SPIL Games HTML5 contest
First winners of game development competition announced.
Hilversum, the Netherlands — 14 October, 2010 — SPIL GAMES, the world’s largest online casual gaming company, has announced the first set of monthly winners of its HTML5 mobile-game development contest. The company also revealed that its mobile gaming sites (including m.games.co.uk, m.agame.co.uk and m.girlsgogames.co.uk) have racked up more than 1.5 million gameplays since their launch six weeks ago.
SPIL GAMES believes HTML5 is the future of mobile gaming: it enables users to play games instantly through their mobile browser whenever and on whichever platform they choose, without any installation hassles. HTML5 will also free up game developers by saving them the time and money they currently lose modifying games for different mobile platforms.
The HTML5 mobile-game development contest was created to encourage developers to explore the benefits of the HTML5 standard. It runs for six months and has a total prize pot of $50,000.
The winner of this month’s top prize is ‘Sand Trap!’ by Derek Detweiler (Gopherwood Studios), a brilliantly simple puzzle game with an innovative concept in which players direct sand through a series of mazes and traps. The judges felt the game raises the bar on utilising touch-screen technology in HTML5. The real-time physics particularly impressed the panel.
‘Block Dream,’ a block-dropping game in which players must manipulate shapes to construct complete rows, created by Bruno Garcia, was awarded second place. The method of control used in this game particularly impressed the judges, as this type of gameplay is currently difficult to implement in Flash.
Finally, ‘Zombie Troops’ by developer Makar Osokin has been awarded the third-place prize because of its unique concept and because it is one of the first mobile HTML5 games in the shooting genre.
All three winning games are now available to play for free on SPIL GAMES’ mobile sites.
At the same time, SPIL GAMES has also revealed initial statistics from its mobile gaming sites’ first month, following their launch on August 31, 2010. These sites allow any user who owns a mobile device with a browser supporting HTML5 (i.e., iOS and Android devices from version 2.0) to visit any of SPIL GAMES' 41 game websites using their mobile device and be automatically rerouted to that site’s dedicated mobile version. Surpassing expectations, users have played games on these sites more than 1.5 million times since launch. The three countries with the most visitors to the mobile sites are France, the US, and Poland. The most-played games from all countries are Bubble Hit, Block Mover and Castle Solitaire.
The mobile game sites are accessible by visiting any of SPIL GAMES’ online gaming sites. They currently feature 10 mobile titles (with new games being added continuously), all available to play for free via any mobile browser supporting HTML5.
To learn more about SPIL GAMES’ commitment to HTML5 and belief that HTML5 is the future of mobile gaming, please visit: http://www.spilgames.com/presscenter/releases/spilgames_html5_us.php
About SPIL GAMES
Based in the Netherlands, SPIL GAMES owns and operates a global family of websites dedicated to online games. With 41 localised online game destinations in 19 languages, SPIL GAMES is ranked as a Top 60 most-visited online property in the world (according to comScore Media Metrix) and attracts 130 million unique visitors to its websites each month. A deep understanding of the online gaming market enables SPIL GAMES to produce localised and targeted websites such as Games.co.uk (for families), Agame.co.uk (for teens) and GirlsGoGames.co.uk (for girls). In its current portfolio, SPIL GAMES has a collection of more than 4,000 online games, which have been developed both in house and through partnerships with top-tier game developers and studios. For more information, please visit www.spilgames.com.