October 2007

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The Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles acts as the videogame industry’s lodestar. Major publishers present the next year’s worth of games to the world’s media representatives. Mainstream publications, from CNN to Reuters to Newsweek use the event as a showcase for what is next in the game industry. And this year, they all said the same thing: Games are for everyone.

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Computerworld on Thursday published an article that examines Adobe’s aspirations to infiltrate mobile phones. Much like it has on desktop PCs, the web-app maker hopes mobile phone users will freely adopt their Flash Lite plug in. From the article:

 

Having conquered PCs, Adobe is turning its attention to mobile phones. By 2010, it wants to see a total of 1 billion phones shipped with Flash Lite, a cut-down version of Flash Player that runs small apps and games, and, with an update released earlier this month at its annual MAX conference, plays Web video.

 

But getting Flash Lite on has its challenges. The most popular mobile application platform currently is Java installed on about 500 million phones or 16 percent penetration. By comparison, Flash Lite has been installed on 300 million phones or 8-10 percent penetration, although Adobe expects to double that number in the coming year. And while Flash Lite attempts to reach higher adoption levels in the U.S. it’s already a hit in Japan — literally every phone in the land of the rising sun supports downloadable Flash content.

 

There’s good reason (actually 3 billion reasons) for Adobe to propagate Flash Lite as a mobile standard. According to IDC, there are 3 billion mobile phones in use today compared to 1 billion PCs. That’s three times the size of the original pie they dominated.

 

When it comes to the world of mobile casual games, Flash Lite’s benefits are beyond compare. Development and deployment costs are greatly lowered. And Flash Lite’s “create once and deploy everywhere” approach brings a new level of scalability to game development and distribution – so we’re ready and waiting for them to cross that 1 billion mark by 2010.

As previously mentioned in “Flash Lite UG Members - you’ve got a whole new way to win,” we’re sponsoring (along with Adobe and O’Reilly) a second contest exclusively for members of regional Flash Lite User Groups. Thursday marked the official launch of the 2007 Flash Lite Game Contest - visit the Mobile Game Contest website for all the details.

The site features a contest page managed by each regional section: EMEA , Americas, and Asia Pacific. You can also post technical and general questions, and participate in discussions with other UG members on the site’s forum boards.

And remember- you must upload your game by Feb 15, 2008 to be eligible for the 2007 Flash Lite Game Contest.

The urge to play is built into our DNA. Humans are by nature restless, always seeking something to occupy their attention. Since practically everybody carries a mobile phone nowadays (we’re talking 3.2 billion mobile subscribers by 2011), the phone is the obvious distraction of choice when we’re looking to fill a few moments waiting for a friend at the café or the next train. But most mobile users have yet to take advantage of games on their phones - mainly because, to date, there has been a lack of easily accessible, casual games to satisfy this “quick fix.”

 

Flash game developers have a huge opportunity here. Mobile Flash - or Flash Lite - games do not need to be anywhere near as complex as desktop games, in fact often the very simplest are the most powerful. Think of Bejeweled, Skipping Stone, Diner Dash, Lumines. And Flash Lite is ideally suited to rapid production of simple games. At the same time, as John Carmack pointed out to us (see Why John Carmack believes in mobile games), the mobile platform is a great environment for trying out new ideas and concepts which one day might evolve into more sophisticated desktop productions.Flash Lite development tools are included in Flash 8 Pro and Flash CS3. Flash CS3 also brings the powerful new Device Central tool, which helps remove a lot of the pain of testing mobile games. Flash Lite relies on earlier, simpler versions of Actionscript, and has been optimised to enable you to quickly develop compelling mobile games.

Playyoo is the only Flash games site solely dedicated to mobile casual games. Of course, there are other great sites out there focusing on Flash games, some of which are now starting to extend into the mobile world. But here at Playyoo, we started from the ground up with a focus on mobile, and mobile only - and we’ve got a great set of features coming up which will help both developers and players get the most out of mobile gaming with Flash Lite. (Why just Flash Lite? While Java has a place in mobile games development, we’re convinced that as far as casual games are concerned, Flash Lite is an incomparable tool).

 

When you deliver your game to Playyoo, it will instantly become integrated in a meta-gaming system built around a rich set of social networking tools. You will reach a worldwide audience, enhance your reputation as a developer and get to see the reaction of our player community that’s made up of people of all kinds of cultures, backgrounds and abilities.Playyoo members will have access to features which overcome the common issues with the mobile game delivery process, as well as desktop and mobile interfaces that give individuals quick access to the type of games they like. All you need to do is turn your game concept into Flash Lite code.

Playyoo is well funded with an ambitious team driving it forward, and will provide you with an ideal channel to show off your skills as a Flash developer in the mobile market - without having to deal with mobile operators or device manufacturers.Oh, and one more thing: get started now, and you could end up $10,000 richer!

By Alexander Smith

When he’s not contributing to our blog, “Alexander Smith” is a well-respected journalist writing about the business of games for the industry’s leading trade publications, and the world’s most respected business outlets.  Stay tuned for more industry coverage from Alexander.

 

 

 

John Carmack has been pushing the boundaries of gaming technology since the Apple II. He perfected the 3-D graphics engine, and introduced the world to multiplayer deathmatch. His company, id Software, is currently completing their fifth generation of tools and technology—specifically designed to run games on next-gen consoles and high-end PCs and Macs.

 

And while Mr Carmack is one of the most technically respected game developers, the thing that excites him the most are games for cell phones. “I’m not a cell phone guy,” he admits. “I resisted getting one at all for years, and even now I rarely carry it.”

 

Mr Carmack recalls the time three years ago when he lost the previous, old cell phone. His wife bought him a new one. It had a nice colour screen, and came loaded with bad java games. He further recalls being almost morally indignant that “someone would make these really awful games on this platform.”

 

He recognized that the modern cell phone has more power than many of the earlier personal computers. Here was technology to push. So Mr Carmack’s next project was a cell phone game. It was a success, and now he has a new outlook on mobile games.

 

To wit, they are a proving ground. Major modern games take years to make, hundreds of developers, and millions of dollars. But the mobile scale allows for an individual to come up with a good idea, and execute on it without great risk.

 

Mr Carmack calls mobile games his ‘sneaky little plan’ for creating new properties, releasing them into the marketplace, and then developing them incrementally for larger and larger platforms with more complex development structures.

 

Besides the business, creative, and technical reasons, these games can be fun, too.