Julieanne Kost writes,
In this episode of The Complete Picture (The Graduated Filter and Adjustment Brush), discover the power of making selective adjustments like dodging and burning, color corrections and noise removal using the Graduated Filter and Adjustment Brush. Note: although this video was recorded in Lightroom, the same techniques are available in Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS6.
[Via Jeff Tranberry]
Posted by John Nack at 8:42 AM on October 12, 2012Outlook add-ins provide lots of interesting features that customize Outlook for a particular scenario. Even if you don't purchase third-party add-ins, you might already be using the add-ins that are installed with Outlook such as the Outlook Social Connector 2013. While we make every attempt to ensure that add-ins integrate seamlessly with Outlook, some add-ins behave in a way that detracts from your Outlook experience.
We've listened to customer suggestions and added a new feature in Outlook 2013 to help you manage add-ins that cause performance or crashing problems. When an add-in takes too long to boot, Outlook will disable the add-in automatically*. When this happens, Outlook provides a warning in the notification bar as shown below and you can take appropriate action.
When you see the add-in problem alert, click the View Disabled Add-ins button on the notification bar to display the Disabled Add-ins dialog.
The Disabled Add-ins dialog lets you control add-ins that have caused a problem for Outlook. When you display this dialog, you'll notice that Outlook tells you how much time the add-in required. In the example below, the SaveMessageAsPDF add-in caused Outlook to start slowly and added over 16 seconds to Outlook startup time. If you click the Always enable this add-in button, Outlook will always allow the add-in to run no matter how much time it requires during Outlook startup.
What happens if you change your mind? Maybe you don't want to wait 16 seconds while Outlook starts up. Don't worry, you're still in control of your add-ins. To display the Disabled Add-ins dialog again, you click File | Manage Add-ins in the Backstage view:
Just click the Disable this add-in button to ensure that the add-in will be disabled and you'll get 16 seconds back every time you launch Outlook! If you know that you need your special add-in again, you can always go back to this dialog and re-enable the add-in.
We want to protect you from add-ins that slow down your Outlook experience and to ensure that you are always in control of your add-ins. In some cases, you will find it acceptable that an add-in slows down Outlook a bit but you are willing to make a tradeoff for a must-have feature provided by the add-in. On the other hand, you might not want to sacrifice Outlook performance for an add-in that was pre-installed on your computer. You have the final say, and enjoy having greater control of the add-ins that run in Outlook.
--Randy Byrne, Outlook Program Manager
* For those of you nitty-gritty technical types, here's how the add-in disabling feature works. Outlook monitors the time that an add-in contributes to Outlook startup or shutdown. Outlook also monitors the time that an add-in requires when a folder is switched or an item is opened. When the median time calculated over five instances of a performance measurement exceeds one second, Outlook will disable the add-in automatically.
Digital Dialogue / Social Business – 10 Commandments Before You Startby adobeapacEngagement (2)Social (1)Social Business (1)Social Media (6)Will Bosma (1) This week's post comes from Zeyad Rajabi, who helped create Word Automation Services in Office 2010 and has been driving improvements to the services in the new Office.
In Office 2010, we introduced a brand new SharePoint service called Word Automation Services. Word Automation Services allows developers to harness the capabilities of Word on the server. Word Automation Services allows developers to perform the following types of file operations:
Converting between document formats (ex. DOC to DOCX)Converting to fixed formats (ex. PDF)Updating the Table of Contents, the Table of Authorities, and index fieldsRecalculating all field typesImporting “alternate format chunks”Setting the compatibility mode of the document to the latest version or to previous versions of WordWe created this service because we wanted to help developers avoid the challenges of automating the Word client application as documented by this famous Knowledge Base article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257757.
In Office 2013, we’ve made improvements to Word Automation Services, based on some great user feedback, which we think will make the service even easier to use and allows the service to accommodate additional scenarios.
Word Automation Services was initially created to accommodate bulk file operation scenarios. The service was optimized to perform file operations on many files at a time. These file operations were performed asynchronously based on a SharePoint Timer Job, which means the service operations are only kicked off when the SharePoint Timer Job ran. This behavior means Word Automation Services could only be kicked off, at the very least, in one minute iterations. Developers who wanted the conversion operation to be kicked off synchronously were out of luck. The Timer Job-based design and behavior works well for bulk operation scenarios, but is not ideal for scenarios involving a small number of documents.
Additionally, we heard from customers that the requirement of having files exist physically on SharePoint in order to consume, create, or edit files via Word Automation Services was limiting. This requirement means a developer must always work within the context of SharePoint when taking advantage of the service; the only way to deal with files outside of SharePoint is to first get those files on SharePoint. In addition, there were several scenarios where the output of the service was not the final output of the solution. In these particular cases, a developer is forced to manually move the intermediate files created by the service. Developers didn’t want the extra performance hit by hitting the SharePoint content database more than necessary.
As part of SharePoint 2013, you will now be able to create on demand file operation requests to Word Automation Services. These requests are processed immediately and have higher priority than traditional asynchronous Timer Job-based requests. These on demand file operation requests do not depend on the SharePoint Timer Job. Think of these on demand file operation requests as synchronous Word Automation Services requests. On demand file operation requests can only be made for one file at a time as opposed to the existing Timer Job-based requests, which can handle many files at a time.
Word Automation Services is able to handle both asynchronous and synchronous file operation requests at the same time. Word Automation Services maintains two separate queues, one for on demand (immediate) file operation requests and one queue for SharePoint Time Job-based requests. Word Automation Services will pause all Timer Job-based requests whenever there is at least one on demand request, and the Timer Job-based requests will restart once all on demand requests have been processed. This prioritization allows the service to accommodate on demand requests more quickly. Note we also ensure that we prevent the complete starvation of Timer Job-based requests by on demand requests by periodically letting those requests be processed ahead of on demand requests.
The following diagram represents the Word Automation Services 2013 architecture:
In addition to on demand file operation requests, Word Automation Services now supports streams. You are no longer limited to working on files stored in SharePoint libraries. Using streams, you will be able to leverage Word Automation Services functionalities for files stored outside of SharePoint.
You will only be able to use streams with Word Automation Services when using on demand file operation requests. In other words, streams will not work with Timer Job-based requests.
We tried to make coding Word Automation Services solutions as easy as possible. With only a few lines of code, you’ll be able to integrate Word Automation Services into your solution. Here is some sample code of using the Timer Job-based request:
ConversionJob pdfJob = new ConversionJob("Word Automation Services");
pdfJob.UserToken = myWebsite.CurrentUser.UserToken;
pdfJob.AddFile(outputFilename, outputFilename.Replace(".docx", ".pdf"));
pdfJob.Start();
In the above code sample, the conversion request is triggered after the Start() method is invoked. At which point, the conversion request is added to the Timer Job queue to await for the SharePoint Timer Job to start the request.
Working with on demand file operation requests is very similar. Instead of creating a ConversionJob object, you create a SyncConverter object. The SyncConverter object allows you to operate on one file at a time and is processed immediately. Here is some sample code of using the on demand request:
SyncConverter syncConv = new SyncConverter("Word Automation Services");
syncConv.Settings.OutputFormat = SaveFormat.PDF;
ConversionItemInfo convInfo = syncConv.Convert(inStream, outStream);
Word Automation Services does not accomplish all file operation scenarios. Take for example, a scenario where a solution needs to merge and modify content within a document. The service was not created to be a replacement of the Word client object model.
Instead, the server is one half of a replacement for the existing object model – the other half being the Open XML SDK.
The Open XML SDK was designed to handle tasks that don’t require application logic and layout, such as inserting or deleting content (paragraph, tables, pictures), inserting data from other data sources, sanitizing content (removing content, accepting tracked changes), etc.
Word Automation Services was designed to handle file operations that do require application logic and layout, such as reading and laying out all Word document formats, converting to and from different file formats, recalculating dynamic fields, etc. These two pieces can be used together to enable rich, end-to-end solutions that never require automating Word client applications. Check out Brian Jones’ blog for more details and examples of using the Open XML SDK.
I hope the improvements mentioned in this post will make it even easier for you to use Word Automation Services in your solutions. Tell us what you think in the comments below the post.
The Word Automation Services feature crew, 2/3 of which is shown here, is excited to share these improvements with you.
Since the New Office customer previewdownload, you probably have your vocabulary to meet new things, you do - share, updated links instead of attachments, documents from USB drives in the cloud move and use a pen that never goes out ink. In honor of farewell, "I wish I could content from PDF file, use" and Hello to open trusted PDF files as Word documents, we have together a PowerPoint presentation only 10 of the things that you have to say with the new Office never celebrate. There are dozens more solutions to discover, so diving you a in the preview and @ Office to say, which features your tune (Hashtag # OfficePreview) have changed. If you have not yet downloaded your modern office, you will receive it free of charge under office.com/preview.
Hier sind die Tastaturkürzel, die heute von Kunden erwähnt:
Cora
Es ist eine kürzere Tastenkombination für das Bearbeiten/ersetzen-Fenster in Word und Excel: STRG + H.
VandermondBG
Ich benutze viel STRG + F1 (ein-/ausblenden-Band), weitere visuelle Raum haben.
Garrydene
Nach dem Mittagessen oder eine Pause kommen wir zurück zur letzten Änderung oder Überarbeitung in Ihrem Dokument UMSCHALT + F5. Es geht zur letzten Änderung oder Überarbeitung.
