Happy Moon Festival!

On September 9, 2011, in Company, The team, by Thijs
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This weekend the Moon Festival or Mid Autumn Festival is coming up in China. Traditionally the Moon Festival is a harvest festival, also celebrated in other Asian countries like Japan or Korea. The Moon Festival is the perfect time to get together with your family again and enjoy the delicious Moon Cakes or go out with lanterns and enjoy the cooling breeze after this long and hot summer in Chengdu.

TribePlay wants to wish all their players, visitors, readers, costumers, friends & family a Happy Moon Festival! If you have the change, try one of the cakes and bring some Chinese feeling to Europe, Asia, America, Africa or wherever you are… Puffy – the dog in our cool new brain game called BrainJewel really enjoy the cakes!

Happy Moon Festival

Puffy - the Dog from BrainJewel loves the Moon Cakes :)

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Get to know TribePlay 7

On August 18, 2011, in Company, HR, by Jenny
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Today i am interviewing Isaac from from Shotton, in North Wales, (a country to the West of England). Shotton is a small town with around 9,000 residents, and used to be known for its steel factory. Now people know Shotton because of its 900-year-old Ewloe castle. Isaac is a backend developer at TribePlay, working on TribePlay‘s new project, Cube Galaxy. He also helped the company do some research on HTML5. Learning new technology and tapping the talent are part of his daily life.

Isaac, why did you come to Chengdu?

I came first to Sichuan in 2007. Many UK high school graduates take a gap year, where they work or travel before starting university. I used this gap year to teach English in Deyang, though most weekends me and my friends would go to Chengdu to hang out. I experienced Chinese culture and Chengdu’s fun and relaxing lifestyle. When TribePlay offered me an internship here, I decided to come back.

How do you experience work in TribePlay, is it different from previous companies?

TribePlay is the 9th job on my working list. If you asked a Chinese university student, you can hardly get a list as follow.

I worked as:

1st job: Clothes shop assistant, TK Maxx
2nd job: Elementary school, Supervisor (looking after the kids before their parents came to collect them)
3rd job: Teaching English in China
4th job: Cleaner at a high school
5th job:Selling credit card insurance at a call center
6th job: Agency worker (sent to factories to clean or work on the line)
7th job: Bin man
8th job: English teacher for Italian students in the UK
9th job: Backend programmer in TribePlay, Chengdu, China

Though there were only 3 months in TribePlay, this is the first job that made me feel excited to come to office every day. I think working as a programmer was very different from my previous working experience. You are not just doing what the manager tells you to do. You have more responsibility and freedom.

Isaac

Isaac


Which colleague impressed you most here? Why?

Gregor’s efficiency and hardworking gave me a deep impression. Every time when he came to my direction, I closed all non-work-related windows.
Lukasz gave me lots of advice about life and relationships.

What do you like to do at your spare time?

If I’m not tired, I’d like go out and party with friends. If I’m tired, I’d prefer reading the science ficton novels.

What do you want to do in 5 years?

I want to live in China, and have my own IT Company.

Do you like traveling and where do you mostly want to go?

I love traveling. Outside of Europe and China, I’ve been to India and the Philippines and will visit Malaysia in 2 weeks. Where would I most like to go? Space…

Could you tell me of one your achievement as a programmer?

In 2009, I decided to teach myself web programming at my first year of university. After that, I made a small online game by myself which is my most popular project to date. This game had 600 players and earned me 200 GBP.

Have you ever felt regret for anything?

I felt regret every time I left China.

Thank you Isaac for your time! Also everyone check out his homepage. If you interested in the other employees join us again in our blog with another interview from time to time. TribePlay is also always looking for new talents and we offer internships in every field of game development. Check out our Chengdu Job Opportunities or contact me directly jenny -at- tribeplay -dot- com!

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Business Development Manager

On August 9, 2011, in Chengdu, Company, HR, by Jenny
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To get more commercial power, as of now TribePlay Game Development is looking for a Business Development manager to take care of our business in Europe and Asia. You will be stationed in Chengdu or Shanghai.

