Wacky Olympics

At Storm8, we march to the beat of our own drum. When we gathered last week for a day of fun outdoor activities at a local park, things got WACKY! Those of us who thought we’d team up with our best friends were wrong. Friendships were forged and former alliances were dissolved as competition heated up. 

The variety of games offered everyone a chance to explore new things or show our strength to help each other earn points. We learned more about our teammates as the games progressed. Stormies we thought were shut-in gamers had mad basketball skills. Some were much stronger than they looked and drove a golf ball down the length of the field. Some of us even learned things about ourselves. A few who swore they had no physical talent discovered they were masters of the hula hoop. 

We cheered and offered support as our teammates met each challenge, which goes to show that the Storm8 culture exceeds the bounds of its walls. 

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Career Spotlight: Storm8 at Inside Social Apps

San Francisco played host to Inside Social Apps 2013 (ISA) last week, bringing together some of today’s leading social and mobile app developers. Discussions during the two-day summit centered on issues facing the social and mobile app economy, including trends in distribution, monetization, mobile advertising and audience engagement, among many others.

Storm8’s Head of Product Management, Vatsal Bhardwaj, was on hand to share his expert insight on Developing Cross-Platform. The Day One panel featured Storm8 alongside executives from King, Rumble Entertainment, Tilting Point and 5^th Planet Games. Arseny Lebedev of Signus Labs moderated the lively discussion.

With the topic’s focus on designing and marketing games across platforms, one of the first questions Arseny asked of the panelists was to provide an example of a game that really surprised them with its success across platforms. Most panelists named Candy Crush Saga. Candy Crush is by no means the first match-3 game on mobile or on the web, but everyone pointed out that it’s a great example of a game that took a proven game genre and made it better - incorporating new art styles, progression and social features that appealed to the masses.

Continue reading for more key takeaways from the panel!

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Team Outing: Producers

We hope you’ve enjoyed our culture insights this week! If you’ve missed any of our posts, be sure to look at our culture tag to see all of the team outings we’ve highlighted.

The Production team reached for the skies and harnessed up to rock climb at Planet Granite. Those new to rock climbing took a 30 minute belay class to prepare for their adventures. The team chose rope climbing, the more challenging of Planet Granite’s offerings and many climbed the tall structures all the way to the top. Some climbing activities include a spotter to stay on the ground to manage the climber’s rope, which is a good way to bond and built trust with your teammates! 

After a vigorous day of climbing the team sat down to dinner at Shabu House in San Francisco where they chose the All You Can Eat & Drink option with choices of Kobe beef, American Kurobuta Pork, and Lamb. They enjoyed vegetables, udon noodles, sticky rice, and sweet ice cream with their meal. 

If you’re looking to climb a new career path, check out our Careers page to see our available positions! 

Team Outing: Recruiting and Game Design

Storm8 has grown quickly, thanks to the assertiveness and hard work from our Recruiting team. The Recruiting team set out to enjoy the nice weather with a wonderful bike tour across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Embarking on new adventures in your home city from a different perspective brings a fresh appreciation for all the Bay Area has to offer. The team soaked up some rays and enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the tour. They followed up with a lunch of artisan pizzas and decadent desserts at Bar Bocce in Sausalito before riding the ferry back to San Francisco.

Making great games requires an group of amazingly talented designers. Our Game Design team put on their bowling shoes and hit the lanes at Lucky Strike in San Francisco for a day of fun and relaxation. Lucky Strike offers well designed party spaces, a delicious menu, and a full service bar which was perfect for a day of winding down and spending quality time with their teammates. 

The team fueled up between turns with a variety of tasty dishes like warm curries, deviled eggs on a bed of leafy greens, loaded nachos, crispy potato wedges and cold brews. Fueled up and ready to go, they put their bowling skills to the test. They chose creative names for the score board and showed off their wicked wind up moves before they sent the ball barreling down the lane towards the pins. Those pins never had a chance and suffered massive defeat at the hands of our Game Design team. 

Are you looking to design a new path for your career? Visit our Careers Page to see our available positions! Tune in tomorrow for our final piece in the series to gain more insight on our fun team outings!

Team Outings: User Relations

It’s clear that Storm8 is passionate about gaming! Our User Relations team took their love for gaming back to its roots with an outing to Dave & Buster’s, a fun house loaded with enough arcade games to melt a nostalgic gamer’s heart. 

Before setting out for an ultimate day of fun, the team enjoyed lunch at the nearby Shabuway. This is a favorite place to eat for many of us Stormies! They offer delectable options for everyone, meat lovers and veggie enthusiasts alike. We could choose a boiling broth from seaweed to spicy, where we cooked thin strips of lamb, beef, and pork. A variety of vegetables, noodles, and rice also complimented the meal. By the end of lunch, everyone had a respectable case of the itis.

Despite being full on food, it didn’t stop us from going old school with the arcade games at Dave & Busters. We started with some friendly competition in the driver’s seat of the Daytona USA. Hands on the steering wheel and focus on the race, team members competed round after round for the coveted first place title. Those lagging behind tried to take the lead by sending their opponents’ cars barreling into the walls. While the competition heated up, some members tried their luck at Gone Fishing, a game based on skill, timing, and hand-eye coordination. Our arcade skills paid off and we made out like bandits as one lucky lady scored a thousand tickets from Gone Fishing. Another member showed off his skills at the claw machine, where he carefully wrangled more than his share of fluffy pillows and giant frogs. Our basketball fans battled it out in Nothing But Net. We played until we dropped and then turned in our tickets for cute, fuzzy animals which served as trophies of our gaming prowess. 

