[casual_games] Platform for multi-player Flash games

[Rajat Paharia]

Jonas, everyone -

> > http://www.bunchball.com
> The page doesn't open in Opera - the tab closes itself at the moment it
> starts loading. I've never seen this behavior before, you've got to be using
> some very unorthodox code in that page?

Thanks for the Opera pointer - I hadn't tried it before. I think it
was a script that was testing to see if the user had a popup blocker.
I disabled the script, and things appear to mostly work. It hasn't
been thoroughly tested on Opera though - I've noticed some window
placement glitches.

> How are you planning to get developers to publish on your site in the
> initial stages, before you have a large user base? The concept sounds good,
> but starting up is always difficult - especially when you require people to
> learn and use a new API.
> What do you offer developers today that would make them put the time into
> adjusting their product for your site, instead of just selling it to
> existing portals with a large user base?

It's the chicken and egg problem, alright. There's no way around it.
Here's some of the ways we hope to address it (long, sorry):

1. We're providing all the multi-user infrastructure for free. If
other developers are anything like me, then the thought of writing all
the server code to manage users, groups, invitations, presence, chat,
data storage, databases, turns, etc, is more than I want to deal with,
especially if it's just to create a simple 2-4 player card game. Now
they (and I) don't have to. Your development time for a multi-user
game should drop dramatically. I was able to create a group
photo-sharing application (not a game, I know, but still complex),
from scratch, in half a day. Then I was able to spend the rest of the
week concentrating on creating a great user experience.

2. We tried to make the API really simple. The simple version: every
player has an open copy of your Flash SWF. Whenever a player makes a
move, they send an ActionScript object, with whatever state data you
want, to the server, which saves it and distributes it to all the
players in the game. Their SWF files receive the object, update the
game to reflect the new state, and the process repeats. All this can
be accomplished with a couple of API calls. Then we've added extra
functionality to support file uploads, asynchronous playing, timeouts,
etc.

3. Although you can easily deploy single-player games on our platform,
our focus is on multi-player games, and on playing with people you
already know. This combination, we think, is inherently viral. You'll
get invited to play something, like it, and then invite others to play
it with you. If you have a good game and just a few people like it, it
should be able to grow very quickly. The number of users already
registered at our site shouldn't matter, as people will pull in their
friends and family from outside.

4. We're also working on making the games "embeddable" in web pages,
RSS feeds, etc. outside of Bunchball.com, so that the games aren't
tethered to the portal, but can be played anywhere - giving them much
more visibility.

5. We'll develop some of the "staple" games (chess, checkers, etc.)
ourselves or with partners just to fill out the library and offer
users more options. Right now, unfortunately, this is taking a
backseat to platform development.


To your other point, I think Yahoo Games (or any other existing
portal) is great if you've got a single player game, or you've built
all your own infrastructure, and you think your game is good enough
and you're ready to work with a publisher to get some space on their
site.

Bunchball is great if you want to develop a multi-player game quickly,
not worry about infrastructure, not deal with any gatekeepers telling
you what you can and can't deploy, and want to iterate with real-world
user feedback. And hey, if your game gets really popular, there's
nothing stopping you from shopping it to a portal then, with proof
that gamers like it.


I'd be curious to hear if people think any of this sounds reasonable,
or if y'all think I'm smokin' dope.

> Anyway, I hope it works out nicely for you!

Thanks! For the comments and for the pointer to the Opera problem.

best, - rajat
--
Rajat Paharia
rajat at bunchball.com
http://www.bunchball.com
http://www.rootburn.com