ScottishGames.biz

Teatime Treats Promo = Creepy Badtimes

We like casual games round these here parts.  We really do.  Whatever the format, whatever the platform, we're there.  A quick five minutes during elevenses, a full half hour blast at lunchtime, or even a quick attempt over coffee and biscuits at four o'clock, we're willing to try anything.

Which makes our recent discovery - combining food AND games - even more peculiar  Cult Scottish biscuit company Tunnocks, creator of the hugely popular Caramel Wafer, Caramel Log and the peerless Teacake and Snowball has created a couple of unique ONLINE GAMES to help promote their range of teatime treats.

The only problem is, while they're strangely brilliant, they're also creepier than your Mum marrying an evil clown called Strangles ("You can call me, 'Daddy Strangles', son!")

They feature the Tunnocks mascot, a young, rosy-cheeked fellow who for time out of mind has emphasised clean, healthy living and an appreciation for chocolate covered biscuit-based snacks.

While we have a strict 'No Reviews' policy here on SG.biz, we have to point you towards these gems and fill you in on them - because, like Tunnocks themselves, they're rebels out of left field obeying no rules but their own.  Plus it's Scottish and games-related and it means we can avoid press releases for half an hour or so.

The first game, Snack Hunt, is a PAC-MAN clone.  You control a side-on view of Biscuit Lad.  The maze has a Teacake at each corner and you've got to scoff them all before the timer runs out.  Bizarrely the sound effects have no reflection whatsoever on the treats in question.  The small red 'pills' which dot the maze are swallowed with a sound effect which we're pretty certain is a Kettle or possibly Tortilla Chip.  However, if you make to to one of the Teacakes (which are, remember, a thin chocolatey biscuit base, covered liberally with a hemisphere of soft mallow and then coated in a deliciously thin layer of real milk chocolate); then you get a crunch -  which is unmistakably the sound of an apple being eaten.  Unless it's to indicate you've just eaten the foil wrapper as well of course.

All in all, it's a bit strange.  Not a whole lot of fun and has yet to convince us to rush out and buy a packet of biscuits.  Yet compelling. 

The other game is simply called Snowballs.  In this game, Biscuit Lad must catch the delicious Tunnock's Snowballs and avoid the nasty, cold real snowballs, which are not as tasty. Left and Right arrows control your movement.  You have to collect 10 Snowballs in 30 seconds, though this is sort of random.  We'll swear we didn't miss a one, but still failed (on level one) because the game didn't actually drop 10 lovely Snowballs.

However, this quirk aside, it's worth playing for the extraordinarily sinister atmosphere.  It's like a casual game directed by David Lynch.  Our hero, the apple-cheeked youth, in his red wellies, scarf and gloves combo.  Set in a strangely sterile landscape where the only other occupants are two sheep and a stick-wielding Snowman, who broods menacingly in one corner, promising punishment and retribution for the weak and uncoordinated.

Who's dropping the snowballs?  They can't be flakes - THEY'RE quite small and hang suspended in the air.  Is it God?  Is Biscuit Lad in purgatory, or worse still, in hell itself?  Is he being teased and ridiculed by a vast, wicked intelligence?  Is it taunting him by not sending down the required number of biscuits in the pitifully small amount time he has?  Or is it a Zen exercise in which the mind has space to expand and contemplate while the body completes an endless task (wax on, wax off).

It's a game which asks for more questions than it answers...

All in all, it's a very strange place.  The whole site looks like it was designed by the team behind Flash Gordon and the games themselves have the same sort of feel as 1970's Hammer Horror movies - with the same unexpected, visceral appeal.

Biscuit Lad turns out to be an unlikely hero of this eerie online universe and could do very well as the star of his own series of games; or at least starting out as a sidekick (Kane & Lynch & Biscuit Lad for example).

While not everything Scottish and game related can be said to shine like a beacon in the darkness of the shores of gaming, Tunnocks should be congratulated for bringing something new and terrifying to the casual gaming world.

It's A Casual Gaming FRENZY!

Several news snippets in the past few days are pointing towards the fact that the casual games market is starting to be perceived as the place to be - and the place to be seen.  At least by companies which do not have their heads so far up a camel's backend that they cannot see the light (albeit an exquisitely rendered camel, made up of over 9,000,000 individual polygons, capable of well over 60fps complete with all sorts of motion blur, high dynamic range lighting and err, so on...)

- Iplay, who are now part of the Oberon casual gaming behemoth are launching 11 new games from Oberon's casual portfolio, including Hexic and Mozaki Blocks.

- Apple's new range of iPods have new higher resolution screens and are designed for gaming

- Take 2 announced that they are creating a dedicated casual gaming 'label' and have already signed a deal with Nickelodeon for several brands

- US retailer GameStop announced that it would be targeting users outside the 'core gaming demographic' in it's marketing and customer service strategies.  In other words 'we need the casual market...'