Potential partners of TribePlay are:

  • Game companies, media companies that are looking to outsource game development
  • Companies/organizations that are looking to outsource game artwork
  • Distribution partners for TribePlay’s upcoming Social Game projects

Responsibilities

In this role you will be responsible for creating and building relations with potential partners in Europe and Asia. You will get full marketing and strategy support from the Chengdu headquarters.

For more details please check the whole Job Posting on the TribePlay Webpage: Business Development Manager or contact us today.

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Social Network features in Battlenet for China

On March 29, 2011, in New Games, Social Networks, by Ethan
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It’s a blockbuster for every single Blizzfan in China that Starcraft 2: Wing of Liberty is going to launch a Open Beta Test on March 29,2001 for free, namely today. Brood war is considered to be one of the most popular RTS games in China during the past decade. Due to the reason you probably all know, SC2 was launched in U.S. and regions of rest of the world a couple months ahead of China. Though a handful of feverish fans have tasted SC2 by landing severs of overseas, the terrible lag is really an unbearable torture. Late better than never, finally, we’ll unveil this phenomenon in front of our doorway.

Today I focus a bit on the brand new Battlenet. Battlenet was a system founded more than a decade ago when Blizz released Diablo. Since then Battlenet serves as a critical important player verses player feature in each blizzard game launched after. For years, Battlenet has just served as a platform of multiplayer games connection which merely shows the win and lost records plus a basic chat channel but not including a social network function. As year goes by, social network plays a more and more important role in game industry than ever. Let’s check out what kind of storm Blizz had brought into the new generation of Battlenet.

Starcraft
Always Connected
The new Battlenet and SC2 are designed to be seamlessly connected. That means even if you’re playing solo you will still view the latest news, receive game and content updates, and be able to see your friends’ status and chat with them. But this new interconnectivity between the game and the service goes even deeper than that. Now, each player will create a SC2 Battlenet character. This character serves as your single persistent identity across the service. Everything you do in the game will be saved to your character profile for you and your friends to see.

Always Competitive
One of the biggest improvements that the new Battlenet service brings to SC2 is smarter and more accurate matchmaking. While the legacy Battlenet service had good matchmaking, the standard experience for new players was usually a series of crushing defeats against seasoned Battlenet veterans until they either left or developed the skills necessary to thrive in Battlenet’s competitive environment. As a rookie, you won’t experience the embarrassment of being banned as you ever did in first generation of Battlenet.

Always communicated
Battlenet’s social networking and communication capabilities will be some of the service’s biggest new features. This new social backbone for the entire service will seamlessly integrate friends lists, matchmaking, messaging, and more. Text and voice chat are now seamlessly interwoven into and out of the game, enabling communication whether you are in Battlenet or in-game playing SC2. And as is the case with previous Blizz titles, you can form friendships with other characters on Battlenet while preserving your anonymity.

Ethan He is Game Tester at TribePlay and passionate gamer.

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New TribePlay office

On March 22, 2011, in Chengdu, by Gregor
1

Last week TribePlay Game Development moved to a new office, from the 7th floor to the 5th floor. As our company is constantly growing and more and more people joining our team, it was about time to change to a bigger office. Our new address is now: TribePlay, 512 SOHO Business Plaza, 5 Hongjixin road, Jingjiang District, Chengdu 610021, Sichuan, China.
Some impressions from the moving and the new office:

New Meeting Room with TribePlay WallThe new meeting room under construction

Everyone is getting there computer readyEveryone is getting their new work desks ready

Max is helpingMax, Front End Programmer, is helping

A view in the new officeA view inside the new office

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Article about Virtual World Eccky on VentureBeat

On March 21, 2011, in Chengdu, Company, by Gregor
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Hey check out this in-depth analysis of Eccky Virtual World on VentureBeat.com. Christian Batist chief executive of Eccky Holding is interviewed on the business model and development of the virtual world for kids. Eccky is developed by TribePlay Game Development.

“Eccky’s version of this strategy is to combine the elements of a virtual world with a social game; it combines open-ended play with mission-oriented quests.”

“Eccky targets children ages eight to 14. They can log on via the web site or through the social network. The company has six employees and uses a 12-person developer team as contractors to build the world.”

