Tag: Make-A-Wish Foundation »

Far too often gaming is heinously thrust under the microscope of the media by organizations like Fox News and CNN.  In most circumstances an ill-informed host or reporter with an obvious bias is very outspoken and condemning of an hobby that more and more of us have come to know and love.  Sure, recently PopCap received quite a bit of good press for their work with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, but more often than not things lean towards the negative.

Five teens from the rural community of Rye, Colorado, along with Phil Hassey of Galcon fame, thought that it was time to once again show the positive side of gaming. After deciding that they wanted to try to help raise funds for a new community center in Rye, the team spent two days designing a brand new game from scratch. When the dust settled, The Exterminator was born.

So how does one decide to make a game about a motorcyclist that is humanity's last line of defense against mutant bugs?  Here is a snippet of Hassey's rundown of the project's creative process:

"Wes really wanted to do a motorcycle oriented game and Shamoa was interested in some kind of game where we'd destroy mutant bugs.  By combining those ideas we came up with 'The Exterminator.'  From there we spent two days developing the artwork, music, sound effects, and the actual game.  Matt put together the electric guitar soundtrack using GarageBand.  Wes, Shamoa, Shadrack, and Cameron all worked on the artwork.  Most everyone did some sound effects.  We also spent a lot of time eating food and generally goofing off.  We wrapped up the project with some solid play-testing and tweaking and we were all really happy with how it came out."

First of all, hats off to Phil for making this project possible.  I'm sure these creative teens brought tons of amazing ideas to the table, but it takes the experience and expertise of a professional to bring all of those ideas together into a cohesive product.  Secondly, it is awesome to hear of the selfless generosity of Wes, Matt, Shamoa, Shadrack, and Cameron, all in the name of a good cause.  Well done to everyone involved.

If you are interested in supporting this very charitable cause, you can download The Exterminator when it goes live on the App Store, August 17th.  All of the proceeds from the game will go towards the efforts to establish a community outreach center in Rye, Colorado.  If you would like to learn more about the project and their progress towards raising $200,000, you can check out their website or like the game on Facebook.   Also, be sure to check out the trailer below to both see the game in action and meet the teens that made this project possible.

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You may remember our story from a couple of months ago, featuring the heartwarming story of Owain Weinert, a child suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.  After hearing that the child had aspirations of being a game designer, the Make-A-Wish Foundation paired young Owain up with the great folks over at PopCap Games.  Working in conjunction with the studio's newly introduced 4th & Battery development team, they designed a brand new game, under his direction.

Here were the details from our original write-up:

"Upon reaching out to the great folks over at PopCap Games, Make-A-Wish enlisted the talented development team to help bring the child’s game design to life, in the form of the upcoming iOS title, ‘Allied Star Police.’  According to TouchArcade, the title is described as 'a sci-fi real-time strategy game where you play as a base commander who must deploy ‘automated battle machines’ and ‘targeted ballistic ordnance’ in an effort to fight of a race of aliens known as the Flamions.'  Owain has been credited as the app Lead Designer and has made trips out to PopCap on a weekly basis to assess the game’s progress through the development cycle, providing his own input every step of the way."

Well the long wait for the game has come to an end and PopCap is proud to announce that Allied Star Police is officially available for download!  Though the game is free for the taking, the staff of 148Apps would encourage you to take the money that you would have spent supporting this awesome game and great cause, and donate it to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Owain and PopCap's honor.  Really, it is the least you could do to help make more children's lives a little brighter.

Everyone else has done their part.  Isn't it time you did the same?

When it comes to organizations that are making a big difference in the lives of children strikened with life threatening diseases, the Make-A-Wish Foundation is among the very best.  So when they heard the sad story of nine year old Owain Weinert, who has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, they reached out to see how they might make his life a little brighter.  In this case, instead of asking to meet a famous athlete or rock star, Owain stated that he wanted to design his own video game.

Upon reaching out to the great folks over at PopCap Games, Make-A-Wish enlisted the talented development team to help bring the child's game design to life, in the form of the upcoming iOS title, 'Allied Star Police.'  According to TouchArcade, the is described as "a sci-fi real-time strategy game where you play as a base commander who must deploy 'automated battle machines' and 'targeted ballistic ordnance' in an effort to fight of a race of aliens known as the Flamions."  Owain has been credited as the app Lead Designer and has made trips out to PopCap on a weekly basis to assess the game's progress through the development cycle, providing his own input every step of the way.

Fox's Q13 News just ran a great segment on this uplifting story, which you can enjoy below.



It will still probably be quite some time before 'Allied Star Police' makes its debut in the App Store, but when it does PopCap has already said that 100% of the proceeds will be going towards the continuing efforts of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

When you hear stories like this, it highlights how many amazing people there are hard at work in the game industry.  Here is to hoping that the game is successful in launching Owain into the pantheon of amazing game designers.  Watch your back Cliffy B, you are going to have lots of competition incoming soon!