Games

Angry Birds’ Screams on Facebook with Flash

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Angry Birds for Mobile

Angry Birds  is a strategy puzzle mobile game developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first developed for Apple’s iOS in December 2009. The game was immediately very popular. The game is now readily available for most every tablet and smartphone.

The game play in Angry Birds (AB) is simple, physics based fun. It inspired dozens of clones – games which copy the signature control-scheme and style of the original.  It is generally considered to be the most successful mobile game to-date.

Popularity

November 2011, Rovio Entertainment announced its hit mobile game Angry Birds has been downloaded an “astounding” 500 million times since its 2009 debut. Here’s a by-the-numbers look at the milestone’s reported by The Week magazine:

  • 23 -Months it took for the game to reach the 500-million-download milestone. It was first released for Apple’s iOS in December 2009.
  • 79 – Number of countries in which Angry Birds is the top downloaded game
  • $1 billion – Amount Rovio is estimated to be worth by Chief Marketing Officer Peter Vesterbacka
  • 10 million  – Number of Angry Birds toys sold worldwide, says Chloe Albanesius at PC World

There is a feature film version of the game in development too.

Angry Birds for Browser

So when porting a popular brand from one platform/language to another typically you look at the developer community and the players communities. There are developers using a wide variety of technologies, and web browsers offer several options for gaming. Since the game is (relatively) simple in 2D graphics and physics – two major choices are HTML5 [1] and Flash[2, 3].

1. In May 2011, a pure HTML5 (or was it?) game. Actually the game reportedly uses Java, not JavaScript. The playable game is branded with the Google chrome logo, and the manner in which it encourages use of Chrome is nothing short of Google advertising. There is also a Google+ social version of the game.

  • I assume (and am too lazy to research further) the Google Angry Birds version is some type of sponsored collaboration between Rovio and Google.

2. In Fall, 2011, Adobe’s MAX Conference debuted a version (See Video) of Angry Birds using Flash. Obviously a huge software tooling company and creators of a huge game have many reasons to team up.

  • I assume (and am too lazy to research further) the Adobe Angry Birds version is some type of sponsored collaboration between Rovio and Adobe.

As an FYI, As of February 2012, both of these versions are still showing ‘BETA’ in their logo.

Angry Birds on Facebook

3. Now we come to the Facebook version. The tremendous audience of FB matched with the popularity of AB will surely bolster both brands and provide a valuable, social experience for users. On Valentines Day 2012, the Facebook, Flash version of AB launched and uses Flash Player 11’s “Stage3D” feature to render its fast accelerated 2D graphics. The project plays really smoothly and introduces some decent social game play.

Obviously excited, Adobe made the following press release;

Rovio launched Angry Birds for Facebook using Flash Player 11 with support for 3D graphics. The most social version of Angry Birds yet takes advantage of hardware accelerated graphics in Flash Player to bring a silky smooth gaming experience to a wider audience than ever before. More than 130 million people play Angry Birds every day – now with Flash Player, hundreds of millions of Facebook users can do the same. New, enhanced special effects like lighting, smoke and explosions running smoothly at 60 frames per second bring the game to a whole new level and allow players to have a more connected and engaging experience. Angry Birds on Facebook game makes it even more exciting to play with friends, offering amazing new power-ups like Sling Scope, Birdquake, King Sling and Super Seed to extend players’ gratifying arsenals.

Here is a video;

[tubepress video=”NUYzjgNoHAM” embeddedWidth=”600″ embeddedHeight=”400″]

Summary

Angry Birds

As a game player I think Angry Birds is good. Do I play it? Not much. Like many mainstream ideas from the perspective of a die-hard game player, I think its just good, not great. Part of this is evident when you look at the big budget titles that copy the exact gameplay and fail miserably. Angry Birds is a good game that came out at the right time and was very lucky for it. Its popularity brings it more popularity and for that its #1. I cannot argue with its success. It’s phenomenal. Any game developers would be happy to have this game in their portfolio. To now have the game on Facebook, that is great too.

