6 Questions with Caroline Strzalka, co-founder of Overplay Games

It was our pleasure to sit down with Caroline Strzalka, COO and co-founder of Overplay Games, a gaming startup which allows users to turn their videos into games without touching a line of code (fun fact: they were featured on the latest season of Shark Tank!).

1. Can you give us an overview of your background and how you started Overplay?

It all started when my co-founder Dan was watching a POV mountain biking video on YouTube one day and he felt himself "steering" the mountain bike with his phone as he watched. This gave him the idea of using videos to be the basis of rhythm-based games. So, he came up with a way where anyone can turn any video into a game by putting a light layer of gaming on top of streaming video.

Dan then contacted me -- we had worked together at Sesame Workshop, the creators of Sesame Street, for years. I ran digital media business development and Dan ran interactive production, and we had made a ton of awesome interactive and streaming video product together for kids.

Dan told me about Overplay and I thought it was not only a brilliant idea, but exactly what we would have wanted for Sesame. But the idea and usefulness of Overplay goes beyond children's games and can be used to make any video interactive -- sports, cooking, dancing, even commercials!

2. What is something about the gaming industry that might surprise people?

Gaming has been with us as humans since the beginning of time. Archaeological digs often unearth early board games, sports fields, and other ways that ancient people entertained themselves.

Using modern technology, we have only scratched the surface of what gaming can do and how it can contribute to us leading better, more fun lives. I believe that almost anything can be gamified. When we turn subject matter into a game, we retain it better, we learn more, and it's a more enjoyable task.

We should be thinking about how we can gamify everything. Humans of all ages, races, and sexes are hungering for games. We have to break games out of the confines in which we placed them.

3. What tips can you give to entrepreneurs considering starting a business in the gaming space?

Think about how you can break the mold of the way that things have always been done. Traditionally, making games has been expensive, time consuming and a hit-based business.

Now there are so many ways to alleviate those pain points. We created something that has never been made before with Overplay, because we thought of video as being the basis of games. Sometimes the best new ideas come from folks not so deeply entrenched in an industry.

4. What's a great tool or hack you've discovered recently?

Can I say Overplay?? Honestly, it's so fun to turn videos into games quickly. I love taking videos of my nephews jumping on a trampoline or playing with the dogs and turning those into interactive experiences that I can share with my family.

5. What gaming startups are you personally excited about right now?

Truly I am most excited by platforms that can enhance people's lives and make them happier, healthier, and less lonely.

I love what Rendever has done for the Silver Economy, bringing exciting experiences and stimulation to older audiences who are always overlooked by the gaming world.

If we are lucky, we will all be older one day :) and we will continue to want and need amazing gaming content to accentuate our lives.

6. What can we expect to see coming out of Overplay in the near future?

More input types! We will be releasing all sorts of input types -- shake, microphone, positional tap, etc -- that will allow for even more challenging and creative game creation and gameplay. More AI!

AI will serve as a creative assistant to you making a game -- serving you up interactive animations, responsive overlays, sound effects, music, etc. that will truly gamify the game-making process.

More Overplay everywhere! We will be wrapping our tech into an API so that Overplay can be integrated onto other apps and websites, so that content creators can own their audiences and make games for their niche.