Tag Archives: Facebook

Train2Game students take note – one third of UK population using smartphones

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One third of people in Great Britain own a smartphones, while gaming is the fastest growing online pastime.

That’s according to a report from Ofcom, which argue confirms something the Train2Game blog has reported on a number of times – that mobile gaming is becoming a huge phenomenon. It’s therefore an area that Train2Game students would be wise to think about pursuing a career in.

And while the Ofcom report states the iPhone, with its easy to use App store, is still the preferred choice of smartphone for many, the Train2Game blog previously reported that Android devices are increasing their share in the market.  Indeed, many Train2Game forum users own Android smartphones themselves.

Interesting, the Blackberry is the most popular smartphone among teenagers.

Meanwhile, the Ofcom report reveals that there’s been a 23% increase in online gaming over the last year, with smartphones likely to have contributed to this too. Online social media games are also becoming more and more popular, with the Train2Game blog reporting that more and more developers are using it as a platform to release games.

Indeed as reported by the Train2Game blog earlier this week, Civilization developer Sid Meier said games ‘will take over the world’ and social media gaming will play a part in this.

“I think now is one of the most exciting times to be a Game Designer” said Meier.

“With the rapid growth of social network games there are new opportunities for smaller indie developers to make and distribute games, so we’re seeing a wider variety of games on all kinds of cool devices than ever before. That’s great for the whole industry.”

And as previously reported by the Train2Game blog, both smartphone and social media gaming, free-to-play could provide a viable model for making revenue from games.

“The guys who are making more money are allowing people – if they like the game – to keep upgrading. And instead of the maximum amount of that money you can make from customer being 99c you can make $5, in some cases $30.” Industry analyst Nicholas Lovell previously told the Train2Game blog.

So with one third of Brits using a smartphone, that’s a huge potential audience for any iPhone games produced by Train2Game students; it could very much be your future.

So Train2Game, do you see developing games for smartphones as a good career path?  Is the potential audience just going to keep growing?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Develop]

Train2Game news: Games ‘will take over the world’ says Civilization creator

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 Students are taking Train2Game courses because they have aspirations of working in the games industry.

They’ll therefore be buoyed by comments from Civilization creator Sid Meier in which he states that games will ‘someday take over the world’

“I’ve always claimed that games will someday take over the world and from where things sit today, that seems to be happening” Meier told Industry Gamers.

There are so many different gaming platforms and a constant stream of new games for players to enjoy in any way they choose, which is great for gamers.”

The Civilization creator believes the growing popularity of Facebook games means there are more opportunities out there than ever before.

“I think now is one of the most exciting times to be a Game Designer” said Meier.

“With the rapid growth of social network games there are new opportunities for smaller indie developers to make and distribute games, so we’re seeing a wider variety of games on all kinds of cool devices than ever before. That’s great for the whole industry.”

Indeed, as previously reported by the Train2Game blog, a version of Civilization – Civ World – is one of the many Facebook games available to play. Meanwhile, Zynga’s Allies & Empires gained over 33 million users just three weeks after its launch.

It’s also entirely possible that if a Train2Game student ended up developing social media games in their first role in the industry, it’s entirely possible they’d get more hands on experience with that than they could with games for another platform.

“A Game Designer is actually more important on a social game than on a triple-A game because on a triple-A game you spend a lot of time making technology and tools and gigabytes worth of animations and things like that.” said Zynga’s Game Designer Brian Reynolds earlier this year. Reynolds previously worked on Civilization II.

“I can remember whole months going by where they didn’t need me to do any game design whereas on social games it’s a game designer’s paradise.”

Games are going to take over the world and social media will provide an even bigger opportunity for that to happen! Sounds good, right?

So Train2Game, is Sid Meier right? Will games ‘take over the world’? Is the growth of social media gaming good for the industry as a whole?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Industry Gamers]

Train2Game students can play Civilization on Facebook as more devs join social media gaming

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Regular Train2Game blog readers will be familiar with Zynga’s Allies & Empires, which has gained more users than social gaming behemoth Farmville.

