NY Gaming January 2010 Meetup Recap

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The freezing winds Tuesday night did not keep gamers, publishers and developers all over NYC from throwing on an extra layer and making their way to the first NY Gaming Meetup of 2010. The large crowd enjoyed their drinks while previewing the latest in local development.

First up was Andy Rosenberg, account coordinator from Triple Point PR, an NY Gaming Meetup sponsor. Rosenberg, a representative for Critical Thought Games, introduced the audience to geoSpark, a casual iPhone game where players create colorful bursts of sparks by linking identical shapes.

This is a joint venture between Critical Thought Games and Imangi Studios," Rosenburg said. "GeoSpark borrows principles of design from the geoDefense series, but is more of a casual game."

Rosenberg said developers made geoSpark an easily accessible game that was fun to play in short bursts. The team built the game around the "Five Minute Power Rule," described by Rosenberg as a game that is not too deep but still has an addictive quality, and easy enough for anyone to play.

"We feel that that is the way to go with iPhone game development," Rosenberg said.

Next up was Matthew O. Brimer, co-founder of Pick 24/7, a sweepstakes website where users can enter hourly drawings to win real cash. Brimer said the site is free, but that users may purchase a premium membership that automatically enters them into every single drawing.

"This is how we monetize the site," Brimer said. "We offer the premium membership as a service of convenience."

According to Brimer, premium members pay around $12 a month for the service, but those who don't want to spend their money can earn a free month of the premium membership by earning Pick 24/7 bucks.

"We're trying to do something that is fun, that is attention-grabbing, but still aimed at the people who play sweepstakes and lottery," Brimer said.

Orchun Koroglu, director of Miharo Games, finished the evening with a demo of Miharo's first game of 2010, Sack Sack. Koroglu, a NY Gaming Meetup regular, described Sack Sack as a farm-themed maze puzzle for the iPhone.

"My programmer came up with the idea," Koroglu said. "But we had to find a story. I don't know why, but everybody likes farm games so I said let's try that."

Koroglu said that the game comes with ten levels, and there is an update each month that adds 20 new puzzles. Speaking of upgrades, the Miharo team is also working on creating a global leader board for the game.

The NY Gaming Meetup comes together once a month for a night of networking and demos at Gallery Bar in Manhattan.

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01/14/2010 by Gracie

I did not have time to meet everyone there. But I had a good time and looking forward to the next meetup.

01/14/2010 by Anxo :: 2 years ago