Category Archives: Online

May 30 2012

Red Menace Threatens Scottish Gamers

The chances are that you’ve not come across GameVial before.  We’re a fairly clued up and expert sort of channel and we were stunned, staggered and bewildered to sit next to them at the Cross Party Group on Videogames Technology and discover a whole new studio, right under our noses.  It was exactly the sort of discovery that James Cameron was hoping for on his jaunt to the bottom of the Marianas Trench…

So, allow us to enlighten you.  GameVial is a studio specialising in online browser-based games.  At our last count, they’ve released around 100 titles on their website, from simple puzzle titles, through to complex 3D games.

They’ve also brought over a dozen of these titles to mobile – and their latest is a killer…

Russia’s Army is a 3D, massively multiplayer, cross platform, first person shooter (we’ll pause and let you read that back to yourself).  Players can compete against each other from a web browser on a computer, or via Android smartphones.  And there’s a free ‘lite’ version for cheapskates and ne’er do wells worldwide.

The free version offers a limited set of weapons (which does include the AK-47 mayhem fans), while the full version of the game – which comes in at a cost conscious quid – offers far more variety and destructive malarkey such as:

  • Pistol
  • SPAS12 shotgun
  • Dragunov 50 cal sniper rifle
  • RG6 tactical grenade launcher
  • RPG, the iconic Russias Army Rocket Propelled Grenade

Progress Forward To The Further Betterment Of Society, Comrades.  Then shoot it full of holes…

If delivering hot lead political debate to the forehead of an opponent isn’t your cup of tea, never fear, GameVial has your back.  Now, for – we believe – the first time, you can flap to victory with Fly Like A Bird.

This particular slice of feathered fun puts players in the tiny, pecky brain of a humble birdy.  Now you too can perch, build nests, raise chicks and spoil the lives of hateful BMW drivers who have been out carefully buffing their precious, precious cars with a chamois leather and Clarkson-approved cream.

No.  Really.  You’re a bird.  You fly.  You have little birds.  In a nest.  You poo on people.  It’s twisted genius.  The site describes it as a ‘cult classic’ but we’d go further.  This is the sort of game Dare and Jam teams should be coming up with.  Odd, beaky and desperate for breadcrumbs.

There’s a lite version of this too, for the criminally parsimonious.

So, who the HELL are GameVial?  We’ll let them explain…

We are Gamevial.com, Imigea Ltd, Edinburgh based game developers and have built over 100 games during the last decade, pioneering browser 3D games since emergence, finally the market hs caught up  :P

Originally middleware and third party content developers, our last custom job, the 3D ship painting tool for Sony’s, WipeOut game on the Pulse (so players could custom paint skins for ther ships for in game playback). We invested the funds from this job into our own first 3D multiplayer browser game Russias Army Barracks. This game got traction online and generated enough revenue to perpetuate development of our own titles, experiments and ideas exploration. Coupled with the sucess of our Fly Like a Bird game and TeamTanks, Gamevial.com now has over 2 million monthly unique players is big in Turkey and Brazil & Poland :)

We are a small company, very small- just two of us, we outsource any exotics but of recent have been looking to hire in new fulltime developers to help grow the games further.

Say hello.  Or better yet, say hello and go and buy their games.  They’d do it for you.

You can also follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook.

May 9 2012

Mapply – Now Recruiting


The team at Mapply (the project formerly known as MyWorld) is recruiting.  There are roles for software engineers and QA, as well as a couple of intern positions.

As you can see from the video above, the technology looks incredible.  The potential for MapplyWorld is huge.  So you could be onto a winner getting involved.

You can find all of the details over on the Mapply website.  Or follow them on Twitter…

May 8 2012

Time Capsule Tuesday – THE Definitive History Of Games In Scotland

Did you know that Scottishgames was originally started in 2005 as a Yahoo Group?  That didn’t work.  It required people to get involved and contribute.  So in 2006, your editor took the decision to start a blog.  At that time, TypePad was a decent choice and allowed sophisticated content like words and pictures to be mixed in a new way which the ascended masters referred to as ‘multimedia’.

