Mike Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend, founders of Mikengreg Games, 2321 North Loop Drive, never really meant to start their own company — it was just a necessary move in order to create a flash game called “Dinowaurs.”

“The original idea was that in order to make ‘Dinowaurs,’ we needed a company to get paid and to survive while making the game,” Boxleiter said.

Boxleiter and Wohlwend graduated from Iowa State in 2007 and 2008. Boxleiter earned a degree in computer engineering, and Wohlwend majored in graphic design.

They met in a video game development class.

“It was like a petri dish for kids to build teams and work together,” Boxleiter said. “I had a project and [Wohlwend] joined it. He quit pretty quickly, and I didn’t really like him that much after that.”

During Boxleiter’s senior year, though, he and Wohlwend crossed paths when they both started working at the Virtual Reality Application Center. While they worked together, they realized they had similar interests and goals.

They started working on “Dinowaurs” with a few other collaborators while they finished college, and Wohlwend said it took them nearly two years to finish it. The multiplayer game got contracted to appear on www.kongregate.com in 2009.

“Now we usually don’t like to take more than a couple months to make a game, but we were still learning, and we were overly ambitious,” Wohlwend said.

Boxleiter and Wohlwend decided to continue their partnership in Ames after Boxleiter graduated and Wohlwend finished his degree because they did not have the means to move anywhere.

“It was mostly because it’s cheap,” Boxleiter said. “We figured we’re here, and we don’t really know where to go. We had friends here and the virtual reality center was here, so ultimately that was why we decided to stay.”

Before they officially started Mikengreg Games, Boxleiter worked at the VRAC on Baghdad simulations for the military.

“I have an individual attitude,” Boxleiter said. “I haven’t had many jobs at all, and I don’t really like working for people.”

Working for themselves, though, has proven to be difficult as well.

“What I miss most is having mentors,” Boxleiter said. “We don’t have anybody to look up to and respect and say, ‘That guy knows what he’s talking about.’ We’re just doing it ourselves.”

Wohlwend said the hardest part for him is the isolation.

“You kind of underestimate the college experience when you have all your friends around you all the time,” he said. “Now it’s just two people in one room.”

They’ve also struggled with the technical aspects of owning a business. “We learn about running our own business by stumbling in the dark,” Boxleiter said.

“Mistakes and failures,” Wohlwend added. “It’s something I wish I didn’t have to think about.”

At the same time, the partners are grateful for the creative freedom that comes with being on their own.

“There’s a huge disconnect between being excited about something because you came up with the idea and doing contract work where you have no say,” Wohlwend said. “You can’t give your best work if you don’t care.”

Boxleiter said the excitement keeps him motivated.

“We just came up with a prototype for a game last night and were up until 2 a.m. working on it. That wouldn’t happen if we were doing contract work for Doritos or something,” he said.

Wohlwend said that while he is sacrificing stability and a good salary, he gets to keep being creative and doing what he enjoys.

“Right now is a really formative time for video games,” he said. “Most of the really popular games are cinematic action games, and I think it’s the wrong way to make games.”

They find companies who make those games to be creatively bankrupt, catering to one audience by producing the same games continuously.

“They’re all just teenage power fantasies, and they only appeal to a small section of the populace,” Boxleiter said. “It’s depressing because no other art form is like that.”

Boxleiter and Wohlwend, who consider themselves artists, often make experimental games. One game, “Gray,” focused on political consciousness. They created it during the presidential campaign because they were “fed up with the election scene.” The game was nominated for an award and was featured at an IndieCade computer art show in Los Angeles in October.

Both owners grew up playing video games and were influenced by every game they played.

“There are too many games to tack down one or two,” Boxleiter said. “When you’re an artist, you need to have a wealth of knowledge of what’s come before.”

Boxleiter and Wohlwend, who have created 10 games together, are still unsure of the best way to come up with ideas for games. For the one they just started developing, they decided on a keyword they wanted to describe the game. From there, they brainstormed together.

“The design usually comes organically from us heatedly arguing,” Boxleiter said. Coming up with an idea for a game is often the hardest part of the creative process.

“Sometimes it’s my idea, and Mike just goes along with it, or sometimes one of us will come up with an idea and the other will run with it and take it in a completely different direction,” Wohlwend said. “But we both have to be excited in order for it to really work.”

Despite all of the obstacles Boxleiter and Wohlwend face every day, they continually fight to do what they love.

“It definitely weeds out those without passion,” Boxleiter said. “You just have to find a way,” Wohlwend said. “You get beat down so much, but if you want something bad enough, you find a way to do it.”

Check out Mikengreg’s games at www.intuitiongames.com or Learn more about Boxleiter and Wohlwend at www.mikengreg.com.