Media Design School grad gets Apple approval
19 August 2013

New Zealand’s flourishing game industry has a new arrival with the iTunes App Store launch of Koi Pond Code Breaker from Bexcellent Games.

Game programmer Rebecca Cox graduated from Auckland’s Media Design School in late 2012 and wasted no time in setting up mobile game studio Bexcellent Games to develop iPhone games.

Her first release, a logic game called Koi Pond Code Breaker, launched on the Apple Store August 14 – and Cox has big plans for the future.

“The current goal is to get another three or four games out by the end of the year. In the near future, I am hoping to work on some children’s games and interactive stories. I have one lined up that should be out by the end of the year, and will be tested by my old primary school, Aorangi in Rotorua. There is a lot I want to accomplish through games.”

Cox decided to follow her heart and kick off her career as an indie developer after discovering her passion for making an entire game from scratch.

“I didn’t want to specialise in any specific area and like having creative control over projects,” she said. “In the end, I decided that the benefits [of going out on my own] outweighed the drawbacks and that I was willing to put in the effort to make going indie a success.”

Cox turned her passion for game development into a career at Media Design School, which offers qualifications in both game art and game programming. She enjoyed the immersive learning style that allowed her to collaborate with game artists on major game projects.

“Most of the assessments were based on making different games to demonstrate the subject we were working on like physics or AI. This project-based assessment method was what really made me learn the most about game development.”

Head of Game Programming Paul Morris said Cox was a consummate professional during her time at Media Design School.

“She was always a leader in class and had a really mature approach to the work and in her interactions with other students.”

Head of Game Art Mike Porter: “Rebeccah is exceptionally talented, not only with programming, but art as well. Coming from a graphic design background she brought a really cool aesthetic to the work.”