Most people have little knowledge of what goes into the making of a successful video game, but a team of Ole Miss students has cracked the code while fulfilling a childhood dream.
University of Mississippi students Ryan Rigney and Jonathan Broom have released their second video game, “Orb Combat Simulator 2019,” through their company, Utah Raptor Games.
Utah Raptor Games, founded in 2011, is a video game studio based in Oxford and is run entirely by its two founders, Rigney and Broom.
The company won the Gillespie Business Plan Competition last year for the plan of their first game, “Fast Fast Laser Laser.”
“It’s a very addictive test of strategic thinking and spatial reasoning designed to improve those skills,” Broom said of “Orb Combat Simulator 2019.”
In short, it is an exciting, strategic puzzle game about space and math.
The game was presented during its release as “the world’s most realistic and prescient simulator of globular warfare” and is already boasting of “trillions of fans.”
Making a video game starts from scratch, like most projects, and many people are brought in to help make it a reality.
“It starts with an idea – either a vision of a game to be made or a concept to build one off of,” Broom said.
“Then you have to assemble a team of people with the skills necessary to create the art and music and code for the game who work together for months building it and reworking things until you have a complete product you’re proud of.”
Rigney and Broom have been friends for well over a decade and attribute their bond to video games.
“Video games have always been our passion,” Broom said. “They’re even how Ryan and I became friends. Making video games is really in a sense fulfilling some childhood dreams of ours.”
The duo has another project in the works at the moment and intends to pursue a publisher for other projects beyond that.
“Orb Combat Simulator 2019” is available for purchase on Apple’s App Store for $1 and is compatible with the iPhone 3GS/4, iPad, iPad 2 and iPod Touch 3rd/4th generations.
