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PopCap Brings a Child's Vision To Life

Posted by Blake Grundman on July 27th, 2011
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

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?

PopCap and Make-A-Wish Foundation Make An Aspiring Game Designer's Dream Come True

Posted by Blake Grundman on May 2nd, 2011

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!