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Canfield man develops game for charities Fired up!
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
A Canfield man has developed a game app that will help raise money for good causes while paying tribute to firefighters.
Patrick Russo, a financial adviser for Merrill Lynch in Canfield, is the creator of “Squad 33,” a simple game that can be downloaded for 99 cents from the iTunes and Android stores.
A portion of proceeds will go the Muscular Dystrophy Association and to local and national firefighters.
In “Squad 33,” a fire-truck barrels down streets. The player — who can’t control the speed of the truck, which goes increasingly faster — tilts the phone left and right to avoid obstacles such as parked cars while shooting water bombs to douse burning buildings.
It’s the first foray into game development for Russo, but it probably won’t be his last. “It’s one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done,” he said.
He got the idea from an article he read in The Vindicator.
“I saw a story about a kid who created a game app for kids called Toaster Pop,” said Russo, “and I thought it would be interesting to do one as a way to raise money for the fire department and MDA.”
Russo has always felt close to those organizations because of his family. His father recently retired after 36 years on the Youngstown Fire Department. His uncle is still on the force, and his grandfather was also a former YFD chief and firefighter. As for the MDA, the group has been the favorite charity of firefighters nationwide for more than 50 years, Russo explained.
The title of the game — “Squad 33” — is a tribute to his father’s fire unit.
After coming up with his vision for the game, Russo got in touch with a California company that wrote the program.
“I gave them the designs and the specs and they would send me versions,” he said. “They did all the tech work — I have zero background in that end of it,” Russo continued. “I would say ‘let’s change the camera angle, or the look of a character’ and they would do it and send it back to me. There was a lot of back and forth.”
“Squad 33” is meant to be a simple but fun pastime, not a complex game. As such, it doesn’t have levels of skill that players can attain. A typical turn can go anywhere from one to 30 minutes.
“You speed down the street trying to put out fires by hitting them with water bombs,” said Russo. “If you hit something, or miss three [fires] in a row, or if you run out of water, the game is over.”
Players can refill their water supply by running over hydrants. A counter keeps track of how many blocks the truck has successfully cleared.
Russo funded “Squad 33” out of his own pocket, spending about $12,000.
He has printed thousands of copies of a card that describes the game and how to download it, and is providing it to firefighters in the region. Regional firefighters and the MDA will pass out the card at their fundraising events, and a portion of the proceeds will go to both groups.
Russo said his goal is make enough profit from “Squad 33” to create another game and make it available to firefighters nationwide.
Brian Hoffman, a lieutenant with the Youngstown Fire Department and its fundraising coordinator for the MDA, called Russo’s game app a great idea.
“I think it will raise a lot of money for the MDA, and it’s a tribute to the fire service,” he said. The YFD plans to begin passing out the cards at its next fundraiser, he said.
“It’s a great game and easy to play,” he said. “My kids play it all the time.”
Stephanie Palumbo, executive director of the MDA’s Northern Ohio office in Cleveland, is equally pleased.
“[Russo] was and is the mind behind the ‘Squad 33’ app, and we are incredibly grateful to him for selecting the Northern Ohio MDA as the organization to benefit from a portion of the sales,” she said. “We are excited about the potential and enjoy knowing that we are part of such a creative method to raise funds for charitable organizations.”