Category Archives: General

Grimm, Shanghai, Spicy Horse

Off the Map in China

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Off The Map in China

Off the Map in China

Gamasutra has posted an interview by Christian Nutt with your truly. It begins with…

Famous for his work with id Software and on EA-published cult classic Alice, American McGee set up shop in Shanghai, China, in 2007 with his new studio, Spicy Horse. Though the company’s first game, Grimm, for the GameTap digital service didn’t make a big splash, McGee maintains that developing the game was instrumental in setting up a tightly-run and efficient organization in China, one which has helped him reexamine the very process of developing games.

In fact, McGee suggests that most of what developers know about working in China is wrong. He suggests that process can lead to a crunch-free environment and great quality games — his team is currently working on a sequel to Alice for EA, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Says McGee, “EA has talked about trying to figure out how it is we’re doing what we’re doing, because clearly they’re looking at what we’re doing and they’re seeing us hit all the milestones and come in ahead of time, and come in high quality, and everything that they could ask for from a development team. [But] I don’t know if you could export it.”

Christian and I go on to talk about life and work in China, cultural and development impacts on starting and running a studio in Shanghai, and more. You can read the full article here.

Also, if you’re interested in some of the thinking that originally inspired me to move to China, I suggest you check out “Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic” The book examines how American culture has become obsessed with consumption – and how it’s destroying people’s ability to be happy with themselves and what they have.

Featured, General, Spicy Pony

iPhone Developer “Spicy Pony” Launched

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Spicy Pony Logo

Spicy Pony Logo

Quick on the heels of news that the iPhone is gaining traction in China, Shanghai-based Spicy Horse gives birth to a mobile division aptly named “Spicy Pony“. Last week the Pony quietly released its first app – the unique brain trainer “DexIQ“. This week it makes official its entry into the iPhone arena with an eye towards developing entertainment, game and social apps for the Asian and Western markets.

To celebrate we’re making DexIQ FREE for a limited time (weekend of the 18th, December ’09).

Like many others, I was using an iPhone in China long before China Unicom’s official launch of the handset (October 30, ’09). Before the launch, conservative estimates put iPhone penetration in China around 1.5 million – some say as many as 3 million. But these are “gray market” phones, meaning they were sold in Hong Kong then brought into China, jail-broken and resold.

China Unicom iPhone sales hit 100,000 as of last week (December 11th, ’09). At that rate they’ll sell over 600,000 phones per year – and that’s without added momentum from price reductions, new features, killer apps, and the diminishing appeal of gray market phones. I’m going to be non-conservative here and guess that official iPhone sales will have surpassed 1 million units by this time next year. Things that will help drive iPhone sales for China Unicom:

* Young Chinese see cell phones as fashion accessories and love to update every 3 to 6 months.
* Most high-end cell phones here are the price of the iPhone (Chinese youth and professionals have been spending 300-800USD on phones for several years).
* Unicom is offering amnesty for gray market phone owners – allowing them to switch to legit accounts while gaining access to 3G.
* Better and faster network performance from anywhere will gain importance as people see their friends leveraging such access.
* Rumors abound that Unicom will unlock WiFi before long, when that happens watch out!
* More and cooler China-specific apps will drive interest in the device (as happened in the US).

For me, the biggest hurdle in switching was that I had to change my cell phone number. In China numbers are a big deal – everyone loves 8’s (very auspicious) – so phone numbers, license plate numbers and the like are chosen carefully and coveted. Fortunately, there’s little interest in 6’s, so I was able to secure a sweet ‘666’ number. Now that I’m on the new network I couldn’t be happier. It’s fast, reliable and price competitive – especially when compared to the so-so performance I was getting with my iPhone on China Mobile’s GPRS network.

For Spicy Pony, the rapidly expanding Chinese iPhone market is a phenomenal boon. Our studio and expertise are perfectly aligned to address the new Chinese and existing Western markets. It’s an exciting time to jump into the fray. We’re going to leverage our talents against development of original concepts for China and the West – and we’re cooking up a big license-based game I’m sure everyone will find quite wonderful.

Keep an eye on the Spicy Pony site for details and updates.

Check out the new Spicy Pony Website!
Check out the latest Spicy Pony game DexIQ!

And remember, DexIQ is FREE for a limited time. Enjoy!

Shanghai

When China Rules the World

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Hangzhou Temple Art

Ancient Chinese Beauty

I really enjoyed this article over on LA Times regarding Chinese vs. Western views of the world.

The issue here is much deeper than Western-style democracy, a free media or human rights. China is simply not like the West and never will be. There has been an underlying assumption that the process of modernization would inevitably lead to Westernization; yet modernization is not just shaped by markets, competition and technology but by history and culture. And Chinese history and culture are very different from that of any Western nation-state.

After being in China for 5+ years (part of that admittedly spent in “China-lite” AKA Hong Kong) I can attest to the huge gulf that exists between the cultures – something that can be bridged in places (art, music, films, games), but that I think will always (and probably *should* always) remain of two worlds. One aspect I particularly like is the relationship between state and people (at least when it works), as mentioned in the article:

The Chinese state enjoys a very different kind of relationship with society compared with the Western state. It enjoys much greater natural authority, legitimacy and respect, even though not a single vote is cast for the government. The reason is that the state is seen by the Chinese as the guardian, custodian and embodiment of their civilization. The duty of the state is to protect its unity. The legitimacy of the state therefore lies deep in Chinese history. This is utterly different from how the state is seen in Western societies.

All this comes from the author of a thought provoking book called “When China Rules the World” by Martin Jacques. Check out his website HERE.

Alice Sequel, Shanghai

Adrenaline Vault Interview

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PRC Flag

PRC Flag

I’m featured in a podcast interview over at Adrenaline Vault – some details provided over at their site:

Episode 56’s guest is American McGee from Spicy Horse. American dropped what he was doing in China to chat about his history in the industry, and provided some interesting insight into where he’s been and where he sees both himself and games going in the future. He also revealed what he could about Alice 2, and addressed the infamous trailer.

Head over to listen to the podcast.

Shanghai

Shanghai is Awesome

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IFC Shanghai (street view)

Shanghai is Awsome

Since starting the Alice 2 project things have been pretty quiet around here – mostly because it’s not possible to reveal many of the things going on with the development. I can say it’s coming along nicely and everyone involved is happy and healthy. Meanwhile, life in Shanghai continues…

Since moving here 3 years ago (and my first visit 4+ years ago) I’ve witnessed the city undergo a massive and awe inspiring transformation. Much of the progress in Shanghai is due to the upcoming 2010 World Expo (a similar push was seen in Beijing prior to the 2008 Olympics).

Every street, building, highway, lamp post, power line, overpass, public area, sidewalk, park, creek, river, historic building and other exterior face of the city has been either cleaned, restored, improved or removed for a (usually) better replacement. Shanghai is now on its way to being one of the world’s best (and biggest) cities. My visit to the Shanghai IFC today served to remind me of that fact – something it’s easy to become numb to when the effects are so massive and pervasive.

You can check out some of my photos from the visit HERE.

And hey, if you’ve ever thought of visiting Shanghai – there’s never been a better time.

Asides, Shanghai

Foreign Games in China

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Great article over on the Escapist by Greg Pilarowski covering the topic of foreign game companies trying to do business in China. Greg focuses his attention on the recent Blizzard/WoW fiasco and provides some insight into the tangled mess that is Chinese law. Read it here. Greg is Spicy Horse’s (excellent) legal counsel in Shanghai – you can see more about his practice here.