Bonita
Zum Kopieren STRG + C und dann STRG + V für einfügen in Word
CJ
Vielleicht erwähnt... aber ich liebe STRG + Y zu wiederholen, was ich getan habe.
Carl
Strg + Alt +. [Zeitraum] Ergebnisse in die 3-Punkt-Pause als eine Einheit.
Carl
Geschütztes Abstand ist praktisch in Datumsangaben. Verwenden Sie STRG + LEERTASTE, um statt nur ein Raum, um den ganzen Tag zusammen zu halten, wenn Sie Text in eine Zeile hinzufügen. Es wird gemeinsam bewegen. STRG + UMSCHALT-[Bindestrich] ähnliche Ergebnisse mit Bindestrichen.
EXCEL
Anoop
STRG + UMSCHALT + Ende... Markieren Sie alle Zellen, die Daten im Rahmen der Zelle nach diesem Befehl enthält
Mike & Melanie
Zwischen Blättern wechseln: Strg + Bild nach oben oder unten
In this week Webinar we explain what is a watermark and how you insert with Word 2010. We also go over the different types of watermark, which you can insert such as text or image watermarks.
What do you learn in this Webinar:
Insert a watermark "Draft" page sHow a WatermarkHow, a watermark on just one side insert imageReferences for this Webinar:
Go to http://aka.ms/offweb more information about how the series to join.
--Doug Thomas
We’ve recently seen a virtual avalanche of new mobile games coming down the pike that were developed using Flash and AIR, and more and more of them are using Stage 3D, taking advantage of hardware acceleration for screamingly fast game play.
There are two indie games I’ll highlight today, both of which were built with Flash technology: Super Hexagon and Wonderputt. Now available on the iOS AppStore, they’re both in the top 20 game apps. Super Hexagon is a super fast-paced race to survive game that will have your heart racing (can you last more than 20 seconds? If so, you’re doing incredibly well!). It was originally a free browser game that Terry Cavanaugh developed, and in its first 3 days on the AppStore, the mobile version sold more than 10,000 copies.
For a slightly different pace, Wonderputt is a beautifully illustrated mini-golf game by Reece Millidge. It looks gorgeous on an iPad 3 with Retina display, and was a finalist at the IGF Awards and the Develop Awards for Visual Art. Wonderputt was also originally a desktop game, and is one of Kotaku’s 6 Best Games on Web Browsers. There’s an in-depth look at the game development here.
Congratulations to both Terry and Reece, and we’ll be sharing many more new games with you both here and on gaming.adobe.com in the coming weeks! In the meantime, check out the crazy trailer below for Super Hexagon.
Hey farmer, how are your crops? Since FarmVille first debuted in 2009, it has grown to one of the most popular and well known social games on Facebook reaching more than 3 million daily active users.
Thanks to the success of FarmVille and other games, Zynga has quickly become a leader in the social gaming space and a constant source for hit social games on mobile and Web including Words with Friends, CityVille, CastleVille, Ruby Blast and Zynga Poker, among others.
Today marks a new milestone with the launch of FarmVille 2. In FarmVille 2, Zynga created a next-generation social game that delivers a brand new farming experience through stunning visuals, beautiful animations and new ways to visit and interact with friends.
We’re excited that FarmVille 2 is Zynga’s first game developed for Adobe Flash Player 11 using Stage 3D technology, and is a significant example of an improved 3D game development workflow. The immersive experiences and optimized performance enabled by Stage 3D allows Zynga to extend the game to more players who are able to forge a deeper emotional connection to the farms they create, and have an even better game experience overall.
Our work with Zynga also incorporated some new technology that’s got developers buzzing. Adobe’s Project Monocle played a major role for performance optimization during the development of FarmVille 2. With Project Monocle, subtle bottlenecks in the development process were quickly identified and fixed thanks to the level of details and granularity exposed by the cutting edge tool. Soon, we’ll be making Project Monocle available to all, and we’re already hearing great reports from beta testers on the benefits of using this technology for their games.
Check out FarmVille 2 today on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/farmville-two/.
Happy harvesting, and for more information about games built with Adobe Gaming technologies, Stage 3D for Flash Player and Adobe AIR, visit gaming.adobe.com.
With yesterday’s announcement that Amazon Appstore has launched in Europe, game developers using a Flash technology workflow will be able to deliver even more apps to more customers worldwide. We’ve previously highlighted how developers can use Adobe AIR to deliver apps to the Kindle Fire, and as of today, those developers can deliver localized versions of their apps to the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
The expansion of the Amazon Appstore presents a great opportunity for developers to monetize their apps, and a number of games profiled on the Adobe Gaming site have seen some success there, including Machinarium and Spaced Away. Amazon’s growing audience now includes over 180 Million active customer accounts with 97 Million monthly unique visitors. AIR developers can use the Amazon Mobile App Distribution Program to target millions of customers on Amazon and Kindle Fire, and apps are marketed to customers on Amazon marketplaces, Kindle Fire, Android phones and tablets, and through social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.
If you’d like to find out more about how to deliver your apps to the Amazon Appstore, both in North America and Europe, check out the Amazon developer resources.
Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting to more than 1200 Unity developers at the 2012 Unite conference in Amsterdam. It was an honor to present on the same stage as the legendary Peter Molyneux!
*Quick jump to my section here*
There’s a lot of excitement about the work the Adobe Gaming team is doing with Unity, giving game developers more choice in using their favorite tools to target the Flash Player via Premium Features. At Unite, we showed off previews of Unity games that will be published to Flash Player, including Madfinger’s Shadowgun in Facebook and Nickleodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which you can see in this video. With the announcement of the Unity 4 preview, we expect to see even more Unity games running in Flash and hope to showcase more of these for you later this year.
Are you building a game for Flash Player using Unity? If so, tell us about it on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/flashplatform
Today, we released the latest version of the Flash and AIR runtimes with Flash Player 11.4 and AIR 3.4. These new builds feature a few great features that gaming fans will be excited about; most importantly, we’re increasing the devices that can take advantage of hardware acceleration so game developers can give more gaming fans smoother and more exciting game play.
Along with adding constrained Stage 3D, we’ve also provided added support for iOS application development, and introduced concurrency, which helps improve game responsiveness. Gaming evangelist Lee Brimelow will be walking users through the new features and upcoming tooling updates in a demo on August 23.
We’ve been laying some groundwork this year for increasing the speed at which updates to the Flash Player are adopted. Flash Player 11.2 introduced background updating, and over 400 million people opted in to use it. That means that with any new release of the runtime, 400 million users can be updated to the latest version of Flash Player in about 48 hours. To put this in perspective, 400 million is about six times the number of Xbox360’s sold since 2005. Game developers can now quickly embrace new features knowing there’s a huge audience waiting for them.
We’re also working closely with partners to help extend the reach of the Flash Player. This week, the gaming team is at the Unity Unite conference in Amsterdam, where we will be talking about Premium Features for Flash Player and showing off some great new games that were developed using a Unity workflow – Madfinger’s Shadowgun and Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These are just two in the upcoming lineup of new games targeting the Flash Player, and the gaming team is really looking forward to talking with developers at Unite and learning more about their plans and creations. To hear more, check back in later this week, and take a look at the current showcase of games at http://gaming.adobe.com/.
It’s a busy week for events, and you can also find members of the Adobe gaming team speaking at CEDEC in Japan, where GREE will be talking about developing MONPLA SMASH, the newly-released free-to-play RPG action battle game – its first mobile social game built on Adobe AIR and now available on the iOS AppStore.
And finally, you’ve got to be in it to win it! PlayerScale’s Player.io, in cooperation with Epic Game Ads, has announced their first Epic Flash Game Contest with some sizable payouts (total cash prizes worth $150,000US). This contest is for multi-player games targeting Flash Player, and you can see the rules and start building your Flash games today - http://office.playerio.com/competitions/ega2012/#register.
We can’t wait to see what you build!
Want to engage in epic battles on a planet riddled with monsters? We thought so!
GREE launched its first mobile social game using Flash technology for the iPhone today. MONPLA SMASH is the company’s free-to-play RPG action battle game that delivers stunning graphics through an Adobe AIR app and we are excited to have worked with them to bring this game to market.
As one of the leading gaming companies, we are thrilled to see GREE take advantage of the cross-platform delivery options provided by Adobe to release this innovative mobile social game worldwide, as a native iOS app, using its existing workflow. MONPLA SMASH is a great example of how AIR addresses the growing demand for high-impact social games with amazing graphics across leading mobile devices.
To check out more examples of mobile games using Flash and AIR, visit the Adobe Gaming showcase.
Our team at Cannes Lions last month had the opportunity to meet and chat with someone from our developer community – 12-year old Jordan Casey. If you’ve had the chance to play Alien Ball vs Humans or its sequel, Alien Ball vs Humans 2: Holiday, you’ve experienced a Casey-developed app. If not, you can get to know this young Irish prodigy, who has made headlines as one of Europe’s youngest iOS developer below. Between teaching himself game design, his schooling, and working on upcoming content for his own game studio – Casey Games – Jordan found some time to participate in a Q&A on his youthful rise in the world of game development.
Adobe: When did you first start developing and what inspired you to get started?
