Q&A With Amanda Wixted, The Techie Behind FarmVille, Pac-Man And More Hit iPhone Apps (VIDEO)

Amanda Wixted could be considered the Jay-Z of the tech world.

When it comes to creating addictive apps, Wixted, a developer, has the midas touch: Every iPhone game she's worked on has earned a coveted spot on Apple's list of the top 10 free apps in the App Store, the Billboard charts of Silicon Valley.

Formerly the tech lead on Zynga's iPhone team and the company's first mobile engineer, Wixted helped develop the iPhone apps for hit games like FarmVille, Live Poker, Mafia Wars and Scramble. She's also created Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man apps and recently co-founded her own company, Hyperspace, where she's focusing on creating location-based mobile games, like Turf Geography Club.

Wixted noted that one of the key elements of a successful app is its social virality, which comes from building features that encourage users to share relevant, engaging information about their activities on the app with their online social circles.

"What we did at Zynga--and what doing we're doing with Turf--is to create opportunities for users to tell their friends about the app that's not just a 'tweet this' button, but something that is meaningful in the game and to their friends as well," said Wixted. "You need social virality, but not in a gimmicky way--you need it in a way that's useful and fun."

She praised Foursquare, the location-based service, for developing an app that creatively and effectively promoted sharing on social networks.

So what does Wixted have to say to all the users who have spent hours playing the games she's developed?

"I'm pleased you found the game fun and spent hours with it," she said. "That's what I try to do: create games that are fun for people."

As part of The Huffington Post's Women in Tech series, Wixted joined HuffPost's Senior Tech Editor Bianca Bosker for a live video Q&A on Tuesday, July 26.

See the video below for Wixted's take on what makes some apps addictive, what she sees as the next big idea in tech, what it's like working with Apple and more.

SOUND BYTES: Amanda Wixted on...

Her indispensable gadget: Her iPhone 4

Her favorite apps: Harbor Master (iPad): Instagram, Kindle For iPhone (iPhone)

Her favorite account to follow on Twitter: @FakeAPStylebook, @MattGemmell

Her "required reading" recommendation: Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken

WATCH:

Comments

[Sara Swafford]

12:59 PM on 08/09/2011

Finally a Women In Tech article covering a real woman techie :)

[mimssandi]

12:45 AM on 07/29/2011

Well, the article makes me want to be 30 years younger so I could enjoy all this stuff, or maybe know how to use an Iphone. I'm still at rotary dial speed in my brain, the eyes need a magnifier to see one and can't hear out of the ear that is connected to my brain. Still, all this sounds like fun and she is a smart social engineer.

[Marklar]

09:16 PM on 07/28/2011

To all the people who are trashtalking in these comments...why did you bother to read this article?

[SevenUPtheUNCOOLA]

05:43 AM on 07/28/2011

there are more imaginary farms than terra firma farms, so it's a success. i guess... until we realize there's nothing to eat once we take a break from our imaginary farming.

am i the only person on the planet who has never used an app? i mean, in a developed country? it's not that i'm not interested in what my friends are doing, but usually when i want to find out, i talk to them face to face.

[Marklar]

09:13 PM on 07/28/2011

Wondering why you bothered to read this article.

[Nebris]

03:17 AM on 07/28/2011

"The world burns while Farmville prospers." ~Neonvincent

[NeonVincent]

03:21 AM on 07/28/2011

Thanks for the shout out. Now I'll actually have to start using the phrase here.

[Nebris]

07:48 AM on 07/28/2011

Sorry I forget to capitalize the 'V'. lol

[ANuttyReader]

03:47 PM on 07/27/2011

When I grow up I want to be like her

[spoonbill1963]

11:55 AM on 07/27/2011

Because of these stupid games women are having fewer affairs, which is a shame.

[Cordell Cameron]

01:02 AM on 07/28/2011

I concur.

[Tracy Gregory]

09:26 AM on 07/27/2011

I am a huge fan of Amanda Wixted. She knows exactly what techies are looking for in an app. As a gamer, I like using my iPhone to play the latest games and to chat with others. The Transfire app (http://www.transfireapp.com) I use with my iPhone allows me to communicate with fellow gamers in their native language. It supports more than 51 languages and is very easy to use! A free trial download is available on iTunes.

[Cordell Cameron]

01:06 AM on 07/28/2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/advertise/

Nice pitch though.

1st post. Welcome to the huffpo.

[JenJen25]

10:09 PM on 07/26/2011

Cool maybe she will create a TickleMe Plant app. Everyone seems to be growing one and it is more like a pet then a plant.

[Mister Grumpy]

09:13 PM on 07/26/2011

I wonder how many patents she's in violation of............

[Cordell Cameron]

01:08 AM on 07/28/2011

Yeah, but look what happened to SONY after they sued George Hotz. Their website gets shut down for a while, then they get hacked and their network goes down for 2 months and ol' George gets a job at Facebook.

[Dick Burns]

08:31 PM on 07/26/2011

How about some pesticides so I can burn your farmville to the ground. this geek has done more to screw up facebook than anyone else.

[spoonbill1963]

11:56 AM on 07/27/2011

Yes, I hate getting those stupid game requests.

[sensimilla]

04:54 PM on 07/27/2011

so easy to turn off ALL app requests, i get none...

[sensimilla]

04:54 PM on 07/27/2011

not at all, i never see anything having to do with fb apps, as i disallowed them completely.

[nohopepope2187]

06:56 PM on 07/26/2011

I just had a nerdgasm.

[larrykat]

04:47 PM on 07/26/2011

She had to start off with "yer guyses questions..." Yeep.

[getreal23]

04:15 PM on 07/26/2011

I don't play Farmville because after creating a farm you have to go back and water etc or the crops dry up. Waste of time , stupid.

[darquelourd]

04:14 PM on 07/26/2011

I just want to thank you for using sophisticated technology and science to dumb down people even more.

[David Chu]

10:41 AM on 07/27/2011

Can you get over yourself?

If you've ever studied how the brain functions, even the most creative and smart people need something "dumb" to do at times. A study of high performance athletes showed that everyone of them balance out moments of high concentration with moments of being completely fazed out.

[Wag64]

04:26 PM on 07/27/2011

indeed, thanks for posting this comment - I needed something to balance out my "smart" time".

[Wag64]

04:27 PM on 07/27/2011

besides - I thouht thats why we had Fox News programming.

[spoonbill1963]

11:56 AM on 07/27/2011

You said a mouth full.