Gaming « Zodal Mobile New Zealand

Archive for the ‘Gaming’ Category

Zodal Develops Anika Odyssey Game for Trickysheep Publishing

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Today New Zealand game publisher Trickysheep Publishing released Zodal’s latest adventure game called “Anika’s Odyssey – Land of the Taniwha”.

Anika’s Odyssey is a magical adventure deep into a lush and enchanted land. Be Anika Greenfield and break through reality, to enter a mystical world inspired by Aotearoa, New Zealand. Throughout the adventure, Anika meets wild and curious creatures and exotic Taniwha spirits (New Zealand Maori word for spirits, pronounced ‘tah-nee-fah’) that inhabit this wondrous wilderness.

The game is an enchanting point and click adventure puzzle game, full of a myriad of surprises and charm. Help Anika Greenfield explore her colorful landscape as she searches to reclaim her beloved friend.

Anikas Odyssey is a free web game and was released on the internet today and launched through the USA Game portal Kongregate, “the YouTube of Online Gaming”. Kongregate a gaming and social networking website allows its members to chat while playing games and post comments about the games while bookmarking their favorites and rating the digital content.

In the first day alone the Anikas Odyssey – Land of the Taniwha has been played over 10,000 times, and fans are already demanding a sequel, with comments of praise and adoration being continually posted, such as this comment from a community member “superb game play, spot-on sound effects, nice puzzles, and much more make this an excellent game!”

As the game publisher Trickysheep hold the IP rights to the Anika’s Odyssey franchise and plan to release a sequel and a mobile portable version of the game in the first quarter of 2008. It is likely that Zodal, New Zealand’s Leading Adobe Flash Game and Mobile Game Digital Development Studio, will again be the assigned Game Developer for the follow up project. Trickysheep are reviewing considerations for game sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested in exclusive rights to the sequel please contact partners@trickysheep.co.nz

From the official Anikia Odyssey webpage here – you can link to the social networking sites and keep up with the community activities of Anika Greenfield with beautifully designed Anika pages on Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. To join the Anika Odyssey community and receive information updates go here.

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Flash, Chris Blair, Flash Games, Gaming, HOT, Interaction Design, Social Networking | 2 Comments »

Armageddon Pulp Expo – Art Prize

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

Armageddon Pulp Expo is New Zealand’s leading expo for dedicated game, film and comic, animation fans. Earlier this year the expo came to Christchurch for the first time, and brought with it a huge buzz with special guest appearances by stars from Star Trek and Lord of the Rings to name afew.

International Comic, Film, & Animation Celebrities ( and Wrestling Stars of course) all turn out for what is the most fun on the planet, and it was true again for Auckland earlier this week, where the event is now 12 years old. The very first event was held in 1995 at the Avondale Raceway in Auckland, with no noted international special guests at all.

Auckland Pulp Expo Special guests this year included:
- Rodger Bumpass – Squidward Tentacles in SpongeBob Squarepants
- Billy West – Voice actor on Futurama, Ren and Stimpy and much more
- Amanda Connor – Power Girl – international comic artist
- Bruce Timm – Animation Legend

Special events run throughout the Armageddon expo to keep you on your toes – ranging from Streets Brain Freeze Ice-cream eating contests to Lazer tag and the infamous Art Contest.

Zodal are very pleased to announce that Tom Robinson, who leads Zodal’s game character development & character illustration has won the best art prize at Amageddon Pulp Expo Auckland 2007.

Tom is looking forward to enjoying his Nintendo DS prize, not to mention the honor of keeping in touch with some of the industries leading comic artists from the USA who formed the expert judging panel which chose Tom’s artwork, of what some may describe as “an eye ball on legs”, as the top piece of digital art at the Amageddon NZ Art Contest the year.

Keep an eye out for Zodal’s next online adventure game which is due to be released before Christmas 2007, the game features some of the most amazing creatures you have ever seen in Adobe Flash online gaming, all of which have been created specifically for the game by Tom and the Zodal team.

Posted in Adobe Flash, Animation-Art, Awards, Chris Blair, Flash Games, Gaming, New Zealand | 5 Comments »

Zodal Presents Live Adobe Webinar on Gaming

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

There are already 400 people signed up for our Live Online Webinar on:
Mobile Gaming for Web2.0 & PSP.

If anyone is interested to learn how to take advantage of the new opportunities emerging in the casual game and mobile game markets you can sign up at Adobe here.