Jordan Casey: I first started developing when I was nine, I was playing a Flash multiplayer game called Club Penguin and saw that other kids were building websites and blogs about it, and I saw that this could be fun, so I learned 3 languages: HTML, ActionScript 2.0 and CSS and went ahead and made my site.
How do your ideas come to you? While riding your bike, playing with your dog, from your friends…?
Both of my grannies have a wall in their back garden so I get a football (soccer ball) and start kicking it at the wall, and I just start thinking and I could do this for an hour and when I’m finished I have a couple of game concepts or what to look up online that night when I get home.
Who are your “creative heroes” or role models?
My creative heroes would have to be Apple founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and independent game developer Markus Persson (or Notch) the creator of Minecraft who showed me that you don’t need a big team to make a successful game.
How did you come up with the idea for ‘Alien Ball vs Humans?’ Was it based on game mechanics, the concept, or just the fun factor?
For Alien Ball, I was just in my granny’s house again just kicking the ball. I had just 
gotten my iMac and was thinking of ideas for my first app. I didn’t want my first app to be a massive thing and take years to make, but I didn’t want it to not be fun either, so I was thinking of a retro game remake and made a Pac Man, Space Invaders and Mario clone. I looked at them all, and I published the Space Invaders one and made a couple of changes and also made Alien Ball, who was the main character of my previous Flash games, the main character of my app. When you think about it, it is kind of the opposite of Space Invaders, because in space invaders you are the human destroying the aliens but in Alien Ball vs Humans, you are the alien killing the humans.
What was the transition from HTML to game coding like? Any tips for other young developers?
When I started developing web games, I already knew Actionscript 2.0, so making Flash games wasn’t that hard. But when I was starting to develop gaming apps it meant learning Actionscript 3.0, which wasn’t that hard but it did take a bit of time.
What’s next for Casey Games?
I am currently working on a Flash game, which I plan to publish to AIR for Mac and PC. Then, I will make some changes and publish to iOS. In September, I am speaking at a summit in Germany and after that I am starting a new school. So, I plan on taking a break and just study for a while but I will be developing, just not as often as the summer, maybe 20 minutes a day.
You can check out Alien Ball vs Humans in action below, and get in touch with Casey Games on Twitter @Casey Games.
We recently sat down with Rob Bateman, managing director of The Away Foundation, who told us about the company’s new project, Away3D 4.0 Gold, that was launched earlier today. Away3D 4.0 Gold is first official project from The Away Foundation, an offshoot of Away3D. The company has been active for two months, but Rob had been involved in the Away3D engine since 2007.
Enjoy the Q&A below and visit away3d.com to read more about the release and download tutorials, examples and source files.
Tell us a bit about The Away Foundation and how it came about.
The Away Foundation is a non-profit Community Interest Company based in the UK, focusing on building and maintaining free and open source software resources for online and mobile games and applications. Work within The Away Foundation is enabled by corporate sponsorship and the continued support of a large community of individuals and organisations.
Around 6 months ago, I left a full-time Technical Director role to focus on Away3D activities, and it was around this time that the concept of a foundation was discussed with other core members of the Away3D community. The idea of a non-profit entity managing Away3D matters appealed to us as it appeared a straightforward way to generate corporate funding interest and accelerate development.
After the Away3D 4.0 Beta was released in February, we started making enquires to gauge company interest. Adobe came forward as a strong candidate for becoming a founding member, with significant interest in the work already achieved by our group and positive feedback from the many creative companies around the world that use our libraries. After 3 months of discussions with Adobe we agreed on the vision and we had our first founding partner.
How does this align with Away3D priorities?
Away3D has its roots in open source, and a large active community that has grown steadily from its origins over 5 years ago. The focus of Away3D has been 3D graphics on the web using the Flash technologies, and has previously relied on the free contributions of its community members to survive and grow. As things have got bigger, so too has the amount of necessary commitment, and the main benefit The Away Foundation offers is a business incentive for companies like Adobe to get involved and help support this commitment.
What was the principal driver of The Away Foundation?
As the organiser and founder of the Away3D project, I was the primary catalyst for pushing forward discussions and working out the logistics of the company. The main driver for me was the opportunities The Away Foundation presents to our community and development areas. Away3D has always been about providing free software to developers, but in the past we lacked a long-term business strategy for sustainability and growth. With The Away Foundation, we now have an official strategy for these aspects of free software development.
What is the goal of The Away Foundation and how do you see that coming to fruition?
The Away Foundation is primarily focused on the development and maintenance of tools and libraries used in the production of high-performance graphical content on the web and mobile devices, and seeks to promote the value of open standards and open source software to a broader audience. Away3D has laid the groundwork for this, establishing ourselves as a center for creative, high quality frameworks and free, unrestrictive licensing. By offering an official membership program to the businesses that benefit from such technology, we hope to encourage a new wave of possibilities and collaborations while cementing our existing development streams and improving the quality of our resources and support.
How will the Foundation be managed?
As a CIC we can be quite flexible about how we structure ourselves, and even how we do business. The only firm rule is our non-profit status which we hope will encourage business investment, as you can be sure that every penny donated in funding will be spent on the development and support of our libraries and resources. Decisions on our focus and strategy are made using a flat voting hierarchy that includes all members of our organisation, ensuring that our developers and community are at the heart of everything we do, and remain so.
How will The Away Foundation gain support and funding?
We already have a great deal of support for Away3D at a community level, and want to encourage companies who use our software regularly to become more involved in support activities through The Away Foundation. This doesn’t just have to be funding involvement – we have had several successful collaborations in the past with companies who have donated development time, and the foundation is designed to encourage this further.
How is Adobe involved in the project?
Adobe is registered as a Strategic Member of The Away Foundation, the top tier membership status. This is intended for organizations that benefit greatly from the proliferation and use of Away Foundation tools and software, and want to create lasting connections with Away Foundation activities, through the integration of their own communities, tools and software platforms.
What does it mean to gaming that Adobe is involved with the foundation and open source?
I think it’s a great step in the right direction, and further demonstrates Adobe’s commitment to providing high quality resources for games developers looking to the Flash ecosystem for serious games development. Earlier this year Adobe endorsed the open source Starling 2D framework and now developers can leverage Away3D framework to create 3D and hybrid 2D/3D games. There is still a way to go, but The Away Foundation provides the resources, community and talent to get things to a potentially very interesting place. Our biggest advantage is our free & open source approach that offers any software project, whether it be free or commercially based, the ability to pick up our libraries and integrate them with their own systems. This expands the potential of what you can do with Away Foundation software, and empowers games companies of all sizes to be creative and innovative in the products they produce.
What are the benefits to members?
Membership is arranged in tiers, from community contributors right up to strategic sponsors, and benefits vary accordingly. The very least, you are entitled to vote on decisions that affect company direction and strategy at our annual general meeting and formal recognition as a foundation member on our website. Increased commitment offers increased benefits, such as targeted support on company matters relating to Away Foundation resources, pre-release details of updates and new projects being worked on, and at the very highest level a seat on the board of directors to foster long term commitments relating to shared goals and strategies.
Of course, the biggest benefit to anyone is the continued existence of a free, non-restrictive software resource that offers cutting edge libraries and strong community ties, something we hope any member would be happy to be associated with.
Where can one go to find more information on the Away Foundation?
Our main site is hosted at http://www.theawayfoundation.org, where you can find more information on the projects we manage, support we offer and members we are involved with.
Today, Zynga announced Ruby Blast, a new match-three Facebook game which uses Flash Player 11 and Stage 3D particle effects to deliver stunning graphics and smoother gameplay. Ruby Blast is a simple yet addicting game which will attract players of all capabilities and devotion levels – those who just want to kill a few minutes or who want to play with their friends all day long.
Just as Words With Friends brought Scrabble-like action to the social media mainstream, Ruby Blast tips its hat to games like Bejeweled and Diamond Dash, adding in a few twists to enhance gameplay and engage friends. Power-ups like Nova Flare, StarFall and Shuffle Magic make gameplay more immersive and allow players to shoot for high scores while getting help from friends or competing against them. Just like Rovio’s Angry Birds for Facebook, Ruby Blast uses power ups that are enabled by the powerful new features of Flash Player 11. Take a spin of Ruby Blast to try ‘em out!
For now, Ruby Blast is desktop only and scheduled to be released on Facebook and Zynga.com later this week. To find out more about building games like Ruby Blast with Flash and AIR, and for a whole host of great developer examples, check out our showcase at http://gaming.adobe.com/showcase. And if you’re interested in developing a game, check out our new webinars for developers who want to build mobile apps.
If you didn’t have a chance to catch Indie Game: The Movie on the big screen during the official movie tour, here is your chance to bring Edmond, Tommy, Phil and Jonathan into your living room or a screen near you. In a first, the movie is delivered through Steam using Adobe AIR.
Congratulations to co-directors Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky on this magnificent film that serves as the voice of the passionate indie game developer. We hope to see you at the Oscars! 
Digital Release Details
Indie Game: The Movie is available worldwide today, Tuesday June 12th, on iTunes, directly from the filmmakers on IndieGameTheMovie.com and Steam.
Indie Game: The Movie looks at the underdogs of the video game industry, indie game developers, who sacrifice money, health and sanity to realize their lifelong dreams of sharing their creative visions with the world. Following the making of the games SUPER MEAT BOY, FEZ and BRAID, this Sundance award-winning film captures the tension and drama by focusing on these developers’ vulnerability and obsessive quest to express themselves through a 21st-century art form.
