Exis Interactive has built a business helping Warner Brothers, LucasArts and other companies develop video games. This month, the nine-year-old TowsonGlobal Business Incubator company is trying something new.
For the first time, it made and released a product of its own, a political strategy game called “Execuforce" that involves President Barack Obama and former Gov. and Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Participants role-play Presidents Obama, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan or former Gov. Mitt Romney to travel to distant planets and prevent aliens from destroying Earth.
For $20, the game is downloadable from its website. Exis Interactive Founder Peter Kojesta says it usually works for larger companies on the graphics for their games, including Warner Brothers' "Fear 3" and LucasArts' "Fracture". Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. are also among its clients.
There is no lack of games related to politics, but they “get into the minutiae of government,” he says. "Execuforce" is a multi-player game that does so entertainingly.
Calling the game “a labor of love,” Kojesta says it took Exis Interactive three years to develop because it had to build the game technology from scratch while working on other projects.
Exis Interactive has four staffers, including Kojesta, all of whom have known each other since high school. He describes the company as the “epitome of the American dream,” he says. “We have team members who came here as immigrants and we have members who’ve been in the military. We feel it is important to talk about politics but to do so in a fun way.”
Half of the proceeds from its sale are being split evenly between the Obama’s Democratic Party presidential campaign and the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit that benefits American soldiers. The game will remain on the website beyond the November election for an undetermined period of time.
Source: Peter Kojesta, Exis Interactive
Writer: Barbara Pash