Extra Life has been a staple event at KIXEYE for the past 3 years and this fall the team took things even further by hosting employees and friends at our offices in Portland and San Francisco. This 24-hour gaming marathon benefits the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and has grown exponentially over the past 6 years with over $5.5 million dollars donated in 2014. Overall Team KIXEYE raised $7,472, with Nick Heilmann and Randi Harper taking top spots for the most money raised.

The day started in Portland with Eric streaming TOME. The stream was so popular that it was featured by Raptr, with over 200 people watching at one time. After that, the stream featured a mix of video games: Mario Kart, Gauntlet, Amnesia, and some Speedrunners.

Off stream participants enjoyed a variety of board games including Seven Wonders, Eclipse, and Pathfinder while noshing on pizza, homemade Extra Life cookies, and copious amounts of caffeine. Next year the goals will be even higher, so get your game face ready!

Halloween candy, stuffing and gravy, and Christmas cookies?! BRING IT ON. On November 13th, KIXEYE had its Annual Health Fair.

Fresh organic snacks were available from Sous Kitchen, healthy juices and smoothies from Project Juice, and LivBlends and Farm Fresh to You had a table with info about how to get locally grown produce delivered straight to your home. There was a section for chair massages and a health fair raffle for 10 people to win gift cards, water bottles, and other awesome prizes. Turns out the LivBlends juices were super popular - so much so that KIXEYE has started substituting some of the unhealthier Monday morning pastries for juices! 

The Victoria office recently had our Q1 Summit with the whole GET team together in Victoria. To celebrate we had a local brewery, Category 12 Brewing, come in do a beer pairing. 

We sampled 3 beers and had them paired with some delicious snacks.
- Unsanctioned Saison paired with a Roasted Yam Tostadas, Chipotle Crema and Pico de Gallo
- Disruption Black IPA paired with BBQ Beef Brisket Sliders
- Critical Point Pale Ale paired with Honey Ginger Spareribs

The tasting was followed by some good laughs and a great Casino evening.

During the Game Developer’s Conference in SF, KIXEYE hosted several Happy Hour mixers. One at KIXEYE HQ hosted by Recruiting, and a second at The Alchemist with new partners AppBoy. GDC draws more than 24,000 industry professionals and is a prime opportunity to connect with potential talent, current and potential partners. 

In this blog we will talk about the Marketing Engineering team at KIXEYE: a team born out of the need to compulsively evaluate the most effective creative assets, acquisition channels, and communication campaigns.

“Data is the sword of the 21st century, those who wield it well, the Samurai.”
- Jonathan Rosenberg

Marketing is an integral part of any product launch and involves a variety of inputs including but not limited to: illustrations, graphic designs, copy, positioning, pricing, and public relations.  While these are all important inputs, marketing strategy is now increasingly dictated by analytics and services.  Upstream performance metrics (CTR, CTI, etc.) can be married with downstream in game user behavior (retention, monetization, conversion, etc.) to present a highly accurate customer funnel.  This funnel data is fed back into algorithms that help target the right users at the right time using the right mix of messaging and ultimately at the right price point.  This feedback loop is continuous and allows better, faster, and more accurate decisions to be made with every marketing dollar whether it’s to bring new users in or keep current users engaged.  

The Mission of the Marketing Engineering team is to build services that empower the Marketing organization, Product team, and Executives.

Technology Stack

The light-weight Marketing Engineering Infrastructure is hosted on a fault-tolerant, load balanced, robust, and fully scalable virtual environment hosted at an offsite data center.

The Marketing Engineering team uses Asana for Project management, Jenkins for job automation & deploys, Amazon Redshift as its primary datastore, Shinken for monitoring systems, Codeigniter PHP MVC framework, Angular JS framework, and the JQuery library for most of its applications. They have also built a hardy python ETL framework to store Marketing KPIs from various sources (game data, 3rd party APIs, predictive models) into their dedicated Amazon Redshift cluster.

