Last week, I wrote about how US casual games firm Blockdot has launched a 'gaming center' in Second Life, partnering with Asahi Advertising to offer a series of games from its Kewlbox website within the virtual world, targeting Japanese users. It was certainly intriguing, so I contacted Dan Ferguson, director of game development and founder of Blockdot, to find out more. Read on for the details.
Virtual Worlds Forum Blog: How did the Second Life project come about - what’s your aim?
Blockdot worked with Asahi to create this project. Early last year, several of Asahi’s clients asked about Second Life as a media outlet. Blockdot worked with Asahi to create “G7,” an island on Second Life. The G7 Island project demonstrated the possibilities of crossing over traditional online gaming into a virtual world like Second Life. Asahi is using the games to the appeal of advergames in the Japanese market, as well as our ability to effectively partner with companies on joint solutions.
VWFB: How complicated was it to set up - was it fairly easy, or technically challenging?
The project was broken into two parts: Asahi’s overall concept and design for G7 Island, and then Blockdot’s delivery of games that would appeal to the Japanese market.
Once Asahi determined the details for the G7 Island, they were able to smoothly build out their location. For Blockdot, this was our first rollout of games specifically to the Japanese market. Because our Business Development Director is bilingual and bicultural in Japanese, we were able to establish effective and efficient lines of communication between Asahi, FiveStar, and Blockdot. With the communication plan in place, Blockdot quickly identified what games would work and any technical and content issues were easily resolved through our joint approach with Asahi and FiveStar.
Blockdot has hundreds of games that could have been used for the island’s content, but only 10 games were picked for the initial concept and test.
VWFB: Are you planning to expand to English / other language versions in the future?
In terms of G7 Island, Asahi’s focus was on the Japanese market. For Blockdot, there are many options we are currently exploring. As the experience in G7 Island continues to grow and we gain feedback, we will be in a better position to consider the potential of future Second Life projects.
VWFB: There seems to be a big potential crossover between virtual worlds and web casual games - is this an area you expect to see / do more in?
G7 Island is providing the foundation for the use of causal games in the Japanese market. While this experience is exclusively for Japan, we do see the opportunity to expand casual games in other markets, possibly through SL. But our development work will be based on the requirements of our clients.
VWFB: And do you think other virtual worlds beyond Second Life lend themselves to this?
It depends on how the virtual world and user would benefit from such an experience. The first goal is to provide an experience that will complement the VW and fit with the VW experience. As we found with SL and Asahi, when the goal is clearly identified, options are always available. In the case of Japan, one day we may provide a gaming experience that goes beyond the PC to other platforms (such cell phones), but still utilizing VWs and web experiences.
To check out Blockdot’s Gaming Center, click on this SLurl.
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