Flash

As a long-term game developer, Flash has defined my career. With new platforms and devices arriving over the past 5 years, there is again much choice for independent game development teams. I compiled a great start-set of learning links and I also offer free HD video training on AS3 and other subjects. Also, here are a few recent articles;

I’ve written about the Starling Framework Used by Angry Birds

I’ve written about Flash and about Flash Mobile;

HTML5

I’m excited for HTML5, for app development and gaming and have written a bunch about it.

Here at Rivello Multimedia Development, we design and program with a variety of popular platforms. Contact us today with your game and app project ideas.

Las Viditas – Comparing ActionScript 3.0 and 7 Rules for Biological Life

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Las Viditas (The Little Lifes) is an exploration project which compares ActionScript 3.0 programming concepts and structure to the 7 criteria for biological life.

You can see the Live Online Demo. I originally presented this project on a fantastic 360|Flex sponsored 7-Day cruise in the Caribbean several years back. What a great event! Finally, its all available now online..

I always find it fascinating to compare the technical world and the biological world. There is even an area of technological innovation where engineers study animals to influence new robotics designs. Here is a great Ted.com video of Robert Full Learning From Gecko Lizards. In my simple demo I learned a lot too, and am inspired with many game ideas too.

See Screenshot

The ecosystem on the right is the “petri dish” where the green viditas grow and move. There intelligence guides them to eat the blue ‘food’ and bounce off the walls. As they eat, they grow. As they starve, they shrink. Too much time without food, and they will permanently die.

Experiment with the settings and see how the population’s survival rate changes.

The sliders on the left allow for several changes such as;

  • Simulation Speed
  • Viditas Population Size
  • Food regeneration frequency
  • Food amount that is created each distribution

Watch Slideshow

[slideshare id=11770278]

Next Steps

  • Run the Live Online Demo.
  • Download the full source code (See ‘Member Resources’ below).

Member Resources

[private_Free member]Enjoy this members-only content!

[/private_Free member]

FlyerGame for HTML5

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HTML5’s canvas tag allows for great in-browser gaming. Recently, I’ve posted a few Great HTML5 games and on the Pros and Cons of HTML5 for gaming. Overall, the potential is high, but issues with browser compatibility, immature tools, and lack of elegant OOP and architecture will slow the progress of HTML5 for gaming.

For HTML5, I’ve found many frameworks to support graphics and video games. Some of of them are;

I haven’t recoded all of those (yet), but many are ready for you. Check them out!

Next Steps

Polls

[polldaddy poll=5983851]

Mobile Game Development Profit & ROI

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In 2011, I wrote an opus for Adobe’s online Inspire magazine called “How To Make Money With Online Games“. Reading that is really at the crux of this blog article. I recommend reading that before proceeding below.

I am considering my strategy for my next game. I would like to self-finance a game. My goals are to learn more about the business and marketing side of things. I have the technical know-how to develop for computer desktop, computer browser, iOS (iPads, iTouches, iPhones), Android, and Blackberry tablet. I want to assume more risk and ‘own’ more of the profits (or ‘eeek’…, the losses too). Here I complete some research on mobile gaming and plot some strategies.

Where’s The Money? (Click To Enlarge)


Fig 1. (Thanks to TechCrunch)

My Research

I read many articles online and chatted with (just a few) game developers who have proven experience (positive and negative) with game development for mobile. Here are some provoking articles.

GAME MONETIZATION

MOBILE GAME CASE STUDIES

Base Costs & Sharing

A solo worker who creates his own game can expect these base costs.

  • Laptop Computer – 2k
  • Software – 0.5k to 2k
  • Revenue Share – The major marketplaces (Apple, Android, Blackberry) each take 30% of your game’s price tag. So you take home 0.70$ per download of a 1$ app.
For a solo worker, this really is… it. However its possible to get much more complicated and spend much more on subcontractors, outsourcing, and marketing.