Here the team brainstorms ideas during the fortnightly War Room

Marketing Services
Attribution - Where are the users coming from?
Analytics - How are the users performing and are we ROI positive for Marketing spend?
Player Engagement - How to fine tune Marketing communication to increase user retention & monetization?

Services include an API endpoint to receive near real time events from ad networks, a repository to share and analyze creative assets, an analytics portal with Marketing KPIs (actual and predictive), a framework to send highly targeted emails and notifications to users about event announcements, strategy guides, and other relevant updates.

“Key to a great services team is understanding the needs of our internal customers, continuous iteration and nimble but scalable development”
- Ajay Sampat, Sr. Engineering Manager

Team Culture
The Team regularly gets together for ping pong, Settlers of Catan game nights, lunch outings, and War Rooms to keep the spirit of competition and camaraderie alive.

From L to R: Michael O’Brien, Jeremy Laskar, Connor Baskauskas, Eric Wong, & Ajay Sampat.

Marketing has evolved and in addition to creative design vision, it requires engineering machine power to keep it at the bleeding edge of innovation.

KIXEYE Marketing is always looking for skilled Product Marketing Managers, UA Managers, Full Stack Engineers, and Data Scientists to join our team. If you want to be part of the exciting and fast paced mobile gaming industry apply here now!

Today is a big day for KIXEYE Australia. We’re incredibly proud to share the results of our passionate team with you as VEGA Conflict goes global across mobile platforms.

VEGA Conflict is the game we wanted to make for so many reasons. The team has a rich pedigree in the RTS genre going back well over a decade, with a bunch of awards in the trophy cabinet. KIXEYE Australia may be only 3 years old as a studio, but this is no inexperienced start-up team.

So, whilst RTS wasn’t new to this team, the MMO experience was. As PC and console development veterans, mobile was the next obvious challenge. But beyond that we wanted more. We wanted you to be able to play on all your devices, whether it’s PC, Mac, tablet, or phone. We wanted to deliver the same gameplay, the same universe, the same deep game. More than that we wanted you to be able to continue your game no matter what platform you played on, carrying on from where you left off, not creating new games on each device. It’s been a huge challenge, the technology behind it is complex at an epic scale, but what we’re presenting today is exactly that.

VEGA Conflict is a fully server authoritative MMORTS with clients running on the web, iOS, and Android platforms. We’ve got players from every corner of the globe, on multiple platforms, all coming together in a huge, persistent universe in space. Thousands of alliances battling for supremacy, engaging in real-time combat against VEGA, and against each other, hunting for blueprints, researching new technology to create the perfect fleets, building their own bases into formidable fortresses, and competing for prizes in regular events.

And we’re just getting started…

In the coming weeks our players will get introduced to Blood Amber. This is why VEGA began its deep space mining operations in the first place; to acquire Blood Amber, an elusive and extremely valuable currency. This new crystal is highly sought-after and hard to obtain in large quantities. It seems synthetic, though its true origins remain a mystery. Certain individuals, including VEGA, would pay a pretty price to get their hands on it, and even go to war over it if needs be. Our secretive ally Larus has a thirst for Blood Amber, and he’s prepared to sell contraband equipment and new technologies through his black market. Players are going to flock to this constantly relocating trader to get the best and latest kit.

And on May 7th we usher in our next game event Arms Race, where players will be clamoring to get the blueprints to the first Carrier class ship, the Valhalla Carrier, along with the unique Bomber Squadrons. Expect tough competition, but fantastic reward.

With players across the globe we’re also preparing to introduce real time chat translation to break down the barriers of communication and further enrich VEGA Conflict’s community. Powered by Microsoft’s translation technology this will bring players together in multinational alliances to take on VEGA and whatever new factions the game has in store.