Adobe is thrilled to be a part of this significant release, sponsoring the North American tour of the movie, as well as working with the team to distribute the movie as an AIR app. We hope that the ongoing success and critical acclaim of the movie (including winning an award at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, and a 100% ‘Fresh’ rating by Rotten Tomatoes as the ‘Number one best reviewed film of 2012’) encourages indie game developers to continue pursuing their passions, and we’re working hard to make sure Adobe technologies continue to help improve their ability to develop, deliver, and distribute their games! Let us know if you have a game that you’ve developed using Adobe technology, and see more examples of indie games here.
Web games are hugely popular in China, and the vast majority of these games are Flash technology-based. According to Analysys International, the 2012 web game market will reach $1.2 billion USD with a growth of 50.13% compared to $830 million USD in 2011. With such a big market opportunity, China’s game development community is also asking itself a number of questions: how to improve gaming R & D, marketing and operations? What is the latest technology and how can it be used to attract new players and improve retention? What are the new trends for browser-based games?
Starting in mid-April, Adobe’s China evangelist team hosted the Flash Gaming Tour in Beijing (April 14), Shanghai (April 22) and Guangzhou (May 10). Almost 1000 developers, designers, operators, students, and teachers attended, representing over 400 gaming companies and 14 partners, including HP, Sohu, Baidu, China Joy, Epic Games, Gamegoo, Shanghai Terminus, Joyegame in Guangzhou, and Chongqing JinTian. Showcasing the latest developments in Stage 3D MMO game development in China, as well as peeks at future developments, the event also introduced Flash Player Premium Features to a gaming audience in China.
Among those new Stage 3D games, “The King of Fighter,” developed by SNGO networking entertainment design, is quite stunning. This game is based on A3D, a Stage 3D game engine independently developed by SNGO. The live demonstration at the SNGO booth, highlighting the 3D effects within the game (including light effects, normal maps, and motion blur, and air twist) became a hot topic among the developers at the event. The game scenes are beautifully rendered in real time with exquisite details and smooth performance, including an Indian Buddhist temple, the ancient city of Suzhou, and European cathedrals, along with Xbox-style fight action, like strokes, kill, and slash. The game is expected to be available as a public beta sometime in June.
The positive feedback during the tour was fantastic, and I was excited to hear many developers state that they believe Adobe Stage 3D technology will bring a needed revolution to web-based games. I’m looking forward to 2012 as the year of 3D Flash web games in China, and to seeing more games like “The King of Fighter” taking advantage of this technology to deliver great gameplay.
*Gary Zhu is an Adobe Gaming Evangelist based in China.
After a recent sabbatical, I returned to find that Idle Worship, the social “god” game which was recently profiled here in a Q&A with Jeffery Hyman, CEO of Idle Games, has changed expectations for social gameplay, enjoying success and attracting more than 400,000 players with a whimsical combination of blessings and curses. In an interesting twist, Idle Worship’s success has also prompted some discussion about people’s fundamental inclination to do good or not :).
We’re highlighting Idle Games in an Adobe customer success story that describes in depth how Idle Worship was built from the ground up with Adobe Gaming technologies. Creative Suite Master Collection provided the tools for the game creators to create the characters, while Flash allowed the team to infuse the impressive artwork with engaging animations. The game challenges players to rule their island however they see fit, while deep integration with social media allows players to gather fans, followers and friends as they play.
Idle Worship’s growing global audience is a testament to its playability and impressive engagement – on average, daily usage is an hour. Check out how Idle Games built its success and visit http://gaming.adobe.com/ for more tips, tricks and a fabulous showcase of great games. Enjoy!
Indie game developer CUKETA is changing the online video gaming landscape with its latest release, Age of Defenders, a 2012 Mochis Award Finalist. The game is now a multiplatform, multiplayer tower defense game where the goal is to defend a player’s fortified towers while simultaneously going on the offensive to attack the enemy – something that is not typically seen in standard multiplayer games.
Age of Defenders was created from scratch in about a year and delivered to desktop and mobile devices via Adobe AIR. The accelerated graphics optimization and easy deployment to Android tablets and the Apple iPad allowed CUKETA to deliver a unique quality gaming experience to a wide audience. Age of Defenders grabbed the attention of more than 5,000 players in the first month, who averaged one hour of gameplay each, and has only increased in popularity over time.
Check out the full success story here and visit http://gaming.adobe.com/ for more information about creating and playing groundbreaking Flash games.
Gaming is experiencing an unprecedented period of innovation and growth, with online and mobile gaming attracting new users, enabling innovative game play and driving new business and distribution models. Social and casual games on the Web are fueling global growth in gaming, with worldwide social gaming projected to grow from $4.94B in 2011 to $8.64B in 2014 according to the Casual Games Association. With unparalleled reach to over 1.3 billion PCs, Adobe Flash Player is a catalyst for this growth by providing a consistent, powerful, and innovative gaming platform – the game console for the Web. Adobe is investing in Flash technologies for gaming, allowing developers to deliver console quality games across browsers and devices. We are investing not only in improving game development, but also in new features and services for game developers to help them reach new markets and build successful gaming businesses.
Today we’re announcing premium features for gaming with Flash Player 11.2. These will allow game developers to publish advanced games with console quality experiences to Flash Player. We’re also excited to announce that we are collaborating with Unity Technologies to enable Unity customers to publish web-based 3D games, like Madfinger’s Shadowgun, to Flash Player using the premium features from directly within Unity’s tools.
Rich online and social gaming experiences are attracting consumers from traditional consoles to the Web, creating opportunities for developers to introduce new genres and types of game play. Game developers are also committed to increasing production values for their online games by tapping into a broad ecosystem of game development tools. Adobe is enabling third party tools and gaming middleware partners, like Unity, to target Flash Player by taking advantage of premium gaming features designed to enable console quality playback of the most advanced games. In addition to premium features, we’ll also be working closely with Unity to integrate future Adobe Digital Marketing services for game developers into the Unity tools to help them more easily build successful gaming businesses.
Premium feature APIs in Flash Player 11.2 will benefit graphically demanding games by giving developers access to hardware accelerated graphics rendering in combination with domain memory, which is used by C/C++ cross compilers such as Codename “Alchemy“. Developers can use the premium features to publish games for Flash Player across PC browsers and as natively packaged mobile apps using Adobe AIR for distribution through the Apple iTunes App Store, Google Play Store, Amazon Appstore for Android and other mobile app markets. Many great games are not expected to require these premium features, and will rely only on the rich core platform capabilities of Flash Player. We will continue to advance the core platform as well as introduce new and exciting premium features and services to provide a foundation that allows any game developer to deliver rich games and experiences more easily to more people than any other platform.
With today’s release of Flash Player 11.2, we are making premium features available free of charge for content published prior to August 1. Starting August 1, these features will be licensed for commercial use, and there is no charge for the first $50K in application revenues. The use of premium features within Adobe AIR, including for mobile applications for iOS and Android, will be royalty free.
We’ve designed this pricing to encourage the kind of innovation and experimentation that often helps to spark inspired and inventive games. This also enables us to invest in and support innovation in Flash technologies that will benefit the ecosystem of popular game middleware and development tools, beyond Adobe’s first party tools. For more details about Adobe’s licensing program and premium features, visit www.adobe.com/go/fpl.
Every day millions of users enjoy popular online games through Flash Player, such as Rovio’s Angry Birds, Zynga’s Farmville and EA’s Sims Social on Facebook, along with Gamegoo’s Qi-Xiong Hegemony, one of China’s top ten online games. And we’re already seeing some great AIR games that use the new Stage3D capabilities of AIR 3.2 appearing in markets, such as Winter on Whale Island, Rivers of Olympus, Spaced Away and ApexVJ. Games continuously push technology boundaries, and Flash technologies allow Adobe to deliver new capabilities faster and make innovative features instantly accessible to more users than any other technology. Today we’re also detailing how developers can realize these benefits with the releases of Flash Player 11.2 and AIR 3.2. We expect to see games continue to push the boundaries of the Web and mobile and Adobe will be there to innovate and deliver technologies and services that enable developers, publishers and our partners to create and distribute amazing experiences to their users, regardless of genre, platform or location.
Visit gaming.adobe.com to get the latest gaming information and to see a showcase of the latest games built using Adobe technologies.
What our partners are saying:
“We’re thrilled to offer the 260,000 active developers making great games and applications with Unity the opportunity to take advantage of the unprecedented reach of Adobe Flash Player across all major desktop browsers on more than a billion PCs,” said David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. “Unity developers will be able to take advantage of the stunning performance offered by the addition of hardware accelerated graphics rendering through Stage3D in Flash Player.”
“Kabam pioneered and continues to lead the way in the development of free-to-play, MMO-style social strategy and RPG games for the core audience, so we’re very excited with the tools Adobe is bringing to browser-based games,” said Kevin Chou, CEO and Co-founder of Kabam. “We rely on Flash Player’s enormous installed consumer base to reach legions of core gamers, and the outstanding fidelity levels achievable with Stage 3D acceleration means we can deliver the kind of immersive game experience our gamers want and deserve. That’s what we live for as a company. You’ll see this technology and enhanced game quality this year in our upcoming slate of high performance, next gen games.”
