One Week, One Million Downloads: Rapid Prototyping with Mike Mika

playmakers

May 2

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From the archive · 2017-05-03

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Mike Mika has 20+ years game development experience. He helped launch NGMoco, pioneering free-to-play games for iPhone. He's run studios and played a major role in the shift to digital content distribution with Xbox Live and PSN.

He has shipped over 190 games on every platform since the Game Boy. His most recent title, #IDARB was downloaded by over a million people in the first week of its release.

In this episode, we cover his work on several hit franchises, his experience creating #IDARB, his approach to prototyping, design documentation, and the surprise attention he received in 2013. That was the year when the rest of the world became aware of Mike as “The Donkey Kong Dad” when he modified the classic Donkey Kong game for his daughter, so she could play as Pauline and rescue Mario.