Level Up! Flash Umbrellas Are the Future
September 7, 2011
I spend a LOT of my time engrossed in games. They cater to my innate desire to have unimaginable power, to save the world, to fly – that sort of thing. Occasionally it’s nice to save the world with, say, an umbrella instead of a sword. Or to take it one step further and take over the world, then force everyone to carry my chosen brand of umbrellas. Or to fly. The point is, it’s exciting to find something unexpected and refreshing in a game.
The growing indie games space, and the Flash games market in particular, are making my future umbrella world possible. There are a lot of cool things happening in the field that are unexpected and sometimes completely awesome. Thanks to Flash and a lot of hungry developers (literally and figuratively; a career in games doesn’t always equal big paychecks), we’re seeing more small teams coming up with really fun, random, and interesting stuff.
What does that look like? Well it might be:
- A game where you have to scare people out of a house by possessing a moose head. And other things. (Haunt the House)
- Or how about adventuring as a laser-shooting elephant on a quest to retrieve your bowler hat (Elephant Quest)
- Not your thing? Maybe you’d prefer to be a bison escaping from a kingdom of evil gummi bears (Burrito Bison)
These games show you don’t need a huge budget to make a game that people will love, and players don’t need hundreds of dollars to enjoy them. The space – and technology – are opening up to provide opportunities to anyone with a good idea, some programming knowledge, and time.
This is great news for HopeLab because it allows us to look at games for health through a whole new lens. Online Flash games may be a way to develop, test, and distribute small, impactful play-based experiences specifically targeted at health issues facing young people. It also allows us to stay current with what young people love, evolving with the technology they access and making something positive and compelling for them.
| Tags: | Austin Harley, customer, flash, gaming, Level Up!, Technology, tweens, videogames |
| Posted In: | Our People, Research |
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