2006 Casual Games White Paper

2006 Casual Games White Paper IGDA Casual Games SIG

2006 Casual Games White Paper

The IGDA Casual Games SIG casual

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2006 Casual Games White Paper IGDA Casual Games SIG

FORWARD

While much progress has been made over the last several years, the casual games space is still a very nascent space. Every day new players enter the market, new business models are created, and new customers are reached. Through this rapid change and growth, we have been fortunate to have an extremely open and sharing community. Everyone realizes that the market is big enough, and the risks are low enough that freely sharing knowledge and information is in everyone's best interest. Nowhere is this more evident than in the white paper that follows. It contains in-depth information about the market, the business models in use, issues relating to production and design, significant technologies used, and a full survey looking at the various means to bring games to the market.

We have tried something new with this white paper, by creating it on the IGDA's wiki. A wiki allows a community of people to easily contribute to a common resource. You are reading the results of the first step in this process. This paper has been created over the past several months by the community getting updates as minor as simple format updates, and as significant as complete restructuring of entire sections. All of this has been done through a user's web-browser, and became immediately visible to other contributors on the IGDA website. The next phase is just beginning. All of this content will continue to live on the wiki where we hope it can continue to be updated and expanded on by you, the casual game community. As you read this document, if you notice something that is incorrect, or something that you can add to or expand upon, we encourage you to logon to the wiki, and make those corrections so the rest of the community can benefit. You can access the wiki version of the white paper here:



All of the information seen here has been given freely and openly by the casual game community. It is our hope that with this knowledge, everyone will continue to learn and improve or methods for bringing great games to the world. Unlike the traditional "core" game space, our market is practically limitless, and we have only begun to scratch the surface, and by sharing our best practices, we will enable the entire industry to improve and continue to grow our market at the breakneck pace it has been.

While the content has been given freely, this paper is not free. If you learn something valuable, we expect you to contribute back to the community in kind. Whether by updating the wiki with your own knowledge and best practices, or simply adding to the discussion on the mailing list, you are expected to contribute. Your cost for accessing this wealth of knowledge is to share your own knowledge back out to the community, and to assist others in the same way you have been assisted.

Finally, we'd like to extend a heart thanks to all of the contributors who have participated in the creation of this resource. It is your willingness to share knowledge that enables us to provide valuable content by and for, the developers in this space.

With best regards,

Margaret Wallace Co-Editor, Casual Games White Paper Co-Founder/CEO Skunk Studios margaret@

Brian Robbins Co-Editor and Chair, IGDA Casual Games SIG Director of Games Game Trust, Inc. brian@

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2006 Casual Games White Paper IGDA Casual Games SIG

CREDITS

White Paper Editors

Co-Editors Section Editors

Contributors by Section

Market Overview

Business Models

Production and Design

? Margaret Wallace CEO, Skunk Studios

? Brian Robbins Director of Games, Game Trust, Inc.

? Greg Mills (Market Overview) Director of Premium Games, AOL

? Gabe Zichermann (Market Overview) VP, Strategy & Communications, Boonty

? James Gwertzman (Business Models) Director of Business Development, PopCap Games, Inc.

? Juan Gril (Production & Design) Producer, JoJu Games

? Peter Glover (Technology) VP, Games & Products, Atom Entertainment, Inc.

? Steven DeBenedictis (Publishing) Director of Marketing, SolidWorks Corporation

? Steve Meretzky (Skill-based Gaming) Chief Game Designer, Floodgate Entertainment

? Hugh de Loayza Oberon Media

? Peter Glover Atom Shockwave

? Jay Moore GarageGames

? Matt Walsh R/GA

? Kris Alexander Sr. Media & Entertainment Service Line Manager, Akamai

? Tom Edwards Geographer & Geocultural Consultant, Englobe Inc.

? Peter H. Friedman Proprietor, Certified Public Accounting firm

? Cassandra Willard, Esq. Partner, Law Firm of Franklin & Willard, Orlando

? Bryan Bouwman HipSoft

? Heather Chandler Red Storm Entertainment

? Kenny Dinkin VP/Executive Producer, Playfirst

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Technology Skill-based Gaming

2006 Casual Games White Paper IGDA Casual Games SIG

? John Driscoll Director of Product Development, Slingo

? Nicholas Fortugno gameLab

? Jane Jensen Oberon Media, Inc.

? Eric Lamendola Slingo

? Daniel Prigg Real Networks

? James C. Smith Reflexive Entertainment

? Jim Stern iWin, Inc.

? Mike Sweeney Lead Game Designer, Slingo

? Michael Sweet Creative Director/Partner, Audiobrain

? Jessica Tams SkillJam

? Steven B Davis CEO, IT GlobalSecure Inc.

? Brad Edelman Chief Technology Officer, PlayFirst, Inc.

? Arthur Humphrey CEO and Lead Designer, Last Day of Work, LDW Software, LLC

? Andy Phelps Assistant Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology

? John Say President, CEO, Say Design, Inc.

? Mattias Stridsman Flash Programmer, Say Design, Inc.

? Michael Welles Director, Say Design, Inc.

? Justin Beckett Founder / former CEO, SkillJam Technologies

? Peter Blacklow VP / Chief Marketing Officer, WorldWinner

? Brian Mahoney Manager of Customer Experience, WorldWinner

? Allison Rynak Director, PR and Communications, WorldWinner

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2006 Casual Games White Paper IGDA Casual Games SIG

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORWARD.................................................................................................................................................... 2 CREDITS....................................................................................................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................... 5 I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 6

A. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE ............................................................................................................ 6 B. AUDIENCE AND SCOPE ...................................................................................................................... 6 C. DEFINITIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 6 D. WIKI ................................................................................................................................................. 6 E. DISCLAIMER...................................................................................................................................... 7 II. MARKET OVERVIEW........................................................................................................................ 8 A. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................. 8 B. WHAT ARE CASUAL GAMES............................................................................................................... 9 C. VIDEO GAME AUDIENCES: HARDCORE, CORE AND CASUAL GAMERS ................................................... 9 D. COMMON INDUSTRY TRENDS AND MARKET FORCES ......................................................................... 11 E. WEB DEMO/DOWNLOADABLE GAMES............................................................................................... 12 F. WEB AND COMMUNITY-BASED GAMES.............................................................................................. 17 G. SKILL-BASED GAMES ...................................................................................................................... 19 H. ADVERGAMING................................................................................................................................ 26 III. BUSINESS MODELS....................................................................................................................... 33 A. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................ 33 B. UNDERSTANDING THE VALUE CHAIN ................................................................................................ 33 C. BUSINESS MODELS ......................................................................................................................... 37 D. CONTRACTUAL ISSUES .................................................................................................................... 40 E. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................. 43 IV. PRODUCTION AND DESIGN ......................................................................................................... 44 A. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................ 44 B. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS ............................................................................................................... 44 C. PRODUCTION ISSUES ...................................................................................................................... 68 D. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................. 78 V. TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................... 79 A. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................ 79 B. TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CASUAL GAMES........................................................................... 79 C. BASE DELIVERY TECHNOLOGIES...................................................................................................... 85 D. SECURITY AND CHEATING................................................................................................................ 93 VI. PUBLISHING ................................................................................................................................. 102 A. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................. 102 B. SURVEYING THE COMMUNITY......................................................................................................... 102 CLOSING .................................................................................................................................................. 115 VERSION HISTORY ................................................................................................................................. 116

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