Thanks for dropping by, make sure to come back for updates. And a huge thank you to the KIXEYE Australia team here in Brisbane and our friends at KIXEYE US that have all worked so hard to bring VEGA Conflict to you.

Play VEGA Conflict on: iOS , Android, and in Browser today!

-Jon Cartwright, Development Director, KIXEYE Australia

On April 15th, KIXEYE held its first ever Design Event at HQ in downtown San Francisco. We had over 40 people come to learn about KIXEYE’s design philosophies, culture, and network with KIXEYE employees. The crowd consisted of design students, members from a design meetup group, candidates engaged in the interview process, and a few fellow KIXEYE employees. 

The night was centered around talks from KIXEYE’s own Zach Hodson and Paul Preece. Zach spoke about the benefits of using spreadsheets and how designers should utilize this tool to design better games and enhance the player experience. Paul dug into game loops and ran through a high level analysis of the most fundamental engagement loops and how they can be used to produce addictive game play.

This was our first Design specific event but likely not our last as the crowd was so engaged taking pictures of the presentation slides and asking endless questions of Zach and Paul. Walking by one of the small groups, talking amongst themselves, I overheard someone say “This is the first design event that I’ve ever been to where the presenters actually know what the fuck they are talking about…”. Kudos to Zach and Paul, who I guess after years spent in the industry, really know “what the fuck they’re talking about”. 

In April KIXEYE kicked off it’s first ever global employee recognition program with The Unicorn awards, or Cornies​ for short​. Honored with cash prizes and a unique Unicorn Skull trophy. 

The Cornies were designed to give employees a chance to honor, celebrate, and reward each other for exemplifying the KIXEYE Core Values:

• EXECUTION: Be fast, efficient and accountable. Obsessively engineer valuable outcomes.
• QUALITY: Take pride in your work. Redefine standards. Blow minds.
• TEAMWORK: Collaborate with purpose. Widely share knowledge. Win together.
• PLAYER FOCUS: Think like a player. Make fun go nuclear. Keep them coming back.

And whoa do we all think highly of each other! HR had over 150 nominations sent in for the first quarter of The Cornies, with the lucky winners being, Matt Nebel for Quality, Jeremy Laskar for Teamwork, double winners Kevin Stoker and Anthony Massingham for Execution, and the Grand Prize $10k award to Byron Rhodaback for Player Focus. When Byron was announced and presented with an oversized $10k check, to say the room was heightened with emotion is an understatement. Looking around the room there was definitely some teary-eyed friends as Byron gave a heartfelt thank you speech and referred to his fellow teammates as “family”. 

It wasn’t just Byron’s speech that stirred emotions, reading through all the nominations was awe inspiring. Hearing fellow teammates refer to Byron as, “MVP and the rock of Battle Pirates” and “the most hardworking, selfless, dedicated, team focused coworker ever known” was great to hear.
In a day and age where the majority of us communicate through email and Hipchat, it was refreshing to read in one of Jeremy’s nominations for Teamwork, “I’m a huge fan of seeing how often Jeremy approaches a teammates desk to actually walk through any issues they are having with on-boarding or identifying any bugs… His work ethic is a model for the KIXEYE team”. 

All the winners had a common thread throughout their nominations, great respect from their teammates for their quality of work, dedication to the company, and their overall hardworking nature. The nominations just ooze with admiration for fellow teammates which makes it clear that KIXEYE is not only bad ass at building winning games, but also at building winning teams.
As said best by CEO Will Harbin, “The strength of our organization will ultimately dictate our success in the market”. 

Back in February, one of our players, Abaddon, contacted Community Outreach regarding his father’s battle with stomach cancer. Both Abaddon, and his father Skip, are long-time Battle Pirate players and wanted to know if it was okay for them to post a fundraiser link on our forums. Not only was the fundraiser link posted on the forums but Community Outreach wanted to support Skip further by gifting him and his son both some BP swag. Since then, Skip and his son, have been in contact with our Community Outreach team on occasion, mostly just checking in and letting us know how much they appreciate all we’ve done. Skip sent in this email that is too good not to share. Right in the feels. 

