PerBlue - Blog

2016: PerBlue Year in Review

2017-01-11T14:47:00.000-06:00

The year of 2016 was another action-packed year for PerBlue. Much of the year was focused on scaling our newest game DragonSoul into the largest and most successful title we’ve released to date. In less than 1 year since launch it amassed over 9 million players, emerged as a top 10 mobile RPG, and grew to a Top 50 Grossing App in the US. We even ran large scale national TV ad campaigns throughout the year, so you may have seen it on TV!

The culmination of all this came in October when DragonSoul was officially acquired by GREE International Entertainment, which is the Western division of the Japanese global mobile-social company, GREE. The sale enables the DragonSoul franchise to continue to scale globally and operate under GREE, while enabling our team at PerBlue to remain independent and focus on new product development.

Throughout the year we continued to grow our team. A number of very talented people from the Madison area as well as all over the country joined us, and we’ve nearly doubled the size of our office space over the year to accommodate. The broader Madison game development community also saw a lot of momentum as the Madison Games Alliance continued to take root and grow.

We’re excited for our next big chapter at PerBlue. Cheers to 2017!

2015: PerBlue Year in Review

2016-01-15T11:19:00.001-06:00

The year of 2015 was an action-packed year for PerBlue. Our team was heads down working on some exciting things, culminating in the launch of our newest game DragonSoul. We also continued to build out our team and were joined by a number of great people.
We started the year with the addition of our new Chief Product Officer, Matt Ricchetti. We also added some very talented people to nearly every area of our team throughout the year, including developers, UI, marketing, and support. We were joined by people both from the Madison area as well as many that relocated from all across the country. Welcome!

These new teammates joined our amazing veteran team members to form the most well-rounded and talented team we’ve ever had (and we’re still looking for a few more people to join us!). We were also honored to be named one of the Best Places to Work by Madison Magazine, which is great recognition of our continual focus on making sure our employees can flourish.

The Madison startup community continued to grow, and we are always proud to play a leadership role in helping make it even more vibrant. We’re happy to be part of the startup community, and are looking forward to joining as an anchor tenant of the StartingBlock Madison entrepreneurial hub next year.

We’re also helping bring together the burgeoning Madison game developer community, and have partnered with other local game studios to launch the Madison Game Alliance. The goal is to unite the existing diverse Madison game development community of studios, indies, and educators to form a more cohesive “scene” and raise Madison’s profile as a game development hub.

On the product front, after months of research, production, development, and a successful Beta, we launched our latest game worldwide in September. DragonSoul is a wildly outrageous mobile role-playing game (RPG) where players take on dragons and monsters as they battle their way through an epic story campaign freeing heroes along the way.

DragonSoul received features from both Google and Apple, and has been the most successful product launch we’ve had as a company. We also ran our first ever national TV ad campaign with commercials airing on major TV stations across the country - keep an eye out for them!

We’re proud of the team and games we’ve built, and are excited for what the future holds for us. Cheers to 2016!

DragonSoul Launches

2015-09-24T12:31:00.000-05:00

Our latest mobile game, DragonSoul, is now live worldwide! After months of research, production, development, and a successful Beta, we have now released DragonSoul in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store worldwide. Apple has also featured the game as a “Best New Game,” a proud accomplishment for our studio.

DragonSoul is a wildly outrageous role-playing game (RPG) where players take on dragons and monsters as they battle their way through an epic story campaign freeing heroes along the way.

Long ago, fearless heroes ruled the land with their mighty powers. Jealous of their prestige, the evil dragon Umlaut captured the heroes and trapped them in Soulstones to use their powers for evil. Players use the last two remaining heroes on a journey from scrappy band to unstoppable army.

The world of DragonSoul is a beautifully depicted fantasy land with gorgeous environments, hilarious characters, and fantastic visual effects in over-the-top battles. Beat tough bosses in the Campaign and Summit mode, show off your heroes in the PVP fight pit, and join a Guild with other players.

Battle dragons and fight mighty monsters in DragonSoul, the epic new mobile RPG!

2014: PerBlue Year in Review

2015-01-22T10:00:00.000-06:00

The year of 2014 was a year of big moves for PerBlue. We started out the year by moving to a brand new office. After 3 years in what was intended to be a "temporary" office space, we decided it was time for a change up. In March we moved back downtown and into a great office that is a much better fit for our culture and in a great neighborhood.

