November 12, 2009,   In the first part of this blog post I talked about the branding components of an Advergame.   In part 2, we will discuss what makes for a great Computer Game, and in turn a great Advergame.  

Think back to time when you first discovered video games – the thrill and excitement of actually interacting with some element on the screen was enthralling. Now, stop and think about your favorite video game. What made it so special? Was it the graphics, the action, the story, the music, or a combination of things that simply immersed you in the experience? Why would you spend hour after hour in front of your computer screen being transformed into an altered state? You can almost hear your mom calling from the other room “Stop playing that stupid game and get back to doing your homework. No one is going to pay you to play video games!"

Today you can indeed make a living playing computer games, and even though it is hard work, developing computer games can be very rewarding. Let’s take a look at some of the elements that go into great game design and answer the question – “What makes for a great computer game?”

November 11, 2009 - If you are looking for a way to build your brand, and at the same time make your site more "sticky", you should consider developing an Advergame. What exactly is an Advergame? Simply put, "An Advergame uses interactive gaming technology to deliver embedded advertising messages to consumers". These games incorporate the company brand or product as a key element in the game. And, unlike a "product placement" in a movie (where you may only see the brand name for a brief moment), an Advergame is typically built around the brand, product or service, and is an integral part of the story.

At epic, we try our best to find ways to incorporate Advergames into client sites. Over the years, we had developed a number of applications, and in 2004 when the publishing company Charles River Media asked us to write a book on the subject we accepted the challenge. Advergaming was coming of age. That year, computer game revenues passed those of box office receipts, and the internet was filled with excellent examples of awesome games - all available for free.

I am writing this blog entry for those companies trying to decide if developing an Advergame is a good use of their precious marketing dollars. Since there are two key parts of an advergame, we will divide this post into Part I - Branding, and Part II - Game Development.

Posted by Vic Cherubini on November 11, 2009

September 14, 2009 - The Woodlands, TX - Web sites that have email addresses on their Contact Us page are just an open invitation for a web bot to harvest the address, and add it to a giant list of "good" email addresses, which is then sold to spammers.  What typically follows is a deluge of spam messages for everything you can imagine and one unhappy client.  One effective way to combat these unsolicited email messages is to add a reply box to the page that requires a human to enter a code that cannot be read by a machine, but is simple for a human to respond to.  We wrote a script specifically for our Expression Engine customers and it has been very effective, so we decided to create a commercially available plug-in that you can easily add to your Expression Engine site or blog for under $10. 

Posted by Anthony on September 14, 2009