Pixowl raises $1.2 million to create story and character-driven mobile games

Turns out that I’m not the world’s cutest grub, though my mother insists I’m still her “favorite Jeffrey Grubb.”

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Pixowl, a San Francisco-based mobile-game company, recently secured $1.2 million in funding to expand its lineup of games based on The Grub, an adorable creature it created for the popular mobile title Doodle Grub.

“The way we plan to develop our company is to create games around The Grub character,” Pixowl founder Arthur Madrid told GamesBeat in an interview. “The mobile games market makes it very difficult to discover new games.”

Madrid believes that by focusing on creative character design and story, Pixowl can overcome that hurdle.

While Doodle Grub, which Pixowl developed in conjunction with its studio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a simple tilt-to-control version of Snake, the young company hopes to incorporate a much more meaningful story into The Grub’s future titles.

“We want to do a mobile game, plush toys, comic books, stickers, and web videos all starring The Grub as the main character,” Madrid said.

Of course, wanting to build a popular character and executing on that desire are two different things. Again, Madrid thinks he has the answer to that: an accomplished French artist named Laurel.

“I believe in artists,” Madrid said. “I trust Laurel to create these characters. We want to address the new profile of players — kids and families — but we aren’t using some formula.”

Pixowl isn’t afraid to use The Grub to pull on heartstrings or to teach a message. Future stories may involve The Grub’s missing parents or a world corrupted by pollution.

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It’ll be interesting to see if a focus on rich storytelling and character will pay off in the unsettled mobile game market. I’m glad someone is going to give it a shot.