ANN: Kasual Kit

[NUView]

New Company, NUView, Company Launch!
NUView Launches this May with their first product, Kasual Kit, a revolutionary new game development tool!

Bakersfield CA, Mar 10, 2006 – NUView software is proud to announce their company launch, and their flagship first product Kasual Kit. Kasual Kit will change the face of game development by giving developers and artists a chance to focus on fun over technical detail.

Kasual Kit will also open the door to people who don't have a strong software development background. Now the art of creating games can be accessible to anyone who's played a game, and wants to share their game ideas with the world. The Kasual Kit Wizard(tm) can be used by software developers and laymen with equal ease.

The casual game's industry has exploded in popularity, and now the tools are starting to catch up with the market!

For more information please visit...

http://www.kasualkit.com

[Savant]

I'm at a loss for words. I'm sure I'll find some 4 letter ones soon though.

[luggage]

brilliant!

[lakibuk]

Making a Zuma-clone by pressing some buttons - great!
(see screenshot at the bottom).

[ManuelFLara]

At first I thought this was a (very well done) joke. Then I though it was very sad. But now I think this may even be good, since if most of the succcessful casual subgenres end up being VERY crowded with crappy clones, developers will begin to actually innovate something in this market instead of adding twists to the same match/swap/shoot mechanics over and over.

[Ricardo C]

Code Blue! Code Blue in Savant's house!

[Savant]

I had considered writing something like this in the past, to be honest. Seems like a good way to cut out the middle man. And, truthfully, maybe this will be good as someone stated above - if enough really shitty clones flood the market, maybe people will get tired of them. Who knows?

[PeterM]

*checks the calendar*

Nope. It's not April yet.

We're all doomed!

[Ricardo C]

Well, there's FPS, RPG, and Adventure game makers already, and the market hasn't been "flooded by crappy clones". You still need talent to make a worthwhile game, even with a click-together SDK. So let's not go crazy just yet Portals might use it to create exclusive titles, and established developers might take to it like some have taken to Flash, but Johnny Wannabe is not gonna nip at Zuma's heels anytime soon.

Frankly, if the product lives up to its billing, I'll consider a purchase. Then I can get on Savant's blog every day of the week

[svero]

Hrm. Well... I donno. I can't expect a generic game maker like this would produce good enough results for anyone to really worry about. You'd probably have to do a lot of code editing.

Even with all these match 3's coming out nowdays, you have to do something kind of newish or very impressive to get a little action. (like that 7 wonders game.. very slick) If portals are flooded with tons of the same game they'll only pick the very best ones, but we'll probably still see match3's etc... for a long time to come.

As for helping the market, I don't know. Kind of depressing to think you'd work hard to workout some new concept and then it just gets added to this kit.

[Sirrus]

I'd still be interested in checking this out...

Could be a solid base for expanding.

[DanMarshall]

$500?

Blimey. You can pick up C++ for dummies for a tenner, you know...

[Game Producer]

Very nice! Congratulations for finding such a great market segment. Good job!

[PeterM]

It could definitely do well, considering the ability of the portals to push out as many Match/Zuma games as possible.

I guess it depends highly on what the generated code is like. There are some pretty competent games out there made with various X Maker toolsets, and the ability to extend and modify the generated game is a good feature.

But a part of me has died inside.

[papillon]

I can think of a lot of people who'd play around with it even if they didn't put much push behind such releases - but only if the cost was under $100.

$500 is a perfectly good price if the kit is more intended to sucker people who think they can Make Money Fast than to actually produce lots of games. (I have no objection to parting suckers from cash - did I mention my first foray into the porn world was being suckered into buying a turnkey site? I quickly learned a lot more about the business, pawned the site off on someone else for a profit, and moved on.) If that's the business model, perfectly good business model, wrong place to advertise it.

[DanMarshall]

Originally Posted by papillon

did I mention my first foray into the porn world was being suckered into buying a turnkey site? I quickly learned a lot more about the business, pawned the site off on someone else for a profit, and moved on.) If that's the business model, perfectly good business model, wrong place to advertise it.

That's the best thing I've read all day. Brilliant!

[Sybixsus]

The Kasual Kit game wizard uses a state of the art game code framework designed by some of the largest developers in the business.

Oh no.. they've dragged PopCap into this

[baegsi]

Very funny.

Q: How long will it take to make my game?
A: With Kasual Kit, having a fully operational game takes only minutes!

I should be able to have my own portal with hundreds of games up and running within a day

Of course the key question to tools/turnkey solutions like this is always: if it is so easy to make make money with it, why don't the creators use the tool themselves?

[luggage]

Maybe they are, or maybe they intend to?

[JoKa]

Originally Posted by baegsi

if it is so easy to make make money with it, why don't the creators use the tool themselves?

Maybe they will?
I think this creator would be much more interesting for many people at a lower price. Why don't you offer a cheaper license for non-commercial users or people who want to test it?

[DanMarshall]

Of course the key question to tools/turnkey solutions like this is always: if it is so easy to make make money with it, why don't the creators use the tool themselves?

Why be the Monkey when you can be the Organ Grinder?


for this, and other crap analogies, visit my blog*

Dan

*no actual crap analogies on my blog

[Ricardo C]

I'm guessing the games generated are very bare-bone clones, so to create a game with real sales potential will require the end user to get his hands dirty with the generated code, yes? Any chance for a plug-in system to quickly add customization without having to rewrite the code?

[electronicStar]

That will not change anything.
I have marathon-tested two dozen match-3 game demos in the last couple of days, just for the kick of it, and frankly most of them already look like they were done with a kasual-kit (tm).

[Nikster]

Looking at the "from this to this screen shot", I'm sure I've seen identical products already doing the rounds on portals, and I'm not talking plain clones, but those actual prods heh.

Savant, you're gonna have to hire poop loads of people to maintain your blog

[tentons]

Oh my god, it really is a Klone Kit.

Q: What if the game I want to make isn't included?
A: Our team is always researching the top game sites to include the very latest and best game ideas. Game types will be added in a timely manner based on their level of popularity and sales.

Wow.

[GhostRik]

Interesting...

The bottom of the FAQ says that you have to have a C++ compiler. Most game-makers are self-compiling. If you have a compiler then you probably don't want a game-maker. Or am I wrong?

[Curiosoft]

For those of you wondering what's going to happen with this clone fest....who knows.

But consider this...
look into what happened with Screensavers in the late 90s. There were folks making a lot of money off screensavers. People started cloning...then folks created their own screensaver makers....

Who knows if the same thing will happen.

Also, the makers of the kit should also consider approaching companies with licensed properties. They don't really care about game quality or innovation. If the produced game is some-what fun and leverages the license...they are happy.

Later,
Curiosoft

[Bmc]

Originally Posted by Curiosoft

For those of you wondering what's going to happen with this clone fest....who knows.

But consider this...
look into what happened with Screensavers in the late 90s. There were folks making a lot of money off screensavers. People started cloning...then folks created their own screensaver makers....

Who knows if the same thing will happen.

Also, the makers of the kit should also consider approaching companies with licensed properties. They don't really care about game quality or innovation. If the produced game is some-what fun and leverages the license...they are happy.

Later,
Curiosoft

game design takes a little more work than coming up with a screensaver

[Anlino]

I really don't know what to say about this. Part of me says that this could be a great tool, and the other part tells me that it will help the market to be flooded with clones. I think you guys should offer some more information. After all, this is your target market (and i am definatley interested )

[arcadetown]

Sounds pretty similar to Game Maker and yet to see a decent game with chance of selling well produced from it.