Bad Company Party

'Tis the season for bad company parties. We designed this browser-based HTML5 platformer in conjunction with Ponywolf and Drake Cooper Advertising. 

Play Drake Cooper Bad Company Party and Drake Cooper will donate $1 to the Idaho Food Bank up to total donation of a $1000 between now and December 31st, 2014.

Click here to play!

melon.js Logo Design

I've been using the sweet javascript game engine melon.js for a while now. With the latest release the project founders wanted an updated new logo. Citrus colors and slightest hint of a melon shape I think work well for this
abstraction.

What do you think?

Space Monsters Love Bullets

If you're looking for a casual mobile game that has resource management, virtual pet style mini-games and lots of explosions, you should check out my latest work-in-progress project. Space Monsters Love Bullets is a casual mobile game for iOS and Android devices designed in a modern-pixel style. It combines a few different game styles in a fresh way that makes it a game you can pick up and play instantly, but has a depth that will keep you coming back.


The idea was sparked by watching my kids play all these virtual-farming-pet-breeding games. They really liked the interaction, but they hated waiting around for something to happen. I thought shooting monsters would make for a fun "farming" mechanic.

I chose Kickstarter because I wanted to get some validation that this is a good idea. The concept smushes two very different genres together, so if people get it they are likely to support it. If they don't get it, I don't want find that out after its finished.

Please, check it out and share if you want to make this project a reality.

Portfolio Quest!

After teaching my class on Gamification at General Assembly this past fall I really wanted to work on an example of how gaming principles could make a mundane task fun. I also wanted to put together a unique portfolio for this year's Game Developers Conference.

In a two-birds-one-stone fashion I spent the better part of a week experimenting with the HTML5 Canvas and JavaScript to create Portfolio Quest.

The premise is simple--like most adventure games--the pages of my portfolio are lost and it's your job to find them. As a game it's painfully linear, lacks conflict and has no reason to engage past the single five minute quest; however, as a portfolio it beckons more than just a passing glance.

Getting people to engage becomes a secondary challenge. At a conference like the GDC you are overwhelmed not only with visuals and sounds, but more business cards than you can imagine. I chose to 'borrow' some equity in keeping with the theme of my portfolio and created minimal business cards.

I regretted not putting more contact information on the cards as I found myself jotting my email down quite a bit for people you wanted to reconnect during the show. (I also did similar cards for my start-up, and had similar regrets...)

All in all, I believe the project was a success and has had a steadily rising visitor rate even after the conference. If you want to try it out, go to the Portfolio Quest site. If you want to see what the non-gamification version of my portfolio looks like, visit www.michaelwilson.tv.

Timelines, jQuery and Portfolios

Over the past few weeks I've been Gamifying my portfolio (more on that later) but I found that I needed to have something out there for opportunities that are happening now.

I have a non-traditional body of work--spanning film, advertising, interactive and games--and showing all of that in a way that flows seemed like daunting challenge. Oh, and I'd like it to work in pretty much any browser including the one on the iPad.

I've been playing around with desktop and touch interfaces in jQuery and I've been quite impressed. Throwing together a slick interface isn't a month long project anymore--in fact many developers have put together various pieces into frameworks or UI builders for you.

One such framework is Timeline.js that makes a touch responsive timeline available from a simple data series. Add a few menu controls, custom stylesheets and of course, the content, and you have a easy to navigate timeline-based portfolio.



Check it out here, I'd love some feedback.

Gamification: You're Doing It Wrong--The Slides

Here are the slides from last night's class on Gamification that I gave at General Assembly.


The class went very well (IMHO) with an engaged audience of about 30 people. There were lots of people working on active projects, and some just curious about game design theory.

If you were unable to attend, hopefully you can get some value from the slides.

Enjoy!

Gamification: You're Doing It Wrong

I’m teaching a class on how to incorporate game methodologies into web and mobile applications for the general market. The class is called "Gamification: You're Doing It Wrong" and covers the basics of game design and structure while applying those principles to modern digital design for the web and mobile.

It’s a good class if you are thinking about game design as a career or if your team is trying to incorporate game principles into a current application.

The class is Tuesday, August 21st from 6:00 - 7:30 pm at NYC-based General Assembly, a global network of campuses for individuals seeking opportunity and education in technology, business, and design.

More info and how to sign-up for the class at Eventbrite.