GAMES

I have spent over ten years designing video games and entertainment titles. I apply many game design principles to marketing (gamification) in order to create engaging campaigns.

REFLEXION

Best-selling critically acclaimed iPhone game

Reflexion is a fresh take on the classic ball-and-paddle brick-breaker game. The genre was made popular in the days of the Atari 2600 and has seen countless clones in the years since. None of them are quite like Reflexion.

The Game:

Reflexion takes the classic brick breaker formula and reinvents it from the ground up for the iPhone interface. It isn't simply using tilt or drag to move a paddle. You actually draw the paddle anywhere on the screen. This allows for unique level design and gameplay.

Reflexion was among the top-10 paid puzzle games in the iPhone App Store. It had overwhelming praise heaped on it from reviewers and customers alike, and maintained a rating of between 4 ½ and 5 stars during it's initial release.

See a demo of Reflexion on YouTube

Touch Arcade: "...the game is a refreshing and challenging take on Arkanoid and is easy to recommend" Full Review

Credits:

Initial concept, art and game design: Myron McMillin
Programming and additional game design: David Whitlark
Art and video: Ryan Co
Music: Danny Baranowsky

ARRIVAL

An exercise in shrinking UI

Arrival: Galactic Defense is a hybrid shooter and side-scrolling tower defense game. It was designed for the T-Mobile Sidekick and tailored to its unique hardware.

The Game:

We wanted to create a game that followed up on the success of Armored Strike (a turn based tank battle game). We choose a side-scrolling tower defense game.

For the new title we wanted to expand the options available to the user, as well as increase the complexity to allow for a much deeper game. The challenge was the screen size. It was small, and we needed lots of UI for the game to function as we envisioned it.

Enter the context sensitive tower. To make room for all of the options I devised a telescoping tower. Each level of the tower representing a different set of options.

I am the UI When a level was selected, a user could scroll left and right to see options, or up and down to choose a different level. This was designed with the Sidekick hardware in mind. The Sidekick d-pad and independent trackball made it easy and intuitive to switch from the turret and shooting mode to the tower and troop deployment mode. This created a very easy to understand UI paradigm and allowed us to create a VERY deep game mechanic.

Credits:

Game design, art direction, story:
Myron McMillin
Programming: Colin Woodworth,
Will Anderson and Gary Pezza
Art: Adam "Atomic" Saltsman
Music: Steven Roy

Arrival

Screenshots:

screenshot

SWINE FLEW

An almost instant iPhone game

Swine Flew was concepted, designed and produced in just over one week. We created a fun and polished game with integrated social media sharing.

The Game:

Swine Flew is a simple juggling action game. Users try to save people and pigs from an outbreak of the Swine Flu.

Diseased pigs fall from the sky, bringing with them viruses that can make the citizens of your city ill. Keep the pigs from hitting the ground and infecting the people below by catching and throwing them high into the air. If a pig slips by and hits the ground, it will spread its virus to the people nearby, and sick people can infect others. You can mark the infected so that an ambulance can take them to the hospital for treatment.

You can also use unique power-ups like Vaccines and Cleavers to keep the population safe and healthy.

This game supported Facebook and Twitter through the Open Feint network.

See a demo of Swine Flew on YouTube

Credits:

Initial concept, animation and game design: Myron McMillin
Art: Doug Harvey
Programming: Jean-Sebastien Payette
Music: Danny Baranowsky

SLIMEBALL

Making the lowly trackball fun again

“Katamari Damacy meets Grand Theft Auto.” Slimeball Speedway is a game targeted specifically at the teenage boy demographic.

The Game:

The T-Mobile Sidekick had no racing games and no compelling games with trackcall control. What it did have was a young social demographic.

Poop Shoot We wanted to create a game targetted at teenage boys. Something that was gross and funny but still leveraged the Sidekick hardware. At the time, the Sidekick 3 had just been released and had swapped out the trusty scroll wheel for a new and fancy trackball.

We demeed the initial concept too immature even for teenage boys. In the first vision of the game you were a small ball of poop traveling through the colon and eating corn to gain momentum and size. The goal was to destroy toilets. It was gross, but also so CUTE! Just look at that happy guy!

The theme was not sound, but the gameplay mechanic worked very well.

We went back to the drawing board and decided on a game about a giant growing blob, specifically a growing blob that eats people to gain speed.

Slimeball Eating

The trackball was the perfect interface for maneuvering an onscreen ball.

Slimeball Splashart

Building a community around eating people:

The goal of Slimeball Speedway was to get to the finish line as quickly as possible, but what fun is that unless you can beat your friends' times and rub their faces in it. Slimeball Speedway was created to be a social game.

Slimeball Speedway included the ability to save your races and email them to challenge your friends. The spiritual sequel to Slimeball Speedway, Downhill Dash Skiing, also included a full level editor to share custom level designs. Both of these games had active communities.