My Next Philosophy

I am an expert at game design and development. However worrying about the profitability has historically been my clients concern. I’m learning how to monetize my own internal projects, to take higher risks, in the pursuit of professional challenge and higher profits.

Game players will respond to a really well polished (loosely speaking) game. However knowing exactly what response is significant, knowing how the game will respond in the marketplace, and how word of mouth will help, are not possible to calculate with certainty.

As of today I think that success with a mobile game takes a lot of luck. Larger game companies can use existing resources to facilitate success (big marketing budgets and cross promotion). Just like a critically horrible, predictable, boring, movie can make 300% profit because of big-name directors and 50% marketing budget, so can a game. The idea of a game that is created by one guy ‘over a weekend’ that makes hundreds of thousands of dollars too.

However the blockbuster game model and the indie crap shoot are not viable for me. No one indie developer sits down with the vision to make such returns. But his success must be compared to the myriad developers who work for a weekend, launch crap, and DO NOT make any profit. The blockbuster game model takes large resources to succeed and the indie crap shoot takes dumb luck or tons of trial and error.

My Dream Team

For ‘a typical iPhone game’ (whatever that is), the team size and set of skills will vary. I’d say at least you need these roles (some can be the same person); game concept designer, artist, animator, lead programmer / integrator, programmer, marketer, project manager, business developer / accountant.  With a BA in art, my own software consulting company, and 12 years experience as a game developer, I can wear all these hats myself. However, subcontracting some things will play off my strengths, downplay my weaknesses, decrease time-to-market, and hopefully yield a better product.

Each mobile platform works on certain devices (such as iPhone), a development path of programming language and tools to create the game, and has a marketplace where the developer showcases the game (for free but with a share of revenue going to the marketplace).  Traditionally a game must be created INDIVIDUALLY for each platform – for instance created first for iPhone, the recreated at additional time/cost for Android. I am expertly familiar with the Adobe Flash Platform. With these tools I can deploy to both iOS and Android from the same development path. This saves some development expenses, but offers the additional challenge of making a game work on a variety of screen sizes and devices.

I do not have one game concept in mind. I have several and must choose. I will lead every aspect of concept, design, development, launch, marketing. I can self-fund, but am open to investors. I will subcontract and pay a fair wage to all. I’ll hire at least one artist. Depending on the concept I may hire more artists, more programmers, play testers, and a marketing consultant.

My Next Game

After preliminary research and reflection, I have several possible strategies to creating my next game. It really depends on the outcome I want. These strategies are NOT a wishlist. I don’t say ‘make a cheap game that is really popular and makes tons of money forever’ and I don’t say ‘make a blockbuster like Angry Birds’.

STRATEGY #1 – Minimized Financial Risk

  • Reduce production costs – Shoot for a simple, fast, predictably appealing, & addictive game mechanic. Perhaps that means each user enjoys it then abandons it forever – that’s ok.
  • Monetize with in-game ads – Sell the game for 0$ and integrate a 3rd party ad-network. There are no licensors to impress with flashygraphics/gameplay and no marketing budget to overcome the barrier to entry of a $1 or 5$ price tag.
  • Target high volume of game-plays – Short repetitive gameplay will increase ad viewing. Deploy to both Android and iPhone to capture a wide market. The game’s marketplace profile (icon, screenshots, title, description, reviews) are very important as is a 0$ price tag to drive high volume of downloads.
  • Ideal for – learning the ropes, controlling our losses, setting ourselves up for a follow-up title.

STRATEGY #2 – Build a (Game Development Company) Brand

Here, if we want to make many games under the same label, and potentially offer 1st party ads in one game to ‘sell’ our other titles, we want to emphasize a quality product.

  • Moderate production costs – Keep the idea simple to moderate in scope, but use a more expensive process to shape it. Start with several ideas. Develop each conceptual and keep the winning idea. Use iterative development (develop, play, revise, repeat) to put your best game forward.
  • Monetization is a longer term goal – Our goal here is not to have a game that makes money. Its to build a brand.
  • Target critical acclaim – Our goal is to have a portfolio that LOOKS good and receives GOOD REVIEWS.  Ideal critique could be “This game is incredible fun and polished, however the appeal is too niche for mass popularity.
  • Ideal for – Shopping for licensees with a follow-up title. A follow-up that looks sexy, seems massively popular (perhaps unoriginal), coupled with a good brand behind us will attract licensors or sponsors.

