The Leap Motion App Review Team: Matthew, Stephen, Bobby, Michael M., Michael Y., Sam, Collin, Ernest, Shaun
Over the past eight months, our developer community has been building some amazing applications for the Leap Motion Controller. When they’re ready to submit their apps to Airspace, our online app store, that’s when the App Review Team springs into action.
In the first of our Inside Leap Motion series, we talk to Michael Yasko, Senior Manager of Developer Relations & App Review, about his team and their work. They test each app submission and work with developers to improve them – an essential part of our mission to create a magical experience for everyone. Step into the Leap Motion bunker and meet the people who help incredible apps on their way to Airspace.
1. What brought you guys to Leap Motion?
We have over 60 years of combined testing experience from Electronic Arts, OnLive, SEGA, Sony and Namco. We’re all avid gamers and passionate about the software industry, and we made our way to Leap Motion from these various companies to build this talented team.
2. How does your team fit into Leap Motion’s journey as a whole?
Our mission is to partner with the talented developers creating innovative apps for the Leap Motion Controller. We’re passionate about these apps and feel it’s our duty to ensure quality through the entire submission and testing process. Since we’re all veterans at testing, we provide detailed feedback for each submission, so each developer will know exactly what to address before the next submission. We want Airspace to be filled with innovative and fun apps.
3. What’s a typical day for the App Review Team?
We usually arrive around 9 or 10 in the morning, and head out between 7 and 8 p.m. When apps arrive through Airspace, we test them using our standard review guidelines and report any issues to the developer. During our downtime, we like to crack jokes and make each other laugh. We have lunch at the office every day together, so we’re pretty close.
4. What gets you excited about working at Leap Motion?
Being part of the creation and improvement of this new technology is already pretty exciting. But if I had to give another reason, it would be that we’re all tech geeks at heart. We love any and all new technology, and we get to play with the latest apps and improve the Leap Motion experience, so it’s a win-win for all of us.
5. What are your favorite games to play when you’re off the clock?
Michael Yasko: I love the LEGO games – they’re just a lot of fun. They have hidden objects, destruction and great stories. After playing LEGO Lord of the Rings for a month, I finally finished it with a perfect score.
Michael M.: Action and fighting games that test my reflexes and force me to think on my feet.
Collin: Games that aren’t afraid to take creative risks and break the norm, and in doing so innovate and propel the art form into the future – realizing what lies through the looking glass.
Matthew: I personally like sports games because that’s the only time I get to see the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.
Sam: Classic arcade and console games. They remind me of simpler times – a time without easy mode, hand-holding, and video walkthroughs; when games tried to kill you as fast as possible, as if they had a personal vendetta against you.
Update 9/12/2014: The Airspace Store is now simply called the Leap Motion App Store.