This marks our fifth office move over the history of the company, and we've come a long way since the early days working out of Justin's college apartment. It's great to be in our new space, and we're excited to be located in the vibrant Capitol East District in downtown Madison. Check out more pictures from our office move on Facebook here.

In May we completed a $3M funding round which was led by Lightbank out of Chicago. This was Lightbank’s first investment in a Wisconsin based company, and we are excited to have them as a partner in our adventure.

We were awarded the coveted “Top Developer” distinction from Google, and we released our newest game Titan Empires to the world in October. It quickly surpassed 1 million players within just 3 weeks of its launch, and climbed the app store rankings charts to be a Top 25 Free Game in the US. Titan Empires was even “featured” front and center on the homescreen of the Google Play Store for a week. Greed for Glory also received a Google feature, and continues to have a strong and active player base.

To celebrate the launch of Titan Empires, we partnered with our friends at MobCraft who brewed us our very own beer (and let us help) - the PerBrew Apollo Ale. It was quite delicious, and was even featured in The Cap Times.

Madison’s role as an emerging tech and gaming hub continued to increase, and PerBlue continued to play an important role in that. We have a strong (and growing) team, and are excited to continue to build great mid-core mobile games to share with the world. Cheers to 2015!

This was posted in conjunction with Madison startup scene recap series from Capital Entrepreneurs. Check out the full series here.

Titan Empires at 1M+ Players

2014-10-24T16:19:00.002-05:00

Titan Empires launched globally just over 3 weeks ago and now has well over 1 million players worldwide. It took over 3 years for our first title, Parallel Kingdom, to reach that milestone.

We're excited about the new game and the amount of people we've been able to share it with around the world. Titan Empires was even featured on the Google Play Store all week. The game was positioned front and center on the home screen for anyone that opened the Play Store. We've been climbing the ranking charts and are currently a Top 25 Free Game in the US and are on pace to cross the 2 million player mark within a few days!

Titan Empires Launches

2014-10-03T14:35:00.000-05:00

Titan Empires is now live across the globe! After months of development and testing, this week we released our newest game to the world. We're really excited to finally share it with you and it's now available to download on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Titan Empires is a strategy game with newer and bigger features on both iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. In Titan Empires, you recruit and level epic Titans to lead your armies into battle. Each Titan comes with a number of unique Skills that can be deployed when and where you want in battle. As you progress, you'll earn powerful Items to equip and customize your Titans. While growing your army and city, you'll also be able to join an Empire and fight in huge, highly-strategic Wars.

Lead your army to greatness in Titan Empires, the next evolution in strategy gaming!

On the Move

2014-09-26T12:41:00.000-05:00

Well hello! We've had quite the exciting last few months at PerBlue. The team has been heads down working on our newest game, and we've been busy all around. We're super excited about the new game, and we'll have more to share in the coming weeks. We now have over 10 million players across our games in over 200 countries around the world. We've accomplished some significant long standing goals so far this year, including having our games "Featured" in the Google Play Store and even being awarded a "Top Developer" distinction from Google.

Out with the Old Office

Outside of product-land, we've also had some exciting things happen as we've grown and repositioned ourselves a lot as a company (both figuratively and literally). Earlier this summer we completed a $3M funding round which was led by Lightbank out of Chicago. We are excited to have Lightbank as a partner in our adventure, and this capitalization will enable us to do even more awesome things, continue to push the boundaries of mobile games, and increase our impact on the market.

In with the New Office

After 3 years in what was intended to be a "temporary" office space, we decided it was time for a change up. In March we moved back downtown and into a great "real" office that is a much better fit for our culture and in a great neighborhood. This marks our fifth office move over the history of the company, and we've come a long way since the early days working out of Justin's college apartment. It's great to be in our new space, and we're excited to be located in the vibrant Capitol East District in downtown Madison. Check out more pictures from our office move on Facebook here.

Justin at the Startup Showcase

Speaking of Madison, we just wrapped up the 5th Annual Forward Festival, which is an 8 day celebration of technology and entrepreneurship. Check out the Capital Entrepreneurs recap post on some of the events we were involved with. We're super excited to be part of one of the fastest growing technology and startup hubs in the country that just happens to also be located in the best place to live in the country.

We've got some great announcements about our newest product coming your way soon, so stay tuned. We're excited to show you what we've been so busy working on. Forward!

