Autodesk buys Wild Pockets game design platform (exclusive)

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Autodesk, the 3D computer-aided design company, has purchased 3D game design platform Wild Pockets, VentureBeat has learned.

Wild Pockets, which launched at DEMO in Fall 2008, was working on technology that allowed ordinary folks to create their own game worlds using simple 3D animation tools. The goal was to democratize game development.

San Francisco-based Wild Pockets offers a free, crowdsourced 3D game platform for browser-based games. Formerly known as Sim Ops Studios, Wild Pockets was the brainchild of Shanna Tellerman (pictured), chief executive and founder of the company.

The technology came from a project that Tellerman did at Carnegie Mellon University. Neither Autodesk nor Tellerman commented on the rumor. But Tellerman’s LinkedIn page shows that she now works as a product manager at Autodesk.

It’s not clear what Autodesk will do with the technology, but Autodesk makes a variety of game-making tools such as 3ds Max and Maya.