There’s over three years of content and updates on the original Scottishgames.biz (since it was primarily an industry blog in them days). It provides a snapshot of a smaller and more console focused industry.  It’s also the only record out there of the laughter, the tears, the events, the awards and the successes Scotland achieved in the world of games.

There was also, for a year, a Ning powered social network, which empowered every developer, every student and every participant in the whole interactive sector and allowed them to post their work, look for employment, post jobs, share news, find collaborators and link to their new games.  It wasn’t a success.  You want to be controlled editorially and told what’s important.  We get it…  We can’t link to it, since Ning has a policy of nuking any unpaid networks.

If you’re a researcher, student, journalist, politician, civil servant, event organiser, developer, publisher or fascinated observer, this is an invaluable resource, akin to the National Museum of Scotland (who we confidently predict would pay thousands for access to these ‘archives’).

Since then of course, the media empire has grown into the all new blog, a Facebook group, a Twitter account, Google+ group, fashion label, provides RSS feeds and of course a daily e-mail update, all in all reaching around several thousand people – important people, like YOU – per day.  Scottishgames has THE definitive company directory of interactive companies in Scotland and is recognised in the halls of power as the ‘industry bible’.

Believe!

Apr 26 2012

A Pocket Full Of Wee – Games, Gab & Griffins

Not many people would define WeeWorld as a games company.  As an actual developer and publisher in its own right.  A social network, surely.  An entertainment company definitely, but a games company?  Well, yes.  The ongoing evolution of digital media, the spread of apps to multiple devices and in increasing focus on fun and games within social networks are all combining to make every entertainment company a games company to some degree.  WeeWorld however has embraced these new platforms and is taking its 50M WeeMee owners in some interesting new directions…

The catalogue of games and apps from WeeWorld is a varied and growing one.  WeeMees have left the web browser and made the leap onto smartphones.  WeeWorld is building its own original apps and mobile games

First up, we have to talk about the WeeMee Avatar Creator.  It does exactly what the name suggests.  Users can create, style, customise and personalise their WeeMee on the go.  The app features hundreds of items, accessories and outfits, for a staggering array of stylish wonder.  The first app to be released by WeeWorld, the Avatar Creator remains the company’s most popular download.  The avatar creator is SOOOO popular that WeeWorld has brought it out for iOS AND Windows Mobile AND Android, ensuring that all right thinking people are catered for and supported.

The WeeMee Avatar Creator is 99¢ or 69p and is out now.

Of course, once you’ve made your WeeMee look divine, delicious and ‘hep’, the next step has to be getting that thing to talk.  Which brings us, quite coincidentally to the Talking WeeMee or, if you’re approaching any kind of holiday (religious or secular) then the Talking WeeMee Holiday Version…

Users can get their WeeMee to repeat words and phrases back to them in a variety of voices (helium, robot, deep, normal, chipmunk and super deep), as well as record and share videos of their WeeMees in action on YouTube or Facebook.  Hundreds of users have done just that and are even now exploring the outer limits of animation.  Like the WeeMee Creator, the Talking WeeMee is out on the App Store for 99¢/69p.

Or, for the more festive among you, there’s a WeeMee Talking Santa – FREE – or a Talking WeeMee Holiday version, also free, if you prefer your own stunning good looks to jolly old Saint Nicks…

It doesn’t stop there.  Bringing cartoon customisation and infinite variety to an entirely different area of app goodness, the WeeMee Countdown.  A bit of an unusual one this.  Users can import their WeeMee and set up a… well, countdown to an event of their choice, be it a holiday, birthday, exam or ‘other’.  The countdown can measure in days, hours and minutes, in sleeps, whole days – then share it with friends and family through Facebook.  Like the others, the WeeMee Countdown is out for iOS now, at a startlingly reasonable 99¢/69p.  There is an event in your life you are not tracking appropriately.  You should consider this, especially if you’re getting hitched…

Which brings us to the WeeMee Wedding Countdown.  All of the flexibility and customisation of the original app, but tailored especially for the happy couple.  Share the countdown with your guests through Facebook and Twitter and make note of the miserable, cynical swine who don’t Like your posts and hit them for the really expensive wedding presents.