- Cobra Mobile launched it's own casual gaming portal www.cobimobi.com

- Denki  launched Shrek The Third it's 56th (or so) casual games title for Digital Interactive TV, on Sky in the UK

- Slam's casual label Joyboost is pulling in very nice reviews for it's female oriented casual title Orchidia

- Valve, the company behind Half Life has let slip that gamers pre-ordering their 'Orange Box' pack of new titles (including HL2 Ep 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal amongst others) will also get a Half Life themed 'extreme' version of casual game 'Peggle'.  Weird but very cool.  A 'real' developer offering a 'casual' game as an incentive to (we assume) 'real' gamers.

Hmmm...

Yet, despite all of these good things, there remain huge swathes of the games market which remain absolutely steadfast in their belief that 'casual games' are not 'real games' and are not worthy of attention or consideration by 'real' developers.

While SG.biz shuns such fools, it remains an interesting question why so many otherwise smart companies are so threatened by this new area?

Friday Afternoon Game

A new - hopefully regular - feature for your delight and benefit.  A game to while away those long hours till the end of the working day. 

Today's title is Dice Wars, which comes from GameDesign.jp, a flash and online company, which offers a fair old selection of titles to play in your browser.

Dice Wars is a risk-like game in which you must capture territory from other players.  Each area of the map is occupied by a number of dice.  To capture an adjoining area, you must roll a higher total than the current owner, using the dice in your own territory.

Clear?

Good.

The game ends when one player wins all of the territories on the map.

The current version is sadly single-player only, but can be played against up to 8 AI players. 

WARNING: Dice Wars is hideously, utterly and totally compelling.  It's very nicely balanced and unbelievably playable.  Try it at your own risk.  SG accepts no responsibility for the loss of employment, revenue, family or life, due to playing Dice Wars.

Thanks to JayIsGames for the introduction to the game.

Casual Gaming Numbers

The Casual Games Conference is taking place in Seattle this week.  Some interesting statistics have come to light from Macrovision, owners of the TryGames site, concerning the type of players who are using these games, as well as how they're playing.

Admittedly it's for a single site, but if these numbers are representative of the other online games sites, then it would indicate (again), that the potential market for games - and the opportunity for developers - is far larger than anyone has considered.

Strangely, most people within the 'industry' still don't consider browser based titles and simple card/parlour games as real games.  Which is leading to the bulk of these types of titles being created by web and flash studios, instead of game developers.

Take a look through some of these figures...

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 2006--Macrovision(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:MVSN), which operates the Trymedia Network for the digital distribution of PC games, today revealed the results of a new worldwide survey indicating there are common misconceptions about the habits of people who play casual games.

Among the surprises are that those who like mainstream games, such as Diner Dash and MahJong, frequently play more than nine, two or more hour 'sessions' each week. Furthermore, casual gameplay happens most often at night as opposed to during commute hours or other 'quick break' times during the day.

"Our survey has determined that mainstream audiences dedicate a substantial amount of time to gameplay -- not just in 15-minute increments as previously thought," said Loren Hillberg, executive vice president and general manager of Commerce at Macrovision. "Whether advertisers are reaching out to casual or core audiences, we want them, through the results of our survey, to realize who gamers are, how they operate and what they like. The survey findings will certainly help them to adjust their advertising strategies accordingly to ensure maximum penetration to the appropriate audiences."

The 789 survey participants have played casual games through the company's www.trygames.com site that offers a catalog of more than 1500 core and casual PC titles. The online survey, which was conducted by Trymedia last week, revealed the following specific results:

Casual game player demographics:

    --  37% are age 35-49
    --  28% are age 50-60

    --  71% female
    --  29% male

    --  58% have no children under age 18 living in their households

    --  Top personal interests/hobbies of casual gamers:

        1. Pets
        2. Travel
        3. Arts & Crafts
        4. Shopping
        5. Gardening

Casual game play habits:

    --  37% play 9 or more game 'sessions' per week
    --  66% say each 'session' typically lasts for at least one hour
    --  31% spend more than two hours in each gameplay 'session'
    --  73% play at night
    --  55% play on weekends
    --  48% play when they have the house to themselves

    --  Top casual game genres:

        1. Puzzle (67%)
        2. Card (44%)
        3. Strategy (35%)
        4. Action (34%)

    --  30% have downloaded more than 21 games in the last year

    --  67% read game reviews and 46% of those who do feel they are
        influenced to try or purchase a new game by the reviews they
        read

    --  84% access the Internet through a home broadband connection

    --  70% have purchased a game after first playing it free of
        charge on the Internet

There are some very interesting numbers in there.  The age range is far higher than might have been expected.  65% of players are over 35.  The survey doesn't give any details of other systems, but it would be interesting to see if these players had access to other games platforms.  It's wild speculation, but could it be that console games are seen as too demanding by people with jobs/families?

The breakdown of genres is really interesting.  It's not a surprise that puzzle and card games come out on top, but Action coming bottom of the pile again highlights the stark difference between casual games and their console brethren. 

The conversion rate is extraordinarily high.  Normally, the number of people who move to a paid service from a free one is under 10%.  It may be specific to the TryGames site, but a conversion rate of 70% means that there is, despite the hoots and jeers from the 'mainstream' games industry, money to be made in casual and online gaming.