The companies are developing the interactive criminal mystery game for the iPhone based on a novel by Idaho forensic scientist Raymond Davis titled “Dark Side of Justice.” Smartphone app developer BOBEC Apps and self-publisher Borderline Publishing will use the game, “Dark Side Investigator,” to cross-promote Davis’ novel and partnering Boise businesses.

The free iPhone application, due for release before Oct. 20, will test players’ skills at collecting forensic evidence and solving crimes. They will investigate “crime scenes” at participating businesses around the Treasure Valley. The game is already available to play in a Web browser at www.darksideinvestigator.com, and the novel, published by Borderline, is available on Amazon.com.

BOBEC — which stands for Boise Big Experiment Co. — got its start in fall 2010 when its founding members, who call themselves the Boise 9, met through Boise Young Professionals, an arm of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce, and decided to start a company from nothing.

The collaboration between BOBEC, Borderline and other Boise businesses began when Borderline’s Kimberli Reynolds approached BOBEC’s Kristin Muchow with the idea at the Working Women’s Symposium in April. BOBEC began working on the application in May and is mostly done. Marketing manager Travis Franklin says the work was made easier because the application’s architecture is similar to that used in another BOBEC game, “Hot or Cold,” which the company released last year.

“We took the basics of ‘Hot or Cold’ and retooled it,” he says.

The members of the Boise 9 work for Bobec in their spare time and originally worked without pay. Franklin says the release of “Hot or Cold” has made the company profitable.

Harrison Berry: berryht@gmail.com