Since weddings tend to be both expensive and nerve-wracking, the WeeWorld team have made this version FREE as their own special present, to YOU!

Of course, if you really want to rub your friends faces in your good fortune and happiness, then you can get the WeeWorld Vacation Countdown.  Another free one, more links to the social networks and another reason WeeWorld has 50M users worldwide.

Next up we come to Cweeture Jump.  A race against the clock, in which you have to get Peter the Griffin (yes, they went there) as high as possible.  Cweetures (yes, they went there too…) are the animal sidekicks that every WeeMee can own.  This is the first time they’ve featured in a game of their own, so as you can imagine, they feel pretty special.  Bounce, leap and spring your way to victory in a bizarre lion/eagle combo animal sidekick iPhone/iPad and iPod Touch game of ultimate bounciness.  It’s free, it’s fast, it’s fun and it has Peter Griffin in it.  Go on.  You know you want to.

One of the company’s more recent titles is Crush Rush.  A branded title, created in conjunction with Dynamo Games in Dundee.  Players have to match the juicy fruits to the delicious Crush bottles at the bottom of the screen in classic mode, or solve puzzles in memory mode by unlocking the secret fruit combos.  A free title, Crush Rush moves WeeWorld beyond the WeeMee focus of their other titles and positions them as a developer and publisher in their own right.  And one which is working with major consumer brands at that.  If you need refreshment and like your puzzles, like you like your juice – packed with fruity goodness – give Crush Rush a chance.

Last, but not least, the company’s up-and-coming game, Pocket Pup challenges players to look after and nurture a weeny and ridiculously adorable wee pup.  We’ll assume that you have to be careful otherwise there could be wee everywhere.  While the game is still in development, WeeWorld has promised some fun touches within the game, should players drift from the approved kennel club procedures for cartoon pup care.  We’re looking forward to this one.
Not a bad line up for a company which many people were not aware were of as a developer/publisher.
WeeWorld has plans for many more games and new interactive experiences for their 50,000,000 users out there, with a dedicated mobile division and – we want to make sure you’re remembering – they are recruiting – looking for a game designer and an iOS developer.
If you’re interested – and you should be – give them a shout.  Both Steve Young, the Creative Director and Celia Francis, the CEO are members of the Scottishgames group on Facebook.  Or you can find them on Twitter, should you want a more discrete word.
Apr 24 2012

WeeWorld – Studio Profile

WeeWorld has been around on the periphery of the games industry, for several years now. Yet while many people recognise the company, it has evolved hugely since it was founded and is now working at the cutting edge of interactive entertainment.

So. In a nutshell: WeeWorld creates ‘visually distinctive and deeply engaging web, iOS and Android social games and applications’. The company’s goal is to ‘entertain and expand creativity and self expression in people of all ages.’

Which makes WeeWorld a ‘social entertainment’ company, which exists in the sweet spot between social networking, casual gaming and online communities. To start with, WeeWorld runs WeeWorld.com which has, quite literally, millions of teens hanging out every month.

WeeWorld.com is a top 10 teen social community, with a massive audience in the US. Every month millions of WeeMees express themselves, socialize, play games and engage with some equally large marketing campaigns, brands and celebrities.

As of now, there are 50 million WeeMees, which can be personalised and outfitted in the latest designer clothing, or equipped with massive range of accessories and interests, allowing users to reflect their real life interests and enthusiasms. These WeeMee are used all over the web to personalize blogs, email signatures, Twitter pics, the chances are very high that at least one of your contacts has one.