2013: PerBlue Year in Review

2014-01-15T11:00:00.000-06:00

The year of 2013 was an action filled year for PerBlue.

Our flagship title Parallel Kingdom saw the release of an entirely new Age. The Age of Ascension was the 5th Age launched for the game and went live in February 2013. It was the first new Age to be released in over 2 years, and was filled with a ton of new content and features.

The mobile gaming industry is always rapidly evolving. We began an ambitious new project with a goal to push the limits of mobile gaming on Android and set out to build a full new 3D game engine for Android that would bring PerBlue to the forefront of mobile gaming.

Our first title to be released using the engine was Boardtastic Skateboarding, which launched in early 2013 and is still one of the most popular skateboarding games on Android. This was followed in June 2013 with the release of our city defense strategy game Greed for Glory.

Greed for Glory has been played by over 2.25 million people from all around the world. It now has our largest active player base and is our highest revenue producing title. We’ve spent much of the last six months releasing new phases of content for it (including great social features, Kingdoms, and more).

The city defense strategy game genre is a rapidly growing one, and we’re proud to say that Greed for Glory is the most successful US based game in the genre. Greed for Glory has ranked among the Top 25 Games in Google Play and continues to grow. We’re excited for the future of Greed for Glory and our next generation of games.

We launched our new PerBlue branding and logo this year, along with our tagline “Freedom of Play”. PerBlue was named one of the “Finest Game Publishers” and was also featured in an Isthmus cover story. Our CEO Justin Beck was a featured on a Mashable live chat, and was also a speaker at top gaming industry conferences including Casual Connect and GDC.

Justin and COO Forrest Woolworth were recognized as distinguished young UW alumni by the Wisconsin Alumni Association and received the 2013 Forward Under 40 award (check out the cover!). Justin and Forrest were also named to Madison Magazine’s inaugural M List, which recognizes the top entrepreneurs and technologists in Madison.

As a company, 2013 marked our 5 year anniversary. We’ve sure learned and grown a lot as individuals and as a team over that time. We’ve seen great times - and not so fun times. Looking back, we’ve really come a long way since the early days, and we’re better positioned than ever before for an even more exciting future!

Android Quality Index Top 10

2013-11-13T16:11:00.001-06:00

It's been a busy last few weeks at PerBlue. We launched a huge update for Greed for Glory (4.0!) and just released the Dragon Cities Expansion Pack. The Android Quality Index also rated Greed for Glory as a Top 10 Android Game and rated PerBlue as one of the "Finest Game Publishers" for October 2013.

The Quality Index (Qi) trawls the web for game and app reviews from the world's most respected online and print sources and then collates the critiques, applies a magic formula, and delivers a single definitive Qi score. We appreciate the recognition!

Madison Magazine M List

2013-10-25T13:32:00.000-05:00

Madison Magazine just announced their inaugural M List which recognizes the top entrepreneurs and technologists in Madison, and we're honored to have our CEO Justin Beck and COO Forrest Woolworth included on the list.

This "A-list of the people you should know" includes fifty-three entrepreneurs and technologists that have launched or grown their businesses this year in the emerging and exciting high-technology sector which is fueling the city’s future. Topping off the list were People of the Year Chris Meyer of Sector67 and Heather Wentler of Fractal.

We're excited to be part of such a great community and are passionate about continuing to make it an even better place. Be sure the check out the full M List here.

2013 Forward Technology Festival

2013-08-12T10:02:00.001-05:00

The fourth annual Forward Technology Festival kicks off this week. The Festival runs from August 15-24, and encompasses 10 days of tech and entrepreneurship focused events which bring together the technology and startup communities from Madison and throughout the Midwest.

The Festival is headlined by the Forward Technology Conference, which represents the summer's best opportunity to spend a day networking with some of the area's top entrepreneurs and hearing from experts on a wide range of technology and entrepreneurship topics.

The full Festival is organized by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs. Twenty different independently organized events are happening as part of the Festival. For a full event list, go here. A highlight of some of the events include:

August 15 - Capital Entrepreneurs Open Social
August 16 - Badger Startup Summit
August 17 - BarCamp Madison
August 19 - Wisconsin Startup Night: Madison Startup Showcase
August 21 - Forward Technology Conference
August 22 - Countdown to Takeoff: How to prepare your company for launch
August 23-24 - Madison Ruby Conference
August 24 - Emerging Company Forum

We're excited for the Forward Technology Festival, and hope to see you at some of the events!