Read the full article on VentureBeat.com or directly play Eccky

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TribePlay Jobs Chengdu

On March 14, 2011, in Chengdu, Company, HR, by Thijs
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TribePlay is looking for new people. We are a fast growing game development company and have free job vacancies in different kind of fields available. TribePlay Chengdu is also always offering internships. Currently we are looking for the following jobs:

TribePlay offers you

  • A competitive salary
  • Good Secondary Working Conditions in an international atmosphere
  • Fast personal career paths & Self development
  • Experience in working in an international company with international clients, Western business methodologies and mindsets
  • Education and training possibilities
  • Professional, flexible, open and fun working atmosphere
  • Unique insights in the fast growing area of Western China


For more information please contact us at hr – at – tribeplay – dot – com or check out the TribePlay Job Page.

I am looking forward to meet you ! Thijs

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Human Resources in China

On February 24, 2011, in Company, HR, Insights, by Thijs
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As an entrepreneur you basically have to take care of everything so it is all about priorities. HR is definitely one of them. In any company the people are your main assets. You need good smart people that are not only able to develop your product but also able to transfer their knowledge to others and help you scale the organization.

HR costs time, lots of time but what you put in you will get out. In gaming this is essential. To be able to produce a quality game you need top people from a variety of disciplines such as frontend programming, backend programming, system operations, 2D art, 3D art, UI design, interaction design and game concept design to name a few. All positions must be filled by high level people which makes starting and operating a game company quite hard. First to find them, hire them and then keep them (luckily it also is much fun so it gets compensated).

At TribePlay we are continuously on the lookout for people. Our HR strategy is both domestically and internationally orientated. Naturally there are cultural differences but here are a few principles and guidelines we uphold to when it comes to finding good people:

Our Staff at TribePlay: X-Mas Dinner last year

Website
It all starts with the website. Make sure your website represents who you are and looks appealing to potential job applicants. Also make sure all job listings are put there and it is easy for applicants to contact you. In case you are in China, make sure you have both an English and Chinese language version, works the best

Online profile
The website is not the only thing that counts anymore. Be sure to make attractive profiles on SNs sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook! It will make your company look more dynamic and it helps you to get in touch with people.

SEO
  • Although with networks like LinkedIn and facebook SEO gets less important it is still a great way to make yourself found by potential applicants. We could write a dedicated blogpost on SEO but here are some basic tips:
  • Determine on which keywords you want to be found (Try Google AdWords)
  • Make your site search engine friendly (not too much flash, much text, sitemap etc)
  • Make use of the page title! Extremely important and Google takes that seriously!
  • Get external links to your website (you can start yourself with LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook)
  • Start a blog!
  • Make online profiles for your company on international jobsites and link back
  • Don’t forget Baidu when you are in China!
  • Check out this great post on SEO by Ewout from Ijo Technologies
Linkedin
Great tool for finding people outside of China (good news is that more and more people here use it as well) You can find anyone there and add them to your network. Invaluable!

Job Websites
Here in China we use 51job.com. Be sure that only simply putting a job post online is not enough. Place yourself in the applicant shoes and think how they will be navigating the site. Make sure they end up with your posting because there are many competitors!

What can you offer?
Think about what you can offer employees. It goes beyond salary and a working space. Think about second benefits such as training and company events. Also present them with a career growth plan within your company. Make sure to communicate this upfront so your company will stand out.

Referrals
The best people are often found through referrals. Ask all employees in your company to refer friends and people they know and reward them for it. Furthermore get to know more people in the industry and spread the word you are looking for people. Always works!

Pro active
Don’t always wait for employees to contact you. You can also contact them first. There are many online resumes to be found and again, LinkedIn works perfectly for this!

Recruiters
If you cannot find people yourself (can happen with senior positions) call for the help of a recruiter. They might get you the person you want. Be aware to pay a higher price and do a background check. Be sure not to commit too soon and have a legal agreement that you will only pay them after the candidate is onboard!

Be creative
If steps above do not help you to find the people you are looking for be creative! There are always ways to find people. Think about places and ways beyond the traditional job websites and LinkedIn. Join online bulletin board and chat forums. Or even make a branded online flash game that promotes your company to your future employees!

Do not underestimate HR
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is underestimate recruitment work. People are the key to your business and that is where it all starts. Spend lots of time on it right from the start of your company and when you grow bigger bring in dedicated recruitment managers!

