Trailer for the 2012 iOS version of “Coign of Vantage”, our most popular Flash game. See below for info.
Overview
In the heyday of Flash games, I co-founded a small startup, producing casual browser games, both self-directed and as work for hire. The company existed from late 2007 to 2012, and during that time we produced over 20 Flash games (some of which reached tens of millions of players), as well as three Objective-C based iOS games. We also did a lot of work for advertising agencies, including TV spots, microsites and interactive installations.
Responsibilities
Both my co-founder and I were allrounders with a background in media and graphic design, and we both handled art and code in a rough 50/50 split on most projects. In addition, I created most of our games’ soundtracks, served as our point of contact to our international clients (Disney, Miniclip and Viacom, among others), and wrote detailed proposals, game design documents, grant applications and product documentation.
Our work was built on a variety of different platforms and languages, including Flash/AS3, Unity, Objective C, C++ and PHP. I also implemented a few advanced AS3 projects, such as an in-house 3D engine and a script language interpreter.
Projects (Selection)
Coign of Vantage
The most popular of our self-directed games featured a (at the time) novel mechanic, where players had to rotate a three-dimensional cloud of pixels until an image emerged. The game was first released as a Flash game in 2008, and quickly became viral, being featured by major sites such as Kotaku and Wired. The trailer shown at the top of this page is for the iOS version, built in Objective C / OpenGL and released in 2012.
Naruto: Fast Flying Heroics
Commissioned for the launch of the Naruto:Shippuden series on a popular US cable network, Naruto: “Fast Flying Heroics” was a 3D Flash game that took the player through six different levels of arcade-style gameplay, boss fights and animated cut scenes.
Superfund Investment World
In 2009, the Superfund Group of investment companies created a mobile exhibition featuring 12 interactive multimedia installations on more than 200 square meters of exhibition space. The Superfund Investment World’s exterior featured a five meters tall LED display, for which we created visuals which incorporated real-time stock data. We also provided the complete client-side software and onscreen graphics for the “Commodity Train”, a touchscreen-based data visualization application synched to a model train.
Zipfer Zapf Challenge
Austrian beer brand Zipfer hosted a beer drawing competition, and advertisement agency DRAFTFCBi approached us to implement a microsite based on their layouts and designs, as well as a promotional mini-game. The key requirement was for the beer to look convincing.
Our game featured a complex simulation of the dynamics of liquid and foam in a moving container, and scored players based on different factors such as the height of the whitecap and the amount of liquid spilled.
Hitradio Ö3 Eurowuchtel TV Spots
In 2008, Austria co-hosted the UEFA European Football Championship, and public broadcasting company ORF asked creative agency ILLUSTREE to design and implement an online application where users could vote for their favourite quotes by soccer players, trainers and managers. In order to promote the application, we designed and produced three animated television spots under ILLUSTREE’s direction.