You are currently browsing articles tagged contest.
One of the more challenging games submitted to the Playyoo launch contest was Think Fast by Izam. It’s an educational game that challenges players to solve math questions, quicker answers are rewarded with more points. Our initial reaction was "What a great idea!".
Now, according to ReadWriteWeb, a book has been released by MIT professor and director of MIT’s Scheller Teacher Education Program Eric Klopfer which makes the case that mobile games can augment other education tools.
Tags: contest
Afzainizam Zahari currently lives and works in Singapore as a teacher, his game Think Fast came in 8th place.
Izam has a strong desire to boldly go where no man has gone before (except maybe the depths of a volcano). He is a dreamer/artist/inspirer/performer/animator/game creator/mac user and an overall charming person. Before he became the fountain of knowledge to adolescents, he was busy creating animations for television programmes, web development and mobile games for PDA. All of which were done using Flash. More information about the man and his strange escapades can be gleaned from his blog
Tell us a little about yourself.
I am Afzainizam Zahari and I am from Singapore. I am currently teaching Science, Biology and Multimedia to secondary school students. I majored in Biology and did a minor in Multimedia in National University of Singapore. I have been involved in multimedia development since 1999 when I was first introduced to Macromedia Director. I learnt about Flash and immediately I fell in love with it.
How did you become a Flash Lite developer?
Back in 2000 I knew Flash was the way to go for rapid multimedia development for offline content as well as for the web. Flash 5 was released in 2001 and I never looked back. In 2002 I started to create mobile applications and games for the pocket pc platform. I enjoyed the experience tremendously.In 2004 when Flash Lite was introduced I got really interested in the possibility of having flash games on the Nokia series 60 platform. I decided to create a simple boxing game for the Nokia 3650. I was forced to re-learn Flash 4.0 Actionscript syntax. Flash 4.0 has quite a number of limitations but then Flash Lite 2 was released a year later. It was quite a relief because I can make use of Actionscript 1.0 and up. However the phones back then in 2005 was mostly able to support up to Flash Lite 1.1. So it was still quite a challenge for me.
You are interested in casual games, tell us why?
I am a strong supporter of casual games. Personally I find that I have very little time to sit down to play a full game on the video game console. Casual games that make me smile and tickle my brain cells work for me. I find it a rewarding challenge to be able to figure out the likes and dislikes of casual players and create a game that will interest them. These are the people that have very limited time to play, but once you catch their attention, you’ve got a winner.
Tell us how you came up with idea for this game.
The idea of Think Fast came from a personal situation in a chocolatier. My friend and I were calculating the prices of the various chocolates on the shelves. I challenged her to find out who is faster at calculating mentally. I lost.She’s a Mathematics teacher by the way. So..Anyway, that immediately gave me the inspiration to create such a game with cute and colorful characters trying to get chocolates from the Lollipop tree. It was a joy to create the game right down from drawing to scripting.
What other games do you like on Playyoo?
Playyoo attracted an amazing number of polished and well developed games. I was blown away by some of them. I really like Bog Frog. It was the kind of game I find it hard to put down until I solved the puzzle for each level. I also like Sketch Mini. It has that really cool animation which simply made me smile. It is a joy to play.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a game called Journey Man. This game was conceptualized when I was 10 years old with 2 of my childhood friends. We never got around to creating the game because we went our separate ways ever since we went on to secondary school. I guess its about time I close that chapter of my childhood by creating the game that we have always wanted to create back then.
What do you think Playyoo can offer to you as a developer?
As a developer I really hope that Playyoo can be a platform for me to showcase the games I create to a large audience easily. And from there, maybe obtain a certain amount of revenue from players who really appreciate the games that I created.
Do have an advice for other game creators how to win a contest like this one?
You have to create an original game that captures people’s attention (in a good way). A great idea for a simple game, with simple user interface that people can simply jump in and play straight away. People don’t really like to be bogged down with too many instructions or having to learn so much just to play a simple game. Keep it really simple. User experience is very important.
Tags: casual game, contest, developer, flash lite, interview, izam, nokia, think fast
The regional winners for the Flash Lite User Group Contest have been announced. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who contributed to the community.
Mondo Under by bitacora13
Fantastic graphics and animation in this game will probably stretch some devices but if it works on your phone you will enjoy wandering around a sub city sewer munching flies and dodging toxic sludge filled holes and steaming hot pipes….and that’s just the first level.
Bog Frog by Ekleptica
Bog Frog immediately catches the eye with its smooth, fresh graphics, and it backs these up with great game play. It is simple enough: you have to guide the frog to the lily flower, through a sequence of ever more complex puzzles. The variability between each level keeps things interesting. A recent update to the game which adds time limit mode makes it even more fun.Totally addictive!!
UFO Catcher: Barnyard Abductionby Naz
Become Zorg, a Zkrznian Elite hunter and collect specimens for the Zkrznian Interplanetary zoo. You are awarded bonus points for 3-of-a-kind abductions and special combinations. Try to avoid the crop dusters or your trusty UFO will be sprawled over the farm-scape with no chance to phone home.
Full listing of the winners is available at the 2007 Flash Lite Game Contest site.
Tags: contest, contest winners, flash lite, FLUG, user group
Next in line is Mariam, her game Sea Combat came in 17th place.
