Watching E3 this week has made me think a lot about my own journey in the video games industry. I’ve mostly worked more on the marketing, community management, social media side of things but I had always wanted to learn more and become more involved in development side, and oh boy did I get that opportunity here at WhiteMoon Dreams!
A few years ago, a small developer called Super Icon approached us to see if we’d be interested in publishing their cult classic “Life of Pixel” for PS4, Vita and Steam. What made Pixel so special was that it was crafted to be an homage to gaming history, following our tiny green hero, “Pixel” through generations of gaming consoles – from Atari to Super Nintendo. Each console was painstakingly crafted to be as accurate as possible and the labor of love that was put into this game really showed, so it was an instant “Yes” from us.
I feel like I really lucked out. I happened to be available to work on this project and I was paired with a veteran producer who had seen just about everything in the industry. I went from a world I knew well, community management to juggling several new roles. I felt like the Karate Kid, learning from Mr. Miyagi or something. I learned quickly that as a publisher, I’d have to learn to be a hybrid of QA, Producer and Marketing, with plenty of other little tasks sprinkled in between.
So, we got to work and to make matters even better, this was all happening around the time Nintendo’s Switch was released. Naturally, we also decided to publish Pixel for the Switch, because why not? We worked with Richard and his team at Super Icon to create new content, upgrading the title from “Life of Pixel” to “Super Life of Pixel” and much to everyone’s delight – the fans responded well.
As a community manager, I really cherished the experience of being able to be a part of making decisions that directly impact the fans I engage with on a daily basis. For example, our decision to make sure that everyone who already owned the game on Steam would be upgraded to Super Life for free. I knew how important it is to treat the players who got us here well and to be a part of a team that feels the same way and empowers me to keep the community happy was a big thrill for me.
Anyway, I was just going down memory lane and I’m thinking about what a great experience this project was. Carry on and enjoy the rest of E3. As of writing this, it’s the last day and Nintendo is set to go live soon!
– Matt