StartingBlock Madison

2013-08-02T12:50:00.000-05:00

A startup hub in downtown Madison that will be anchored by Sector67 and gener8tor has just been announced. StartingBlock Madison’s goal is to create a centralized location for the Madison region’s entrepreneurial activities. We've been supporters of the project since the beginning and have participated extensively in the planning process.

The facility will provide Madison-based startups with affordable, flexible office and co-working space, accelerator support, peer and mentoring resources, education and training, and community building activities.

StartingBlock Madison’s facility will include:

A permanent home for Sector67, Madison’s successful hackerspace/prototyping center for next-generation manufacturing technologies;
A location for gener8tor, a startup accelerator that provides expertise, mentorship, and capital through a 12-week intensive curriculum;
Subsidized office space with short-term leases and flexibility for young startups;
Quality at-market office space for high growth companies;
A healthcare IT incubator to support the growing number of healthcare IT startups;
Space for other entrepreneurial resources, such as funders, investors, law firms, and other professional service providers; and
Community and auditorium space for Capital Entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurial activities and events.

We're excited to see this project come together, and will continue to help to make sure it becomes a reality. See the StartingBlock Madison announcement post on Capital Entrepreneurs for more information on the project and additional media coverage.

Wisconsin IGDA Roundtable

2013-07-11T14:03:00.000-05:00

The Wisconsin chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is holding a round table event tonight (July 11) in Madison starting at 7pm.

The round table will bring together representatives from game studios around Madison to discuss topics affecting the gaming industry. We'll have a strong contingent from PerBlue at the event, and we're excited to be part of it and bring the Wisconsin gaming community together!

Join us tonight at 7pm at the Games+Learning+Society Center (1401 University Avenue). More info here.

Greed for Glory is Here!

2013-06-20T15:04:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy start of Summer here at PerBlue. We've had our heads down and have been hard at work on an exciting new project, which we're happy to announce has been released!

Greed for Glory is a 3D combat strategy game now available for Android. It's a city defense game that combines strategic building with fast-paced, epic battles. Lead a mighty army of Knights, Elven Archers, Wizards, and other fantasy creatures in tactical war with others online. Construct an unbeatable fortress, create a massive city and raid others villages to earn glory! Download and play now!

Week Preview: Upcoming Events

2013-04-16T15:54:00.000-05:00

At PerBlue - we're dedicated to involvement within our community's technology space in a larger capacity. We love supporting and participating in community events that educate and inspire new ideas. This week, we are headed to two events that you might be interested in attending, too!

Engineering Expo

Every other year, the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering puts on a three-day learning and exploration event. Eningeering Expo is run entirely by students, and draws just over 10,000 visitors. The first two days of the event draw elementary, middle, and high school students to explore their interest in engineering.

Justin will be participating at the Engineering Expo as a keynote speaker. His hour-long lecture covers the PerBlue story, how he and his friends created the company, and how others passionate about software and entrepreneurship can do the same! See the full event schedule, including all of the lectures and competitions, here.

Tickets are $6 for adults, and $4 for children. The event is held on the UW-Madison College of Engineering campus.

Wisconsin Game Developers Summit

The inaugural event, the Wisconsin Game Developers Summit is a two day game development conference. The event is being held at the UW-Milwaukee Student Union beginning this Saturday.

Justin will be speaking Saturday evening, giving his Bootstrapping 101 presentation. The full schedule for the conference, including additional details for Justin's lecture, can be found here.

Tickets are $20 for students, and $25 for non-students. Follow the Wisconsin Game Developers Summit on their Facebook and Twitter pages!

Recap: Startup Weekend 2013

2013-04-10T10:38:00.001-05:00

Launch a startup in 54 hours. Last Friday, 100 participants set out to do just that. Startup Weekend is a national organization, with events held all over the world. This weekend, Madison hosted their 2nd annual event. The festivities began Friday evening, and lasted until Sunday evening.

On Friday, attendees pitched their ideas to the entire group. From there, 15 projects are selected, and teams were formed. The rest of the weekend was spent completing market validation for the idea, launching a website, and producing the product. Sunday evening the group reconvened to present their results to a panel of judges.