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We will be streaming over the “Adobe Live Connect” technology and the Webinar will cover best practices when designing games which require cross delivery; platforms such as for Web2.0, and mobile devices such as the PSP.

Adobe are organizing a raffle for a free Flash Professional CS3 Software or iRiver Clix (winners choice)

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The Webinar is free – Hope to see you there!
(unfortunately the Seminar time has been optimized for US timezone – so its an early start for us here in NZ: Thursday 27th morning 8.00am NZ time)

The Seminar Title is “Best Practices: Designing & Developing content for the Sony PSP using Adobe® Flash® software” and for US Pacific Time it will be live on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM US/Pacific.

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Flash, Chris Blair, Flash Games, Flash Lite, Gaming, Mobile, Mobile Games, Mobile-Devices, iPhone | 1 Comment »

New Adobe Dev Center Article From Zodal

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

Today Zodal release a new Developer article titled Designing and developing Flash games for the Sony PSP cementing their position as one of the leading Flash and Flash Lite mobile development studios.

Zodal worked closely with Bill Perry who manages global developer relations for mobile and devices, and other key members of the Adobe Mobile and Devices team to develop a rich new article for Adobe’s Developer Center.

Since firmware update 2.70, Adobe Flash content has been viewable on Sony’s Playstation Portable (PSP) game console.

Like any device, the PSP has strengths, limitations, and unique quirks that game designers and developers need to understand before creating content for it.

Jeff Nusz, Zodal’s lead developer has created this clear step by step tutorial article to help stimulate new knowledge and wealth in the mobile and device Flash developer community. The article takes you through the boundaries of the PSP and looks at how to optimize your Flash programming techniques and graphic design approaches; with hints and tips coming from real life examples and techniques Zodal use as part of their inhouse game development process.

The article is targeted at Flash developers who have built games for desktop computers or mobile devices, and are interested in new opportunities developing for the PSP.

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Flash, Chris Blair, Flash Games, Flash Lite, Gadgets, Gaming, Innovation, Jeff Nusz, Mobile, Mobile Games, Mobile-Devices, Sony PSP, Trends | No Comments »

G3 – July 13 and 14 in Auckland

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

The New Zealand Game Developer’s Association is this weekend hosting a Games, Girls and Graphics Conference at the Town Hall. The speaker lineup includes a few NZGDA members. If you’re going to be in Auckland on unlucky Friday the 13th, check out the website to see if there is still space.

Posted in Gaming, Ghada Vanderpool, New Zealand | No Comments »

E3 2007 – Wii Fit is it

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

Following on from the success of Wii Sport, Nintendo yesterday showcased their upcoming title Wii Fit to cap off the first day at the E3 Conference. Hardcore gamers may have been waiting for previews of Super Mario or Zelda, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, Shigeru Miyamoto wowed the crowd with the yet to be released title for the casual gamer.

Wii Fit doesn’t appear to be anything that new. A combination of DDR, and rehashed games from Wii Sport, but this time taking on a subtler approach to physical activity incorporating stretch type activities like hula hooping and balancing feats – suitable for the whole family. From all reports and from the video, it appears to also have a strong yoga feel. As someone who really enjoys yoga, I’m not sure that I can really get into the idea of taking my cues from an onscreen character while daintily balancing on the pressure sensitive Wii mat. But then again, I’m probably not the target audience. I had my fill of Wii Sport after one sweaty afternoon of boxing and baseball. Don’t get me wrong, I look forward to an afternoon of whiplash and sore hips after swiveling around on the Wii mat and trying to head butt the soccer ball in separate Wii Fit mini games, but as with the Wii Sport, I think the novelty will wear off for me very quickly. In general I like mini games, I think the more unrealistic they are, the more hooked I get. Its something to do with the idea that if I know I can’t do it in real life – like slapping the toilet door on the Raving Rabbids or lassoing them – then I like it. But the more realistic the mini game, such as yoga or head butting a soccer ball, I feel as if I should just get out there and do the real thing!

So my question to the masses is who of you out there plays Wii Sport regularly? And do you see yourselves getting into the Wii Fit with the same vigor – especially as seeing this new incarnation plots your progress against other Miis? Drop us a comment and let me know your thoughts on the video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jsVv-T0Tk]

Posted in Gaming, Ghada Vanderpool, HOT, Innovation, Trends | No Comments »

Into the New – with Brew

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Qualcomm’s Brew Conference dubbed Into The New, starts today in San Diego, California.

