Wednesday, May 12, 2010

“Interview: Ngmoco Acquires Touch Pets Developer Stumptown Game Machine - Gamasutra” plus 2 more

“Interview: Ngmoco Acquires Touch Pets Developer Stumptown Game Machine - Gamasutra” plus 2 more

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Interview: Ngmoco Acquires Touch Pets Developer Stumptown Game Machine - Gamasutra

Posted: 12 May 2010 05:23 AM PDT

 Mobile developer Ngmoco has acquired Stumptown Game Machine, developers of its successful iPhone title Touch Pets Dogs, and multiple new games in development.

Andrew Stern is the original creator of the Petz series, which Ubisoft continues to publish (without his input). He is also known for co-creating experimental conversation game Facade before he began work on Touch Pets Dogs.

Stern will now oversee Stumptown's projects for the San Francisco-headquartered Ngmoco, which will continue to operate the Stumptown Game Machine studio from Portland, Oregon.

Touch Pets Dogs, an iPhone game, was one of the first launches under Ngmoco's new free-to-play business model. Costing users nothing and supported by in-game purchases, it has been downloaded over 5 million times.

Bob Stevenson, one of Ngmoco's co-founders, says that the move to release the game for free "worked out really, really well." The acquisition of Stumptown, he says, reflects the Ngmoco's management team's belief that Stern is "a great collaborator" and the realization that "this just has to be a long term relationship. We have a great working relationship that we wanted to solidify."

This move also allows Stumptown to pursue new projects -- on which Stevenson is bullish. "We felt like the combination of some titles, [which] we're not announcing today, but are being brainstormed and in production, being able to build our resources around Andrew... Given that kind of commitment, it allowed him to queue up some collaborators... really key talent."

Some of these notable collaborators include Richard Evans (Black & White, The Sims 3) who has joined the Stumptown team. Like Stern, he's an AI specialist.

Describing the process of meeting with developers after the acquisition of Freeverse as a "warm experience", Stevenson says that "we're highly collaborative and try and break new ground." Stern agrees, saying that the company "is at the forefront of taking risks and trying new things."

"Ngmoco is very supportive of allowing us to keep our mode of creation, and independent spirit, and give us a lot of freedom to innovate exciting new product directions," he says.

He also says that the acquisition was an idea that he'd always considered a possibility at some point for the company's future, and both agree that this timing made sense.

The New Games

Stumptown was already working on new projects with Ngmoco, but the companies decided to pull the trigger on the acquisition to make sure that the resources were there to fully pursue them.

Says Stern, "The idea of getting acquired just clicked and made sense. It gave us the resources to grow more and do even bigger, more exciting, innovative products together. The vision that Ngmoco has, and I have, for the project I want to make is very well-aligned, so it just made sense to join forces."

Says Stevenson, "There are a couple of very ambitious games that we've been talking to them about, and this deal allowed Andrew to feel very comfortable to staff up his team and being able to secure a long term relationship with people like Richard. It allowed those puzzle pieces to be put into place."

When it comes to the social games market, Stern sees major room for evolution in the types of games. "I see there's a lot of potential for deep, more sophisticated characters and narrative situations combined with social networking. Richard and I and the rest of the Stumptown group are planning big things."

"All of the products I have worked on have been mass-appeal, mainstream characters and situations, and that's really good fit for mobile and social networking," says Stern. But social doesn't mean simple, he suggests, though often developers of these games shy away from depth in a quest to keep games accessible.

"This guy's a really thoughtful talent, who really gets how to do deep interaction but keep it mainstream, which is a really unusual mixture," says Stevenson of Stern.

The drive to make casual games "just aligns personally with my own personal taste in games," says Stern. "Just like many busy people, I don't have more than a few minutes a day to play games, and I'm one of the many who fell in love with the iPhone. I'm excited to really build the kind of games I'd want to play."

He adds, "I'm also just interested to have games be more about people's real lives, and everyday experiences. I think games can be more relevant to people, in that way."

While he can't discuss the game specifically just yet, he does say that "the idea of having your friends as characters in your games, possibly playing themselves, even, is really compelling."

"I think the rise of social networking games suggests that people are looking for gaming experiences that can integrate more directly into their daily lives," says Stern.

The Free-to-Play Experiment

Touch Pets Dogs was one of the two launch titles, last year, for Ngmoco's new company-wide move to free-to-play, pay-for-content -- or "freemium" -- games. The transition wasn't always easy for the company, as it has discussed, though Stevenson says that eliminating all but free-to-play products from the company's portfolio is "by far the best thing we ever did."

When it comes to Touch Pets Dogs, Stevenson is aware that "most people aren't paying for the game," but says that "they add to the community" which helps create "a much larger, richer ecosystem" for all users of the title.

So far, says Stevenson, "We did some things right and we did some things that we definitely learned from, and evolved, in games like We Rule, where I think we've really understood what type of items people are willing to spend money on."

When it comes to Stumptown, he says that the team gets how to make free-to-play attractive for users, and rather than being "cynical", instead has a "really authentic" approach. "They really want to make things the very best that they can be."

For his part, Stern is extremely enthusiastic about Ngmoco's business model. "I think they're right on, and this is the future of how to make successful games that will monetize, especially in the iPhone market, which is a challenging, ever-evolving market."

Touch Pets Dogs was originally going to launch as a premium purchase title, but changed during development to a free download with in-game transactions. "I was really excited when the game switched to a freemium model," says Stern, citing a bigger audience as a primary reason.

The iPhone, says Stevenson, is "truly mass market" in a way even the Nintendo DS isn't, and that necessitates this business model. However, he admits, "there's a lot more work to do, and we're not complacent. Everyone is learning." And when that's the case, he says, "there's a great energy."