This year 12 teams were formed. Their projects ranged in scope and industry, from social networks for doing good, to collaborative storytelling, and beer brewing resource. Winners were chosen by the judges, resulting in a two-way tie. Check out the list here. Congratulations to all of the winners, honorable mentions, and all of the participants!

Startup Weekend participants from PerBlue included Forrest Woolworth, Brad Lang, and Ellie Humphrey.

Pictures for the event will be posted soon! For more information about the local event, check out the Madison Startup Weekend page.

Freedom of Play

2013-04-02T12:17:00.000-05:00

Over the last few months we've been busy re-imagining the PerBlue brand. The big question that we set out to answer is: What does PerBlue represent to our employees and to our players? We are so happy with the results! Here's what we've put together:

Redesigned Website
Our new website launched yesterday. It's been almost two years since our last major update to the page. The new website highlights all of our games, including our latest casual games for Android, Boardtastic, Bob vs. Bear, and Bugduster! You can also read about what it's like at PerBlue on our About section, or learn how you can join our team on the Careers pages.

New Logo
Cool huh? Here's what it means. The square represents a mobile device, where our games are played. The flag icon is symbolic of us staking our claim on mobile and goes back to our roots with our flagship game, Parallel Kingdom, where players claim their territory with Flags. Our new logo is featured on our app icons, website, and social media channels (connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn).

Tagline
Our new tagline, 'Freedom of Play', has a twofold meaning. For employees, it means the freedom to be ourselves, and pursue our passions. We have big goals and the vision to accomplish them. For those who play our games it means the freedom to play how they want to play. Our games are fun and open ended, and because they are mobile, the can be played just about anywhere. We look forward to adding to the meaning of 'Freedom of Play' with our upcoming projects. Stay tuned for more updates from PerBlue soon!

Startup Weekend 2013

2013-03-18T10:32:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again! The snow started melting, and the smell of startups...I mean Spring...is in the air! Have you ever dreamed about creating your own startup business? Startup Weekend is for you!

Madison's Startup Weekend just announced the dates for the 2013 event. Join us April 5-7th at the Madison College West Campus for a weekend full of innovation and entrepreneurial fun!

Startup Weekend is a true risk-free environment and a great opportunity for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs to gain valuable entrepreneurial experiences and put their unique skill sets to use, meet great people, and have fun. People of all different backgrounds and with all different skills are encouraged to participate.

Organizing partners for the event include Capital Entrepreneurs, Sector67, The Doyenne Group, UW-Madison, MATC, and Edgewood College. The event is sponsored by WEDC, Google, American Family Insurance, Neider & Boucher, and gener8tor.

Register now!

Tickets are now available. Register for Startup Weekend here. Cost is $99 and $49 for students. Check out our photos from last year's event.

Spring Tech Kickoff!

2013-03-15T10:04:00.001-05:00

Join us next week at the Spring Tech Kickoff! Capital Entreprenuers and Horizon Coworking join forces to bring you Madison's Spring Tech Kickoff.

Come meet some of Madison's up-and-coming innovators at next week's Capital Entrepreneurs and Horizon Coworking Open Social. The event is being held Wednesday, March 20th, and is is open to everyone interested. Tour Horizon (7 North Pinkney) starting at 6PM, and then meet up for the Capital Entrepreneurs social from 7-9PM.

The format is casual, and they invite everyone to come to mingle and ask questions! Music and refreshments will be provided, including coffee from Altera, wine from Square Qine, and appetizers from Fox & Bird.

Horizon Coworking is Madison’s downtown, open, collaborative workspace. They recently moved into 7 North Pinkney, and are pleased to formally open our doors to the public. Their space is the product of a close collaboration with the Urban Land Interests (ULI) and is designed as a space where entrepreneurs, independent workers, and broader groups supporting startups and nontraditional work can come together. See photos from this new workspace on their Flickr album.

The event is sponsored by ULI and Godrey and Kahn, S.C.

TechStars in Madison

2013-02-26T09:46:00.000-06:00

Looking to network and learn about startups in Madison? Accelerate Madison and Capital Entrepreneurs join forces next week to do just that!