First I want to apologize for taking so long to send these, been taking both Chemo and Radiation treatments and not been awake many hours. Hope you and your crew enjoy these pictures, as much as I enjoy the shirts you sent me.

This is what Chemo was like before my Battle Pirates shirt. It Sucked!!!

After the shirt this is what its like at my treatments. I just leveled an 87.

I take very little pleasure in wiping out a big mouth. (I’m lying)

A level 90 just took out our 53, he is not going to like what happens next. 

Abaddon thinks i take too much joy in killing bullies.
Is that even possible?

Once again thanks for your generousness. You should have seen the looks on the other patients’ faces. Just because someone told us we all were dying is not an excuse for not having fun.

Happy Sailing Mate.

From your fellow pirate, Skip Anderson

There’s something special about watching your city get stomped on by a giant monster (or several). When those monsters are Godzilla and his enemies, there’s only one thing a video game company can do: leave work early and go see it. Being people that value explosions and giant reptiles, KIXEYE employees worked extra hard on their projects in the week leading up to Godzilla to make sure that they could sit back, relax, and watch the office building they just left get destroyed.

Video games’ fantasy worlds are, inherently, a little geeky. With intricate fanciful or photo-realistic settings, their creation takes a certain attention to detail that comes from the geek in all of us. KIXEYE’s Portland office, compromised of our Customer Advocacy department, channeled their inner geek to sponsor and participate in Portland Geek Council’s Geek Olympathon. Filled with geek-tivities, KIXEYE contributed some of its own personality by offering two events of its own: a ‘Build Your Own Guardian’ from TOME station and a VEGA Conflict 'Base Crushing Challenge’.

A big congratulations goes out to KIXEYE’s three fantastically dressed teams who all finished in the top four. Customer Service Agent Katie Evans' (pictured above as The Scarlet Witch) team, the Dames of Future Past, finished first!

At KIXEYE, everyone is a geek in their own way. A customer service agent may know more than anyone else about Star Trek’s different races, while an accountant could talk your ear off about how modern war weapons should behave in-game. The Geek Olympathon was a chance for the Portland office to show off exactly what they know. With thirty different challenges all around Portland and a record number of teams participating, it was the most successful Geek Olympathon yet. KIXEYE is proud to have been a sponsor and looks forward to keeping its winning streak going next year!

The SCORES Cup is an annual 8v8 co-ed charity soccer tournament that brings together corporate and independent teams looking to play soccer for a great cause, participate in valuable team building, and make a difference in their community. KIXEYE generously donated $2,500 to the America SCORES program, and 14 of us joined together for an awesome day on the pitch.  All funds raised from the tournament support the America SCORES program, which enables urban youth from under-resourced communities to lead healthy lives – both as students and as people.

Although KIXEYE was a late entry into the tournament, we managed to put together a strong team of players from all across the company. The team faced tough squads from JP Morgan/Google, Wells Fargo, and Electronic Arts in back-to-back games with 15-minute halves. After a break for lunch in the afternoon where we learned more about the America SCORES program and the people it benefits, we fought bravely into the semi-finals by beating the KPMG/Silverwood team in the first playoff game. Unfortunately, we lost to Goldman Sachs in the second game, but we’ll be back next year to have our revenge! Thanks to the America SCORES program for a great day. 

If you’re anything like most people, the position ‘Server Engineer’ probably means one of two things to you: it’s either a critical role that keeps the entire machine running, or it’s a mysterious technical position you don’t really understand. At KIXEYE, it’s the former. For those of you in the latter camp, a Server Engineer is, essentially, the one who keeps everything a user doesn’t see running. All data needs to be stored, and Server Engineers make sure where it’s stored is fast, cost-efficient, and reliable. With the huge number of people going to KIXEYE.com, playing its games, and filling up servers with more data, going down is not an option. One of the people who protects a stable experience for our players is none other than Senior Server Engineer Peter Potts.