Last – and perhaps most importantly – WeeWorld is now in the mobile apps development and publishing business with a long list of five star rated apps in the market so far including:

WeeWorld’s mobile games studio has launched nine mobile applications to date, including the WeeMee Avatar Creator, which is #1 avatar on iPhone and ranked in the top 10 highest grossing iOS apps in the entire social networking category.

The company is following their existing apps with the recently announced Pocket Pup.

This is a virtual pet game in which the player has to train and care for an adorable WeeMee style puppy. Play with it, walk it, feed it and keep it healthy. From work-in-progress shots we’ve seen, the opportunities for ‘creative care’ should keep kids… happy.  WeeWorld’s mobile team also have a variety of other fun new applications in development.

WeeWorld’s focus on entertainment, gaming, virtual goods sales, personalisation and fun has paid dividends with the younger audience. The youth market currently drives around 50% of the overall app market so WeeWorld is perfect placed for further success in the App markets.

WeeWorld has also worked with many of the biggest brands and licenses in the teen market. Companies, artists and personalities including Coca Cola, Skittles, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, The Jonas Brothers, Jason Derulo, Snoop Dogg, Skechers, Timberland and Warner Music have all had campaigns and new content included in WeeWorld.

New games, new content, new apps and new deals with brand owners are all produced at WeeWorld’s development office in Glasgow.

WeeWorld works entirely on its own IP and now you – yes YOU – can be part of that creative fun! The company is actively looking for game designers, iOS developers and talented people to help the company continue innovating and producing popular, fun and original new content.

WeeWorld is backed by two of the most respected venture capital funds in the digital world. Benchmark Capital and Accel Partners, both of whom have invested in many pioneers in the online and mobile markets.

We’ll be talking to WeeWorld’s CEO Celia Francis later this week, to get more insight and information on the company and their work.

In the meantime, check out the Game Designer and iOS Developer jobs, or download one of WeeWorld’s apps for limitless creative fun!

Apr 23 2012

Coming Soon… WeeWorld Week

The first ever week-long focus on an innovative interactive company based in Scotland kicks off later today with WeeWorld.

Thanks to the art team for the spiffy new banner gracing the top of the blog.  Watch this space for much more info.  Coming soon….

Apr 20 2012

New Breed Part 1 – New Update For APB: Reloaded

APB: Reloaded is the new free-to-play incarnation of APB, the action-based MMO released by Realtime Worlds shortly before its demise in 2010.

The game was acquired by US-based Gamers First and ongoing development was put into the hands of Reloaded Productions, now located in Edinburgh.

APB: Reloaded was released towards the end of 2011 and has been building a growing audience of players worldwide – and generating revenue from the sale of virtual goods.

Today marks the release of the game’s first major update.  Code-named New Breed Part 1, the update adds a huge amount of new content, new challenges as well as tweaks, improvements and fixes across the board.

 According to the press release you get:
  • Weekly Challenges added to the Fight Club zones. Players can now compete for several tiers of prizes using entirely new, heart-pounding game modes.
  • New Progression Contacts in the game, handing out new player levels and the very latest experimental gear and gadgets. By finding them, players can earn themselves cool new virtual gear.
  • New Mods and Features can be picked up from the new Contacts, bringing new capabilities to players including increased inventory, radar jammers, recoil decrease, opponent tracking and the ultimate high-tech way to lock vehicle speeds at MAX.
  • Combat has been enhanced with new marksmanship and mobility modifications and sweet new weapons.
  • New Custom Clothing Sets including this spring’s ‘must have’ Paramilitary rig.
  • New Vehicle Kits for both Criminals and Enforcers. Players can cruise in style and smash into buildings and opponents while looking even cooler than before.

“New Breed Part 1 is a major step forward for APB Reloaded. The team has been listening to players’ feedback and making sure that every update makes San Paro a more incredible place to play”, said Michael Boniface, General Manager of Reloaded Productions, when we asked him for a quote.