Join us Monday, March 4th from 5:00-9:00PM at the Monona Terrace for "Wisconsin Startup Night: TechStars in Madison". The event will host a mix of startups both locally and beyond. The evening's presenters include Monty Schmidt, founder of Sonic Foundry, Sam Yagan, co-founder of OKCupid, CEO of match.com, and cofounder of TechStars Chicago, and Matt Younkle and Preston Austin, the co-founders of Murfie.

Networking and hors d'oeuvres begin at 5:00, and the program beings at 6:30. The presentation will cover an explanation of TechStars Chicago, and include a call for applications for the 2013 class.

Register today! Cost is $10.

Boardtastic Skateboarding 2.0

2013-02-20T10:11:00.000-06:00

We've been having so much fun with our new title, Boardtastic Skateboarding 2 - we almost forgot to tell you about it. The game launched in December, but we've been busy optimizing game play and adding new features since. Last week we released the biggest update to date.

Boardtastic Skateboarding 2 marks the beginning of multiplayer gameplay. Players battle it out to beat their high scores and climb the ranks, from Copper to Diamond. Each rank features a new leader board to dominate, and new competition to crush.

"There’s something about the Android platform that we felt could use so much more love. We looked at it and wondered why there weren't more awesome 3D apps on it. We saw an opportunity to create a really awesome skateboarding game and went for it." - Justin Beck, PerBlue CEO

Check out some of the recent buzz about Boardtastic Skateboarding 2:

Inside Social Games: PerBlue Launching Updates
Games.com: Dominate the Halfpipe on Android
Digital Trends: Best Apps of the Week
Pocket Gamer: Best of the Rest: Android Edition
Inside Social Games: Social Games News Roundup

Boardtastic is a 3D skateboarding gaming exclusively for Android. The game is available for free on Google Play. Join our Boardtastic community on Facebook, for the latest announcements and game updates!

Launch Week!

2013-02-14T09:38:00.000-06:00

It has been a crazy few weeks at PerBlue HQ. Last week we launched our totally reimagined brand, and this week was all about two major product updates for our flagship title, and a totally new game! While a few paragraphs cannot begin to describe the time and effort that went into these launches, we wanted to let you know what these updates mean to us, and to you!

PerBlue Rebrand
Last week we launched our new company logo and branding. The new logo better represents our company, our people, and our products. The square icon symbolizes a mobile device, where our games are played. The flag icon is symbolic of our roots with our flagship game, Parallel Kingdom, where players claim their territory with Flags.

Our new tagline, 'Freedom of Play', has a twofold meaning. For employees, it means the freedom to be ourselves, and pursue our passions. We have big goals and the vision to accomplish them. For those who play our games it means the freedom to play how they want to play. Our games are fun and open ended, and because they are mobile, the can be played just about anywhere.

Parallel Kingdom: Age of Ascension
The fifth Age of Parallel Kingdom marks the beginning of exploration in the air. The Sky Realm unlocks a completely separate world from the previously inhabited Land Realm. Players use Air Ships to navigate the Sky, collecting Elements and unlocking new Buildings along the way.

Parallel Kingdom is available for Android and iOS devices. The game is free to download and play!

Boardtastic Skateboarding 2
There are only a handful of great looking 3D games on Android, and we think Boardtastic Skateboarding is easily one of the best. The game drops players at the beginning of a promising skateboarding career. It's up to them to skate their way to the top and become the best skateboarder in the world. Boardtastic Skateboarding 2 unlocks a global multiplayer ladder system and new trick controls.

Boardtastic Skateboarding 2 is available for free on Google Play.

For more information about the PerBlue rebrand, Parallel Kingdom's Age of Ascension, or Boardtastic Skateboarding 2, contact press@perblue.com. For more updates from PerBlue, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Startup Fair 2013

2013-01-30T10:21:00.000-06:00

Capital Entrepreneurs is proud to announce the first Madison Startup Fair! Are you interested in working for a startup, or thinking about starting your own company? Here is your chance to mingle with some of the coolest startups and entrepreneurs in town.

The event will be held next week Tuesday, February 5th from 1-5PM. Join us at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery's (WID) Hybrid Zone X (HzX). This event is organized by Capital Entrepreneurs, HzX, The Hub, and the UW-Madison chapter of CEO.

Companies in attendance at the Startup Fair include PerBlue, Hardin Design and Development, Murfie, Snowshoe, Vidmaker, Asthmapolis, gener8tor, Ronin Studios and Consulting, WomStreet, Trinker, WeMontage, MobileIgniter, Quietyme, SpanDeX, AppSolute Innovations, Sector67, EatStreet, Bendyworks, and more.

