With dozens of studios, courses and events, St. Louis is becoming the nation’s next video game development hot spot.
Matt Raithel was a gamer, right from the jump.
“When I was six, Nintendo was this on-fire, crazy toy of the year. When I got it – and this was the 1980s – you didn’t just plug it in. You had to practically take apart your television set,” he recalls. “Once it finally got connected and I flipped the thing on, it was like…intoxication. I played for maybe six hours that day.
“I remember telling my friends when they came over that this is what I was going to do when I grew up.”
Unlike so many other children’s early career fantasies, Raithel’s dream actually came true. Today, he’s the owner and studio director of Maryland Heights-based Graphite Lab, which creates in-house and branded games (including “Transformers,” “My Little Pony” and “Ben 10”) for all platforms. Its original flagship game “Hive Jump,” a retro-inspired game with “Metroid” flavor, recently became available on Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
Graphite Lab joins peer companies Pixel Press, Volcano Bean, Terrifying Jellyfish and other creators in turning St. Louis into a burgeoning hub of game development and innovation.
Read more at thestl.com!