Its release was seen by some as a pre-emptive move against, Sid Meier’s Civilization World which is now available to play on Facebook. Yes, that’s the same Civilization that’s been such a hit with PC Gamers for many, many years.

“With over ten million units sold worldwide, Sid Meier’s Civilization  is world renowned as one of the greatest strategy game franchises,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of  publisher2K.

“We’re excited to bring this fun and social game to people on Facebook, enabling fans of the series to play Civilization World from almost anywhere in the world; while offering newcomers a chance to enjoy this addictive strategy gameplay that has fascinated gamers for two decades.”

The game is described as ‘an online world where players collaborate with friends to become the strongest nation to accomplish an end goal of becoming the world’s most powerful civilization.’

“Our team set out to create an exciting  Civilization  game for Facebook where for the first time, players can join with their friends to build a powerful empire and rule the world,” said Sid Meier, Director of Creative Development at Firaxis Games.

“Civilization World  is a fun and engaging game that both fans of the series and fans of Facebook games will find immediately addictive, and we look forward to adding to the experience as the game continues to evolve in this dynamic new gaming world.”

Civilization’s move to the social media sphere may not come as a big surprise to some Train2Game students, given that Frontierville and former Civilization II designer Brian Reynolds has previously heaped praise on social media games.

He also mentioned how the role of a Game Designer is much more important in a smaller, social media title than a Triple-A game.

“But it turns out that the skills we have are really valuable in social games and it’s actually really fun to design those games. First of all, I’m working on the forefront of a new thing. Second of all, I’m reaching (millions), tens of (millions) of players I could never have reached before” said Reynolds.

And third, I really need my skills. It’s harder to design these games. We do the same things we did with strategy games: Design simple systems that interact in complex ways, but they have to be so much more accessible then they used to.”

And as reported by the Train2Game blog, another PC strategy title in the form of Age of Empires will also soon be heading to Facebook.

Train2Game students already know that Facebook is a huge area of gaming now, and the fact that big developers and publishers want to get involve only solidifies this.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Civilization coming to Facebook? Would you play it? What other classic games would you like to see online?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Zynga’s new game Empires & Allies gets 33 million players in three weeks

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Empires & Allies

In a big reminder to Train2Game students of how popular social games now are, Zynga’s latest title Empires & Allies has reached over 30 million users in less than 3 weeks.

According to AppData, Strategy game Empires & Allies gained 20 million of those players in the last week.

The game Zygna said has “more social features than any Zynga game” was released on at the beginning of June.

Empires & Allies is free-to-play, but like many other Zynga and social media games, players can spend money to help them progress faster.

For more information on Freemium games, their increasing popularity, and how this could be important for Train2Game students, see the Train2Game blog.

As the Train2Game blog reported earlier this year, a survey suggested that 70% of internet users play casual games. Social games are therefore potentially a lucrative market forTrain2Game students to be involved in.

Indeed, the Train2Game blog also reported that  Game Design  isthe most important aspect of a social game, and that Game Designers behind them much larger roles than those who help produce console titles.

In theory that means creating a social game could allow a Train2Game Game Designer more of an opportunity to flex their creative muscle.

Whatever your opinion of Facebook games, it’s hard to argue with such high user numbers, although there’s some way to go before reaching Cityville’s 100 million players.

As reported by the Train2Game blog in January, it’s previously been suggested that the social media gaming market will reach $1 billion this year.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the success of Empires & Allies? Would you develop Facebook games?

Leave your thoughts here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra] 

Barriers of entry into industry “being blown away” say Remedy (Good news for Train2Game students then!)

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Remedy logo

In a statement that Train2Game students may mind surprising coming from a big developer, Alan Wake producers Remedy believe casual and social games are very good for the games industry.

Last week, the Train2Game blog reported on Angry Birds reaching 200 million downloads; it’s just one sign of how huge this relatively new sector of the games industry has become.

