Overview
Learn what Advergames are, how to use them, and how to create your own!
Welcome to the world of Advergaming! Interactive games are one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment and they're on track to exceed movie ticket sales. Using them as an advertising tool, however, is a relatively new idea that is catching on fast. Advergames are created not only to entertain, but to sell a product, brand, or company. More and more companies are using these free, brand-centric games to supplement, and even replace, traditional branding methods. If you are a Web designer, graphic designer, or game developer, you'll want to learn more about Advergames. They're showing up everywhere, on the Web, cell phones, CD-ROMs, even embedded in email.
The Advergaming Developer's Guide teaches designers and game developers the ins-and-outs of this innovative new form of advertising. It shows you how to create a variety of Advergames from the ground up, even if you have no prior game development experience. The book begins with a detailed overview of Advergaming, branding, gameplay, and the two main creation tools, Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Director MX. From there you'll learn how to conceptualize, develop, launch, and track the success of your Advergame. In the last part of the book, you'll create your own games, including a linking, matching, puzzle, memory, pinball, makeover, arcade, and whack-the-mole type game. And finally, you'll learn about the business realities of Advergames through case studies with leading companies, including Blackdot, YaYa Media, Inc., and AGENCY.COM.
This is the one resource you'll need to get started with Advergames, whether you're a Flash/Director developer already involved in advertising and game creation, a game developer looking to expand your development channels, or a Web designer looking for an innovative new tool.
KEY FEATURES
* Provides a detailed reference to Advergaming, including company case studies, a detailed guide to developers, and a glossary of terms
* Teaches you how to create nine, ready-to-use Advergames
* Provides insightful ways to use Advergames to channel Web surfers to your site and keep them there
* Details methods for tracking and analyzing the success of the game
* Explains how game developers can use their existing skills and tools to open this new development channel
On the CD!
* The nine games created in the book and free sample games
* On-line resources that include dozens of games and Advergame sites, industry links, and other helpful tips, tools, and techniques used by game developers around the world
* Trial versions of Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Macromedia Director MX
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS WINDOWS: Intel Pentium III 600 MHz or higher, Windows 2000 or Windows XP, 128 MB of free available system RAM (256 MB recommended), 275 MB available disk space; MACINTOSH: Power Macintosh G3 5000 MHz or higher, Mac OS X 10.2.6 or 10.3, 128 MB or more of free available system RAM (256 MB recommended), 215 MB available disk space
About the Author:
Rod Afshar (The Woodlands, TX) is a software team member at the epic software group and a contributing author of Flash 5 Design: From Concept to Creation, and Microsoft Excel 2003: Plain and Simple. Cliff Jones (Magnolia, TX), also of the epic software, group contributed to Director Game Development from Concept to Creation, and Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio Interface Design. Duke Banerjee (Austin, TX) works at epic software as well, and is an author on 3D Interactive: The Inspire 3D User's Guide.
Synopsis
After describing the major components of Flash MX and Director MX, this book offers one approach to creating online games that deliver embedded advertising messages to consumers. It discusses product identification, game choice, interface design, game organization, and distribution mediums, then applies the concepts to nine case studies. The CD-ROM contains the source code and graphics for all nine games and trial versions of Flash MX and Director MX. Annotation © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR