CN: September 23, 2015

September 23, 2015

Digital fun and games Maryland Heights’ Graphite Lab levels up in video game world with Nintendo partnership

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By Sara Hardin People of all ages from around the world can find entertainment through the creations of Graphite Lab, a game studio on St. Louis soil that has been gaining attention for its innovative and accessible games for a wide range of audiences. Opened in Westport Plaza in 2009, Graphite Lab has developed a reputation for building quality games for early childhood entertainment, but the studio’s talented team is committed to creating universally entertaining experiences. “We like to make games of all shapes and sizes for people of all shapes and sizes,” explained Graphite Lab Studio Director, Matt Raithel. “We have had a very good reputation for developing games for early childhood users and players. I have three daughters, so I’ve got three clients at home who tell me what they want to see and what’s fun and what’s not. I’ve got a personal connection with making games that young kids can play and learn from. At the same time I’m a gamer myself, so we make games that we as a studio would like to play as well, and those games may come out on platforms that may skew towards an older audience. We straddle that line a little bit. We’ve also gotten a lot of attention for a new original title we’ve been working on that’s called ‘Hive Jump,’ which is going to skew toward more of a teen audience.” Raithel explained that the success of “Hive Jump” has been a “game changer” for the studio, particularly after the game was touted in August by Nintendo at PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), a gaming festival in Seattle that connects game publishers from all over the world and showcases upcoming games. “(‘Hive Jump’) is still in development and it won’t release for a little while yet, but even as an early game demo people have been playing it and really responding well to it,” explained Raithel. “We were hosted by Nintendo at PAX and had thousands of people play the game. As far as our visibility and visibility for the game, it’s tremendous. That type of event brings publicity that we can’t manufacture ourselves, so it’s really flattering and really important to our team to have those opportunities, and to keep getting those as we get closer to (‘Hive Jump’s) release.” The game, a sci-fi multiplayer in

Community Voices

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By Dr. Rance Thomas

Around Town

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A new queen has been crowned

Submitted photo Matt Raithel, Studio Director for Graphite Lab, a video game company who’s upcoming game “Hive Jump” has received international attention after being touted by Nintendo.

which the players take on the role of alien-fighting “space marines,” has already attracted a huge amount of attention within the gaming community despite the fact that its release isn’t expected until the first quarter of 2016. The game is expected to be released on PC, Mac, and Linux, as well as Nintendo’s WiiU. Despite the longtime success of the video game industry and the industry’s incredible number of consumers, the need for legitimate degree programs for aspiring game developers has been lacking. Raithel, who teaches motion graphics at Maryville University, explained that the demand for game design curriculums is being noticed, and said that Maryville itself will begin offering game design classes in the fall of 2016. “There are a lot of kids, as you can probably imagine, who play video games and would love to make them one day,” said Raithel. “It’s not something that parents can really advise well on because it has not been an established career path for the previous

generation. A doctor goes to medical school, a lawyer takes the Bar – what does a game designer do? It’s about educating kids, teachers and parents about how viable this industry really is and See DIGITAL FUN AND GAMES page 2

Learn & Play

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Stock it to me

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