I am quite excited about the Kindle Fire these days. They are growing very fast in the US and with its cheap price tag its also a great device for kids. The Kindle Fire lends itself very well for educational apps and games so TribePlay recently launched Dr. Panda, Teach me! preschool on the kindle fire.
I am very excited for TribePlay to develop more apps for this market. You can play the game on the kindle fire by clicking here!
The kids educational gaming market is growing fast on tablets and smart phones. We created a fun new game for preschool kids (age 2 to 5) and we just launched it on iOs.
Check it out http://bit.ly/drpanda-preschool
BrainJewel is a 12+ mini game adventure that takes you on a journey through Ancient Egypt.
The player will test his/her knowledge in different categories such as Memory, Math, Visual, Speed
and Logic. BUT BrainJewel is a brain game with added intelligence: instead of just aiming for a
high score, players travel through an animated Ancient Egyptian setting, slowly uncovering
an immersive storyline, aided at all times by their faithful companion Puffy.
App Store URL: http://bit.ly/brainjewel
Trailer: http://youtu.be/z2ogH9kVvUU
Gameplay: http://bit.ly/gameplayjewel
(unofficial)
Screenshots: http://bitly.com/w768Rx
2 weeks ago we launched BrainJewel on facebook. The process has been very interesting so far. Facebook gaming has taken off the last few years with competition heating up and much of the space being dominated by the likes of Zynga and playfish.
For smaller developers (like tribeplay) it is therefore deemed very hard/almost impossible to gain ground on facebook. Although it is definitely not easy we have still decided to choose facebook to launch our first titles on since it is still by far the best platform to offer players a truly social gaming experience.
This year we have 3 titles coming up with BrainJewel being the first. Until so far I am quite happy with the progress we are making. Without having done any heavy promotions we have grown to 3.000 MAU and we already have an active core playing base.
As with all social games, the product is never finished. For the coming time we will keep on updating the game with new features and levels. Yesterday we had a nice blogpost written about our game, you can read it here:
http://blog.games.com/2011/09/06/brainjewel-facebook-preview/
The game you can play here. Don’t forget to invite your friends!
Before when I used to hear “brain games” I would not feel any excitement to actually play these kind of games. After all, a game has to be fun right?
By now I have changed my mind. At TribePlay we are currently working on an upcoming facebook brain game: BrainJewel. The story behind it is that you are an Egyptian archeologist and that you have to use your brain to level up and discover treasures. Earlier facebook brain games like “Who has the biggest brain” proved that brain games are very popular and can even be more fun if you can compare scores with your friends. This made us build in score comparison mechanisms in BrainJewel as well. And I can honestly say that I like brain games now.
The good thing about brain games is that you can really improve yourself and you will get smarter in playing these games by making more clever use of your mind capacity. Comparing with your friends is also great and really motivates to keep on training and reach higher scores. If that is not enough I recently read reports that playing brain games enhance brain capacity as well and improve memory among other things!
BrainJewel will officially be launched next week so stay tuned ;) Check out the Facebook fan page of BrainJewel to get the latest update on the release!
In China there are many construction projects going on. With each of these projects they always have over the top (and often with not so good English) marketing slogans. The ones below are from a business “landmark” they are building in the south of Chengdu. Quite amusing ;)
If there is any brand making waves in China these days it must be Apple. Enter any local teahouse or coffeebar in Chengdu and you are bound to see people playing with their ipads and iphones.
Last month, when I was walking on huaihai road in Shanghai I saw the biggest Apple store I have ever seen fully packed with people. It is quite amazing.
Busy time recently. I have spent time in Shanghai last month for business meetings. I always love to go back to Shanghai but not this time. The month of June is famous in Shanghai for rain season but in the week I was there I had not experienced it that bad. There must have been a few moments of dry weather but I can honestly say that I experienced 7 days of continuous rain. Especially the last day the rain was extremely heavy. I went to the airport where personnel told me all flights were delayed and that I could better come back the next day. I decided to take my chances and checked in. Amazingly the 3pm flight to Chengdu was the only one to take off!
Chengdu has a bit more mild climate with not that much rain but ironically enough when I landed in Chengdu it was raining (and the days after that). Luckily I brought the umbrella I bought in Shanghai ;)
Other than the rain it was a nice time in Shanghai and it gave me the opportunity to meet many people in the gaming and software industry. Chengdu in that sense is still quite isolated with not that many networking chances. So it’s important to get out every once in a while.
In the company things are going fine. We now have more people from different countries (as opposed to only Dutch and Chinese people) and you can immediately notice how important that is for a gaming company, especially for the creative process. Having different cultural insights is invaluable. I will be sure to keep the multi-cultural atmosphere here and expand it where I can..
