Udder Panic sucks you into playing for charity

Beam up cows in your UFO and make a kid’s wish come true. Udder Panic is the latest free-to-play mobile game from Omaha-based JB Gaming, in which you play an alien in a UFO, attempting to suck up cows while avoiding bombs and secret agents (Men In Black?). The game is very easy to play and hard…

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Beam up cows in your UFO and make a kid’s wish come true.

Udder Panic is the latest free-to-play mobile game from Omaha-based JB Gaming, in which you play an alien in a UFO, attempting to suck up cows while avoiding bombs and secret agents (Men In Black?).

The game is very easy to play and hard to put down. For anyone familiar with Crossy Road, the menus and monetization will be familiar. (The player periodically has the option to watch ads for extra coins or buy items.) But the game also has a few features that make it extra rewarding to play.

The story behind Udder Panic

Udder Panic is the second game out by JB Gaming, which was started in 2014 by Jeff Brooks. Both Brooks and the lead artist for JB Gaming, Tony Ferguson, are former employees of SkyVu Entertainment.

Their first game Beastbound, a free-to-play mobile RPG for kids, was released earlier this year. They used that game to clarify their production process.

“Beastbound was a bit more of a freeform jazz sort of thing,” said Ferguson. We really hashed out our pipeline, releasing on schedule and on budget.”

Many of things they learned on Beastbound have made their way into Udder Panic.

“From the art aspect we learned a lot about animation. If you look at Beastbound compared to Panic, they don’t even compare,” said Ferguson.

It was after the 9-month production schedule of Beastbound that the team looked through their ideas for something they could execute faster.

“We were looking for something we could do quick with a three month turn around,” said Ferguson. “It had to be sticky, addictive and quick.”

So far the promotion of Udder Panic has mostly been by word-of-mouth, but the response has been positive.

“It’s traveled quite a ways based on that. What we’ve heard organically has been really positive,” said Ferguson.

How they partnered with Make-A-Wish

As you zoom along in your UFO in Udder Panic, you come across golden cows. (We came across several in the first few minutes of play.) When you pick up a golden cow it gets added to the global total. When one million Golden Cows have been reached worldwide, JB Gaming will fulfill the wish of a Make-A-Wish kid in Nebraska.

When JB Gaming approached Make-A-Wish Nebraska about partnering to promote and support their charity, they found an immediate reception.

“They were on board immediately,” said Ferguson. “From the beginning of the first meeting they were like, ‘Yep, let’s do it.’”

Once the million golden cow goal is reached the company will continue to make new goals with new donations and expand nationally. They hope to support and promote a variety of charities during the game’s lifetime.

“I’m not aware of any other games that have done it in quite this sort of way,” said Ferguson. “Other games have given revenue to charities, but in Panic the charity aspect is interwoven into the gameplay. It will be part of it for the lifetime of the game.”

Download Udder Panic now on iTunes and Google Play.

Ryan Pendell is the Manging Editor of Silicon Prairie News.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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