Jonathan Knight is not a new kid on the block or a New Kid on the Block. Zynga's VP of games is a 20-year veteran of the games business, leading development of CastleVille (iOS, Android) and recent release FarmVille 2: Country Escape, available on iOS, Android, and (as of May 13) the Kindle Fire. Besides offering a fresh setting, FarmVille 2 enables gamers to play on the go, with or without a connection, socially or solo. I chatted with Knight about his career, his first gaming experience, the enduring appeal of farming games, and his favorite non-Zynga apps.
Jonathan Knight
Jonathan Knight is a 20-year games veteran.
(Credit: Courtesy: Zynga)
What brought you to Zynga?
I'd been in the game business for almost 20 years, and I was seeing many of the smartest and most interesting people I'd ever worked with making their way to Zynga.
I've always been interested in developing games for the next big platform. When mobile and Facebook games became a hit, I was fascinated by the direct-to-consumer model. It allows you to focus on providing great experiences for the players, gives you real-time feedback, and I could tell it was going to be revolutionary.
What is the first game you ever played?
That's easy. In 1977, when I was 8 years old, my dad brought home an Apple II computer. We lived in Louisiana, and he had to drive all the way to Houston to get it. At that time, you loaded software off a cassette player. The first cassette we got was Star Trek, and that was the first game I ever played.
It really sticks out among my childhood memories, because I remember how I felt on an emotional level. I had to go to bed while my older brothers got to stay up and play Star Trek. I remember crying about it, because I wasn't allowed to stay up with them. Games struck an emotional chord with me at an early age. I still have that Star Trek cassette to this day.
What inspired you to work in game production?
Since we had a computer from a very early age, we learned how to program and write code. My older brother went into computer science, so I didn't want to completely follow in his footsteps.
In high school, I got bit by the drama bug and was involved in the arts early on. I got my MFA in theater from Boston University and continued with computer programming as a hobby. I found myself looking for a way to combine those two passions. In 1994, I was fortunate to find that combination when I got my first job in game production. At the time, CD-ROMs were coming into popularity, the art quality was going up, the industry was growing, and there was a need for more creative leadership.
In theater, I'd been most comfortable in the director/producer role, and I carried that over into my role as a game producer. I wanted to bring together all of the different elements and synthesize a cohesive experience for players. Game-making is like a team sport, and the job of the producer is to hold the vision and help the team come together to achieve it.
Why do you think that FarmVille caught on the way it did?
There's something people love about the idea of tending plants, having animals, and taking care of a farm. It's core to our DNA. FarmVille builds on the fantasy that a lot of people have about caring for a farm with their friends, in an accessible way.
I remember showing FarmVille to my wife, assuming that she would say, "Really?" She's generally not a technophile. But when I showed it to her, she smiled and said, "I understand why people like it. I always wanted a farm." I thought, "Wow, that's pretty powerful."
Is FarmVille 2: Country Escape an improvement on the original FarmVille?
We think of it as an evolution and extension of a forever franchise. It's the first time we've ever built a FarmVille game on mobile from the ground up, and we're seeing that players love the ability to farm from anywhere, even when they're offline. It also redefines the FarmVille social experience with new options that give you more choice on how you connect with friends. For example, for the first time, you can play FarmVille as a single-player experience, or you can choose to connect and play with your friends.
Is Zynga considering expanding platforms into consoles?
We're focused on the opportunity of building great mobile-first games for phones and tablets. As a team, it's an incredibly exciting time to be making games, given the accessibility, ubiquity, and sheer processing power of mobile devices. Mobile offers an incredible opportunity for games, and one that we're privileged to compete in.
What are your top non-Zynga mobile apps?
1. Smash Hit
2. Redfin
3. Monument Valley
4. Candy Crush Saga
5. Hulu
You share a name with a member of New Kids on the Block. Was that a source of pride or shame growing up?
Mostly shame. I went to graduate school in NKOTB's hometown of Boston right at the height of their popularity. This was also back when people still used phone books. So, I literally got phone calls all the time -- almost every day. We had to end up de-listing our number because of it.