“I’ve interviewed places where people look depressed. Why would I take that job?” Peter reflects. “This is a good environment. There’s pressure as well, but everyone’s working together as a team. Everyone is understanding and realistic.” He enjoys that server engineering is the antithesis to airplane software. You don’t get to experiment with airplane software for obvious reasons, but server engineers are encouraged to be creative. They can work on small parts of the system and try new things without bringing the whole infrastructure down. What may initially sound like not-the-most-exciting role is anything but at KIXEYE - and Peter is living proof.

Each morning, Peter runs from the CalTrain station in SoMa to KIXEYE in the Financial District. 

After a run like that, it’s only natural that Peter would need to refuel with some espresso.

Many people don’t think about how their data is recorded, but Peter thinks about it all day, every day. His systems need to immediately show that a player’s unit was killed, upgraded, or built. Players are constantly creating new data that needs to be stored and then readily accessed by several teams at KIXEYE. Should one of those teams need to talk to Peter, they may find him teaching his fellow co-workers about his favorite programming language, Scala.

Day in and day out, Peter and his entourage of Server Engineers build solutions for one game that can be used in others. Each solution needs to solve a specific problem, but be generally applicable enough to help the entire company. From experimental A / B tests to new ways to store a player’s information, Server Engineers are the frequently unseen heroes who create the backbone of KIXEYE’s titles.

KIXEYE is hiring Serving Engineers now. If you want your day to be more like Peter’s, apply here now!

Whether it’s a community service event like the Cycle for Survival or attending a talk given by a coworker, KIXEYE is known for supporting the passions and projects of its employees. This month, KIXEYE’s participation in the San Francisco AIDS Walk reiterated that support. Working together, KIXEYE met its fundraising goal of over $5,000 and had over 38 employees make the 6.2mile trek through Golden Gate Park. More than just walking, participation in this year’s AIDS Walk was a display of just how well different departments within KIXEYE can work together - the event was organized by Community, had shirts designed by Product Marketing, and used tips and tricks provided by Human Resources.

It was a proud day for KIXEYE, with its flag held highest in the crowd and everyone walking as one in a sea of red. Needless to say, the San Francisco AIDS Walk has become a new KIXEYE tradition.

Working at KIXEYE is all about working together. Services are shared across many titles, transparency into projects is required to make sure they’re executed properly, and it’s understood that everyone has something to teach others. With so many titles either available or in development, there’s a lot to keep track of for those who work here. Marketing needs to know when a release is coming, engineers need to know what to include on their roadmap, artists need to know what to start drafting, support needs accurate information to help players - and the success of each project doing well is closely tied to how clear communication between those groups are.

All that talk about talk isn’t just talk. One look at the KIXEYE offices shows a tangible commitment to collaboration. Each floor is laid out in a circular pattern complete with white board walls. Each ‘bay’ of desks encourages chatter, peering, or stumbling across a concept to talk about. On the art team and need to talk to a Product Manager? Swivel around. Need to go see Quality Engineering? They’re right around the corner. Have a problem you need to solve? Maybe someone in the Canteen during catered family lunch can help. KIXEYE’s upcoming title War Commander: Rogue Assault, a mobile prequel to the successful War Commander series on web, relies on these interactions. With every group thoughtfully positioned next to groups they frequently talk to, teamwork is the oil in the machine that produces KIXEYE’s awesome games.

Chatting up CEO Will Harbin at lunch is, as he assures all passers-by, not intimidating at all.

Everyone’s voice and opinions matter at KIXEYE, and every effort is made to make sure that they are. Outside of the office’s layout and family lunches, executives hold office hours, outings are frequent, and Q & A’s accompany any and every all hands. Smart people work here, and they’re smarter when they work together.