May 14th, 2010 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Platforms: AndroidOS, Platforms: Facebook, Platforms: iOS | No Comments »
YouWeb, one of the companies behind social gaming platform OpenFeint, has launched a new multiplatform gaming network that helps developers to take their games across mobile and fixed platforms.
With Sibblingz, developers can build games for both (web-based) PC platforms and mobile phones like iPhone and Android. The platform is launching with games from Crowdstar (also YouWeb owned) and SiXiTS. Though developers can build their games for both iPhone and other platforms in one environment, it is not clear how and if Apple will allow games built with it given Apple’s ban on external compilers.
“Game play on the smart phone and tablet is different from social game play on the PC like Facebook. iDevice gamers want more skill-based mechanics with console-like gaming feel,” said Peter Relan, Executive Chairman of CrowdStar. “By using the Sibblingz engine we can make a game optimized for the iPad that is connected to the same back-end data as the Facebook version. Sibblingz gives us multi-device reach with the flexibility to make a game experience unique to that device.”
“A solution like Sibblingz can have a dramatic impact on brands and developers looking to build a game that has scale from a cross-platform perspective,” said Michael Cai, Vice President of Video Games at the research firm, Interpret, LLC. “Right now it’s quite expensive to build a game on multiple platforms, and it’s a big hurdle for someone looking to create the next social game phenomena across devices.”
“After gamers on social networks have played a cross-platform game that can be used across all devices, they’ll come to expect it from all games,” says Ben Savage, Founder of Sibblingz. “Adding these features to a game after it’s been developed is difficult and expensive. We look forward to a new era where a studio starts a title with Sibblingz, giving the title a great foundation to scale.”
