Developer KIXEYE Opening Studio in Victoria BC

Great news for aspiring game developers as developer KIXEYE is opening a studio in my hometown of Victoria, BC Canada early next year. According to a number of job postings that have popped up on Indeed, Trovit, and VIATEC, KIXEYE, the developer of social/strategy games such as Backyard Monsters, Battle Pirates, and War Commander is on the hunt for developers in the BC area for their studio opening in early 2013.

Learn more about Kixeye and their new studio in Victoria BC after the break.

Best recruitment ad EVER.

KIXEYE is a game company that develops online strategy games that have user-bases at the millions. The company, based in San Francisco aims to redefine game development and technology to create fun and engaging browser-based games for the hardcore crowd. What does this mean?

It means that the games are aimed towards the mature, seasoned/hardcore gaming crowd. Definitely an interesting market demographic. You see, a number of their games, including the popular War Commander feature presentation and gameplay that cater towards the hardcore gamer. For example, in War Commander, downed enemy carcasses remain on the battlefield as they are slowly picked by clean by crows; a battlefield/war piece that’s almost never shown in modern games. (unless in cutscenes)

KIXEYE’s games also take advantage of the Facebook platform to build healthy communities and forums where hardcore strategists form alliances with each other to take on the world.

Here’s a breakdown of KIXEYE’s titles so far:

Backyard Monsters

Offering strategic player versus player battles, more than 25 unique creatures, and monthly in-game events, Backyard Monsters has amassed over 1.2 million users on the Facebook platform. Players use strategy, might, and an overwhelming monster force to build their empire and take over the world map. And of course, since the game is aimed towards the hardcore gamer, the graphics, art direction, and gameplay reflect the needs of the market. Just check out the screenshots if you don’t believe me.

Battle Pirates

Battle Pirates casts players as a commander of a naval army where he or she needs to build an overwhelming fleet and rule supreme over others in a Waterworld-esque setting. There’s two components to Battle Pirates, first is the base-building, where players construct buildings, collect resources,  and increase unit efficiency with upgrades and technologies.

The second component is the sea battles; players send off their fleets to find and destroy enemy base islands and installations. What’s interesting about this Facebook game is that players actually have direct command over individual ships in the fleet, increasing strategic options and offering more options for the micromanaging desktop commander.

Battle Pirates currently has over 1.6 million players on Facebook.

War Commander

Easily KIXEYE’s most popular game on the Facebook platform, War Commander employs features and components similar to Battle Pirates. In base-building, the game presents the commander/player with quests that they can do to build up their resources and experience, thus increasing progress and output for the battle game component.

After the player has built a sufficient base and army, they can then deploy these units on the world map which is hex-based reminiscent of old-school titles like Time of Fury, Panzer General, and Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics.  The players army can be used to capture resources and destroy enemy bases where the perspective changes (zooms in) for a closer look at the battles at hand. Like Battle Pirates, War Commander allows players to directly command individual units for more strategic options, including the fan-favourite kamikaze attacks.

Like I mentioned earlier in the post, KIXEYE will be opening their Victoria, BC studio in early 2013.

Oh and check out KIXEYE’s recruitment video below; it’s awesome.