This post emphasizes mostly on how to get people. At least as important is how to make them stay.
More about that in our next posts! Good luck! Thijs!
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Online Games Vocabulary

On February 22, 2011, in Company, by Gregor
1

TribePlay is proud to be a ethnically diverse gaming company. As we mainly work for the European market, our companies working language is English, but of course often we also use Chinese in daily matters. This post collects some of the most important words for gaming and game development in China to help you for the start:

English – Chinese – Pinyin

Game 游戏 you2xi4

Gaming industry 游戏行业（游戏产业）you2xi4 hang2ye4 (you2xi4 chan3ye4)

Online Game 在线游戏 zai4xian4you2xi4

Casual Game 休闲(网页)游戏 xiu1xian2 (wang3ye4) you2xi4

Virtual World 虚拟世界 xu1ni3shi4jie4

Social Game 社交（网页）游戏she4jiao1 (wang3ye4) wang3luo4

Social Network  社交网络 she4jiao1 wang3luo4

Friends (in a Social Network) 网友 wang3you3

Apps 应用 ying4yong4

Avatar 头像 tou2xiang4

Character (in a Game) （游戏里的）角色  (you2xi4 li3 de) jiao3se4

Game Development 游戏发展 you2xi4 fa1zhan3

Game Concept 游戏概念 you2xi4 gai4nian4

Concept Art 原画设计师 yuan2hua4 she4ji4shi1

Animator 动画设计师 dong4hua4 she4ji4shi1

Designer 设计师 she4ji4shi1

Programmer 程序员 cheng2xu4yuan2

Back end 后台 hou4tai2

Front end 前台 qian2tai2

Server 服务器 fu2wu4qi4

We know better... Image (c) by Some Girl named Jen

Did I miss one? Thanks to Sophie, our Project Manager, for checking the vocabulary!

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Social Networks and Social Gaming in the Chinese Internet

On February 18, 2011, in Chengdu, Flash, New Games, Social Networks, by Gregor
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It is not a secret that China is going to be the biggest market for (Social) Online Games. You can already see it in the Facebook Games statistics, where Chinese Gamers are becoming more and more active. Although Facebook is still blocked in Mainland China, its popularity constantly rises, but still it doesn’t reach the majority of 457 Million Chinese Netizen.

If you take a look on Mainland China, pages like Kaixin Wang, Renren and the Facebook like spin-off from QQ, Xiaoyou all massively increased their numbers of users during the past decade.

Kaixin Wang is traffic wise the second most popular page. According to Alexa it is rank #19 in whole mainland china. Kaixin got most of its success after Facebook, Myspace, Youtube etc. got block from the great firewall. What about the games on Kaixin? The hottest games on Kaixin001.com is Zhiwu Dazhan Jiangshi (Plants Vs. Zombies) with more than 1,6 Million players, followed by Fangkuai Zongdongyuan with more than 1,3 Million Players, a mini game where you have to match pairs of stones.

Ren Ren Wang is the most popular social network page. It is online for more than eleven years and is ranked #16 on Alexa in Mainland China. Relatively new is QQs Portal Pengyou.com. It is getting more and more users lately, currently they are ranked #43 traffic-wise in Mainland China. Most popular game here is Xiaoxiao Zhanzheng, made by 5Minutes with a setting, that plays during the Stone Age.

Generally you will find a lot more MMORP Games in the “Chinese Internet” compared to Western Games Portal, but also Farmville-like Games are becoming more famous. The best known one is HappFarm or Kaixin Nongchang also developed by 5Minutes, which can be played on QQ Space, as well as on Ren Ren Wang, where it was launched in 2008.

There are of course some hidden treasures in the Chinese internet, which have yet to be discovered. The Social Gaming Industry is booming, and also that currently a lot of Chinese companies lack innovation, as Joel Backaler wrote it, creative games will show up, and hopefully also reach the Western audience.

Authors choice of Online Game: Da Xiao Chuan Chuan Shao (大小串串烧), it is a good training for your local Chuanchuan Place (Chuan Chuan is a Chengdu specialty!), pick tree in a row by clicking with the mouse, the longer you click the more you going to skewer.

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