Game Design

We have a reputation in the game community for pushing the boundaries of gaming, but at GMD Studios we think that's just a part of experience design.


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We couldn't be more excited about welcoming long-time collaborator Brian Cain aboard as our new Executive Creative Director.
Jun 24, 2011 by Brian Cain

Brian Cain's Portfolio

Many thanks to Nick Braccia of Culture Hacker for gathering us to talk about how important Dave was.
May 25, 2011 by Haley Moore / workbookproject

Transmedia Talk 26 - Dave Szulborski Memorial Show

Always love the annual gathering of alternate reality game enthusiasts & creators: hats off to Brooke Thompson for organizing this year.
Aug 12, 2010 by ARGN

ARGFest 2010: Hotlanta Recap - Wired

Meet Mike Monello

We have literally been collaborating with Mike on entertainment properties and advertising since we formed the company.

We spent much of 2007 secretly working with Scholastic on how a series of novels, a collectible card set and an online game could work together to tell one story.
Aug 21, 2008 by Scholastic

The 39 Clues

It is time you know the truth. You are a member of the Cahill family, the most powerful family the world has ever known. 39 Clues hidden across the globe guard the source of the Cahill family's secret power, and it's up to you to find them. The hunt is on. Are you ready for the challenge?

In my interview with Frank, I let slip part of the business model we're exploring with our Eldritch Errors property.
Dec 20, 2007 by Frank Rose / Wired

Secret Websites, Coded Messages: The New World of Immersive Games

Our friend at Scholastic break the news on their new transmedia series.
Dec 18, 2007 by New York Times

Scholastic - The 39 Clues

On a Halloween weekend, we tried a daring experiment in collaborative immersive experience design: the way we think about creating with audience was changed forever.
Nov 05, 2007 by Brian Clark

If We Were Willing to Tease the Press

Cultist lures Internet users to West Virginia wilderness - strangers narrowly avoid becoming victims, return alive with their tale. Monday, November 5, 2007 (Cass, West Virginia)

In collaboration with Campbell-Ewald, we launched an alternate reality campaign in which the sponsor (General Motors) wasn't revealed until the final climax, leading to endless speculation about who the client even was.
Apr 14, 2006 by iMediaConnection

Case Study: Who Is Benjamin Stove?

Campaigns like this are hard to find. They don't meet the regular convention -- three creative executions and a website -- that all of us are guilty of cranking out like factories. They don't dazzle with flash animation, or high production video-- they rely on a good story well told.

"... broke new ground in the alternate reality gaming genre by keeping the sponsor of the game a secret until the final weeks of the campaign."
Apr 11, 2006 by Carie Ward / ARGNet

Who Is Benjamin Stove? Wrap Up & PM Chat

Sat down over Tex-Mex with ARGNet's Dee Cook for an interview in Austin.
Mar 14, 2006 by Dee Cook / ARGNet

SXSW Interactive: Brian Clark of GMD Studios

"Perhaps they will have an actual product to sell people. Perhaps they are just getting people's email addresses for a UFO-products spam list."
Jan 14, 2006 by Arjunas Bow / Daily Kos

Benjamin Stove Hoax

Wow. A heaping pile (2 golds, a silver and "best of show") for Art of the Heist at the new MIXX Awards.
Aug 28, 2005 by IAB

Heist Takes First-Ever Best of Show at MIXX Awards

Ad agency McKinney put together a great wrap-up case study on the ground-breaking transmedia campaign we helped them develop for Audi.
Jul 01, 2005 by McKinney

Audi's Art of the H3ist

The Art of the Heist launched Audi's "luxury hatchback," the A3, in the United States in a never-before-seen fashion. A 90-day, 24/7 online/offline alternate reality campaign that blurred the line between fantasy and real life, it was a sensation that took on a life of its own.

A great wrap-up from ARGNet on the drama and spectacle of Art of the Heist.
Jun 30, 2005 by Carie Ward

The Art of the H3ist Wrap-up and Review

Businessweek got the inside scoop on the Art of the Heist campaign for Audi, with David Kiley getting access to the production as it unfolded.
May 16, 2005 by By David Kiley

A New Kind of Car Chase

ARGNet's wrap up coverage of our alternate reality extensions of the More to See campaign for Sharp Aquos.
Jan 22, 2005 by ARGNet

Legend Of The Sacred Urns

Meet Brooke Thompson

Our beloved collaborator in immersive experience design for more than 7 years.

Weiden+Kennedy's excellent video case study on the ambitious More to See campaign for Sharp Aquos.
Jan 10, 2005 by W+K

Video: More to See for Sharp Aquos

This is a story of unusual scope and magnitude, a story told in six languages to consumers in 10 countries, a story told across 10 websites, 3 blogs, a community forum with thousands of participants, 3 television commercials and multiple live events in Europe and North America.

A great bit of reaction to the "More To See" campaign for Sharp.
Nov 09, 2004 by Simon Andrews

Big Picture Advertising: Involving new campaign for Sharp

brandhackers does a good job breaking down the Beta-7 controversy. With bullet points. Remember, fake is just a mean word for fiction.
Oct 12, 2004 by brandhackers

brandhackers: Beta-7

Barbara Lippert of AdWeek goes deep on how Beta-7 turns advertising on its head.
May 24, 2004 by Barbara Lippert

Wieden's Great Hoax

It added up to a campaign that's cleaned up at the award shows. Welcome to the new world of advertising, where the 30-second TV spot is a relatively small component of a campaign.

Even the "ad awards" submission video maintains the fiction.
Dec 16, 2003 by SEGA, W+K

Beta-7: This Is My Story (Video)

Beta-7 explains the "SEGA campaign" in his own words.

In retrospect, the 2003 campaign for SEGA was the right kind of daring innovation for its day and helped shake up the industry into thinking about advertising different.
Sep 12, 2003 by Beta-7

beta-7.com

Call me Beta-7. That's what THEY call me, even though they'll deny it. Who are "They," you ask? The CIA? The FBI? The Illuminati? No, my friends, "They" are an organization that no conspiracy theorist would ever think to lump in with those three, yet is even more secretive, insidious and evil. The dark, shadowy monolith that has literally ruined my life is none other than... the Sega Corporation. Huh? Sega? That Sega? Yep.

In 1995, it was still a novel idea that audiences (like us) had as much power in "cyberspace" as big companies.
Aug 28, 1995 by Evan Ramstad / AP

Cyberspace Contest Becomes Duel of Programming Wits

Meet Iain Lanivich

One of our favorite interactive creatives in the ad industry and our collaborator on GM and Alltel.