“As the leader in competitive online strategy and combat games, KIXEYE is always on the hunt for new tools that will allow us to continue to deliver the most fun and mind-blowing browser-based game experiences on the planet,” said Will Harbin, CEO of KIXEYE. “Flash Player and Alchemy 2 will help us ensure that our highly performant, hyper-accessible games operate flawlessly in stunning 3D. We plan to utilize the technology’s full capabilities in our line-up of next generation RPG titles scheduled to launch this fall.”
“As a multiplatform and leading Flash developer, we’ve never seen a greater opportunity to produce high-caliber games – on the Web and on Facebook – that are artistically and technically outstanding,” said Steve Couture, CEO of Frima Studio. “With more than a billion installs, no other technology comes close to Flash’s reach and performance capabilities. We look forward to utilizing this technology to bring gamers a level of quality and performance that they have never seen before in browser based games.”
Learn more about the exciting new features and capabilities introduced today in Adobe AIR 3.2 and Flash Player 11.2.
We sat down with Idle Games’ CEO and CCO Jeffrey Hyman who answered a few questions about the San Francisco company’s breakout hit Idle Worship. And from personal experience, I can tell you the game is addicting – after all, who wouldn’t want to be a god? The game incorporates cheeky, irreverent game play and real time interactions with fellow mere mortals, gods, and island-dwelling Mudlings as players try to build the biggest following on Facebook. One of my favorite aspects of this game is that you can play with strangers or friends, and the game design is not only entertaining, but often laugh out loud funny. Whether you choose to cast blessings or curses, check it out for yourself here.
How long has Idle Worship been in development?
How long did it take God to create the Heaven and the Earth? It took us longer 
We began development in November 2009 and just wrapped it up before our release on March 14th 2012.
What do you want people to know about how cool it is?
If they look directly at the game their eyes will melt and their brains will explode due to the sheer unfiltered awesomeness radiated by our pixels.
On a more serious note, Idle Worship has redefined what is technically and artistically possible in a Flash based game. First I want people to know it’s an original game and I think the users will respect that. Adobe’s audience knows how daunting it is to try to come up with and then execute a wholly original concept. Additionally our team implemented a completely novel art and animation tool chain combining hand drawn and painted 2D animations, with Flash…all set within a richly painted universe. As proud as we are of the artistic innovations, the team also created quite a few novel technological improvements for the social gaming industry. First, Idle Worship allows you to play synchronously, meaning together with friends & strangers, all in real time. Second, three of our five patents cover social mechanics designed to connect friends and strangers. We believe that creating new connections is the unrealized promise of social games. Idle worship creates connections by leveraging the social graph in unique and awesome ways, and I guess that’s a long winded answer that to say our art and technology are pretty sweet.
Idle Worship seems like a great idea, how did you come up with the game?
The genre of god games has been around since the 80's and I always enjoyed playing them as a kid. But what always disappointed me about the genre was; it never felt like I was a god when all I could control were non playing characters. It occurred to me that a social network was the perfect place to create the world’s first “polytheistic god game.” In our game you try to create the biggest religion and become the most powerful god by gaining (through kindness or cruelty) the worship and adoration of friends and strangers, in addition to the non-playing characters. Clearly I have issues that will take years of psychotherapy to work through.
Why do you think people will be drawn to the game and how will they relate to the game, the characters, the concept?
I think that in the beginning people will be drawn to the game to check out the art and technology. After that, I hope they discover and become delighted by the story, copywriting, the characters and the complete entertainment experiment we try to provide. As far as people relating to the characters, we purposely made them lovable to both male and female players. Our main character is cute enough to be loved by women and edgy enough to be liked by (or tortured by) even the most jaded, skinny jean wearing, male hipster. In regards to the consumer’s ability to relate to a god game, I believe god games tap into the fundamental human desire to be liked and adored. Additionally, they cater to today’s fascination with things like “the number of Facebook friends you have” or “how many Twitter followers you have amassed.”
How did you build the game? What tools did you use and what went into the design?
We built Idle Worship using Adobe Flash Builder 4/4.5, Flash CS5.5. Almost all our other tools and libraries were developed from scratch to maximize performance and address the unique requirements of our game. For example, we built an isometric rendering engine designed to handle large maps constructed from thousands of tiles, hundreds of animated game objects and positional sound effects. Our game maps are randomly generated using a tile placement algorithm that provides each player with a unique, visually pleasing environment.
Our development methodology is more akin to the approach of a console company than the typical casual game developer.
Some highlights of our approach include:
Compilation and continuous integration of Flash code via an automated build and deployment system (using Jenkins).An open-ended architecture that supports any number of scripted characters, abilities, virtual goods and user interface components.Scripting hooks built into the Flash client for automated testing and tutorials.Application persistence and content (with localization support) managed via a Django CMS tier.A modular approach that allows application subsystems to be developed independently, and re-used in future games.The Flash client communicates with our proprietary simulation server via Google Protocol Buffers, delivering a synchronous gameplay experience to all concurrently connected clients.Why did you choose to use Adobe technologies?
The mission of Idle Games is to create products that combine the best in art and technology, creating an experience that is greater than the individual parts. The workflow provided by Flash and other Adobe tools makes it easy to integrate our art and animation into the game; our engineers work closely with artists and designers to make sure their vision comes to fruition. Furthermore, Flash has the install base that allows us to reach a wide audience, and Adobe provides the art and development tools that let us quickly produce a console-quality social game.
Has Idle Games build with Flash/AIR in the past?
This is our first title … but we are working on two more as we speak, so stay tuned.
Were there any challenges facing the company that Flash/AIR helped to alleviate?
Flash supports rapid prototyping and development of online games. It allowed us to iterate on our ambitious feature set, and quickly validate and test the novel social mechanics integrated into the game.
What platforms are you targeting for your games?
We are currently developing Idle Worship and other games for desktop and mobile.
Are you currently monetizing the game? How are you doing this?
Idle Games is in the business of selling entertainment and art. Within Idle Worship, there are a number of ways a user can upgrade their virtual life. First, the user can customize the appearance of their world through virtual goods. We believe that if you are going to sell people “things that don’t exist,” the very least you can do is take the time to make them look as good as possible. We spent the time to create thousands of unique, hand painted elements that users can buy to customize the appearance of their avatars and/or their world. Also, Idle Worship users can elect to spend money to accelerate game play and/or gain power. How we are monetizing the game is not novel and is based on the proven freemium business model. However, what is unique is our approach to monetization. As Forbes magazine said, “Most social games hope to make money by badgering and frustrating the player to the point that they pay a tiny amount of money. Idle Worship hopes to engage and entertain the player to the point where they happily pay ….”
Have you had a chance to evaluate Stage 3D? What do you think?
Not yet, but only because we’ve been busy building our first game in 2D. From what we are seeing we are excited about being able to create a 3D game that doesn’t look like it was created in the 90s.
I know you just launched, but how do you see the game growing over time?
We see Idle Games as an entertainment company. The properties we create are not shallow experiences meant to be quickly consumed and even more quickly discarded.
Before we began building Idle Games, we wrote a 149 page “script” (if you will), that documented the world of Idle Worship and all the features, functionalities and stories we hoped to integrate into the game. I would say at launch, we managed to get about 25% of what we wanted into the game. So we hope to be able to continue richly developing and evolving the world of Idle Worship for quite some time.
What do you see as the next big thing in gaming? What is trending right now?
Ever since 2009, we felt that enabling synchronous game play and fostering play between like-minded strangers was the technological future of social gaming. On the artistic side we felt that people just had to begin raising the bar on the production quality of art, animation and story. I’m glad to see developers and artists actively working (and being allowed) to work on those things.
Do you have anything else up your sleeve?
Of course we do. While we have a large team working on Idle Worship, we’ve also been working on two other games, one of which will launch this summer. Both games incorporate Idle Games’ focus on large scale synchronous game mechanics combined with lush, richly painted and illustrated artwork and animation.
Again, where can people go to play the game?
Just go to http://apps.facebook.com/idleworship/ and start building your religion and acting godly.
For more information about Adobe & Gaming, as well as an amazing showcase of games, check out http://gaming.adobe.com.
As a company, Adobe is all about changing the world through digital experiences. In gaming, we know that there’s nothing like a beautifully crafted game to create a digital experience that’s fun, immersive, and in many cases, a great shared moment.
Oftentimes, these games are the result of very individual efforts, manifestations of passionate dedication to a particular vision. Helping indie game developers realize their creative dreams is the Adobe gaming team’s mission. Indie game developers have used Flash and AIR to create gorgeous games like Machinarium, Land of Me and Winter on Whale Island, taking creativity to new heights, and changing the look and feel of casual and mobile gaming.
As we announced a few weeks back, Adobe is also helping producers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, of Indie Game: The Movie, stay “Indie” by funding screenings throughout North America to bring the movie to fans without being locked into exclusive distributions agreements. The movie tour debuted to a sold out audience of about 600 people in Santa Cruz, CA on Friday and had two more amazing showings last night in San Francisco. The film follows the stories of independent video game designers as they create and release their innovative, personal works to the world. It’s a beautifully told story of individual game designers and developers, and the passion and creativity that goes into creating unique games. If you haven’t purchased tickets for a screening yet, tickets are going fast for all shows throughout North America.
