Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with local Seattle gaming startup BodSix‘s CEO Jeff Dixon to discuss their upcoming game “Map Monsters” - which is currently raising funding on Kickstarter.
Q: You have the legendary game designer Richard Garfield on board – how did that come about?
Jeff Dixon: Richard and I both shared an enthusiasm for location based games when we first met. I heard people talking about Foursquare as a game and knew society was in trouble if that represented the pinnacle of location-based games. Richard, was really intrigued with a location-based game mechanic that was now possible with smartphones. Any time you introduce a new mechanic to games, it opens up some interesting possibilities. Richard was eager to push what could be done using location.
In Map Monsters, you appear on a live stylized map of your real life surroundings and are free to roam across the map, capturing monsters you might encounter.
Q: What has Richard’s impact been on the design of your game so far?

Q: Coming in here today I noticed your office overlooks what seems to be a disaster zone – How long has this been going on out there?
Jeff Dixon: The last month hasn’t been easy, since we moved into new digs. They were razing a condemned apartment building just outside our window. It wasn’t too bad until they started smashing the foundation with huge jackhammers mounted on these large hydraulic excavators. For several weeks the vibration in our offices was so bad our bodies were shaking and writing code was particularly challenging. We tried to squeeze in as much as possible while the construction crew were on their lunch break.
Q: I have seen a lot of stories lately about game companies launching small games with Kickstarter – how important do you feel crowd-funding is to the future of gaming?
Jeff Dixon: I think Kickstarter and similar crowd-funding sites will be incredibly important for the game industry, especially smaller studios. Crowd-funding opens up a viable alternative for people whose addressable market is too niche or whose ambitions are too risky to attract the attention of traditional publishers. Until now, only people who had the means and the guts to bootstrap their projects were developing games.
Q: Your office is only a block and half away from legendary PopCap Games – do you take any inspiration from their success?
Jeff Dixon: Being in the shadow of such a creative organization is great. In fact, the density of game companies in my neighborhood is quite impressive. I’ve stopped being surprised when I hear about new game companies in the Seattle area.

Q: You spent many years in the tech industry at companies like Amazon.com – So what motivated you to drop everything and do this?
Q: Is there anything else you would like to say to the Jace Hall Show folks out there?
Jeff Dixon: We wanted to thank all of the Jace Hall Show fans by offering a special Jace Hall Show reward package at the $15 contribution level. Contributors will receive $25 in virtual goods game credit, plus a limited edition Jace Hall themed monument that you can place in the game. Additionally, you’ll receive 8 full-color art cards with illustrations by Magic: The Gathering artist Mark Poole inspired by Map Monsters and and bonus card with Jace Hall as a Monsternaut.


Logan Huffman wants to know who is posting comments about him online and asks Jace for help. Meanwhile Joe Flanigan is caught again flirting in the V costume. Jace heads to the set of Law and Order: SVU to catch up with Ice – T and Coco and the Starcraft II team gets “rushed” by World of Warcraft Lead Designer, Jeff Kaplan.
Jace has decided to take advantage of his co-hosting duties at the Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire celebration, by showing his new music video to the thousands of EverQuest players in attendance, much to the dismay of the crowd. That didn’t stop one enthusiastic guest from doing something radical.