We have a new title coming up called BrainJewel. BrainJewel will put the player in the shoes of a treasure hunter who has to play fun memory and visual games to unlock treasures and artifacts and compare with friends. We plan to launch the game early august so stay tuned!
For TribePlay Game Development we are currently looking for a Senior Flash Game Developer. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
TribePlay offers YOU the following
If you are interested in working in the gaming industry, please contact us today. Also check out our other available Job Opportunities. To learn more about TribePlay I recommend you to follow our company blog or contact Jenny.
Senior Flash Game Developer
Tasks and responsibilities overview
1. Develop Flash-based online social games, integrate them with social networks
2. Development of innovative gameplay and social networking technology
3. Working with a team of artists, designers and animators to deliver quality solutions in the agreed timeframes
4. Communicate and provide status reports to the team
Your Profile
1. Bachelor degree in Computer Science / IT / Software Engineering/ Flash programming or equivalent desired
2. Deep experience with ActionScript and Game Programming, experience with Multiplayer Game Development preferred
3. At least 2 years working experience in software development with a portfolio of successfully created flash games
4. Ability to accurately estimate work and track record of delivering to commitments
5. Interest in digital media/online games
6. Independent & problem-solving abilities
7. Internationally orientated
8. Someone with a creativity, open-minded and eager to share knowledge and learn from other colleague
I am looking forward to meet you! Thijs
The last time I bought a laptop was 3 years ago when I bought a small Sony vaio. Although I liked the mobility of this laptop the screen is obviously very small and the performance not that great. So I decided to use it only for traveling and to use a desktop computer at the office. The desktop computer gave me back the performance but lacks the mobility.
I was looking for a solution to this problem and found it in the Dell XPS 15. Someone at TribePlay recommended the laptop to me so i went to the store to check it out. At first sight I found it to be too big and heavy but I still decided to go for it.
After having used it for a week I can say that I love it. The performance, sharp screen and nice keyboard are a joy to work with. I do not think I will ever use a desktop again!
I just walked through the city center of Chengdu and I am always impressed by the fact that the traffic is extremely chaotic while at the same time you do not see many accidents.
When I first entered China I felt quite uncomfortable with the traffic compared to the more organized traffic in Holland. But after a while I started to realize that the traffic in China might actually be safer.
First reason is that in Chengdu (and also Shanghai) people do not (get the chance to) drive very fast. It is always so crowded and there are so many cars blocking the road that it is literally impossible to speed. The advantage here is that you don’t have crazy speed driving cars like you often have in Holland which is very dangerous.
A second reason is that drivers in China are more prepared for something to happen. Since in China nobody cares about traffic regulations too much people know this and also accept it and thus anticipate more easily to it. Traffic in China is literally every man for himself.
In Holland you assume people will hold on to traffic rules while this might not always be the case, creating dangerous and unexpected situations.
In the end which way is better is hard to say but I do feel the traffic is safer here, although chaotic ;). Of course I have not looked into the statistics so this is more a personal observation ;)
People here at TribePlay are getting very creative with our company weblog. From now on you will be able to read interviews with each of our employees about their life in Chengdu and the work they do here.
You can read the first interview here http://www.tribeplay.com/blog/. The interview is with Leon, one of the first flash developers to join TribePlay. He is already with us pretty much from the start.
I think it will give our visitors some interesting reads for the time to come!
When I first entered China I had barely heard of the karaoke concept. To a Dutch person it sounds pretty strange to go to a place where you can hear each other sing. During my first times of karaoke I even felt embarrassed since I felt uncomfortable with the fact that other people are forced to listen to my terrible singing.
Then I found that this is really not what it is about and that it is actually kind of fun experience. Lucky that it headed this way because little did I know that when I started TribePlay in China that it would be our employees’ preferred activity for our 2 monthly company event.
Starting with a dinner at a fancy Chinese Restaurant
So if you are planning on starting a company in China, better start practicing your vocals and be sure to leave early ;)
Europeans learning Chinese drinking games
Lily singing Madonna
The TribePlay Crew
This Blog post originally appeared in the TribePlay Game Development Blog.
The friends that were over this weekend were in town to go to the Volvo Golf Open, a european tour event that was held here in Chengdu. They are good friends with Dutch Golfer Robertjan Derksen who also participated in the event. We were lukcy enough to get free tickets and went to take a look on the final day.
After spending 2 hours in the taxi (the driver drove us to the wrong course) we arrived at the tournament. The weather was beautiful and it was not too busy (yes, it exists in China!) which was great. We walked with famous Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia who played a good round.