Are you a gaming champion who wants to score with their next career move? Check out our Careers page to see our available positions.

Storm8 Forum Changes!

You may have recently noticed a change to our forums. In an effort to streamline the login process for our players and to provide a smooth transition for those who enjoy playing several of our games, we have merged all the brands under Storm8 into one main portal. Going forward, players will be able to access the forums for Storm8, TeamLava, FireMocha, and Shark Party games at http://forums.storm8.com. All players will continue to login with their Storm8 ID and Password.

We’re trying to make the transition as seamless as possible. However, with all major changes, it is possible for issues to occur. If you have any questions or notice that any important posts or profile information has gone missing, please feel free to contact a Community Manager for further assistance.

We hope these changes will make things much more convenient for everyone. As always, we greatly appreciate your continued support for our games. See you all on the Forums!

Team Outings: Product Management and GNA

Here at Storm8, we’re one big happy family. We work hard, but we play hard too. We spend a lot of time with our coworkers and believe that healthy working relationships promote a happy environment. What better way to bond with your teammates than spend the day together doing fun activities? Each manager collected suggestions from their team members before deciding on the location for the ultimate excursion. We’re lucky to be in the San Francisco Bay Area where there is a generous amount of options for groups to enjoy! 

Recently, our Product Management and General & Administrative teams took advantage of the beautiful weather and visited Napa Valley, an area known for its gorgeous wineries and tasty offerings. 

Product Management started the morning visiting Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, founded in 1970 and is considered a Napa Valley first-growth estate. They followed up with a delicious lunch at Redd, the first venture of Northern California chef Richard Reddingdon. After lunch, the team finished the afternoon with a tour of Goose Cross and Domaine Carneros. 

General & Administrative began the day with Picchetti Winery, which started in the 1890s and is one of the oldest wineries in California. Next, they toured the Cooper Garrod Estate Vineyards, a family owned winery. The team ended the day with a visit to Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards near the Village of Saratoga. 

Stay tuned to see what our other teams enjoyed on their team outings! We’ll share a different outing each day for the rest of the week, so check back tomorrow for more! If you think these outings are great for team bonding and it’s something you would love to do, check out our Careers page to see all of our available positions.

Celebrate Memorial Day!

Celebrate this Memorial Day with Storm8! Check out the slot machines and play the Memorial Day edition available on Google Play to access the NEW Red, White & Win slot machine! Customer support will be limited in honor of the Memorial Day Holiday.

Career Spotlight: Storm8 at Pocket Gamer’s Mobile Mixer in San Francisco

**Photos courtesy of PocketGamer.biz

UK mobile gaming publication Pocket Gamer recently brought their successful Mobile Mixer series across the pond to the U.S. Of course, Storm8 was on hand to participate. The series’ second installment was held on Tuesday at Vessel in San Francisco.

Pocket Gamer’s Mobile Mixers unite leading companies and up-and-comers in the world of mobile games development with a mixture of panels, networking and of course, food and drinks. Tuesday’s event was no exception.

By 6:30 pm, the venue was buzzing with some of San Francisco’s gaming industry heavyweights. Storm8’s own Head of Business Development, Quincy Yang, joined a panel that also consisted of executives from Warner Bros. Games, KIXEYE, GREE and Immersion. The discussion was moderated by 148Apps Editor-in-Chief, Jeff Scott.

The panelists shared their expert insight into some hot button topics for the industry: from tackling the increasing challenge of discovery, to knowing when to partner with a publisher, to key trends abroad that are worth watching.

When do you know the time is right to partner with a publisher?

All panelists agreed that partnering with a publisher could help with game discovery, especially for smaller developers, but warned that they also need to be realistic about expectations. Working with a publisher does not guarantee success; the most important part is developing a high-quality and engaging game.

What international trends are worth watching?

The five speakers also recognized the growing popularity of mobile messaging apps in Asia such as Line, KakaoTalk and WeChat – an international trend that they are keeping an eye on given its highly social and viral proposition. 

If you’d like to learn from the best in the industry, join the Storm8 team! Maybe you can attend the next industry event with us as a Stormie! We’re currently looking to fill the roles of Outsourcing Producer, Accounting Manager, and Game Designer (Puzzles Games). If you think you’ve got what it takes, then check out the qualifications after the jump!

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Career Spotlight: Why So Serious?

Despite being in the mobile gaming industry, things aren’t always fun and games at Storm8. Having fun all the time is hard work, so we need a day off occasionally to spend some time being serious. A few of us recently got dress to the nines in our snazziest outfits and put on our game faces for a Serious Friday.

We did our best to be as serious as we could, but old habits do diehard. Leave it to one of our creative and talented artists to take a serious boardroom table and turn it into a dance floor. Onlookers were in shock and awe, but couldn’t look away - so much for being serious!

While being serious was fun, we enjoy making games even more. Does this sound like something you’d enjoy? Take a serious look at where your career is headed and consider where it could be if you become a Stormie! We’re currently looking to fill the roles of Outsourcing Producer, Accounting Manager, and Game Designer (Puzzles Games). If you think you’ve got what it takes, then check out the qualifications after the jump!

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