It’s genuinely exciting to see a game that the majority of the industry had dismissed and written off as dead-in-the-water not only making a comeback, but building such an active (and growing) audience.  We’ll be talking to Reloaded in the very near future, to find out more about their plans for the game, the evolution from a paid product to free-to-play and the response from the media and games industry to their trend-bucking.

In the meantime, you can download and play APB: Reloaded – free – on your PC.  Find the game’s blog, or community, find them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.


We’ll leave you with the genuinely awesome live action trailer for the game, which will add a dash of colour and excitement to your Friday morning.

Apr 17 2012

Not Just A Blog…

You can find us, like us, love us, join us, read us or participate with us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ too.  Go on, you know you want to.

You can even sign up for a daily e-mail newsletter, should you work for an evil organisation.  Links on the right hand side of the screen there.  Enjoy!

Apr 11 2012

HubDub Raises New Funding Taking Total To $7M

Edinburgh-based games technology firm HubDub (which also has an office in Manhattan, fact fans,) has raised additional funding from its existing partners, taking the firm’s total investment to $7,000,000. HubDub is the creator of FanDuel, the fantasy sports game, which allows players to bet (real) money on the outcome of sporting events.

FanDuel focuses mostly on US sports and covers many of the biggest leagues and competitions in North America.

Founded in 2008, with FanDuel launching in 2009, HubDub raised its first round of funding from companies including Pentech and Piton Capital.  The company has now increased investment from these partners, giving the company the resources for ongoing growth.

According to HubDub, the company paid out more than $10M in winnings over 2011.  It now expects to pay out over $4m in the forthcoming baseball season.

You can read the whole (professional) story on The Scotsman.

Fanduel can be found on the Twitters or indeed upon your very own Facebook.

Mar 26 2012

World Exclusive – Moops – New From Red Radiant Media

The past weekend saw the ever awesome Game In Scotland event take place in Dundee.  A recruitment fair, networking opportunity, platform for new talent and general shindig for the games industry in Scotland, it introduced a whole range of entirely new companies, working across a huge range of new and interesting areas of interactive entertainment.

Chief amongst these was Red Radiant Media.  Regular readers of Scottishgames will have come across the company before.  They let us know about a new augmented reality app towards the end of 2011, as well as looking for new staff.

At Game In Scotland however, Red Radiant emerged, as if from nowhere, with a number of fantastic announcements about new games, new projects, new partners and major plans for the rest of 2012 and much of 2013.

The first of these was Moops, an original new title being developed in conjunction with Darkside Animation.  Moops is somewhat platform-y, in which the player has to hunt and ‘thwack’ critters, so your trusty companion can vacuum them up and rid Barrel City of the nasty things.

From what we saw, the game uses a combination of gestures and physics-based gameplay, to create a cross between a classic platform game, with elements of Luigi’s Mansion.

Moops is due out in May 2012 for iOS devices.

A second title – Kitchen Games is due out later in 2012, though fewer details on this title were given.  iOS again and a cartoon style variety of indoor athletic events from what we could see.

Tahir, the head of Red Radiant also dropped a number of hints and showed a couple of screenshots for several new projects which the company has in the pipeline.  Another Moops title was mentioned, but the biggest reaction from the crowd was for a game based in the  underwater city of Atlantis.  Since Red Radiant boasts team members who are former members of Realtime Worlds and Irrational Games, with titles under their belts including Crackdown and Bioshock (I & II) – with sales of over 20,000,000 games and four BAFTA awards between various team members.

Only a single screenshot was shown, but the style and atmosphere was very reminiscent of everyone’s favourite underwater dystopia.  We won’t lie.  We’re excited.  Very excited.  Expect this one to get a rapturous welcome (sorry).

We hope to have more news and updates from Red Radiant Media in the near future.  In the meantime, Moops is coming to an iOS device near you soon.  We recommend you pick a copy up…