My name is Mariam Dholkawala and I am based out of Mumbai, India. After spending six years in a game development company (Indiagames Ltd), I recently moved on to work independently on projects under a development studio iGameStudio.I have been a game developer for close to 7 years now and have loved every moment of it. I started my gaming career with Macromedia Director as the Lingo Scripting Language was a lot more powerful for than Actionscript. Soon as Flash evolved and the market started demanding light weight and graphic rich games, I moved on to Flash development.
How did you become a Flash Lite developer?
My journey into Flash mobile game development began when I first read an article about the Mobiclip extension for Flash. This extension allowed me to compile a swf file into a format for mobiles. I immediately requested for their SDK and become a part of their small developer base. Working on this gave me an understanding of mobile limitations and ways to overcome them.Soon I received an invitation to be a part of the Flash Lite 1.1 beta and my journey into the world of Flash Lite began. The first game I made with my team at Indiagames was “Cryptic Capers”. This won us an award at the Macromedia Flash Lite Content Contest in 2005 in the Best Game Category. Then on I just got hooked to this technology and created a huge catalogue of games. It’s now been close to 4 years and I still love working on Flash Lite.
You are interested in casual games, tell us why?
The biggest advantage of developing casual games is they are simple, fun, and in most cases provide an easy one thumb play to its users. Today people want to fill up their spare time (waiting for someone, in a meeting, travelling in the train) in playing a game. Hard-core games don’t allow that because they need detailed understanding and time. Casual games are currently considered a market driver, and that’s why I develop casual games
Tell us how you came up with idea for this game.
While submitting my games for the Playyoo contest, I realized that most of my games were single screen games. I wanted to do something different so I thought of doing a game with a scrolling screen. At the same time I also wanted to make sure that the scrolling experience was consistent on all handsets that supported it. So discarding the idea for a complex scrolling game I thought of this simple concept for Sea Combat.
What other games do you like on Playyoo?
Currently the Playyoo website is populated with various games, so filtering the good from the average is difficult. However as a manager of the IndiMaD UG, I did get an opportunity to see all the games off the Playyoo website and I think all the developers who have contributed have done a great job on their games. Kudos to all.
What are you currently working on?
Currently I have tied up with a local Indian brand to create a mobile viral campaign for their product. This application is being developed using Flash Lite. Apart from this, I also have a Flash Lite game which I was working on, but has been put on hold due to this new project.
What do you think Playyoo can offer to you as a developer?
I think Playyoo provides a great platform to showcase and share games with the rest of the gaming community. It is a great place to receive feedback on your work, make new friends and see what other developers are doing.
Tags: casual game, contest, developer, flash lite, interview, mariam, SIS
Today we present you Emilia Ciardi, from Naples. Her game Bog Frog won the 7th price. Quite many do like the graphics and the elegance.
Emilia Ciardi is a software engineer with a strong focus on integrating emerging technologies.Her experience in project management includes specific expertise with projects requiring strong interactive design and multi-disciplinary development teams.She has a clear understanding of communication design including user-centric experiences, graphical interfaces, color theory, motion graphics, usability and accessibility, ranging from Web 2.0 and Internet applications to mobile gaming and DTT services.Currently she lives and works in Naples, Italy as New Media Creative Lead for ITS SpA.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a girl and a software engineer from Italy. I’m mainly specialised in new media and multimedia applications. I love design, painting, playing piano and, oh well, creating and coding good games.I’m always looking for new ways to express my own creativity.
How did you become a Flash Lite developer?
I work with Flash from about 7 years, so I should say it was only a matter of time. I came across Flash Lite on a grey and boring afternoon about a year ago, and in a few hours I ended up creating my first game, DiceSlam.I had previous experiences with J2ME, so I was very surprised of the very short time needed to create a game with Flash Lite. It was something really close to… love at first sight!
You are interested in casual games, tell us why?
Oh well, I’ve already told you that I’m always looking for new ways to express creativity and I think casual games are a great opportunity in this respect.A brilliant idea, a good gameplay, quality graphics, robust and efficient coding… these are all elements that you have to deal with if you want to create a successful casual game.It’s a truly attractive challenge for a creative individual.And, after all, it’s really gratifying to see people playing and enjoying your own creations.
Tell us how you came up with idea for this game.
Bog Frog was born as an attempt to create something new in the puzzle genre. Actually I think it is quite original and I’m really happy with the random levels generator. I took inspiration from a topological problem I was facing for a completely different project.
What other games do you like on Playyoo?
I really like Panic Mechanic, UFO Catcher and qTile. They all are brilliant, simple and very addictive, just perfect casual games.
What are you currently working on?
Currently I’m working on another puzzle-action game. Till now it doesn’t have a name. I’m also working on a new chapter for “I love pizza”. It will include some of the suggestions I got from users on Playyoo.
What do you think Playyoo can offer to you as a developer?
Playyoo is a great place to get direct feedback from players and test games on a huge variety of devices. Publishing games on Playyoo is also a good way to gain visibility and build a solid reputation.I hope that in the future Playyoo will help developers to access distribution opportunities and get revenue from their creations.
Do have an advice for other game creators how to win a contest like this one?
Just don’t wait too much and upload your game! Submit it to the contest as soon as you have a nicely working version. Then you can improve it and add new features listening to what players think about your game. This way you get people involved in the creative process and you take full advantage of the social network. More involvement, more fun and more players.
Tags: bog frog, casual game, contest, developer, ekleptica, emilia, flash lite, interview
Recent Comments