For more info, check out the Madison Startup Fair event on Facebook.

Mashable Live Chat: Justin Beck

2013-01-15T09:30:00.000-06:00

PerBlue Co-Founder and CEO, Justin Beck, will be participating in Mashable's Live Chat next week. The hour-long interactive event is free, and streaming live. Log on to Mashable Live Chat or Facebook next Thursday (1/24/2013) at 2:00 PM CDT.

Do you have a question for Justin? Or ever wonder about the inner workings of PerBlue? Now is your chance to get the inside scoop. Justin will be answering all questions via chat and video in real time. Be sure to register on Facebook prior to the event, and have a few questions ready!

Twice a month, Mashable and the Young Entrepreneur's Council (YEC) hosts an innovator and entrepreneur in their Live Chats. Past live chats have featured Kiip founder Brian Wong, Behance founder Scott Belsky, and Hipmunk founder Adam Goldstein.

Want to join the conversation?
Head on over to The Startup Lab's Facebook page to register!

What is StartupLab?
#StartupLab is a free virtual mentorship program created by The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of hundreds of America’s most successful young entrepreneurs. #StartupLab takes YEC's mission to help more people start successful businesses to the next level by offering millions of entrepreneurs direct access to YEC members through interactive video chats, email lessons and a library of how-to articles, videos and eBooks.

2012: PerBlue Year in Review

2012-12-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

The past year has been a whirlwind of new games and some amazing local and national recognition for PerBlue.

We were so proud to have been recognized by several organizations within the last year. PerBlue was a finalist in the GetDiscovered! Contest, recognizing awesome Android apps. Pocket Gamer named us one of the top 10 ‘Developers to Watch in 2012’. In May, we were featured on Forbes in “How I Launched My Mobile App From My Apartment". Then in October, Justin was invited to the White House for the Empact100, honoring the top 100 startups in the United States.

We were really involved in several of Madison’s technology and hackathon events. Groups from our team attended and participated in hackathons, BuildMadison and Startup Weekend this year. The Isthmus named us the ‘Best Tech Startup’ in Madison for their annual Best in Madison feature. Justin Beck was featured in this fun video about innovation at the UW.

We launched a few new games in 2012. In the style of our flagship title, Parallel Kingdom, we released two additional location-based MMORPGs, Parallel Mafia (March) and Parallel Zombies (July). Another topic of interest for us this year was casual games. We launched two casual games over the summer, Bugduster and Bob vs. Bear, available free on Google Play.

Our first location-based title, Parallel Kingdom remains our primary focus. We recently announced a new Age. Each Age introduces a large set of new features, mechanics, and artwork. It’s been over a year since our last Age and our players are really excited about the upcoming release.

Parallel Kingdom reached many notable milestones this year. In January, we surpassed 1 million registered user accounts. As part of our continued partnership with PlayMob, our players donated over $4,000 to HelpUSA, Kitty Kind, and 4 Paws for Ability. When our players weren't donating to various charities, they were really busy building Parallel Kingdom. Check out this awesome infographic of interesting statistics from the game.

Our CEO, Justin Beck spoke at three of the four Game Developers Conferences (GDC) this year. His presentation ‘Bootstrapping 101’ was highly rated at each GDC conference, and Justin was selected as one of this year’s top 50 speakers at the conference. He also participated in the first annual Mobile Gaming USA conference, the Forward Technology Festival, and made several trips the the UW to give entrepreneurial advice to engineering and business students.

PerBlue Headquarters was a busy place this year. Over the summer we had seven interns in the office. From our development team, to the marketing team, these interns helped our full-time staff on various projects. The summer months were also full of company cookouts, ultimate frisbee games, and a beach volleyball social. As the winter begins, we've just completed our second annual ‘Holiday Board Games Drive’ and collected over 20 games for Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS).

Oh yeah, and we just launched another game last month. Boardtastic, the only 3D skateboarding game on Google Play. The game drops players at the beginning of an exciting pro-skateboarding careers. Boardtastic has over 30 tricks to master in three skateboarding parks all over the world. The game is available for free exclusively on Android devices.

We are already predicting 2013 to be another great year at PerBlue. Stay up to date with all of our projects by following us on our blog, Facebook, and Twitter pages.