In more indie developments, this past weekend several members of the Adobe gaming team attended the Indie Giving event to help independent game developers attend GDC through sponsorship. Adobe was also a premier sponsor of the Flash Gaming Summit, which saw a superstar pantheon of indie dev’s showing off their stuff in Flash and AIR.
As jam-packed as this week is, it also brings the exciting debut of a new Adobe site dedicated to game developers: http://gaming.adobe.com. The site launched yesterday and thousands of visitors have already made their way to it, with lots of great feedback and conversation about it on Twitter. Developers can get their hands on everything from code samples to tutorials, as well as see a rolling showcase of games showing off some of the best examples of what can be created with Flash technology. Check it out, and please send in your comments!
Hot off the heels of the AIR preview at Mobile World Congress, we’re excited about this week’s gaming activities. At the Flash Gaming Summit this weekend, Adobe gaming evangelist Lee Brimelow and Flash runtime product manager Thibault Imbert discussed the direction of gaming at Adobe and the features in AIR 3.2 with hundreds of attendees. Developers can now begin to deliver mobile games with Stage 3D support to more than 500 million smartphones and tablets including Apple iOS, Android, Barnes & Noble’s Color NOOK, Amazon Kindle Fire and BlackBerry platforms without having to rewrite an app from scratch.
Mobile games delivered using AIR 3.2 can take advantage of 1000x faster rendering performance over AIR 2, allowing game developers to animate millions of objects with smooth 60 fps rendering. Developers can use a single workflow to optimize their apps, and take advantage of using native extensions for device-specific capabilities like vibration control, gyroscope, and dual screens as well as integration with in-app payments and Apple Game Center. AIR is enabling more and more developers to easily deliver content to mobile marketplaces; over the course of the last year, the number of AIR apps on mobile marketplaces, including the AppStore and Android Market, has grown more than 7 times!
The Adobe Gaming team will also be at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this week, where we will be showing all kinds of new browser-based desktop games and mobile gaming apps with key partners including Rovio, Zynga, GameFly, EPIC, SpilGames, and many more. Demos of high-performance, cross platform games like Soundquest, Delta Strike, and Sherwood Dungeon are just a few of the new Flash technology-based games on show in Adobe’s booth. And the showcase of mobile games built using AIR includes Waste Invaders, Spaced Away, and Winter on Whale Island, as well as Machinarium, the hit iPad game. Also, our friends at NVIDIA and AMD will also show demos for games built with Flash as well. So come by and see us in the North Hall, booth 2328.
With the full release of Flash Player 11.2 later this month, Adobe is addressing the needs of game developers by ensuring that Flash technology provides the level of quality that enables it to become the true game console of the web. With Stage3D, Flash Player already brings console-quality hardware accelerated graphics to more of the web than any platform and Flash Player 11.2 includes features like mouse lock and expanded GPU support. Our recently announced roadmap demonstrates the investment we continue to make in delivering new capabilities for our customers with upcoming features directly targeting game developers. As we’ve previously communicated, Adobe will also productize “Alchemy,” an Adobe research project that allows users to securely execute high-performance C and C++ code with the reach of the Flash runtimes. The commercial release of Alchemy will offer significantly better performance and productivity over the Labs prototype, including full debugging support and up to 75% reduction in code size.
And one more thing, we’re pleased to announce the debut of a new site dedicated to game developers: http://gaming.adobe.com. It has a beautiful showcase of games that use Flash and AIR, as well as resources for developers like tutorials and more information on why and how to use Flash technology for gaming. Go check it out, and tell us what you think. Game on!
Over the last year, we’ve seen a 7x increase in the availability of Adobe AIR apps in mobile marketplaces, including the Apple AppStore, with no signs of slowing down. With AIR, game developers and publishers can deliver their apps across 6 platforms on more than 500 million smartphones and tablets with stunning graphics and intricate gameplay. Creating amazingly detailed games like Machinarium, which claimed the spot as the #1 iPad app in 12 countries last year, is becoming easier than ever.
Just as Machinarium first debuted as a desktop game, publishers and developers today are looking to easily take their games and deliver them to app stores on a host of mobile devices across the globe. With the availability of AIR 3.2, we’re excited to help users push the envelope of mobile game development with new hardware accelerated 2D and 3D graphics rendering (Stage 3D) to enable significant performance gains in mobile gaming apps. Hardware accelerated 2D and 3D graphics will help ring in a new class of social and casual games running at 60 frames per second on mobile devices and tablets. Developers can download a release candidate of AIR 3.2 today and start packaging up apps for delivery to mobile marketplaces immediately, with general availability of AIR 3.2 and Flash Player 11.2 in March.
Hardware accelerated 2D and 3D support, released in Flash Player 11 last year, spurred a new class of features for existing games, including Rovio’s Angry Birds for Facebook, now available with special power up features and enhanced graphics. The global gaming community has shown great adoption of this new technology, boasting a host of titles from Renren, Gamegoo and Disney, and we anticipate that many existing PC games will be ported to mobile using AIR 3.2 in the coming months. Falanxia’s Spaced Away as well as Pamakids Tech’s Winter on Whale Island will be some of the first. Also, we recently learned that the top 9 Flash based games in China generate more than $70 million per month! Now that shows rapid adoption.
All of these innovative developments (with more to come soon!) demonstrate our focus on creating value for our gaming customers. By delivering new features to advance gameplay, increase fun and provide added support for productized features within the runtimes, gaming at Adobe will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. The future has never looked brighter.
Check out some of the great new features that are available with Flash Player 11.2 and AIR 3.2.
Read why our partners are excited about 2D and 3D hardware acceleration with AIR 3.2:
“Earlier this month, Rovio launched the first ever version of Angry Birds for Facebook to huge fanfare using Adobe 2D accelerated graphics,” said Andrew Stalbow, GM of Rovio North America. “Building a game that runs smoothly at 60 frames per second with five times more particles in our explosions and special effects is critical for delivering the most brilliant gaming experiences to our customers. We’re excited to see how Stage 3D accelerated graphics with Adobe AIR 3.2 will take these features to mobile devices and hopefully we can take advantage of this capability down the road.”
“We are thrilled to be the first mobile gaming company to take advantage of the AIR 3.2 release candidate to deliver AIR versions of our social games to our users,” said Masaki Fujimoto, CTO, GREE, Inc. ”Flash Player and AIR help us push the limit of what can be created across the web and delivered as standalone apps on mobile devices. As we expand into global markets, Adobe technology is helping us take advantage of our market leadership in Japan to build success around the world.”
“As Flash based game developers, we are excited to use AIR 3.2 to make our visually appealing games stand out even more with the tools we already know,” said Jakub Svoboda, Game Producer, Falanxia. “Adobe helps us to bring our award winning games, like Spaced Away, to more iOS gamers than ever before. Good job Adobe!”
“Flare3D Studio is leveraging the enhanced features in AIR 3.2 to create a very powerful Stage 3D IDE,” said Adrian Simonovich, CEO, Flare3D. “Adobe AIR has been, and will continue to be, a very important and powerful tool to bring hardware accelerated 3D support for mobile devices and allow Flare3D’s developers to create amazing 3D accelerated experiences and reach a much larger audience.”
“Since investing in AIR, we no longer have to worry about weighing different platforms and developer tools to reach our audience,” said Yifei Xu, CEO, Pamakids Tech. “AIR is the tool we rely on to avoid the clutter and just laser focus on what really matters – delivering the best games and apps to kids and parents.”
“We have chosen to develop with Flash because it is widely used, does not require installations, and games can be played instantly by simply clicking on a link,” said Filip Kuna, CEO, CUKETA. “Thanks to Adobe AIR, we were able to port our game, Age of Defenders, to different devices including Android tablets and iPad2 which allows us to appeal to a wider range of customers at a minimal cost.”
“NVIDIA’s been working closely with Adobe to bring increasing amounts of GPU acceleration to several generations of Flash Player and AIR,” said Neil Trevett, Vice President, Mobile Content at NVIDIA. “Now, Stage 3D in Flash Player 11.2 and AIR 3.2 can fully exploit the power of GPU acceleration to enable rich, real-time 3D games and content that is portable across multiple desktop and mobile platforms. NVIDIA is committed to ensuring that Stage 3D continues to be highly optimized for multi-core Tegra-based mobile devices.”
As someone who is passionate about film and enjoys games, I’m delighted to announce that Adobe is working with the producers of Indie Game: The Movie, Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky, to bring screenings of this award winning film to a city near you! We’ve scheduled seven dates so far in the U.S and Canada and are adding more every week, including Seattle, WA on March 23, and Portland, OR on March 28.
Indie Game: The Movie is a feature-length documentary, and follows the compelling, personal stories of independent video game designers as they create and release their unique and very individual works to the world. Coming off their recent win for Best Editing in World Documentary Cinema at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Lisanne and James are thrilled to finally share this film with so many audiences, and are excited that Adobe is helping take the film to indie game developers and fans on such a large scale. Community support for this movie has been outstanding, and part of the funding was secured through Kickstarter, where the producers raised their initial funding goal in just 48 hours.
The first public screening will be held at the Rio in Santa Cruz, CA on Friday, March 2 at 7pm. For those of you attending GDC, the second and third screenings will be held at the Embarcadero in San Francisco, CA, on Tuesday, March 6th at 7pm and 9:30pm.
