of Dunedin, said the first instalment of Casebook was expected to be available for download by Thursday, at a cost of $US7 ($NZ10.50).
"We are guaranteed certain promotion options on their site and that means we will be highly visible on the best vehicle available.
"In a virtual sense, we will be the best shelf height in the biggest casual game supermarket on the planet."
Clocktower was launched in April last year by Dunedin men Luke Reid and Sam Clarkson, together with three others, but has since grown to a staff of up to 14 plus contractors.
The group has raised $2.5 million in funds to develop the game from a Princes St office and a Dunedin warehouse.
The game throws the player into the heart of crime scenes, helping the title's main character, Detective Jack Burton, to solve a kidnapping.
The player pieces together evidence from crime scenes while the detective interviews suspects.
However, the main twist comes from the use of innovative robot and camera technology in the production process, helping immerse players in a photo-realistic environment surrounded by characters played by actors.
Clocktower staff have built a series of elaborate sets - including a church interior - inside a Dunedin warehouse, which are photographed from all angles by cameras suspended from a sprawling robotic rig.
The images provide the game's three-dimensional environment, replacing traditional polygon-based computer graphics.
"The improvement in realism is immense and is several times faster than traditional techniques, which require months of artist and programming time," Mr Hambleton said.
A second instalment was in post-production, and more episodes were planned, but Mr Hambleton said the company also planned to adapt the camera technology to target the lucrative $2 billion driving games market.
The technology was developed in Dunedin alongside the Casebook game by an associated company, Areograph Ltd, which shared Clocktower directors - including Mr Reid - and some staff.
Mr Reid said early tests had been "positive", and full-on road-testing was expected to begin next month.
The result could be a driving game developed in-house by 2011, or a licensing agreement to provide the technology to other established games companies.
The technology could also be applied to film and advertisement productions, or used to build virtual tours of museums and art galleries.