The thing i miss on these days is actually playing myself. I have great passion for golf and i used to play it a lot back in Europe. Unfortunately golf in China is still very much an elite sport and thus very expensive. The course was certainly beautiful so i am still considering it ;)
This weekend I had some friends over from Shanghai and I took them to a street in Chengdu called kuan xiangzi (Wide Alley). In fact I always take visitors to this place and that is obviously because I really like it myself.
Kuan Xiangzi (as well as the parallel street zhai xiangzi which mean “narrow alley”) is a small street with restaurants, tea houses and shops that are housed in (rebuilt) ancient traditional style structures or courtyard houses. It is done in a really charming way and it gives you the taste of old China. I wish China still had more of these places.
We went into a beautiful old style tea house and zipped tea for the whole afternoon. Very relaxing!
When I first started TribePlay it was my plan to focus fully on branded games. By working at Spil Games Asia I noticed the enormous reach flash games can have and that combined with my general interest in branding and advertising made for a logical combination.
Due to projects like Eccky our focus shifted a little bit but I still keep an interest in this area. Although the industry is growing there are still quite some problems to overcome. Most of the time Branded Games are not about good game-play but more about the Brand itself scaring away customers. I guess it is important to find the right balance between these things when you are in this business.
Recently we were lucky enough to get approached by AirFrance China to make a branded game for them that promotes their travel destinations around the world. On top of that people can win a prize by playing the game.
It is launched today on the AirFrance China homepage , very exciting. Hope to do more of them in the future!
http://airfrance.tribeplay.com/
Nintendo is launching their much hyped new 3DS hand console in the US and Europe later this month. It already went on sale in Japan last month and as always the Chinese vendors are quick with getting these things. Yesterday I had to go to computer city for repairing of my Nintendo WII and I noticed that they had the 3DS and asked them if I could play with it. I was quite excited since I had read about this device for a long time.
Unfortunately they did not have any games installed on it yet so I could only play around with some inbuilt features. One cool feature is that you can make a pic of yourself and then it transforms into an avatar that you can play with a real life background. The 3D effect is cool but you have to look from exactly the right angle.
What I further notice though is that it is (read this) a bit tough on the eyes. I wonder how it feels after you have played a game on it for an hour.
When the English version comes out I will be definitely buying one. I am very interesting to see whether or not this is going to revolutionize the gaming industry. I think Nintendo took quite a big bet with this one considering the effect it might have on the eyes. Other than that it’s a very cool device!
Over the weekend me and my girlfriend went to Hainan for a few days of relaxing. For those of you who do not know, Hainan is a (sub) tropical island in the south Chinese sea and China’s major (and only) sun & beach tourist destination. It is only 2 hours flying from Chengdu and therefore more convenient than going to Thailand or Philippines if you only have a few days.
The Chinese like to call it the “Hawaii” of the east and although I do think that is a bit exaggerated Hainan is indeed a very nice island with beautiful landscapes and nice beaches. I had been to Hainan 2 times before. One time in December 2005 when I just arrived in China and another time in 2008.
We booked a package including a 4 night stay in the Howard Johnson resort which is relatively newly built and located near the airport. This in contrast to most foreign resorts that are located inside the famous Yalong Bay.
The resort was very nice with a beautiful entrance and nice swimming pools and gardens. The downsides were the food and the fact that every night they had a live singer until late in the evening. If the singing itself would be at least a bit decent it would have already been more bearable but this was also not the case. When at one night I called the management of the hotel to stop the singing because we could not sleep they did put it off luckily ;).
Then the weather. Although Hainan is known for its many days of sunshine my own experiences are not exactly on par with that. The last time in 2008 we have a storm for the whole week and I did not see any sunshine. This time it seemed no different with cloudy and windy weather for the first 2 1/2 days of our stay. Luckily the last 1 ½ days we still got the sunshine we wanted. I am not sure if my experiences are just unlucky or if Hainan might not have that good weather after all ;).
The island itself is very nice and relaxed which gives you a feeling that is very hard to get in other parts of China. More people must agree with me because the real estate prices have sky rocketed. If you imagine that this is the biggest country in the world with a fast growing economy and then imagine that this is the county’s only sunshine holiday resort it seems logical. Would be nice to have an apartment here one day although the prices are 2 to 3 times that of Chengdu it seems… Then again we only looked at sea side apartments ;)
Cool article on venture-beat about Eccky, the kids virtual world that TribePlay develops and exploits together with our partners in Holland.
http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/18/dutch-firm-eccky-grows-a-new-virtual-game-world-for-kids/
With Eccky’s growth comes more media interest which is a good thing. We have great plans lined up for the coming time with this Virtual
World. Gonna be exciting!