At each venue, members of the Adobe Gaming Solutions team will be on hand to give out prizes and talk one on one. Additionally, Indie Game: The Movie’s filmmakers will hold a panel to discuss the film and answer questions from attendees at each screening. Edmund McMillen, who was featured in the documentary will be a special guest at the Santa Cruz, CA screening, and will join the panel. Edmund is a Flash game developer and co-CEO of Team Meat that produced the successful Super Meat Boy game for Xbox 360, Windows PC, Mac OS X and Linux. Super Meat Boy has sold more than one million copies to date.
Like Edmund McMillen, game developers working with Adobe technology can reach 98 percent of Internet connected PCs and up to 500 million tablets and phones with their creations. Adobe will be demonstrating some great Flash based games at GDC March 5-9 in San Francisco, both for mobile and desktop. In the meantime, learn more about Adobe & Gaming at http://www.adobe.com/solutions/gaming.html, grab your tickets for a great show, and keep your eyes open for more news coming soon!
Today, Rovio launched Angry Birds for Facebook using Flash Player 11 with support for 3D graphics. The most social version of Angry Birds yet takes advantage of hardware accelerated graphics in Flash Player to bring a silky smooth gaming experience to a wider audience than ever before. More than 130 million people play Angry Birds every day – now with Flash Player, hundreds of millions of Facebook users can do the same. New, enhanced special effects like lighting, smoke and explosions running smoothly at 60 frames per second bring the game to a whole new level and allow players to have a more connected and engaging experience. As we showed you at Adobe MAX in the fall, Rovio’s general manager of North America, Andrew Stalbow provided a sneak peek of this new hardware accelerated version of Angry Birds built on Flash Player 11:
Angry Birds on Facebook game makes it even more exciting to play with friends, offering amazing new power-ups like Sling Scope, Birdquake, King Sling and Super Seed to extend players’ gratifying arsenals. And with new accelerated graphics, the feathery antics have never been more fun to more people. For more information about how to power-up your games using Flash and AIR, please visit the Adobe Gaming Solutions site.
We recently caught up with esDot Studio’s owner Shawn Blais to learn about some of his recent projects using Flash and AIR for game and app development. Check out the Q&A below to see what Shawn is creating, monetizing and having fun doing what loves. Enjoy!
What is your name, company, title?
Shawn Blais, owner/coder/marketer of esDot Studio, Inc. esDot is a company I started for the sole purpose of developing cool, polished AIR apps to mobile platforms. I started serious mobile development in late 2010, since then I’ve created 5 apps and am hard at work on the 6th. I code primarily on evenings and weekends, by day I’m lucky enough to work with a fantastic team at gskinner.com here in Edmonton. Without the experience and opportunities gained there I certainly would not be where I am today.
Where are you located?
Edmonton, AB.
Why did you use Flash/AIR to develop this app?
Two reasons really, efficiency and reach. Flash is so incredibly efficient at churning out high quality interactive apps, that you can literally code entire apps in a matter of 2 or 3 weeks, for me this is huge. I can use my skillset, and existing workflow to literally just fly through these apps.
In terms of reach, AIR allows me to take those 2 or 3 week apps, and deploy them to iOS, Android, BlackBerry PlayBook, Amazon Appstore and NOOK Color. That’s pretty crazy. And since there are two new markets opening up next year, Windows Metro and BlackBerry10, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to deliver my apps to those, too.
Diversifying my income across all these different app stores has really been a key part of my success. It’s been interesting to watch how different apps sell in different markets, SnowBomber for example took off pretty big on BlackBerry PlayBook, and Amazon Appstore, but was quiet everywhere else. TouchUp on the other hand, sells best on iOS. So it’s always different depending on the market, and it’s hard to predict, so it pays to just be in them all.
I looked hard at options like Corona, and Appcelerator, but I couldn’t get over the lack of strong typing in the languages, and the hit to my overall efficiency would have been massive. Also, the hard truth about HTML apps is that testing costs are massive, you really need to test on devices, on different versions of OS etc, and debugging is pretty hard, so it ends up being this monumental time drain. With AIR testing on a new device is usually just a couple hours, or even no time at all, and you get live debugging with breakpoints, so it’s usually pretty easy. That’s not to say there isn’t the odd issue that will drive you nuts, but it’s fairly rare!
How easy was it to deliver your app across multiple channels?
Signing up for the various portals, and passing approval is a pretty tedious process, but once you’re all setup it’s really a breeze. The fact I can build and install an iOS app, using a Windows box, is pretty awesome. Most other development paths would force me to buy a Mac to code on (I actually did end up buying a cheap mac for $500 off eBay, in order to do the final upload to iTunes).
Are you monetizing this app currently? If not, do you have plans to do so in the future?
Currently I’m monetizing ColorUp Pro, TouchUp Pro, SkyTunes, SnowBomber and RedditSolitaire across various markets. Most of my apps have free and paid versions, and TouchUp Pro and SnowBomber also have In App Purchase support on iOS, using an ANE.
Adding In App Purchase, and releasing a free version TouchUp Pro was a great experiment. It nearly doubled my sales on iOS, and I now get an even split between In App Purchase, and Paid Installs.
How many people are currently using the app?
With TouchUp Pro, there are about 12,000 daily users across all platforms. SnowBomber sees about 3000-4000 players a day, most of those on PlayBook or Kindle [is this Kindle Fire?]. Across all my apps, I see about 5,000-10,000 installs a day, with around 5% of those being paid.
What drives you to create these apps/games?
Primarily it was financial, new baby, new house, so something had to give and I saw this as the road to success. Plus, I’m just a complete gadget freak, so I was incredibly passionate about mobile devices, and bringing cool new UI’s to them.
Do you have anything else up your sleeve?
I have a new Photo Editor coming out very soon which will be stunning, it’s running at 60fps and the graphics are based on Android 4.0 UI. Then it looks like we might be teaming up with the awesome artists over at Cherry Sauce (http://cherrysauce.squarespace.com/contact/) to do some fun stuff. Stay tuned!
What do you want developers to know about creating apps with AIR/Flash?
Well, if you haven’t tried it lately, go for it. The performance is really great these days and the workflow is solid, it’s really improved a lot over the earlier AIR 2.7 SDK.
In terms of making money, from my experience the money is in productivity apps. Just make something really nice, really simple, that everyone needs, and you’ll do well. It doesn’t really matter if there’s good competitors in the space, because users love having choices. As long as that space is not completely oversaturated … the most saturated markets seem to be Games and Music, so maybe look elsewhere…
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Check out my blog for some tips and tricks on how to achieve fast rendering in AIR for mobile: http://esdot.ca/site/category/blog
Happy New Year! We’re excited to start 2012, and the holidays have brought a bushel of new games and apps, including the first version of those famously Angry Birds using Flash Player 11 and Stage3D. If you’re all revved up and looking to build something new in the coming year, see how you can publish a car visualizer to Flash in 90 seconds with Flare3D Studio Workflow.
As we announced last year, we are investing in our Flash technologies to support the kind of innovative 3D and 2D games that developers and publishers want to deliver both in browsers and through mobile apps. To give developers access to high-performance C/C++ code, we told you we’re creating an improved, paid, fully supported release of Alchemy for production development. This new addition will be available later this year and will allow developers to publish content leveraging Alchemy technology in Flash Player 11 or AIR 3 and beyond. Meanwhile, a few months ago we introduced full GPU-accelerated graphics rendering with Stage3D, which provides 1000x faster rendering performance over the previous versions of Flash Player and AIR on the desktop. Stage3D in Flash Player already enables fluid, hardware accelerated graphics for more people in more browsers than any other web technology. And we’re now seeing exciting previews of Stage3D hardware acceleration coming for mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, and Android smartphones and tablets.
See for yourself what’s happening with the latest updates to Flash Player and AIR for gaming, and jump in on the fun by checking out the beta release of Flash Player 11.2 and AIR 3.2!
We recently caught up with Media Division’s lead developer and co-owner Armand Niculescu about SparkChess. Check out the Q&A below to learn about SparkChess, Armand’s process and why he relies on Adobe to deliver games across platforms and the globe. Enjoy!
Why did you use Flash/AIR to develop this app?
I’ve been using Flash since 1998 and over the years I’ve learned its strengths and weaknesses. Things that won me over were its availability across platforms, the rich toolset from Adobe and third parties and the ease in combining great graphics and animation with programming.
When I started working on it there was no HTML5, and even today I would not be able to deliver the same experience with Canvas & Javascript without worrying about compatibility or making compromises.
How easy was it to deliver your app across multiple platforms/channels?
SparkChess is built with Flash Professional for interface elements, and I’m using FDT5 and Flash Builder to manage the code base – about 25,000 lines of code spread in 80 classes. The code is the same but I have slightly different graphics and layout for each platform. The biggest challenge was that the game had to be tested on each device, not as much for functionality but for the user experience, especially on tablet devices. A 7” tablet needs bigger buttons than a 10” one, the aspect ratios are different, you need to take the onscreen keyboard into consideration and so on.
The packaging and signing process is different for each platform, and can be confusing at first, but once I had it worked out, I created some batch files to automate packaging and signing for all platforms. Submitting to the various stores requires some preparation and organization, but it’s nothing daunting.
The multiplayer functionality is built with Union Platform, providing a consistent experience across platforms.
Are you monetizing this app currently? If not, do you have plans to do so in the future?
Yes. There are some significant maintenance costs associated with the game – CDN, multiplayer servers and so on.
