Who’s Playing Social Games? AND How Do You Design For Them?
From MASHABLE:
Casual game-maker Popcap Games (famous for Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled) commissioned Information Services Group to perform a survey of people who play social games online. It found that the average social gamer is a 43-year-old woman, despite long-standing social stereotypes about people who play games.
Every year in the game industry that I can remember (and its been a good number of years) the question comes up … How do we design games that will appeal to women?
Well, here’s a thought. Have a woman run game design. Of course, this isn’t a requirement (DUH!) … but the game industry really does need to be more inclusive. We need to bring in people with new perspectives.
In PlayScreen’s case, our “secret weapon” is our President and CTO, Sherri Cuono … who just happens to be a 43-year-old-woman.
What a novel concept!
Sherri designed and produced Match 3D, BounceTrap, Mystic Jewels and she is leading the effort on some very innovative titles for Facebook and the iPhone.
I’ve been in the game business since we were shipping titles on cassette tapes but I always defer to the social game expert.
Amazing how effective that is.
The iPad is a Game Changer for Games.
The iPad is official now.
Why does it matter for the game industry?
1. The App Store.
It ships with 130,000+ available apps, of course … but more importantly the on-device App Store is a proven money maker for developers. Now the higher resolution combined with the ability to easily publish apps will attract the majority of PC game developers to this platform.
2. Connectivity.
WiFi, we expected. 3G was a surprise. The Data Plans? ($29.99 for unlimited, $19.99 for 250MB/mo.) a shocker. For an unlocked device this is quite impressive.
The big screen and connectivity makes it a natural for social and team gaming. Think of board games, MMORPG’s and card playing.
3. The Price.
Add the keyboard and you have a competent laptop with better features than most. Add a Bluetooth headset and use it as a phone (Skype, no doubt). For games? It’s not much more expensive than the PSP was when it shipped (in real dollars, about the same) and obviously its got some nice capabilities.
The bold thing is that Apple ships this at half the price of its entry level laptops.
The iPad is simply the best social game device ever produced for these reasons.
Why the Apple Tablet matters to Gamers.
In two days we’ll know all about the Apple Tablet. Here’s some predictions:
1. The Tablet will run existing iPhone apps (ones that run on OS 3.1) and will scale them to full screen.
2. The display will match laptop resolutions.
3. It will have its own category in Apple’s App Store.
4. It will have WiFi, probabily Bluetooth and perhaps cellular connections.
5. It will support higher speed 3D graphics than the current iPod touch and iPhone 3G.
Why does this matter to gamers?
Well, in my 30 years (has it really been that long?) in the game business, the App Store has created the largest volume of game releases ever seen and the quality has increased dramatically. There are 1000’s of 99¢ games that have great quality and titles for under $5 that match anything on a handheld.
What the Tablet will do is open the platform up for the sort of games you would play on a PC/Mac.
The not so secret secret is that the PC Game market is limited by the expense of publishing and distribution. In the same way the iPhone changed mobile game publishing, you can expect to see the same thing happen in the PC game space … as these developers and publishers bring their titles (and create originals) for the tablet.
I suspect you’ll see the majors (Actvision, EA etc..) as well as the indies.
Oh and World of Warcraft at the announcement? A very good possibility.
Now visits to the bathroom will no longer be an excuse for WoW addicts to stop playing. 
Coulda Been A Contender, Kindle Finally Gets Apps, Two Years Later.
“You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charley…”
- On The Waterfront, 1958
Today Amazon announced a SDK (Software Development Kit) which will allow software developers to build and upload applications that will be available in the Kindle Store later this year.
So Amazon has ‘discovered’ the App Store, no doubt motivated by rumors of a soon to be announced Apple Tablet.
“We’ve heard from lots of developers over the past two years who are excited to build on top of Kindle,” said Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle, in a statement. “The Kindle Development Kit opens many possibilities — we look forward to being surprised by what developers invent.”
I guess we (PlayScreen) were one of those developers.
Back in January of 2008, months before the iPhone App Store launched, we wanted to publish a word puzzle game, Cricklers, for the Kindle. Crickler is a word puzzle, sort of a rolled out crossword puzzle, that is currently run (in Flash) on many Newspaper websites around the world (Times of London, Washington Post etc.). Every day a new puzzle is generated to match that day’s news. You can try it for yourself here:
At the time we were constructing a web based (Javascript) version for the iPhone (the iPhone does not support Flash), having launched some of the first iPhone web based games back when the device was released. We exchanged some emails with Mr. Freed, who … much to his credit … saw the value of this app for the Kindle, but Amazon just wasn’t ready to deal with outside developers at that time.
Well fast forward two years and over Two Billion iPhone Apps Downloads later, we’re about to release Crickler for the iPhone … and maybe, someday, for the Kindle as well.
One has to imagine what could have been…
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Crickler for the iPhone:
The Ultimate Puzzle Game: Match 3D Flick Puzzle Preview
Match 3D Flick Puzzle Full: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=324004403&mt=8
“This is an INCREDIBLE game!” - Lord Gek
“If Spock played games, he would play this!” - Mobile Game FAQS
MATCH 3D FLICK PUZZLE has 512 cubes of the hottest puzzle playing goodness to mess with your brain.
- Classic: Blocks removed are replaced with new blocks. You progress from level to level by scoring a specific number of matches.
- Survival: Blocks removed are not replaced. You progress from level by level by removing ALL possible matches on the board.
- Un-Timed vs Timed: Create a casual game experience or an incredibly intense one that tests your speed. It’s your choice.
- Locked vs Unlocked blocks: A challenge for the true pro puzzle player - locked blocks appear at higher levels and cannot be moved.