The Info & Archive of David Mikula.

Super Evil Megacorp has begun to reinvent and untether competitive gaming with Vainglory—the MOBA perfect for touch.

Competitive gaming is now a global sport. Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBA) are played and spectated by tens of millions of people daily. Professional gamers collectively rake in hundreds of millions of dollars a year from their keyboard and mouse. When you combine all of that with the advances in mobile hardware and growing interest for something deeper than casual/twitch games, you get Vainglory.

The team debuted Vainglory during the Apple Watch keynote, which deliberately lit the gaming press on fire—using the "epic scarf guy", Tommy (who built the incredible technology / engine that powers Vainglory), as kindling. The game is beautiful and the approach to UI design is unlike most touch and desktop games. It's meant to rival the sophistication of new design-centric startups and lessen the learning curve for noobs; aspiring to reset expectations for game UI overall. Along the way, I developed the visual identity for Vainglory and Super Evil Megacorp, too. The UI work was finished at the beginning of 2014 and Vainglory was in small market beta through September. It's now available all around the world. Download it for free or take a look at the design below and scroll to the bottom for a taste of Vainglory's gameplay.