Tools and Glue

I presented Tools and Glue to the Boise Graphic Design Group this week at the US Bank Building in downtown Boise, ID. Great crowd as always, and as promised, the slides from the talk are below.

Tools and Glue covers the nuts and bolts of how graphics get prepared for games and how developers pack so many visuals into the tiny footprint of mobile games through level design and the thought process behind graphic pipelines and organization. 

Simply said, how do we design through device limitations and open a graphically rich world so large it can capture our imaginations, yet so small that it fits into our pocket?

Tools and Glue: The Basics of Game Graphics from Michael Wilson

Bad Company Party

Every year at Drake Cooper we like to get into the holiday spirit by giving back to the community. But we couldn’t do it without a creative twist now could we. This year we’ve gamified the annual company get together so you take the reigns and turn the booze filled, table dancing, office gossiping company party into something good for others.

Click here to play in your browser!

For every share of Bad Company Party, Drake Cooper will donate $1 to the Idaho Food Bank up to a total donation of a $1000 between now and December 31st, 2014. Make sure you use the social links at the beginning of the game so your share gets counted and money goes to help those in need.

Fraud Tycoon Global Launch

Developed through a partnership between Kount and game-based storytelling company Ponywolf, Fraud Tycoon is designed to educate everyone about the tools and techniques fraudsters use to commit crimes that impact businesses, consumers and our economy.

“Don't be mistaken – this isn't a 'how-to guide' for would-be fraudsters, but a wake up call for retailers and consumers alike,” said Don Bush, VP of Marketing at Kount. “Large criminal organizations are constantly looking for weaknesses in your payment systems. By putting users into the mindsets of these criminals, Fraud Tycoon provides a unique opportunity to create awareness of fraud through game-based storytelling. Our goal is to educate people about the evolving nature of fraud and what we battle every day to keep businesses and customers safe.”

Click here for more info on Fraud Tycoon

Using puzzle-based gameplay, Fraud Tycoon takes users behind the scenes of criminal organizations that prey on online businesses that have vulnerable security. The game asks players to step into the shoes of a criminal and compete for the fake currency "Bytecash" to purchase stolen credit cards and actual fraud-enabling tools to build their criminal enterprise.

"Delving into the world of online fraud was an eye-opening experience. Fraudsters experience many of the same emotional states as gamers by accumulating risk while looking for reward,” said Michael Wilson, Ponywolf President and former Independent Games Festival Finalist. “The collection of tools, personal and financial information has a strong correlation to game mechanics found in popular mobile games. We wanted to show the hidden story of how a security breach is monetized without making it a training tool – and part of that is highlighting the addictive nature of risk and reward."

NO2 Games is Now Ponywolf

Welcome to the new NO2.

NO2 Games (also known as No.2 Games) was an independent game development company founded in 1998 by Michael Wilson and Edward Brown in Cincinnati, OH. Titles created by the pair sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide.

Initially the company was solely created to participate in the first annual Independent Games Festival, an event designed, "to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers."

NO.2 Games would go on to produce four retail titles, a myriad of free games and advergames Eventually selling hundreds of thousands of units and generating millions of downloads. The team would win various "best of" awards for Miniverse Minigolf, Bowling Mania and Let's Go Fishing and would return to the 2002 Independent Games Festival as a finalist for their bizarre stock market simulation, Mr. Bigshot.

In June of 2011, the re-branded NO2 Games relocated to NYC and released Tilt-a-Bowl for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch devices.

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NO2 Games Offices from 1998 to 2002, Cincinnati, OH

On April 1st, 2014 NO2 evolved one more time into the Boise-based game studio Ponywolf.  Ponywolf, now a joint venture with Drake Cooper Advertising,
is located in the Drake Cooper building in downtown Boise.

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Drake Cooper building in BoDo, 2014

We are looking forward to the future that awaits!