PixelJAM Games is an American independent

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

studio run by Richard Grillotti (b. 1972), Miles Tilmann and A.D. Bakke, known for their

pixellated In computer graphics, pixelation (or pixellation in British English) is caused by displaying a bitmap or a section of a bitmap at such a large size that individual pixels, small single-colored square display elements that comprise the bitmap, a ...

Flash game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on co ...

s that "toy with traditional genres, but have quirky ideas and touches." Their most notable games include ''

Dino Run ''Dino Run'' is a Flash game created by PixelJAM and XGen Studios, released on April 30, 2008. The player steers a ''Velociraptor'' through increasingly dangerous side-scrolling landscapes to escape an impending "wall of doom". The game uses si ...

'', ''

Gamma Bros ''Gamma Bros'' is a 2006 Flash shoot 'em up game developed and published by American game indie studio PixelJAM Games, released as a free online title. It was nominated for "Best Web Browser Game" at the 2007 Independent Games Festival Th ...

'', and ''

Potatoman Seeks the Troof ''Potatoman Seeks the Troof'' is a humorous and philosophical 2012 Flash platformer developed by American game indie game studio PixelJAM Games. It was included as one of 7 "Digital Select" titles for the IndieCade IndieCade is an international ...

''.

History

The name "PixelJam" comes from an "abstract pixel animation art experiment/site" that Richard Grilloti was playing around with in the late 1990s. Around 2004, he and his friend from college, Miles Tilmann, made their first game, also collaborating with 8bit musician

Mark Denardo Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

. Grilloti and Tilman were originally both based in Chicago, then the studio went virtual for a couple of years when Grilloti lived in Oregon, but both Grilloti and Tilman later moved to

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. The studio has made many games for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

. In 2015, the studio had 5 employees. In 2007, PixelJAM developed a

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

game, called ''Gamma Bros''. It was nominated for "Best Web Browser Game" at the

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

. The player takes control of brothers Buzz and Zap Gamma who are on their way home from a galactic commute and must survive hoards of oncoming enemies. In November 2013, PixelJam launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign for a sequel to ''

'', but it failed to achieve its funding goal. A second campaign in 2018 succeeded. The game remains unreleased.

Games

*''Cookie Party 2'' *''Corporate Climber'' *''Cream Wolf -'' *''

'' *''Dino Run DX'' *''Dino Run: Marathon of Doom'' *''Dino Run: Enter Planet D'' *''Dino Run SE'' *''

'' *''Glorkian Warrior: The Trials of Glork'' *''Hipster Kickball'' *
Last Horizon
' *''Mountain Maniac'' *''Mountain Maniac Xmas'' *''Pizza City!'' *''

'' *''Ratmaze'' *''Ratmaze 2'' *''Ratmaze Nightmare'' *''Sausage Factory'' *''Snowball'' *''Turbo Granny''

References

{{reflist Video game companies of the United States Indie game developers