Cara Ely: I graduated from Whitman College (a small liberal arts college) with a degree in Theater. I spent years working as a talent agent and casting director; I got into games because I had a lot of experience hiring and directing voice actors, and there weren’t a lot of people who knew or were interested in that part of the development process. I started as an Associate Producer at Sierra Online, and was eventually promoted to Producer. I came aboard at Oberon in 2005.

WG: Why a wedding game?

Cara Ely: I was browsing in a bookstore at lunch one day, looking for books to bring back to our development studio. I have a weakness for magazines, so I quickly found myself in the periodicals section -- there were 22 wedding magazines on display! That got me thinking about wedding planning. There’s something irresistible about picking out flowers, cakes, dresses…and so many different types of people can relate to the wedding process, whether they’re single, married, divorced, or planning a wedding for their son or daughter. The idea of making a wedding-themed game just “clicked.”

WG: How do you plan to market it to women?

Cara Ely: Well, along with the established casual game sites, I believe our marketing team is talking with several wedding-specific companies, which is exciting. It means that a woman who might not be an active casual gamer could be introduced to the game -- and casual games in general -- through a new channel, and then (perhaps) become a casual gamer for life! With so many games on the market, half of the battle is simply attracting a player’s attention; once that happens, we (as game developers) need to be sure we’ve created a game that can keep a player entertained and give them a reason to come back for more. That’s certainly what we tried to do with Dream Day Wedding.

Thank you for spending the time to answer our questions. We wish you the very best of luck in your endeavors.

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