My name is John. I make things.
Latest News
JayIsGames.com has been featuring my work for over 6 years. They covered some of my earliest work, including the Ball Revamped series when it was just picking up.
They have nominated Achievement Unlocked 3 for Puzzle Platformer of the Year! And its up to a user vote, so if you want to cast one, feel free! Here is the link to vote!
And if you haven’t played it yet, go play Achievement Unlocked 3.
A new city, a new home, a new job, a new year, and a new outlook on life.
For the first time in a long time I’m on a high for game development and the road ahead. Large projects, bigger ideas, great success and room for failure… all these things are culminating in an energy that I haven’t had in a long time. I’m really quite excited about whats to come.
I’ve been building a project in my mind for about two years now that I have not found the energy to start on. It would be something to create in my own time and write at my own pace. But its been hard… my energy for the past year has been really low, and the project will be an effort unlike that I’ve ever taken on. It has a strong platforming narrative, many worlds, clean gameplay, and an overall vision that I feel fairly solid on. Now that I have the time and energy I’m going to try to give it a go.
At Kongregate I’ve started on a hybrid fighting game/boss battle/strangeness that will make you duke it out within really ridiculous scenarios. It’s well into production and will probably see the light in a few weeks.
As far as photography, I’ve embarked on a 365 project, to take a photo every day until 2014. Here are the results so far:
2012 was a kickass year, and 2013 is looking incredible. I can’t wait to see what happens.
Hi everyone,
Its been a hard month. Life is shifting in a big way right now, many life-changing events are hitting on all cylinders.
First, the big news. About a month ago I resigned my post at Armor Games to take on a new adventure at Kongregate. I will be producing games for Kongregate in San Francisco and will be moving up from Orange County in the next week or so. This is a big change for me, I’ve been producing content for Armor Games for over eight years and have made many friends and colleagues at Armor. Armor Games was an amazing company to work for, full of talented and amazing people. During my time there I produced somewhere around 50-60 games. I am very thankful for the time I had at Armor and leaving was not an easy choice. I am taking up a new role (still making games!) at Kongregate and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future.
That said, I am moving! I’ve lived in Southern California now for a while, but I’m moving back up to Northern California again. They actually get rain so that’s a bit exciting. I’ll miss the warm, sunny beaches and always-awesome weather here. And I’ll miss my friends, but Minecraft servers make it hard to stay too far apart.
Game release! There is a new game out called Loot! The Game. It’s currently available on Armor Games. It features elephant and guns and a trains. Everything you need for an action-packed, gear-whoring game! I hope you enjoy it.
About
My name is John Cooney. I am 26 years old and live in San Francisco, CA.
I was raised in Northern California where I was a creative creature. A box of Legos turned into an obsession with computer-assisted design, which turned into a fascination in art and design. By high school I was publishing my first games to the Internet. At the same time I found a love of mountain biking, so much so that I took the AOL Screenname, jmtb02 (John Mountain Bike 2002). It became my mark.
I am a proud graduate of UC Davis, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Technocultural Studies. In Davis I was inspired to pursue a career in traditional 2D animation but soon took to more interactive design, with game design continuing to take precedent. By the end of college I owned my own business and was producing internet and game design under my company, JMTB02 Studios. It paid for college and the bills. My major client was Armor Games, a small game company seeking creative content for their site. After college they offered me a job in Southern California where I could pursue seemingly open-ended game design, a dream job.
Orange County is certainly a different place but I have found home here. I married my girlfriend of six years and merged our two cats, Muffin and Bagel, together under one roof.
I found a passion for cycling, running, and surf. I rode my first century (100 mile) ride in 2011 and ran my first marathon in 2012. I learned to surf and found myself at the beach at all hours, driving as fast as Southern California traffic allowed to get to the coast.
When there is actual downtime I enjoy rock climbing, video and tabletop gaming, and perhaps even a run.
In 2012 I switched gears, moving back to the San Francisco Bay Area. I joined up with Kongregate, a great, supportive place for game developers, gamers, and everyone in-between.
Want to know about my game design? Or perhaps about my photography? Contact me?
Game Design
I love game design. I have produced about 90 titles to this point, doing all my own game design, programming, artwork, and sound engineering (I do get help on some of these things on certain projects). These game have totaled hundreds of millions of plays and are (mostly) free to play and easily accessible. Most are available on this site.
I am intrigued by simple ideas. In a time of complexity in gaming I like distilling simple ideas into fun experiences. You’ll find most of my work to be short, 10 minute to 1 hour games.
I have been blessed with many honors and awards for my work:
• Game Developer of the Year, 2011 – Écrans.fr
• Best in Genre (several categories), 2008-2011 – Casual Gameplay (JayIsGames.com)
• OMG LOL award – Achievement Unlocked - E4 Games
• 70+ Game Award Honors – Newgrounds.com
• Feature Article – Little Games are Big Business – OC Weekly
• Book Feature – 250 Indie Games you Must Play – Mike Rose
My game development upbringing is an interesting one. As a kid I was not allowed to play video games after being caught sneaking out of bed to play. After age 10 I found myself banned from games but constantly trying to find outlets. Time with friends, minutes after class, and cell phones became haven for short-term gameplay experiences. In a way producing games was a way to play them.
By the end of high school I started publishing my work online to share. By the time I reached college my work started reaching thousands of visits, and soon millions. I built a strong relationship and support with Armor Games at this time, and soon after I was employed for 5+ years as Head of Game Development.
Currently I am a game developer at Kongregate.
From a few hours to several months in production, each of these games is made a whole lot of love and effort. I hope you enjoy.
Here are all the games I have made, in order of most recently made:
Want to see some really, really old stuff? Check out the Archives.
Photography
When I’m not making games I usually have a camera in my hands. Photography is my creative life outside of game design.
In 2006 I purchased my first camera. I immediately ran outside and started taking pictures of flowers and animals, not really sure what to do with it. Today I have a bit more focus but in many ways I keep the same philosophy in photography, adventuring outdoors with an open mind and just some ideas of what I plan to shoot while out there. And no matter what is out there, whether it is snow, rain, or extreme heat, I love carrying a camera and using it.
I have a strong affinity for nature, conservation, and natural beauty. While I produce most of my work in Southern California I also find time on weekends and off-time from work to travel to more remote destinations. A lot of my work comes from Northern and Southern California, Nevada, and Utah. I shoot with a Canon 7D and a Yashicamat 124G.
Here is a sample of my work. If you would like to see more you can visit my photography portfolio.
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Contact
Hello! Thanks for trying to contacting me. For strange random phone call reasons I have removed my telephone number. If you need to contact me by phone please send me an email.
I typically respond in 48 hours.
jmtb02 [at] gmail.com
jmtb02
jmtb02
Please do not contact me if you are a solicitor, robot, or evil person.
