MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Online games studio Idea Fabrik has unveiled a new social games development platform called Idea System.
The new package will launch in the first quarter of 2011, and feature Idea Fabrik’s recently acquired HeroEngine with social games focused tools like browser plug-ins and ‘massively scalable server architecture’.
Hosting in worldwide data centres and global billing and marketing support have also been touted for Idea System, as well as no up-front costs or licensing fees under a ‘revenue sharing model’ that sees the company take 30 per cent of profits made by making use of the platform.
The package will include support for the lifetime of titles developed with it, and Idea Fabrik COO and president of US operations Neil Harris said it was developed with the changing needs of social games developers in mind.
“During our early work on Idea System, we realized that the needs of social game developers went well beyond new game engine technology,” he said.
“Developers keep telling us that they want to focus on building games, and Idea System provides them with everything they need to turn a great social game into a great business.”
Idea Fabrik VP of engineering Herb Marselas outlined some of the features available in the new platform, saying: “starting with the Hero technology’s unique concept, which lets developers build their games online and in realtime, we’ve engineered a new integrated server system along with new server and player management services.”
“This is more than a game engine; Idea System is an entire platform for building and operating social games businesses. Developers don’t need to worry about integrating all the different pieces because we’ve made sure it’s already done for them,” he added.
Idea Fabrik chairman of the board Alex Shalash also described the targeted nature of his company’s new product.
“The social gaming space is still growing, and there are quite a few developers out there who have fantastic ideas but don’t have access to the resources they need to bring them to life,” he said.
“By partnering with these developers, we provide social game makers of every size with the chance to join this exciting market.”
—
For the latest GDC news iPhone owners should download our free app (iTunes link). It puts Develop’s daily must-read online news content – including all the stories from GDC – in the palm of your hand. Sponsored by Blitz Games.