Americans prefer shelters over stores for new pets - Pocono Record

Posted: 12 May 2010 05:02 AM PDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Remember that old song, "How much is that doggie in the window?" For most Americans, it seems it's no sale.
More than half of people in an Associated Press-Petside.com poll said they would get their next dog or cat from a shelter, nearly seven times the number who said they would buy their next pet from a store.

And more than four in 10 said they thought store pets could have hidden medical or psychological problems. That's significantly more than those who expressed the same concerns about pets from animal shelters or breeders.

"I believe they overbreed the pets. I believe they couldn't care less about the pets, they're really in it for the money. I think you are more likely to get a pet at a pet store that is ill or has problems," said Sandra Toro, 62, of Colton, Calif.

Just 8 percent of those polled said they would get their next cat or dog at a store, while 13 percent said that's where they got the pet they have now. Fifty-four percent of those polled said they would probably get their next pet from a shelter, while 23 percent went for a breeder.

Toro, who has a 14-year-old rescue terrier mix named Dancer, said she doesn't understand how anyone can buy a pet from a store or a breeder.

"There are so many wonderful pets out there that will be euthanized," she said. "There's no reason for it."

John Knight, 45, of Dallas, got his 3-year-old mutt named Liesl (rhymes with diesel) from an animal shelter that was holding a weekend adoption day at Petsmart.

"There are plenty of animals out there that need good homes that don't have them. There's no reason to continue to breed animals when there are so many that have to be put down," he said.

When asked where their present pets came from, 26 percent said breeders and 30 percent said shelters — a much smaller number than said they would go to a shelter for their next pet. More than half of those polled said their dogs or cats came from places other than shelters, breeders or stores. They might have been strays, gifts from friends or favors for neighbors. Since some people have more than one pet, the numbers add to more than 100 percent.

"I've probably had 50 dogs and all but two came walking up our driveway," said Colleen Campbell, 71, of Fairview, Texas.

She and her husband have spent 50 years on their rural farm outside Dallas and it has been a perennial dumping ground for strays. They also take in any other animal that needs a home. Their vet talked them into Frito and Burrito, a pair of donkeys Campbell knew would need special medical attention.

The poll showed that dog owners (35 percent) were likelier to have gotten their current pets from a breeder than cat owners (5 percent).

Forty-seven percent of those polled said they were strongly concerned that an animal from a pet store would have medical issues they didn't know about, 38 percent had similar worries about animals from breeders and 32 percent were concerned about shelter pets.

As for psychological problems, 44 percent said they had significant worries about pet store animals and 33 percent worried about both breeder and shelter pets.

Fitting in with the family was of concern to everyone: 33 percent for stores, 30 percent for shelters and 28 percent for breeders.

When Mike Stoutenburg, 36, of Mishawaka, Ind., and his family are ready for their next dog, they will probably go to a breeder, he said, because they want an Australian shepherd. He is sure he could see any health problems in a puppy, but said he would ask his vet and groomer to check the pet out for any mental problems because the dog will be around a very young and active child — and his 3-year-old son "loves to grab things."

"Our groomer is extremely knowledgeable about animals. We trust her opinion," Stoutenburg said.

Bill Machut, 40, of Rolling Meadows, Ill., got his dog, Sidney, a Siberian Husky, from a pet store when the dog was 8 weeks old. That was 12 years ago.

If he were looking for a new pet, "I would buy from a pet store again. And I wouldn't rule out a breeder if I was looking for a certain breed. But I would probably start off at the shelters," he said.

He said most people expect things like kennel cough or worms. "There is an assumption there is a good chance there is some sort of health issue, especially being at a shelter. You deal with it. It's not that big of a deal," he said.

Several years ago, they got Sidney a playmate from a shelter, knowing before they took her in that she was sick. "She had seizures from the get go. We knew she wasn't going to be a long life dog. We had her six years."

People under age 30 (17 percent) were likelier to say they'd get a pet from a pet store than older groups (all were 7 percent or less).

The AP-Petside.com Poll was conducted April 7-12, 2010, and involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,112 pet owners nationwide.

It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Associated Press Polling Director Trevor Tompson, AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP Writer Alan Fram contributed to this report from Washington.


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In difficult times, Meals on Wheels doesn’t forget the pets - Naples Daily News

Posted: 07 May 2010 08:57 AM PDT

WESTMINSTER, Md. — Josephine Brunner got an extra delivery from Meals on Wheels to her Westminster home last week.

Brunner gets meals delivered to her home from Meals on Wheels, and now the organization is partnering with another local organization to provide customers with pet food if it's needed.

Brunner's pet pit bull Diablo is now guaranteed to get his meals, just like the rest of the family.

The food is provided by Carroll's Pets in Need Campaign, a fund set up through the Community Foundation of Carroll County. The fund was started in January 2009 to help families in Carroll provide for their pets.

Audrey Cimino, executive director for the Community Foundation of Carroll County, said the fund was started after a letter to the editor was published in the Carroll County Times. The letter lamented people had to abandon their pets during the economic recession because of financial difficulties.

Lynelle Osborn, program service supervisor for Meals on Wheels in Carroll County, said the partnership between the two organizations has been great so far.

Meals on Wheels knows a lot of the county's home-bound residents and already delivers to them, she said. "It's another way for us to provide for our clients," Osborn said.

Pet food is delivered to Meals on Wheels clients once a month. So far, there are nine clients receiving the pet food, Osborn said, and each receives the same type of food their animal usually eats.

Cimino said they want to make sure they aren't changing the pet's food because a switch could cause digestive issues with the animals.

Cimino goes out to the pet food store each month with money provided by Carroll's Pets in Need fund and picks up the specific food for each client. That food is then distributed to Osborn and she includes it in the delivery packages.

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