PlayEnvy

The winner of this year's "Favorite startup" isn't even a year old, but it sure has that startup enthusiasm and excitement for the future. PlayEnvy, an online game developer based in Maple Valley, opened up shop last February to create online role-playing games for platforms like Facebook, as well as consoles like PCs, Xbox and PlayStation. They're gearing up for the release of their first game, "Dungeon Bandits," and plan to add jobs for the two more games they have in development. Founded by 33-year-old game developer Eric Long, the company now has eight regular employees and a handful of contractors scattered around the world who are excited to be doing something creative in an environment where everyone's input really matters. "It's being able to participate in the video game industry as a whole," one voter says, that makes people excited to work here. "Games have proven that they're pretty much recession-proof." Employees here also love working in an industry with endless possibilities and no geographic boundaries. As one worker here puts it, "we think the sky is the limit."

Other top finalists*

• Ant's Eye View
• Bill the Butcher
• Destiny DJs
• FuturePoly
• Guzumi Systems
• Rarecyte
• Undead Labs
• Zulily

*Listed in alphabetical order