HiveMedia

Senior Flash Developer

admin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:47:02 +0000

We are seeking an entrepreneurial Senior Flash Developer to join our rapidly growing technology team. This managerial role bridges the creative and technical aspects of project delivery— with little supervision the Senior Flash Developer develops and implements designs technically according to creative and art direction already established. As such, the qualified candidate must be able to work in and bridge the creative with the technical across a variety of platforms and frameworks.

Yes, this is a position in a startup!

We’re well funded, and we can pay you. We even have an awesome office in the heart of San Carlos, CA near great shops, restaurants, and bars. But like most start ups we are looking for individuals with a clear sense of individual responsibility and adaptability. We believe in work/life balance and having fun but do have the occasional crunch to get something launched.

Job Description

Responsible for designing and developing highly interactive flash applications for social media applications

Manage a small local team of Flash Developers and give direction to our outsourced Flash team
Responsible for executing through code complex designs that reflect the creative and art direction provided within the established technical framework
Shift between a creative and a technical focus depending on the project need and/or the type of project
May need to rapidly produce interim deliverables (such as style guide components, technical specifications, prototypes, proofs of concept, etc.) in addition to the final live application.
Participate in scoping and planning work
Participate in writing detailed level technical and functional specifications documentation

Job Requirements

At least 4+ years experience hand-coding Flash
Superhero skills in Flash development (CPU / memory optimization, Javascript / Flash bridging, Cross-browser compatibility, Flex, AIR)
ActionScript3, XML, MXML, CSS, Eclipse / Flex Builder/ FDT, SVN, Design Patterns including MVC
Experience in the development of Flash Applications with heavy server communication (Remoting, Sockets, JSON)
Experience developing large-scale applications supporting millions of users

Pluses

Game addiction and understanding of back-end and database technologies
Facebook ActionScript API, experience in low-level (bytes level) development.

Send resumes and inquiries to jobs@hivemedia.tv

Marketing Manager

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 02:18:45 +0000

Hive Media®, Inc. creates social media games that allows fans to live their favorite TV shows, films or sports. Hive is a well funded startup based in San Carlos, California.

Our first game Deadliest Catch the Social Game is a Facebook game based on the popular Discovery Channel show Deadliest Catch®. Our user base is rapidly growing and monetizing well. We have many other games in the pipeline which will allow Hive Media to become a major player in the social game space.

Job Overview: Manage the marketing and customer acquisition channels for our Facebook games to drive more users as well as their friends to the games. Work with our content partners to spread the word about our games and establish a communication plan for keeping our players and fans engaged. Manage all aspects of how we communicate with new and existing players, what vehicles when, the message, the look and feel and to who the communication goes. You’ll play a key role in working with designers and developers to come up with game features that take the best advantage of social network communication channels.

Key Accountabilities: % of Time
1. Responsible for managing viral marketing (customer acquisition and retention) for our games using communications channels on Facebook, email, and the web – 40%

2. Responsible for managing the relationship with the content partner; providing game updates, coordinating marketing activities and game results and metrics – 10%

2. Partner with game designers & developers to build game features that best take advantage of social engagement features on Facebook – 20%

3. Measure & report efficacy of viral acquisition and retention – 20%

4. Keep abreast of current trends in the gaming marketplace and changes to Facebook – 10%

Education: 4 year degree

Requirements:

Strong passion for social games
2 + years Online marketing experience
Understanding of consumer segmentation and online targeting
Deep knowledge of CPI, CPC, CPM, ARPU and LTV
Ability to write ad copy and to conduct A/B testing to establish highly optimized campaigns
Experience with metrics-driven decision making
Highly responsible, self-directed, detail oriented problem solver with a desire to contribute to a creative environment
Ability to work effectively in a team setting
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
Working knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint
Understanding of what makes marketing games on Facebook successful

Preferred:

Background in viral marketing and customer acquisition
Experience with A/B testing
Familiarity with standard graphic design packages

Send resumes and inquiries to jobs@hivemedia.tv

Unity and C# Developer – Social and Mobile Games

admin — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 05:55:18 +0000

Job Description
There are plenty of social game companies out there, but how many are working with Hollywood (Michael Bay and Scott Gardenhour at theinstitute.tv), The Discovery Channel and others? We are a Branded Social and Mobile Game company in San Carlos, CA, that is building games for entertainment brands to engage more deeply with their fans.

