Posted by Willy Franzen on August 17, 2012. Positions below updated every five minutes.
| Job Title | Location |
|---|---|
| DevOps Engineer | Seattle, WA |
The Air & Water Show is happening here in Chicago this weekend. With the Blue Angels buzzing the city and parachuters dropping down in preparation for the real show tomorrow, I’m reminded that a part of me always wanted to be a fighter jet pilot. Unfortunately, I’m 6’3 and near-sighted, so that was never going to happen. The closest that I’m ever going to get is playing MetalStorm: Wingman on my iPad. In case you’ve never played, it’s an awesome fighter jet simulator game. There’s a single player mode that’s pretty fun, and you can also go one-on-one online if you want to get smoked by random middle schoolers (it’s a good ego check). MetalStorm: Wingman, along with Battle Nations and Trade Nations, is produced by Z2Live, which is a Seattle, WA based company that “creates original next-generation, free-to-play, social and multiplayer games for mobile devices.”
If you want to learn more about Z2Live, the most obvious way is to download one of their games and play it. You’ll be able to learn a surprisingly significant amount about how they operate. The obvious stuff will be the kinds of games they develop and the type of people they target those games to. You might think that their monetization strategies will be a little less obvious, but they kind of smack you in the face. At least in MetalStorm: Wingman, the ads are aggressive, and the upsells are even more aggressive. I’ve promised myself that I’ll remain a freeloader, and so far I’ve succeeded… but it’s really tempting to spend a few bucks to upgrade my plane or buy some bigger missiles. There’s no doubt that Z2Live knows how to play into the psychology of their users. If working on games like MetalStorm: Wingman, Battle Nations, and Trade Nations sounds awesome, take a look at Z2Live’s Jobs page. Current opportunities include 2D Animator, Jr. DevOps Engineer, QA Tester, and Play Tester. They’re all pretty technical positions, so I’m not sure if there are many opportunities for non techies at Z2Live.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Have you played any Z2Live games?
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