Brew is one of the major alternatives to J2ME (Java) and sits along side JAVA, Windows Mobile and Symbian competing for the Handheld Device Market.

In late 2006 Adobe and Verizon Wireless announced a partnership that would make Flash Lite content available to over 37.5 million Verizon Wireless subscribers. So now with the right technical specifics Flash Lite is available for development and distribution across the Brew market.

Brew’s heartland is the US where it powers Verizon’s successful GET IT NOW digital content portal. Other key stats around Qualcomm’s Brew are:
– Operator customers: 70
– Device partners: 48
– Countries with BREW: 32
– Publisher/developer earnings from BREW apps: $1 billion

There is a huge line up of speakers at this years “Into The New”, from Smashing Ideas GameLoft, EA, Digital Chocolate to Facebook and MySpace.

There will be hands on technology sessions presenting some interesting views such as “Exploring Capabilities of Adobe Flash Lite on Brew” to “Flash Lite on Brew Business Insights”.

Also great sessions fill up the three day conference ranging from “BREW applications with SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)” to sessions on “Multi-player Mobile Gaming” and “The Rise of Virtual Communities and the Implications for Mobile Gaming”.

The interesting value proposition behind Zodal’s Flash and Flash Lite mobile games and mobile applications is that our work flow and development architectures enable us to deliver End User Applications and great experiences across mobiles running Brew, Windows Mobile, Symbian and also across the Internet, IPTV and additionally game devices such as PSP PS3 and Nintendo Wii.

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Flash, Brew, Chris Blair, Flash Lite, Gaming, Mobile, Mobile Games, Telecommunications | No Comments »

Could this be a PS3 Mobile Game Phone?

Monday, June 18th, 2007

I Spotted this on some travels around the internet recently. Could this be a mobile sony PS3 game phone? Check it out for yourself.

There has been no word from Sony’s gaming division about a new PSP, much less one with a phone built in, a U.S. spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment told Reuters. However Sony Ericsson, a venture of Sony Corp. and Ericsson, filed a patent application dated May 31 with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office related to a mobile device with gaming functionality that originated from employees in Japan.

Posted in Gadgets, Gaming, Japan, Korea, Mobile, Mobile Games, Sony PSP | No Comments »

Numbers Tell Of A New Picture for The Mobile Future

Monday, May 21st, 2007

Adobe have now shipped over 200 Million Flash-enabled devices. Adobe’s Flash Lite is fast being recognized as the most pervasive and cross device platform for developing Mobile Games and Rich Graphic Mobile content, giving end users a more engaging user experience.

Flash Lite is supported by Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Windows Mobile and all other leading handset and device manufacturers, so it is not surprising to find majority of consumers are now beginning to possess a mobile device which can support the exciting software and entertainment which Zodal develops.

Zodal’s latest games for MTV skateboard stars “Rob and Big” was developed for Flash enabled device the Sony PSP. Zodal are currently developing three new mobile games in Adobe Flash Lite from right here in New Zealand to be launched across the Flash Lite supported Nokia range of handsets.

All the supporting figures outlining the growth of Flash Lite for mobile devices can be found at Visionmobile, a think tank for mobile strategists. These facts are very interesting to our team here at Zodal, as we continue to develop premium Flash Lite mobile games for the international market with the original fun and excitement of our custom developed Zodal flash phone games leading the way for a more engaging mobile user experience.

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Flash, Flash Games, Flash Lite, Gaming, Mobile Games | No Comments »

Zodal's Lead Interactive Programmer wins Gaming Award

Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Jeff Nusz, Zodal’s Lead Interactive Programmer has picked up first place in the international web gaming awards held by Jay Is Games – Casual Gameplay site.

“Sprout is a creative and original adventure puzzle game created by Jeff Nusz, of New Zealand, for our second Casual Gameplay Design Competition. From the moment you lay eyes on it you know it’s something special. The unique artwork for a Flash game has a paper-cut appearance that lends a storybook atmosphere to the game. This environment perfectly suits the role you play as a young seedling trying to find its way home. Sprout has everything we love to see in a Flash game: originality, a simple design, and a beautiful presentation.”

Congratulations Jeff from from the rest of the Zodal team! – Sprout also took out the Audience award for the 2007 competition! – go check it out here!

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Flash, Awards, Gaming, India, Jeff Nusz, New Zealand, Trends | No Comments »

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