CanadaEast.com
Victoria Handysides

MONCTON – A cartoon Shannon Tweed blasts a horde of silicone-stuffed groupies with math equations and makeup remover. Dumbfounded, they scurry in the opposite direction.

Keeping grubby claws off Tweed’s man, KISS rock god and Relish burger-eater Gene Simmons, is the goal within a new game in development at a Moncton studio, Gogii Games.

Gogii CEO George Donovan met the former Playboy bunny at a VIP event during last year’s Atlantic Brand Confabulation, at which Simmons was a keynote speaker. Donovan proposed the idea of the game to Tweed, and immediately she was sold on the concept, Donovan said.

The Moncton game developer currently has more than 60 titles available in 11 languages across a number of platforms. The company announced this month that its mobile gaming division made over $1 million in revenue over its last quarter.

Attack of the Groupies is a “tower defence” style game, made popular by PopCap Games’ Plants vs. Zombies. Gogii – whose primary buyers are women over age 35 – plans to release the new game in January for mobile devices, PC/Macs and Xbox.

The game is peppered with snapshots from Tweed’s life, offered as rewards for finishing levels.

Groupies are still a legitimate and annoying reality, said Donovan. While in talks with the couple during a gaming convention in Los Angeles in June, a groupie attacked.

“It is so much worse than you think it is,” he said. “This girl came and pushed Shannon out of the way to get a picture with Gene – his wife was standing right beside him and the guy is 62. This 22-year-old cheerleader didn’t care. You can only imagine what happens when Shannon’s not there.”

After Tweed inked the deal with Gogii, she spotted Gene in a tabloid photo with a couple groupies. Tweed left Simmons and spent some time with family in Saskatoon, all while cameras rolled for the current season of the family’s reality show, Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Simmons then proposed to Tweed, and the two were married in September. Having become close with Tweed, Donovan and his wife attended the ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel.