Interview With Red Robot Labs

How did you end up deciding on the theme of your first release — did the virtual crime spree idea win out in a pool of competing ideas during a big brain storming session, or did the team have this concept in mind from day one?

We had in mind a game that was truly social and that easily mapped location into gameplay. In particular, adding location was a challenge that required creative solutions because the concept is still so new. We knew that the mafia theme has been done before, but it fit so well with the user experience we decided to go for it. People understand owning turf and the hierarchy of gangs. Plus, check-ins are boring… why would someone want to do that when you can fight, steal, and deal?

Before you debuted on Android devices at PAX Prime, were there any worries this subject matter could embroil a new developer in controversy, or were you pretty confident in a positive reception from the beginning?

We debated the mob theme internally because it has been done before so often. We were most concerned with polishing the gameplay so that the content would be fresh, new, and challenging to players.

What level of control do players have when it comes to adding new locations on Life is Crime’s game map? Could I designate, say, a random building down my street as a safehouse in-game, or is there some kind of vetting process that happens first?

In January, we opened our world worker crowdsourced map project up to our community. The community of Life is Crime users are very devoted and interested in helping build out the game world. We have a web tool that about 100 pre-screened “world workers” (location moderators) are given access to. The added locations are put into a moderation queue, which is handled by our internal community managers. Eventually, this technology will be pushed into the game itself and the world workers will help with moderation of locations in addition to creating them. The game world created will be used for Life is Crime, as well as future games built on the R2 platform.

Speaking of locations, has Life is Crime caught on anywhere that really surprised you, and are there places where you thought for sure it would be a big hit but it somehow seems to have slipped under the radar?

As you might predict, the large metro areas are highly populated with gameplay – NYC, San Francisco, Chicago, and Baltimore are extremely active. The biggest surprise for us so far has been Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s been a huge hotspot for Life is Crime. The activity there easily rivals that of a large urban area according to our activity heat maps. Apparently Salt Lake City loves virtual crime!

And what’s on tap next for Red Robot Labs? Do you see the entire team being occupied with continuing work on Life is Crime for the foreseeable future, or are new projects already in the pipeline?

This year we’ll be doing more games, as well as getting traction on the R2 platform. There is a pretty unique strategy to both, but we keep these things in a heavily guarded safe in our new Mountain View offices. That guy in our Life is Crime logo? He’s actually an undercover agent that we specifically hired to manage security for upcoming projects. If I told you what we have in the pipeline, he would have to kidnap you (and I don’t think either of us want that).

Big thanks to Mike Ouye and Pete Hawley for taking the time to answer our questions, and to Kristin Farrell of Borders + Gratehouse for facilitating. Red Robot Labs looks like a studio to keep an eye on, so be sure to check out their website, Twitter feed and Facebook page for the latest updates!