And Remedy Executive Vice President Aki Järvilehto believes that this is a positive thing, which allows easier entry into the games industry – some Train2Game are likely to see themselves getting their first job in a mobile development role.

“I think the market is changing in a radical fashion. Barriers of entry are literally being blown away. New business models are booming and this is not about devaluation,” Järvilehto told Industry Gamers.

“Facebook is doing tremendous things to gaming and attracting completely new people to enjoy different more casual and social games. I can’t see how the fact that mainstream consumers are finally embracing our industry could be negative. After all isn’t that what we’ve been hoping for since forever?”

“Games and gaming as an experience is certainly changing – platforms are evolving and developers and consuming is evolving with it” Järvilehto concluded.

Facebook games have certainly become popular, with the Train2Game blog previously reporting on the success of titles such as Cityville.

Last month, the Train2Game blog even reported that the role of a Game Designer is even more important for a casual title; so working on one could provide a Train2Game student with large amounts of experience!

Meanwhile, earlier this month the Train2Game blog revealed how Remedy believe game developers learn from their mistakes.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Järvilehto’s comments? Do you agree with his views about casual games? Can you see yourself developing one in future?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Industry Gamers]

The rise and rise of social media gaming

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Farmville: Helping to cultivate a predicted 1.5 billion big ones.

2014 may not bring us hover cars or jet packs but it’ll apparently be a good year for the social games market. Why? Well, a new report from media consultants Screen Digest suggests it’ll be worth $1.5 billion in four years time. Yes, $1.5 billion.

It really is a staggering amount of money to get your head around! Especially so when you consider that in 2008 social media games were worth just $76 million. Not that $76 is a small amount of money at all, but in 2009 that increased to $639 million thanks to 500 million active monthly users. The Screen Digest report predicts this growth will continue over the next four years with social media games becoming more and more popular.

I doubt anyone will be surprised as to what has caused such a massive increase in the social games market, with the Screen Digest report stating:

“The market remains dominated by the distribution power and massive userbase of Facebook”

Yes, Facebook. The reason for this massive upsurge in casual social games is titles like Farmville and Mafia Wars. Both of these games are produced by market leader Zynga who last year are thought to have got annual revenue of around $100 million.

It’s not exactly to see surprising with the massive advertising campaign behind the games. According to a Facebook ad I’m looking at right now, ‘Everyone plays Mafia Wars’ Well 25 million players might not be everyone, but that number suggests Zygna must be doing something right. Then of course there’s Farmville which just seems to have become an entity unto itself…the spellchecker I’m using to write this blog even recognises Farmville as a word!

So, with social games set to become even more successful, we used the Train2Game Facebook page (Appropriate, right?) to ask Train2Game students if they’d like to use their skills to help produce a successful social media title. The responses were….somewhat interesting! They included:

“Games like Farmville are easy to make, I would rather a challenge with the more hardcore games, however that being said I would like to give the lower level games a go also.

As far as Farmville go’s I would rather shoot my self head, but everyone has to start some where, and a small game like that could get you the experience it take to work much bigger projects.”

“Yes, you have to start somewhere… But not Farmville…I would feel like a total sell-out if I made a game like Farmville.”

And…

“Farmville is such a badly built game. I couldn’t believe the amount of corners they cut, honestly, I don’t think it cost them more than 2k to build the actual game. Mafia Wars was probably the same.”

So while it seems that the Train2Game students that responded aren’t exactly too keen to produce the next Farmville, it appears the majority feel that working on such a title would provide that all important first step into their chosen career – be it Games Design, Games Development or Games Art & Animator. While many people dislike the concept of social gaming, it’s difficult to ignore how successful it has become. Remember, that big old $1.5 million that’s just over the horizon.

So now it’s over to you, Train2Game blog readers. Do you think the social games market will really be worth $1.5 billion in four years time? What do you think has made it so successful? And how would you feel about developing a social media title?

As usual, leave your comments here, or on the Train2Game forum. Or why not join the discussion on the Train2Game Facebook page?