Hiatus from blogging..

I have not been blogging for a while, and that's cause I have recently gone back to school.

I took up an offer from WDA for skills retraining under their PCP (Professional Conversion Program).

So now I am studying Game Programming at DigiPen Singapore, which I am utterly enjoying.

It makes the process of getting my bachelor in IT feel like kindergarten.

For example, last week we did reflection (e.g. a mirror) and planar shadows. This week we did a pinball simulation (with multiple balls bouncing on each other). Next week, we will be switching to OpenGL 3.3 and writing our own shaders. Yes, it is extremely fast paced.

Thus, I am taking a hiatus from blogging for a "while"... :D

Facebook: Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

In case it was not obvious that FaceBook is a viable platform for games (and everything else):


[Source: Mashable.com]

Frozen Synapse Video Game, Beta Features Trailer HD | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

Video Games | Frozen Synapse | Beta Features Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

[Source: Frozen Synapse Video Game, Beta Features Trailer HD | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com ]

This game really looks stylish without using any textures.

It reminds me of the X-Com series's tactical combat, but done in HiRes. Also, I found the music in the trailer kinda catchy.

FaceBook Games that had something of interest

Just a quick list I made.

FarmVille (by Zynga)- http://apps.facebook.com/onthefarm/

Other than the fact that is likely the most profitable game on FB now.

As a sandbox game, it has no real objectives other than to earn the ability to decorate your virtual farm with more options.

It has led to numerous clones, including clones made by Zynga themselves like CafeWorld, YoVille, etc. It was also a clone of another similar farming game.



Mafia Wars (by Zynga) - http://apps.facebook.com/inthemafia/

Instead of using Flash, it only uses HTML. Some of its more interesting features include achievements, trading, collecting, frequent new content. It has also inspired a lot of clones which are all very similliar.



Castle Age (by Jelsoft Enterprises) - http://apps.facebook.com/castle_age/

One of the better clones of Mafia Wars. It added cooperative play against limited duration enemies which sometimes involved over 200 friend and friends-of-friends.



WarStorm (by Challenge Games) - http://apps.facebook.com/warstorm/

A collectible card game on FB using Flash.



Who has the Biggest Brain? (by PlayFish, Electronic Arts) - http://apps.facebook.com/biggestbrain/

Make nice use of Flash to create a "brain training" game.



MindJolt Games (by MindJolt Games) - http://apps.facebook.com/mindjolt/

Quite a large collection on flash games that are integrated with FB to challenge friends' high scores.



Whirled Games (by Whirled Games) - http://apps.facebook.com/whirled/

Another collection of simple flash games.



Battlestations (by TYLER Projects) - http://apps.facebook.com/battlestations/

Singapore's first Facebook MMO, with a monthly sales of over $50,000.



Any others that you think that are worth mentioning?

Interview of 4 social game developers

Four social game developers (from Zynga, Playfish, Playdom and Crowdstar) were interviewed during the Flash Games Summit on March 8, 2010.

Here are some excerpts that I found interesting:

"Moderator: What are four words that are the keys to successful social games?

Playfish: Social - provide a context for meaningful interaction, Relatable, pick themes and mechanics that are understandable and aspirational; Rewarding, emotionally rewarding and socially, reinforcement schedules to keep players engaged, Emergent gameplay, easy to pick up but emergent complexity and depth

Zynga: Mass Market - if it doesn't appeal to enough ppl, it won't be as successful as you want; Invest - ppl need to be excited about investing their time in it, Express - needs to be a game that ppl want to express themselves in; Relationships - allow ppl to create new relationships or nurture existing relationships



Moderator: Why do you think those casual game companies don't experience the same success on FB?

Zynga: Guild of Heroes was a Diablo 2 clone - I joined the company as it was finishing up. The question was how is it social - and it wasn't. The team thinking was that they'd add the social afterward. And it doesn't work. Needs to built from ground up.

Playdom: I agree. So many examples of that. Lots of examples of games on FB that would be big if they weren't on FB. FB games need to be social from the ground up. Also, lots of the users in the social gaming space are REALLY casual, so Bejeweled did it right with short play sessions, accessibility. Notifications have gone away. FB is moving away from one-to-many notifications and toward more deliberate, one-to-one notifications. User to User, App to User.

Crowdstar: I think this is a pretty profound change. Makes it increasingly difficult for other companies to reach the same success we have. Will be very difficult for other companies to get where we have. Changes way you're going to distribute your game. For business people, it's something they need to look at closely to see how they're going to grow their game. You're going to have to spend more money to launch something.



Moderator: Most of you have two currencies, right?

Playdom: We have a couple PHDs helpding to manage our economies.

Crowdstar: I heard one of the Playfish guys saying they deal with a billion pieces of data a day(?).

Zynga: Zynga collects 5TB of data per day and we have a team that turns that into reports we can track.

Playdom: Very different from any other industry I've seen. I came from Google and YouTube and thought those were data driven companies, but this is way beyond that. You can make valuable decisions within minutes because everyone is logged in all the time and the quality of the info is so much higher than worrying about cookies, etc."



Moderator: Aren't these games just sophisticated slot machines?

Zynga: Farmville brings families together. Moms play with their 4 year olds, etc.


[Source: freetoplay.biz]

As mentioned, the removal of FaceBook Notifications (from apps), which is to reduce spam, will make it a lot harder for new applications to become popular without external advertising.

Kaotik Puzzle

From Xbox Live Indie Games, comes a tetris/puzzle fighter clone with a nice twist.

Video Games | Kaotik Puzzle | Launch Gameplay HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Google I/O 2009 - Writing Real-Time Games for Android

Skip the first 14.5 mins which is mostly introduction and a game demo, but I recommend to watch the rest.