Games of Experience
The ultimate resource on:
Video game development
We all know what artist’s are, and programmers, producers and designers. But that’s not all the game industry has to offer when it comes to job openings. There are many more job titles you’ve probably never heard of. Games of Experience interviews industry members to discover what exactly it is that these mysterious people do.
Alexander Shen is a Business Development Manager at Mochi Media. He talks about what it is that he does, what Mochi Media’s development center is, and what game he would secretly want to create.
GOE: What is your job? Can you briefly describe what you do and what you love about it?
“My official title is Business Development Manager. My title I use with folks is “Games Guy”. The most important things that I do are play as many Flash games that come into the system, talk with developers who are currently using the system and then go out there and talk to developers who aren’t in the system (for many reasons, such as they do PC Download only, Game Maker devs, Unity folks, etc.). It’s just staying up to date on industry game releases and talking to folks passionate about making games. There’s also the business part and producer-like job requirements, like getting games properly sponsored and launched on time, QA and so forth.
It’s like one giant game salad.”
GOE: Can you tell us a little bit about Mochi Media’s developer center? What does it do and what are your goals with it?
“Our platform is actually geared toward Flash game developers who want to do all the business-y and technical-must-have things (ads, revenue, distribution, microtransaction, analytics, leaderboards, etc.), but don’t want to build it all from scratch. It allows them much more time to focus on their game.
Our goals are always to be developing great tools for developers and really encouraging them to push their efforts in game making. That’s what they love and we’ll do whatever we can to make that easier for them. Fueling creativity, if you will.”
Mochi Media Development Center
GOE: What is the craziest idea you’ve seen come by at the developer center?
“I always bring this up because it makes me laugh. I ran a contest based on a “60 second” game mechanic. Whatever the game was, it had to be completed in 60 seconds (it was inspired by the Half-Minute Hero PSP game, which I also adored BTW).
A person decided to go crazy with the theme of the game. They combined three different genres together in 60 seconds (20 seconds a piece): a clicking game (like Whack-A-Mole), a sidescrolling
jumping/dodging game (like Moon Patrol without the shooting) and a horizontal shmup (like R-Type). The game was called “Hammertime in 60 Seconds” and you played as legendary rapper MC Hammer.
The first part had a video of “You Can’t Touch This” playing, with lasers, and you were to click on the hammers. Then you were driving a golf cart, jumping and dodging Hummers. Then your horizontal shmup had you flying a biplane to ultimately fight an Alien-infested Seal. Not the animal. The R&B artist Seal.
I loved it.”
GOE: What is the craziest idea you’ve ever had for making a game? Or in other words, what (to you) would be a dream project to work on? Ever had an idea for a game in your head that you just can’t let go of?
“One of my favorite games of all time is Animal Crossing (the Gamecube one, specifically). I would love to be able to find the time to actual program a game that had different personalities that reside in the persistent world, even when I’m not playing. I also love the idea that this world has an actual calendar system with special events and everything. It honestly feels like that world is real and I’m just a visitor striving to become an accepted citizen.
That and some kind of virtual life is interesting to me (think Love Plus with a lesser emphasis of dating sim, Princess Maker or even Wonder Project J).”
Founder of Game Thingie (gamethingie.com), she currently works as a game journalist to learn about the industry and get into game development after attaining her MscBA.