Gurdy was an attempt to connect mobile apps to a book and a stuffed animal using a unique brick-and-mortar approach with a digital kicker.
I can tell you that our failure to gain traction wasn't due to a lack of effort.
Our strategic blunders led to some predictable outcomes. We started with a mobile game and wrote the book to bring our game character to life.
The result was a book far superior to the game and a heart-warming heroine—Gurdy the Cow. She's awesome. We should write more stories about her here (and we have, but they never went to press).
If you want to peek into our past, I've included links below to what I like to call startup space junk—remnants of Hayloft scattered across the internet.
Play the Game Online
Gone, but not forgotten. You can open the app in your browser and play here.
Follow these steps.
- Choose a Device: Pixel 4
- OS: Android 11.0
- Orientation: Landscape
Play the Game (.exe)
If you have some tech skills and want the full game experience, download the compiled executable file from Unity.
Play the Game (.apk)
If you've got some tech skills and want the full game experience. Download the compiled APK file.
Other Apps
Back before, just about every social or photo app could add a sticker to a photo on your phone; there was this from Hayloft.
Gurdy's Fun Photos
Here's the library to show all the apps, including our least discussed, but most downloaded app... Doodle Monkey.
Old Website Versions
Ecommerce v2 Flipped this to my wife when I returned to be the president of VLG Marketing
Social Media
LinkedIn (Placeholder, present day)
Secondary Market
Managed to find someone selling a rare Gurdy doll on eBay. Sadly, the tag has been cut off. Same goes for this one, too. And, this one.
eBook