Sonzai Labs, a game developer founded in 2024, has recently announced the launch of their new game, TeleMafia, on the messaging platform Telegram. The game is set in a digital underworld of family wars and is powered by an AI-based system.
The founding team of Sonzai Labs includes ex-Limit Break game designer Ryan Foo, ex-Tiltyard engineering lead Ian Leck, head of Machine Learning Operationalization at DBS Nasrudin Salim, the ex-VP of engineering at Almanak, and the lead AI architect at OCBC.
The company has also received backing from well-known crypto angels such as Gabe Leydon, Gabby Dizon, Jeff Zirlin, Aleksander Larsen, and Piers Kicks.
Sonzai Labs aims to create social experiences that combine AI, gaming, and web3 technologies. Their first product, TeleMafia, is an AI-based social mafia game explicitly designed for social messaging platforms like Telegram.
The game uses its own developed Souls Protocol to power self-modifying AI agents, the first being Valentina. Valentina is described as an adaptive and evolving AI Soul that will continue to gain functionality as the game progresses.