Editor’s note: Eric Peterson, president and CEO of Vicious Cycle Software, can talk about the rise of the Triangle’s video game industry with authority. After all, he has been involved in game involvement dating back the better part of two decades in Chapel Hill and elsewhere, from the days of Hasbro Interactive (formerly MicroProse) and since 1999 at Vicious, which now has new owners. In the second installment of an exclusive two-part interview with WRAL TechWire, Peterson talks about the Triangle’s gaming evolution plus the pressure of working with Hollywood and plans by Vicous to expand into mobile gaming..

  • How have you seen the Triangle evolve as a game development hub?

The area has definitely grown over the last 20 years. Companies have formed, moved or expanded to the local area. And it seems like there are always newcomers to the area. There is no sign that our local development community is contracting whatsoever.

With new additions such as Imangi Studios, Boss Key Productions, and BitMonster, RTP is still the gaming hub is has been all of these years, perhaps even stronger.

  • How do you take advantage of the local schools and new game development programs when hiring?

We don’t limit our search to local schools when searching for new hires, but we definitely utilize the local resources when we have the opportunity. At Vicious, we have had great success with hires from UNC and NC State. We have also been fortunate to hire students from neighboring state programs such as East Tennessee State University and SCAD in Savannah, Georgia.

  • How easy is it to get new developers to move to this area?

Years ago it was more difficult to convince people to move to the Raleigh area, but in the last 10 years or so, it has become significantly easier. This shift can be attributed to a lower cost of living, the growth the area has seen and the amount of job opportunities our state has to offer.

The Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill area has really grown since I first moved here in 1996. It is a completely different landscape, almost night and day. North Carolina is also a place that people can see themselves planting roots and having a family, something that employees might not have been considering when working and living on the West Coast.

  • How does your engine technology help with building Hollywood licensed games, which often have tight deadlines?

The Vicious Engine was built to foster team involvement whether the employee was an artist, game or audio designer, producer or engineer. The more people that can develop our games with the technology, the better off we are.

When we created our data driven engine and editor, we decided to make our code easy for everyone to use. Our scripting engine is designed in such a way that it allows non-programmers to get in and help develop many features for our games. It also minimizes mistakes and bugs that can often derail a project’s ship date.

Our technology also has the ability to deploy to multiple platforms and foreign languages, making it easy to ship products simultaneously worldwide. We have shipped at least 20 titles, some of them on as many as six different platforms, and we have never missed our dates.

  • What are the challenges of creating games based on Hollywood IP?

One of the biggest challenges with creating movie based games is development time. It is very common for licensed videogame products based on films or television to be green lit after the production of the movie or television show is well underway—and the game’s release date is often tied to the release date of the film or show.

Because of the way in which this process unfolds, most games based on licenses have fairly short development cycles. This leaves very little time to create a quality product. Fortunately, we have constructed our technology in a way that has allowed us to adapt to these hurdles while producing quality titles in the family and licensed space.

  • How have you seen this Hollywood licensed business evolve with the growth of mobile and free-to-play online games?

These days, games are made for home consoles, PCs and mobile systems. Sometimes products are ported to mobile devices to incorporate touch screens, the specifications of a tablet or phone, social aspects, and so on; and other times completely new products using those licenses are designed to embrace the portable device’s hardware and demographics. These mobile versions are sometimes used as companion products for the home console systems as well. Because Hollywood licenses, especially family centric ones, are considered more casual in nature, there has definitely been a shift to create products that are mobile and are free-to-play.

  • How many games are you set up to develop at any one time?

We are currently developing two unannounced titles. We plan on entering the mobile space in the near future, which would spawn another third small team at Vicious Cycle.

Note: Part one of the interview is available online.