Taxonomy
The Naked Gamer
Light. Colors. High contrast patterns and soothing musical tones. Movement. Texture. Repetitive motion and intermittent surprise. Sound familiar? It sounds like I'm describing the formula for the basic criteria for a casual game, but I'm actually describing an early childhood development toy hanging above an infant's bed. And as I was looking at this thing, watching it play music and spin, it occurred to me that casual games function to stimulate a gamers' brain much like a Fisher-Price mobile works on the mind of a small child.
Hook, Line and Sinking: How Fish Tycoon Became a One Man Show
Think managing a bunch of hungry, breeding animals in Fish Tycoon is difficult? Try managing a studio full of game designers.
Much like the hero of their smash game, Last Day of Work's CEO and lead designer Arthur Humphrey soon found himself with too many mouths to feed and not enough to show for it. The result was a mass downsizing of the operation, and a future casual gaming smash placed squarely on one man's shoulders.
Arthur Humphrey's Developer Diary: Virtual Villagers 2
Well, I have been invited to share some of the experiences and dramas of a tiny independent game developer here on Gamezebo. I've often found that our wonderful community and fans find it very interesting to hear about some of the behind-the-scenes decisions and craziness that can be involved in creating a game from beginning to end, and I'm all too happy to share the experience.
For those of you who are not familiar with us, we are Last Day of Work and our most recent release was Virtual Villagers, and just before that Fish Tycoon. I am the lead designer and captain of this fine ship. Well I think I'll jump right in and...
Behind the Game: Bejeweled
The guys from PopCap really weren't worried when they named their company Sexy Action Cool.
It was an in-joke, lifted from a poster for the Antonio Banderas flick "Desperado." But the way they saw it, their company name wouldn't be heard much, they'd just be a small developer, in the shadows of the major portals who would host their games.
Size Doesn't Matter
Twenty-two minutes, eleven seconds. That's how long I waited. And I've got broadband, and a brand new wicked-fast Dell lap-top. Twenty-two minutes and change. That's roughly how long it takes a photon to reach Earth from the Sun. That's a full episode of Entourage, for God's sake. Twenty-two minutes. That's how long it took me to download the whopping 754Mb Nancy Drew: Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon from Big Fish this morning, and that's not counting the three minutes it took to register and the four minutes to complete the install. Why did I choose this game above all others? Why didn't size matter to me? Read on.
School's Back - Time to Hit the Games
Labor Day Weekend marks the end of the summer and the beginning of the new school year. If you are a parent (and a lot of you on Gamezebo are), this is the time to purchase school supplies for your kids:
Paper (check). . . Notebook (check). . . Pens (check). . . Games (check)? That's right --- Games!
Behind The Game: How Ricochet Xtreme Brought Reflexive Home to Casual Games
Reflexive Entertainment may have started out much like any small company, but that's where the similarities end. An unlikely road through the hardcore gaming world led them to create Ricochet Xtreme, an addictive brick-buster that would bring a classic idea into the casual games arena.
1001 Zuma Nights
In 1001 Arabian Nights, Queen Scheherazade tells a new tale every night to her husband, the King Shahryar, to delay her imminent execution.
If we were to modernize this classic tale to the casual game era, I imagine we'd call it 1001 Zuma Nights. That is because every week, a new casual game inspired by Zuma is released on the Internet.
Joel's Thoughts on Casuality 2006
Casuality Seattle 2006 may be over, but its not forgotten, at least by yours truly. Here are my thoughts & insights from the show, and what it means for you, the casual game player.
