Matt Cruickshank and Nate Swinehart Animate Pony Express For Google

Today’s Google Doodle is a two-button interactive game celebrating the 155th anniversary of the Pony Express, the short-lived but storied mail delivery service of the American West, and even comes with an accompanying animated short.

The artist behind the Doodle was Matt Cruickshank, who previously created Google’s Saul Bass– and Dr. Who-themed Doodles. In an interview with the Washington Post, Cruickshank describes traveling up the Northern California coast to seek out visual inspiration for the game’s setting.

“It’s a simple game, but it has a few surprises,” Cruickshank said of the game which has you, the intrepid pony-riding mail carrier, galloping through a sepia-tinged landscape scattered with cacti, barrels, boulders, freak avalanches, and lasso-wielding bandits.

In addition to the game, Google commissioned animator Nate Swinehart to create a Behind the Doodle video.

Testament to the pervasiveness of the American cowboy image, the Google Doodle will be playable in a wide range of locations as well as the United States, including Iceland, Bulgaria, Australia, Thailand, Burma and the Philippines.

Cruickshank has highlighted concept art and other development imagery on his blog.

“PONY EXPRESS” GOOGLE DOODLE CREDITS
Art direction & character design/animation: Matt Cruickshank
Engineering: Mark Ivey, Kris Hom, Brian Murray
Backgrounds: Kevin Laughlin
Project management: Greg Capuano
Game ideas: Everyone on the Google Doodle team