Erik Bethke is a computer games developer.
Bethke worked on UV Spectrometer experiments under Dr. D.E. Shemanksy at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La CaƱada Flintridge, California, United States.
Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
and the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
, but did not complete his PhD studies in Space Sciences.
He began a career in the games industry working on GoPets, GoDance,
Star Trek: Starfleet Command,
Star Trek: Starfleet Command II: Empires at War and
Star Trek: Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates.
His first book, ''Game Development and Production'', describing the methodology of creating games; was edited by
Ray Muzyka
Raymond Alexander Muzyka is a Canadian investor, entrepreneur and physician. Originally trained as a medical doctor and practicing as an emergency department and family physician after graduation, he is the co-founder of video game developer Bio ...
and
Greg Zeschuk
Gregory Zeschuk is a Canadian businessman who was a VP at Electronic Arts and General Manager at BioWare Austin until 2012. He co-founded video game developer BioWare in Edmonton in 1995 with Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip, after all three earned ...
, Co-CEOs of
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zes ...
. A subsequent book, ''Settlers of the New Virtual Worlds'', co-edited with
Erin Hoffman
Erin Hoffman (born 1981) is an American game developer, blogger, and fantasy writer. She has published three fantasy novels, and been the lead designer on multiple games such as ''Kung Fu Panda World'', ''GoPets: Vacation Island'', and ''Frontierv ...
, explored human and property rights in
virtual worlds
A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...
, and highlighted current End User License Agreements (
EULA
An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...
s).
In 2003 Bethke moved to
Seoul, Korea
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
and founded GoPets, Ltd. which was acquired by social gaming company
Zynga
Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...
. Bethke worked at Zynga from 2009 to 2012 as the General Manager of
Mafia Wars 2
''Mafia Wars'' is a defunct freemium multiplayer social network game created by Zynga.
In ''Mafia Wars,'' the players assume the roles of gangsters while building their own Mafia-type organization. The players fight and "rob" other players onli ...
..
In September 2012, Bethke co-founded Bee Cave Games with Nimai Malle and Jeremy Strauser - a social and mobile game developer focused on the casino sector and makers of Blackjack Casino.
[http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2013/02/07/bee-cave-announces-first-game-seed-funding-of-1-4m/]
Bibliography
* Bethke, Erik. ''Game Development and Production''. Wordware game developer's library. Plano, Tex: Wordware Pub, 2003.
*
References
External links
Erik Bethke and The World of GoPets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethke, Erik
American video game designers
University of Southern California alumni
1972 births
Living people