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The following SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity. More about the SMART 100.
Roar Engine
This innovation initially came to life when…
It started with some WILD questions about building games for the emerging “social game” space…
Crazy stuff, like what if you could build “Farmville” in a week? What if you could press a button and have a cross-platform, scalable, social game application layer instantly available? What if we could distill the core mechanics of social games into a highly configurable, easy-to-use system so that game developers could focus on creating amazing game experiences, rather than figuring out how to build complex server infrastructures…
We went looking for that system, and never found it.
So we built it.
WHAT & HOW
The purpose of this innovation is to…
Enable game developers to create their next smash hit social game in a matter of days (not months).
To solve the “hard problems” of building online social games: the servers, databases, application logic, scalability, reporting and more.
It does this by…
Providing a world-class cross-platform development toolkit and fully managed social game building platform for developers to create and manage the “back end” systems for their games.
Making it simple to create simple and complex game mechanics and application logic, providing game content-management resources and detailed reporting systems.
Automatically (auto-magically?) managing the scaling and load maintenance of servers that power these games.
PURPOSE & BENEFITS
This innovation improves on what came before because…
Simply put: It works.
It lets you prototype in a day what would take you a fortnight to build. Go live with battle-tested, world-class technology in a week, that would take you months of specialised investment to build yourself.
In the words of a large entertainment client, “Nothing else on the market comes close.”
Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…
Incredible speed and turnaround prototyping and developing their product/game.
Extremely cost effective comparison to “building it yourself”.
Enables clients to focus investments into their core competency (building fun games), rather than “figuring out” how to build scalable, complex, back-end systems.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
In the past, this problem was solved by…
Figuring it out yourself or outsourcing to “server development companies” to build a custom solution.
Often writing new technology stacks for every new game. Patching together multiple disparate tools to try to “make it work”. Investing buckets of cash in development that repeatedly gets thrown away because it wasn’t designed properly.
THIS is exactly our opportunity space.
Its predecessors/competitors include…
Raw tech stacks like Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP/Ruby/Python.
“Web MVC frameworks” like Symfony, Ruby on Rails, CakePHP.
“Object servers” like SmartFoxServer, ElectroTank.
Partial competitors (platform locked and provide only ‘part’ of the solution) like MochiMedia, Sibblingz, OpenFeint and DimeRocker.
TARGET MARKET
It is made for…
Social game development studios who are looking for a cost-effective competitive edge that de-risks their investments into the space.
Game companies who missed the ‘social games’ boat and are DESPERATE to get in on the gold-rush but don’t know how (it’s a whole new expertise set to build this type of tech).
Platform/Brand developers (mobile, television, casual) looking to “go social” (because of the gold rush) but again, not sure how.
Media Agencies trying to solve for the onslaught of clients screaming, “We neeeed games – get us on the Facebook!” — but how to solve quickly and profitably?
DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
It is available for sale through…
Currently, direct sales facilitated through our web site.
Customers license our product using our online Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) distribution model.
Our marketing strategy is to…
…speak softly (to the right people), and carry a big stick (our very impressive tech).
Using our executive networks to get product demos in front of high-level industry players, secure impressive lead customers (already happening).
Partnering with complimentary companies (like Unity3D) for sponsored event days (“hack-athons”) in San Francisco (social game mecca).
Leveraging big-client brands and feedback as online marketing splash.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT…
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