lease introduce Funtactix and Moondo.

:Well, it was a pleasure interviewing you, for sure many of us before this interview did not know there is a young game industry in Israel that very likely will not be making titles like  ”Attack of the Zombie Rabbies (kidding )”.

The Holy Land, what many believe God himself graced with his presence. We are not referring to Cupertino and Steve Jobs (yeah that’s right, same old stuff…Mac Fans), although many geeks would like to make this comparison. We are talking about ISRAEL, the country in western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Probably when people hear it, many may immediately think of the decades of conflict and armed struggle since its creation back in 1948, some may think of it as an “exotic touristic destination”. And the believers, as said before, as THE Holy Land. BUT! we are 100% sure that nobody would think about video-gaming…well, we hope this interview will add a new perspective. Eli Tsuchida, a japanese expat and member of one of the few Israeli game companies called Funtactix, developers of Moondo (multiplayer online game) gave us an interview.  He told us about his past and present experience, about the differences in working culture, and how is gaming in Israel. Shalom!!

: First of all, thank you very much for giving us this interview.  Let’s get down to business right away. As far as we know you studied art, right? How did you get into Ganbarion?

ET: Ha-ha. Originally I was interested in graphics. I was opened to too many things…at the university I “dabbled into” 3D. First I did not know anything at all of the game industry when I started there. I had been learning 3D a month that time.  I thought it would not work when I sent in my CV, next thing I knew I passed the entry exam. I was assigned with character animation. It took time to get used to the job. After I had done so, I became involved with effects and modeling too. I think making a game is a relatively standard process, so I am very grateful for the know-how and problem solving methods I acquired at Ganbarion. They are very useful in my present work.

: When you moved to Israel, was it a natural choice for you to join Funtactix or was it coincidence?

ET: I came to Israel in 2005 and there was no game industry.  A year later a few game companies were founded and one of them, Funtactix called me. Another year later I started to work there. Of course, I was full of ambitions to make use of my experience in game making, 3D.

: Once you learn how to drive a car it does not matter whether you drive in USA or UK, you just have to get used to do it by the right or left side, besides everything is basically the same. Was it difficult to adapt yourself to Funtactix or were the basics (methodology) pretty much the same?

ET: That’s right. It is very challenging for a Japanese to work in a foreign country. It needs a different mentality. In addition, Funtactix is a venture capital company so I did not know how things work i.e. pipe-line or know-how. The pipe-line still needs maintenance. It is hard.

: What are the differences in the working culture of Japan and Israel? What aspects do you like better/less?

ET: I think the good aspect of Japanese people is that they make a tight schedule and they organize their work around it. Also their sense of responsibility and the fact that they don’t repeat mistakes. But the working hours are too long. Abnormally! The people of Israel are always optimistic. Even if they make mistakes, even if they can’t see the end, they can always come up with an answer. And because they think it’s important to spend time with thier families their working hours are shorter.

: Please introduce Funtactix and Moondo.

ET: Receiving financial support from an investor interested in developing a new system for online gaming was the beginning of this company. So the system was always in the focal point of development and the fun parts and the actual crafting of the game just followed later. Consider Moondo as a demo game that shows what our new system is capable of. It is a multiplayer online game, where you can play with one character through a series of mini-games where you can collect coins and items to save to the next stage.

: What are Funtaxtic’s plans for the future (new IPs, platforms other than PC)?

ET: As I said before, our objective is to continue with a successful combination of games and internet business.  We’ll focus on online system construction and game development. We are having a new project with an American company that I can not name at the moment.

: How is the gaming scene/culture in Israel? What platforms and games are popular?

ET: The gaming population of Israel is made up of only young people. In my opinion it’s because people still think that games are for children. Game consoles are perceived as expensive toys. So free PC games are the most popular. Then it’s PS2 and Xbox. And because the softwares are expensive there are lot of pirate copies. FIFA and Tekken are popular titles. The industry is made of four newly created development companies, but I believe  that there will be more in the future with a lot of releases, some of them online games. So we can hang our hopes on the Israeli game industry.

: The next question might sound weird. Israel has a long history of armed struggle since its creation day.  In Israel would anyone think of developing a game… let’s say about “The six days war”?

ET: Well, it depends on the companies whether they want to make games like that or not. Having an Israeli conflict portrayed and making money of it is difficult, because the market is so small here.

: Recently the public has become more intolerant to videogame violence and are questioning the exposure of it through the media. Some legislators are even calling on banishing violent games from society. People in Israel know what is like to be hit by violent attacks. How does the society react toward violent games based on urban conflict or war?

ET: Violence in games is a problem that we – the industry – must tackle form now on. Isreal is a country that has been experiencing war and terror on daily basis, so I believe the games people look for are sport and fantasy titles. I’m against violent games personally too. But in the case of Yoge (Japenese term for Western games) with M-rating games, anything goes. I think this is the part that should be regulated stricter.

: Well, it was a pleasure interviewing you, for sure many of us before this interview did not know there is a young game industry in Israel that very likely will not be making titles like  “Attack of the Zombie Rabbies (kidding )”.