Thursday, August 11, 2022

Game Portfolio -- Grub Guardian

Grub Guardian


  • Release Date: January 2012
  • Current Availability: Limited availability on iOS
  • Release Credit Category: Marketing Credit
  • Company: KingsIsle
  • Business Model: Free-to-Play
  • Category: Web-based and Mobile
  • Genre: Tower Defense
Personal Development notes
  • Fun Fact: Originally Grub Guardian appeared in its beta phase on the now defunct freekigames.com website. Apparently you can currently still play this game if you have an old enough iOS device (try an iPhone 4 or 5). 

  • Job Highlights: At some point in 2012-2013, I was given the job of handling social media responsibilities for Grub Guardian and also managing the prize distribution. Updating the master list for prizes was an enormous undertaking as each puzzle had a tier list associated with it, and the prizes were different for each tier. To update the prizes, we used a Web-based content management system. Eventually the knowledge I learned from working with Grub Guardian allowed me to pivot the Dueling Diego minigame on the FreeKIGames website to instead distribute Pirate101 items in place of Wizard101 prizes.

  • Best Memory: For some reason I have a very distinct memory of talking for a long time about the tiers of Grub Guardian with Sean McIntosh, KingsIsle's (and now WIMO's) Director of Art. I believe this was the first time I ever worked with Sean. We work much more closely now that I've pivoted to Design, so it's fun to look back at these times for me.

  • Other Comments:  Ultimately, I'm really happy players of Wizard101 had a fun game on Mobile that could also earn them rewards in their favorite MMO and also be an alternate method for leveling their pets.

Sample Gameplay:

Back when Grub Guardian launched on FreeKIGames, I made this video showing one of the early levels of Grub Guardian.

3 comments:

Flash33 said...

I played the game every now and then, though I never enjoyed is as much as other TD games I've played, like Master of Defense for example.

shawn292 said...

My hope is that KI contracts Wimo to update/fix this game! it was such a good game and supplement to the MMO

Stingite said...

@Flash33 -- Right right. Much like Skull Riders isn't as good as Killer Queen, but both are in the vein of Joust.

@shawn292 -- It would be cool, but I believe part of the problem is that the cost to maintain and update it would be more than any profits made by it. But stranger things have happened!