[casual_games] Community Functionality

[Allan Simonsen]

Good point, James;

In this case, I'm talking about download try'n'buy
games; similar to Ricochet, Bejeweled or Magic Vines,
distributed through a collection of non-exclusive
distributors, such as PlayFirst, Reflexive, Real, etc.

Allan

> What type of 'casual games' are you thinking of when
> you talk about all
> these issues? Are these cell phone games, web based
> games, adver games,
> subscription based, or downloadable try and buy? I
> am sure all those issues
> you mentioned could apply to all of the
> platforms/business models that I
> mentioned. But I would like to focus the discussion
> a little more narrowly
> than that or else it is way broad and abstracts.
> 
> James C. Smith
> Game Designer/Programmer: Ricochet Xtreme, Ricochet
> Lost Worlds, Big Kahuna
> Reef, Big Kahuna Words
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
> [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
> On Behalf Of Allan Simonsen
> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 6:49 PM
> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
> Subject: [casual_games] Community Functionality
> 
> 
> What community functionality are people looking at
> implementing?
> 
> I'm quite curious at where this is going, and how
> we're essentially duplicating work provided by other
> systems (IM, Mail, Web). However, since our target
> audience isn't very tech-savy, they might be quite
> happy to do everything inside the same context.
> 
> As an aside; are anyone using the SDK's provided (by
> Skype, GMAIL, MSN, etc) to build IM or VoiP into
> their
> titles?
> 
> At what point does your community functions threaten
> distributors?
> 
> We're seeing that a lot of distributors are cautious
> about adopting community functions; anything that
> connects to an outside website is viewed as a
> potential leak out of their closed system.
> 
> Looking at what the current state of the art in
> community systems are :
> - Uploading and tracking highscores (seems generally
> accepted)
> - Uploading and tracking content (as long as it's
> seemless)
> - Tracking user information and ID (across single
> title is okay, leveraging it across multi-title
> seems
> a no-no)
> - in-game IM/user mail services (similar to what
> Mahjong Towers Eternity is doing.. seems to make
> some
> distros edgy).
> 
> Anything I'm missing?
> 
> Enough 5c's will eventually make a whole dollar.
> 
> Allan


Allan Simonsen                    simonsen at rocketmail.com
ICQ# 16606984

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