Gresham brothers find success in the mobile game market

If you want to attract Apple's attention with a proposed game for their App Store, create a game that looks eerily like any normal home screen on an iPhone.

"Apple plays the games submitted for the App Store," said Justin Miller, director of sales and marketing for Self Aware, a new iPhone game application. "When their testers picked up the game, they thought there was something wrong with their phone. Which is exactly what we wanted. But we changed it so that it wasn't so similar and they accepted it."

Confused? Just stay with us.

The creators

Miller, 29, along with brothers Matt, 25, and Aaron, 27, are owners of Dingle LLC, a flourishing Gresham-based mobile game development company.

The trio, with backgrounds in sales and marketing, as well as software engineering, took their life-long penchant for video games to another level by creating a mobile game that is challenging, quirky and frankly, rather creepy in its realism.

Their product

The game - Self Aware - introduces players to STU, which is short for Security-enhanced Turing Complete Universal Program.

STU is a sophisticated mobile security application, originally designed to protect mobile devices from any and all digital dangers. The only problem is STU has short-circuited because of a freak code mutation, and is running amuck, controlling all the applications on the device.

Think HAL, from the Stanley Kubrick classic, "2001: A Space Odyssey."

"Self Aware isn't set up with traditional levels," Justin said. "You start on a red hued screen that looks a lot like your normal IOS device home screen. When you click on an icon, STU greets you and challenges you to solve a riddle or play a mini-game. Every time you win, you unlock either more icons or part of STU's operating system, which helps you take back your mobile device. There's really a lot of comedy in it, but STU's really there to just harass the human."

Self Aware is an interactive game, with each challenge introduced by STU's computer generated voice. His commands range from cryptic to just plain confusing. But players can be assisted by "Techie," their partner-in-crime to battle evil STU, who offers helpful tips and hints to solve the puzzle.

Although the game appears to utilize information stored within your device's applications, game developer Matt Miller said at no time is any personal information compromised.

"Our goal was immersion in the game," Matt said. "We want the player to feel as if their IOS device actually became self aware and that their lives and personal information are at risk. The dark retro setting and the presence of STU's personality all reinforce the feeling of uncertainty of what's really going on. However, this is all done in good clean fun, and your phone and information are never actually at risk."

Their history

Self Aware is not Dingle's first entry into the mobile gaming market. The brothers' initial launch of "Infection Friends" last year amounted to more of a lesson in marketing than popularity or financial success.

"The biggest thing about gaming is the hype," Justin said. "You have to get people to rate a game before it's released to generate that hype. We didn't know that, so it was a learning experience. But this time, just knowing what we needed to do so we didn't make the same mistake was invaluable."

The success of Self Aware among mobile app users has earned the game a prestigious four-and-a-half star rating in Apple's App Store. Dingle hopes to capitalize on their branding with the release of Beached Whales this summer, and a third game planned for sometime in December.

It appears Dingle, like STU, is poised to take over the gaming world.

"Our goal is to develop on major platforms like X-Box and PlayStation," Justin said. "But that takes money and manpower. There's a lot of competition in the application market, but it's a good place to start and gain recognition."