CHALLENGE

Microsoft's Vista Ultimate offers its users additional content bonuses known as Ultimate Extras, including security tools, multimedia upgrades, visual and audio themes. For its next major downloadable update pack, Microsoft wanted to offer their Ultimate users a deep, engrossing gaming experience that had the power to rival the likes of Solitaire and Minesweeper for sheer addictiveness. They came to Fuel to create the game that would take Windows casual gaming to the next generation.

STRATEGY

Most popular games included with Windows have not been based around a protagonist. We wanted to create a game that possessed the same addictive elements of classic titles like Minesweeper and Solitaire, but with an original creative backdrop, and with a main character that people could identify with the game. Our Fuel Games team knew that, demographically, the title would need to appeal to wide variety of users, but they began from a rock solid foundation: everyone likes a good puzzle.

CREATIVE AND EXECUTION

Tinker is built around the concept of "found objects"--the forgotten trinkets that inhabit your grandma's attic, doomed to never again see the light of day. Old clockwork, scattered dominoes, and eternally lost dice populate the world in which the game takes place. Trapped in this peculiar world is Tinker, a whimsical little robot who'll do whatever it takes to escape this surreal environment. Players control his every move, but getting him through the room will require all of their wits.

Featuring captivating visuals, an original music score, and 60 levels that range from the facile to the infuriating, Tinker is built in an isometric, two-dimensional style, and was published exclusively as an Ultimate Extra for Windows Vista Ultimate Users. Tinker features a tutorial level, and will include regularly released level packs to expand the experience. Consumers who want even more can download the level builder, and create masterworks of ingenuity to keep their friends scratching their heads.

RESULTS

Tinker released to massive acclaim, and is now widely regarded by Vista owners as the "Best Ultimate Extra".