April 2008

Playyoo, the mobile games community where mobile game players and game creators meet to freely exchange mobile games, is seeking to hire a Java/J2EE Engineer for the development of its social mobile games platform.

In a young and dynamic environment, the successful candidate will work on a highly creative and challenging project where her/his contribution can influence the overall company’s success.

The candidate must have a proven track experience working as Java/J2EE engineer on complex Internet solutions in multitier architectures. A plus is the experience working on mobile applications.

Job description

As a Java/J2EE Engineer you will work in a team to develop and provide technically advanced (mobile) Internet solutions at the cutting edge of technology.

Qualification

• Knowledge of Java 2 Enterprise Edition
• Deep knowledge in JSF, Facelets , EJB 3.0, AJAX, Servlets, JSPs, Struts 2.0 and Java Beans technologies
• Knowledge of the ImageMagick software suite is a plus

We appreciate

• Experience in rich internet applications based on Flex/Flash/Flash Lite
• Experience in using the Glassfish application server
• Experience in using the PostgreSQL ORDBMS
• Experience in developing with the NetBeans IDE

Technical background

• A degree in Information Sciences, Software Engineering or similar.
• Excellent OO Java software development skills including the ability to select and apply well-known OO design patterns
• A good knowledge of the UML object modeling and specification language
• Skilled in Internet solutions and multitier architectures

Other skills

• Ability to work in heterogeneous teams
• Expertise to take initiatives and decisions and to shoulder the responsibility
• Good knowledge of the English language, both spoken and written

Playyoo SA is based in the lakeside city of Lugano, in the Italian speaking canton of Ticino, in Switzerland. The location offers an excellent quality of life, less than an hour away both from the Swiss Alps and the city of Milan.

For the successful candidate Playyoo SA will manage all the local requirements for the issuing of the required work permits as well as assist with relocation requirements.

For further information on this position or to submit applications please contact ivan.stefanini@playyoo.com .

Playyoo has a wide mix of games available, all created by its members. Some of these games have a very wide appeal. Some only make sense to a few people. And some are maybe a first attempt at using the game creator, and a bit repetitive. Playyoo uses the gamestream to deliver games to you that you should like. Frankly, this still needs some work - and it is being worked on. As we get more and more members, it gets trickier to handle. In the next major update to Playyoo, we hope to introduce some extensive improvements in this area.

In the meantime, here’s a little trick you can use, discovered by Ivan, one of our senior techies:

On the web site, click on “configure your game stream” (the link is in the bottom right of the game stream strip), and set all the sliders in “adjust your category mix” to the second level, as seen here:

The result should be that your gamestream is mainly populated with “custom” games, with a sprinkling of the highest rated Game Creator games.

Of course, you can click on the “Games” link in the green menu bar to see the full set of games currently available in Playyoo - and if you find a game which you think deserves more attention, then add t to your favourites, play it on your phone and give it a high rating.

Game Creators seem to be all the rage lately. We recently found Dick Dynamite over at gotoAndPlay(), this game allows users to create their own levels in an arcade style game reminiscent of 80’s games such as Pacman and Atomic Bomberman.

Sploder’s Game Creator is another we’ve been playing with and it provides a lot more flexibility in creating its space shooter. It allows users to shape the playing arena, add a variety of goodies, baddies, health and weapons.

As with most Game Creators it’s a joy to see the creativity unleashed when users have access to easy to use game creation  tools.

Games on Deck have published an article on Playyoo titled “User Generated Games Are The Next Big Thing” in which they discuss the rise of casual games and user generated content “The next logical stage is the democratization of game design-where just as anyone can play games, anyone can now create games.”

Some pretty exciting developments are taking place in mobile device input methods.  Game developers get to take advantage of devices with a  traditional keypad, touch screens, multi touch screens and motion sensors.

It’s early days yet but the potential in these devices is starting to be realized with games such as TapTap Revolution for the iPhone using multi touch and demos such as this moving ball demo that use Flash Lite and accelerometers.

It wont be too long before some brilliant mind makes a leap in mobile device interaction akin to Johnny Lee’s amazing Wii Remote hacks. These hacks transform the $40 game piece into a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer.