Sonzai Labs, a game development company founded in 2024, has officially launched its first project, TeleMafia, a social mafia game designed for Telegram. The game integrates artificial intelligence, gaming, and web3 technology to offer a fresh approach to interactive entertainment within a widely used messaging platform. By focusing on accessible and engaging social experiences, the company aims to simplify the complexities often associated with web3 gaming.

Sonzai Labs Key Art and Logo

About Sonzai Labs

The founding team of Sonzai Labs is composed of experienced professionals with backgrounds in gaming, artificial intelligence, and engineering. Among the key contributors are Ryan Foo, formerly a game designer at Limit Break, and Ian Leck, who previously served as the engineering lead at Tiltyard. Nasrudin Salim, the former head of Machine Learning Operationalization at DBS, is also part of the team, alongside a former vice president of engineering at Almanak and a lead AI architect from OCBC. Their combined expertise positions the company to make a significant impact in the evolving intersection of AI and gaming.

In addition to its experienced team, Sonzai Labs has garnered support from prominent investors within the crypto and gaming industries. The company’s backers include Gabe Leydon, the founder of Limit Break, Gabby Dizon from Yield Guild Games, Jeff Zirlin and Aleksander Larsen from Sky Mavis (Ronin), and Piers Kicks of Delphi Digital. This combination of seasoned leadership and strong financial backing reflects the company’s ambitions to innovate within the social gaming space.

What is TeleMafia?

TeleMafia, the company’s first product, is a social game set in a digital underworld where players navigate the dynamics of family rivalries and alliances. The game’s economy is built around the in-game currency known as Respect, which serves as a key mechanic for gameplay interactions. Central to the experience is the use of the Souls Protocol, a proprietary system developed by Sonzai Labs to enable the creation of self-modifying AI agents. The first of these agents, Valentina, plays a pivotal role in the game. Unlike traditional non-player characters, Valentina is designed to adapt and evolve over time, reflecting the company’s vision for dynamic and immersive AI integration.

By building the game specifically for Telegram, Sonzai Labs aims to make TeleMafia accessible to a broad audience. The use of a widely adopted messaging platform allows for seamless integration into users’ daily interactions, creating a social gaming experience that prioritizes engagement and accessibility. This focus on leveraging an existing platform distinguishes TeleMafia from other games in the space and aligns with the company’s mission to make web3 gaming more user-friendly.

New AI-Based Telegram Game TeleMafia

Final Thoughts

With its innovative approach to combining AI, gaming, and web3 elements, Sonzai Labs is positioned to make a notable contribution to the emerging field of AI-driven social games. TeleMafia represents an initial step in realizing this vision, offering players a novel way to engage with each other in a digital environment. Additional details can be found on the official website and whitepaper for those interested in exploring the game further.