We are looking for Unity Developers to join our team to work on existing and new exciting projects. The Game Programmers will work directly with the Lead Programmer, the Executive Producer, and with our partners. The developer will be responsible for the overall implementation of all game-play mechanics. The ideal team member will have prior game development experience, have formidable verbal and written communication skills, be well-organized, and have an excellent analytical sense.

Job Requirements
Prior game development experience with a strong background and understanding of 3D programming, physics, mathematics, and OOP design & approach. Implement game functionality as per design document and specification (character control, AI, game GUI and other game elements). Communicate with other team members to establish pipeline and integrate media assets Give regular feedback to project lead as to implementation issues and possible improvements to game design. Address bugs and other technical issues identified for subsequent release

Essential Skills & Experience

C# programming experience
Self-motivated with a strong desire to learn and stay abreast of game developments/standards
Experience with version control software
Ability to work independently, and in a team

Pluses

Unity3D development experience
Facebook application development
Experience with iPhone, iPad and Android game development
Experience with other scripting languages such as JavaScript, LUA and Python
Experience with 3D packages such as Maya

Send resumes and inquiries to jobs@hivemedia.tv

Facebook Application Gating and Gifting Features Shift to Fit Changing Platform Policies

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:53:07 +0000

When Facebook announced these policy changes we knew that things were about to get interesting: No one was sure how stringent some of the changes would be. They haven’t attempted to enforce the gating until now. yet I would guess they have seen the back and API chatter drop down enough from the other changes that they do not feel they need to enforce the no gating. Perhaps they are even rethinking this to allow some gating!

Read Article Here…

Social Games See Just 1-3% of Players Convert to Paying Customers, says CrowdStar

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:51:59 +0000

An increasing number of people are talking publicly on the Social Depth vs Game Depth. Peter Relan, chairman of social games company CrowdStar comments on the risks involved in migrating console games over to a social game environment.

Read Article Here…

Social Game Revenues To Hit $1.3B In 2010

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:50:57 +0000

“The analyst also warned against application fatigue, citing it as a “key risk” for social game developers and publishers to keep in mind. “Given the relatively simple game play, the sometimes fickle users, and the social dynamics of the game play, application fatigue is a key risk for social game companies unless companies focus more on innovation and game quality,” he said.”

This ties back to one of our last blog posts on the whole issue of game play being on or off the rail so to speak. For now though players seem content to move from one game to the next. I am not seeing any trends where their movement is due to game play as of yet. As new games come out with deeper game play we may start to see an overall trend. Even with this warning however there are big projections on revenue from social gaming which is great news for all the players.

Read Article Here…

Victory: A ranking system for what makes a social game into a blockbuster

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:48:17 +0000

The premise of this ranking is promising, but as it stands now, there are a few issues. There is not enough information on what constitutes a high mark in the more subjective categories, i.e., judging cooking competitions. Their judges however are told what a should receive a high mark. It would be helpful if they released more details about their categories. Secondly, for comparison purposes samplings from more average and bottom applications should be included, not just the top applications. Otherwise, the understanding of the impact each of these metrics has on the MAU/DAU/FB app Ranking is limited.

Read Article Here…

Ethical Design: Are Most Social Games Just Virtual Slot Machines?

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:47:06 +0000

With a phenomenal year in Social Gaming behind us only time will tell what 2010 has in store for players. This article touches on an interesting topic that really has nothing to do with gambling, but instead highlights that many social games have the player running along a very narrow rail with only the slightest bit of free choice. The first phase of social gaming took advantage of the many people who, whilst unwilling to play traditional games, will play social games. But this year marks the next evolution of the social gaming space and will see deeper game play appear in many games.
What do you think? Are players simply looking for the next click here masterpiece or do they want something more?

Read Article Here…

User-Driven Development & Lessons from the fbFund

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:44:11 +0000

This is a great post extolling the virtues of collecting and taking action based on metrics. While this article is referencing Social Applications and their need for metrics the lessons also apply to really any business. Much like the social space where we must figure out where the break down is for user conversion traditional software sales must do very much the same. Their process is slower and they do not tend to have the wealth of metrics that we can gather.

Read Article Here…

What Are Game Players Looking For Next?

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:57:09 +0000

Are they ready for more advance game play or are they simply looking for that next click here?