What other strategies can we think of?

My Bottom Line

There is much more analysis to be done. Most importantly will be the game concept and target devices. Those factors predicate the costs. Assuming strategy #1 above, a non-scientific estimation would be;

INVESTMENT

  • 3 Months from initial concept, through development, to submission to marketplace. Assuming the game concept lends itself to this calendar. Its very possible.
  • 5k to 20k per month in total costs. This includes the amount of and opportunity cost of my own time (vs doing paid client work) and depends largely on exactly what staff is needed.

REVENUE

  • We’ll go with an ad-based revenue on a game with a 0$ price tag.
  • Does anyone know how to calculate # of ads viewed = # of dollars made for an iOS / Android game? Pleaes leave a comment if you do.

PROFIT

  • TBD…

 

 

PushButtonEngine2: FlyerGame in PBE2

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After years of experience with PushButtonEngine from the PBLabs company, I am now learning PushButtonEngine2.

SUMMARY

It is radically different syntax, but the same great component-based idea. Much more info to come soon…

Next Steps

  • None

Member Resources

[private_Free member]Enjoy this members-only content!

[/private_Free member]

Pros and Cons of HTML5 for Gaming

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I think in the short term and the long term, Flash and HTML5 will be viable options for software development. They have things in common, and are quite different in others.

As a game developer with 12+ years experience (almost exclusively Flash Platform and supporting technologies), I was able to hit the ground running with my first HTML5 demos.

My interest in HTML5 is theoretical, practical, and academic.

Theoretical – I am always interested to see how subtleties in each gaming platform suggest specific solutions to game development challenges (graphical display list, 2D vs 3D capabilities, general performance of pushing pixels, mouse/keyboard/gesture input support, game loop (frame loop vs time loop), etc…).

Practical – As a working consultant, it helps me assets new projects and meet the needs of my clients, to stay ahead of the trends. HTML5 is a prominent alternative to the Flash Platform. To offer my clients a competitively thorough assessment of the technologies at hand, its best to learn HTML5.

Academic – As an corporate trainer, school instructor and thought-leader, keeping on the cutting-edge is a welcome and rewarding challenge. When I learned Java, it raised the bar for what I wanted in ActionScript. As I learn HTML5, I find myself wishing it could do things that ActionScript can do. Comparing languages and platforms is a though provoking give-and-take.

Recently, I sat down to research HTML5, do some demos, and address the pros and cons of using HTML5 for gaming.

PROS

  • Great performance – Add graphics, animation, sound, video and maintain good frame rates. It is not as strong as WebGL or native development (iOS for iPhone for example), but it is great.
  • No plugin-required -A potential game player does not have to download any plugin to play your technology. However not all browsers support HTML5, and others support only some of the features. With time more % of the world will have HTML5 enabled browsers.

CONS

  • JavaScript – JS, ‘THE’ scripting language of HTML5, is very capable, but, it lacks many features which are ideal for gaming; strong-typing and OOP (elegant inheritance, interfaces, member access via public, private, protected, and custom namespaces). Obviously for legacy reasons, JS is what we have to use here. However, if I could choose a language for gaming, JS would not be it.
  • Asset-Integration – Integrating assets (video, audio, animation, etc…) is not straightforward.
  • No IDE – There are not yet good IDE’s for HTML5 game development, nor good processes for integrating assets

PRO OR CON (Depending on your point of view)