SparkChess is available for free with ads and as a paid version with no ads and some very nice additional features.
How many people are currently using the app?
In total, across platforms, there are about 420,000 weekly users (single player and multiplayer). 8,000 chess games are played in multiplayer every day.
What drives you to create these apps/games?
I wrote my first game when I was 11 on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It’s what got me started with graphics and programming. Games are some of the most challenging types of applications: they have to look great, run smoothly and above all, entertain. They are an excellent way for any programmer to push the envelope and learn new skills.
As part programmer – part designer (though I absolutely despise the term ‘devigner’), I was always interested in creating visually appealing apps. With SparkChess, my goal is to have a chess game that’s actually fun to play by casual players and that also helps them improve their skills. I’m also told by parents that kids love it, that it is a game for all ages.
Do you have anything else up your sleeve?
Yes! I’m listening to user feedback and I’m constantly tweaking SparkChess to make it an even more enjoyable experience and to take advantage of the upcoming features in Flash Player and AIR.
Based on this experience, I’m in the planning stage of a new multiplayer strategy game.
What do you want developers to know about creating apps with AIR/Flash?
Since the beginning, the beauty of Flash was its ability to deliver a consistent experience (graphics, fonts, animation and later program logic) across browsers and platforms. With AIR and native extensions, I can now deliver a native-like experience on all major operating systems and platforms. In a way, Flash is Java done right. Recent advancements in Javascript, CSS, the Canvas element and other HTML-related technologies can make HTML5 an alternative in some cases, especially for features that need to look integrated in a website. On the other hand, the browser quirks and lack of solid development environments make development of complex apps much harder, resulting in higher costs. An objective assessment should be done on a a per-project basis.
What I love about Flash, compared to any other platform, framework or environment, is the ease in combining programming with animation, graphics, sound and video in a seamless way, and with the new 3D support, the possibilities keep expanding.
FarmVille embraces the holiday spirit and helps children in the process! The loveable cast of characters from the addictive Facebook Flash game launched their first-ever Flash animated holiday film. T’is the season for giving! FarmVille has partnered with Save The Children to give players a fun way to contribute to a great cause. Watch “A Very FarmVille Christmas” or go to FarmVille.com for a super-cool way to contribute. By making select in-game purchases, you can make a real difference in a child’s life.
For more information on game development using Flash and AIR, please visit the Adobe Gaming Solutions site.
Compelling online games? Check! Pushing the limits of interactive creativity across multiple browsers? Check! For online game developers, Flash is the console of the web for delivering gaming experiences that draw committed gamers. Adobe’s investment in Flash for both desktop, in-browser gaming as well as apps for mobile and TV (via AIR) is a growing opportunity. We are currently defining new features and an updated gaming roadmap, which we’ll be sharing with you through blog posts, announcements and demos down the road.
In the meantime, if you’re an online game developer, you can continue to use Flash to reach the broadest audience across desktop browsers. To augment developer solutions for gaming, we recently released Stage 3D APIs for Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 for desktop and TV, and the stage is set for an upcoming release of Stage 3D for mobile apps. Given the range of incredible mobile games already under development in prerelease, I’m excited about the opportunity this provides game developers to reach new audiences and deliver unique and immersive 2D and 3D gaming apps.
Speaking of apps, we’re doubling down on AIR, which gives developers the ability to take Flash based content and create apps for multiple mobile marketplaces, including Apple’s App Store, Android Market, Amazon Appstore, and BlackBerry AppWorld. Developers can also deliver AIR apps that run on the recently released Amazon Kindle Fire as well as the Barnes & Noble Color NOOK.
Here are some great examples of a few recent hits powered by Flash and AIR.
Ben Franklin vs the Dead Coats
La Carrera del Siglo, made with Flare 3D and Stage 3D
As we recently communicated, this updated strategy will narrow our focus and allow Adobe to prioritize development of Flash for advanced gaming online and via mobile apps with AIR. For more information on game development using Flash and AIR, please visit the Adobe Gaming Solutions site.
This is an exciting day for Adobe AIR developers who create amazing Flash based apps capable of reaching over 350 million smartphones and tablets by the end of this year, including the iPad. Today, Amazon began shipping the Kindle Fire, a new tablet boasting a 7” full color multi-touch display with 8GB of internal storage and free cloud storage for all Amazon content.
The Kindle Fire is already equipped to run AIR apps available on the Amazon Appstore for Android, right out of the box. Using Flash Builder or Flash Professional and the AIR SDK, developers can create and deliver Flash based apps via AIR, which run outside of the browser and deliver rich interaction and stunning performance. The Fire shipped with AIR 2.7, but developers can deliver AIR 3 apps by leveraging captive runtime. Apps created for the Android Market can also be published to the Amazon Appstore and there are currently many cool AIR apps available on the Appstore already, including:
Pyramix (interactive word game)
Pocket Penguins (live streaming video of penguins at the California Academy of Sciences)
TouchUp Pro (photo editing for your phone)
Politifact (the #1 news app)
We’re excited to see how the Kindle Fire will encourage new and creative uses for tablets, and the many ways new Flash based apps will help deliver those experiences through the Amazon Appstore.
[Also posted on Adobe's Conversations Blog]
Adobe is all about enabling designers and developers to create the most expressive content possible, regardless of platform or technology. For more than a decade, Flash has enabled the richest content to be created and deployed on the web by reaching beyond what browsers could do. It has repeatedly served as a blueprint for standardizing new technologies in HTML. Over the past two years, we’ve delivered Flash Player for mobile browsers and brought the full expressiveness of the web to many mobile devices.
However, HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.
Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.
These changes will allow us to increase investment in HTML5 and innovate with Flash where it can have most impact for the industry, including advanced gaming and premium video. Flash Player 11 for PC browsers just introduced dozens of new features, including hardware accelerated 3D graphics for console-quality gaming and premium HD video with content protection. Flash developers can take advantage of these features, and all that our Flash tooling has to offer, to reach more than a billion PCs through their browsers and to package native apps with AIR that run on hundreds of millions of mobile devices through all the popular app stores, including the iTunes App Store, Android Market, Amazon Appstore for Android and BlackBerry App World.
We are already working on Flash Player 12 and a new round of exciting features which we expect to again advance what is possible for delivering high definition entertainment experiences. We will continue to leverage our experience with Flash to accelerate our work with the W3C and WebKit to bring similar capabilities to HTML5 as quickly as possible, just as we have done with CSS Shaders. And, we will design new features in Flash for a smooth transition to HTML5 as the standards evolve so developers can confidently invest knowing their skills will continue to be leveraged.
We are super excited about the next generations of HTML5 and Flash. Together they offer developers and content publishers great options for delivering compelling web and application experiences across PCs and devices. There is already amazing work being done that is pushing the newest boundaries, and we can’t wait to see what is still yet to come!
Danny Winokur is the Vice President and General Manager of Interactive Development at Adobe
[UPDATED: 11/15/11 at 6:40 p.m. PT]
Read these related posts from Adobe’s Ben Forta, Thibault Imbert, Lee Brimelow, Pritham Shetty, Mike Chambers, Andrew Shorten and Deepa Subramaniam:
Some Thoughts on Flash and Devices
By Ben Forta
http://forta.com/blog/index.cfm/2011/11/9/Some-Thoughts-On-Flash-And-Devices
Adobe AIR and Flash Player Team Blog- Focusing
By Thibault Imbert
https://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2011/11/focusing.html
Flash to Focus on Apps for Mobile
By Lee Brimelow
http://www.leebrimelow.com/?p=3151
Adobe Flash for Premium Video
By Pritham Shetty
http://blogs.adobe.com/ktowes/2011/11/adobe-flash-for-premium-video.html
Flash Professional and the Future
By Mike Chambers
http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2011/11/10/flash-professional-and-the-future
Clarifications on Flash Player for Mobile Browsers, the Flash Platform, and the Future of Flash
By Mike Chambers
http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2011/11/11/clarifications-on-flash-player-for-mobile-browsers-the-flash-platform-and-the-future-of-flash/
Your Questions about Flex (UPDATED: 11/15/11)
By Andrew Shorten & Deepa Subramaniam
http://blogs.adobe.com/flex/2011/11/your-questions-about-flex.html
We’re very excited to announce that Machinarium, an award-winning, point-and-click adventure and puzzle game developed with Flash technology is now the #1 iPad app in all paid categories in the U.S. and 12 other countries after just one day! This popular app comes on the heels of other top rated, Flash-based apps on iTunes, Android Market and BlackBerry AppWorld like Politifact (#1 news app on iTunes, Top 100 app in all of iTunes), Dr Stanley’s House (#1 most popular gaming app on iTunes China) and apps from ESPN, Coca-Cola, Facebook, California Academy of Sciences and others.
Previously available as an in-browser game on desktops via Flash Player, Machinarium was ported as a Flash-based app for the iPad 2 and is coming to Android Market and BlackBerry AppWorld soon – all with the power of Adobe AIR. Machinarium is gaining traction worldwide as the top app in iOS App Stores in several other countries as well, and is also the iPad Game of the Week. The game was designed by Amanita Design in the Czech Republic and one of our gaming evangelists, Tom Krcha, has posted an interview on his blog with Machinarium designer and director, Jakub Dvorský. Check it out, and you can download the game here!
POST UPDATED: 9/10/11