  • Browser-dependent – Mobile browsers support HTML5 well. Computers do not yet support it widely. Each browser (theoretically and in-practice) support HTML5 uniquely. So not all features work everywhere.
  • Easily readable source code – HTML5, by default, allows users (or other developers) to easily read your source code.
  • ‘Standards-based’ – HTML5 is a ‘free’, open technology, rather than a technology owned by one company.
  • Many ‘HTML5’ Frameworks – There are MANY competing free and premium frameworks geared specifically to graphics (for games) or for gaming itself. Competition spurs advancement (good), but lack of a single standard any confuse newbies and divide the community’s effort too thin. Some of of them are ImpactJS, Akihabara, LimeJS, FlashJS, MelonJS, GameQuery, ProcessingJS, EffectGames, Aves, CraftyJS, GameClosure, Mibbu, PropulsionJS, IsogenicEngine, and more…

SUMMARY

Overall I see that HTML5 offers a viable alternative to Flash for in-browser gaming. I am actively looking for new clients with HTML5 gaming projects. It seems there is no stand-out HTML5 editing IDE, but found a good, free IDE with Aptana Studio.

As a game developer with 12+ years experience (almost exclusively Flash Platform and supporting technologies), I was able to hit the ground running with my first HTML5 demos. The first of which I published as FlyerGame for HTML5 and also see all my other HTML5 posts.

I’m new to HTML5, but aren’t’ we all. I’d love to hear your thoughts (good, bad, ugly) posted as comments below. My goal is to learn what I can, without the distractions of politics between Adobe and the world.

Great HTML5 Games!

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The ‘Flash Killer’ HTML has some impressive demos. I see a long future for both technologies. More on my 2-cents later. For now checkout some cool demos.

REQUIREMENTS

You need a HTML5-supporting browser. Most of the worlds browsers do NOT support this. The new FireFox 4+, Opera, and I.E. will work well. Test your browser here. http://html5test.com/

GAMES

Biolab Disaster

Biolab Disaster

While I’m far too young to remember 8-bit gaming in the 1980s, Biolab is a homage to those simpler but addictive titles from 20-30 years ago. The game is a space-themed platformer with colorful chunky sprites, great animation and sound effects. The developer, Dominic Szablewski, has also released the canvas-based library at ImpactJS.com.

Biolab is a fine game. In fact, it’s better than many released in the 80s so I’ve heard.

Crystal Galaxy

Crystal Galaxy

Crystal Galaxy is a sideways scrolling space shooter reminiscent of R-Type. However, the game’s unique in that the mouse controls the direction of the ship as well as its location.

Unusually, Crystal Galaxy doesn’t use the HTML5 canvas element. Every sprite is an individual HTML div moved around the screen. It works quickly in all browsers and is even playable in IE6! The authors at EffectGames.com also provide free tools and libraries to help you write your own titles.

Crystal Galaxy is fun, and you won’t be able to resist another go.

Canvas Rider

Canvas Rider

As you might expect, Canvas Rider is a version of Line Rider implemented using the HTML5 canvas element. The game is simple: you ride a bicycle over a series of obstacles to reach a goal – but the realistic gravity and physics make it a serious challenge.

What makes Canvas Rider more special is the online track editor and the thousands of tracks submitted by fans of the game.

Agent 008 Ball

Agent 008 Ball

Agent 008 Ball is a glorious-looking game of pool for one player. The objective is to pot as many balls as possible before the timer runs out.

Again, Agent 008 Ball uses the HTML5 canvas element, but it’s the photo-realistic graphics and real-world physics make the game stand out.

Pirates Love Daisies

Pirates Love Daisies

Pirate Love Daisies is a Tower-Defense-like game which pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with HTML5 and JavaScript. It was written by Flash developer Grant Skinner who was commissioned by Microsoft to create a game which showed off the new technologies in IE9.

Thanks to the original poster here. http://blogs.sitepoint.com/5-awesome-html5-games/

My "MMO" Article Published in Adobe EDGE Newsletter!

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Get context on MMO’s and learn the basic concepts of development using Adobe Flex.

AUDIENCE: Fans of all Adobe technologies receive this newsletter. The article is geared to Flex fans and fans of videogames.

TAKE-AWAY: Readers will learn top-line info about creating an MMO and the state of the industry.

LINKS: