Level Up Your Game Advertising With Tapjoy
Gaming market has seen such a boom in several last years and has been abundant in innovation and platforms shift. With many devices popping up and new publishers emerging, advertising rules have changed for the whole ecosystem and several strong players appeared in this domain. Tapjoy is clearly one of them. We talked with Matt Kaye, who is on the business dev team with Tapjoy and discussed OS fragmentation and consistent gaming experience, Tapjoy market that was recently launched, game recommendation mechanics, Tapjoy Android Fund and much more. Grab a coffee and read away!
Would you please introduce yourself and tell us in several words what Tapjoy does?
I’m Matt Kaye and I’m on the business development team. Tapjoy operates a “value exchange mobile ad network.” This model allows users to opt-in to and engage with personalized advertisements for virtual currency or premium content. Never interrupting the users in app experience, like traditional ads. Developers rely on Tapjoy to distribute their apps and to help monetize their free-to-play, virtual currency-based apps.
Black Friday Gaming Goodies + Food for Thought
Dear friends, once again Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
While you are eating turkey and indulging in gluttony during wonderful November feast (our American friends) or just awaiting for Black Friday deals in other parts of the world, it's time to see what companies and publishers have prepared for us this time.
Steam, as always, is heading for the game deals marathon, which will end on November 27. Today is a second round of major discounts, but more than 200 titles are available on a general sale. Check out Steam for the next several days and see if you can snap your long-awaited addiction set.
For gamers who remember white text on black screens and are not afraid of pixels, GOG has several outstanding games for free as well, like a classic oldschool vertical shooter Tyrian 2000 (oh, those good old times!). What is more, 1C Publishing catalogue is also on a huge -60% sale! Don't wait till it's over, it's good old games!
Friday Gaming Goodies + Weekend Reading List
It's Friday and it brings some great news besides beer/Skyrim/COD and what's on your usual Friday evening list. What's on the weekend game playing list btw? Share with us on Facebook!
First of all, long-awaited Minecraft - Pocket Edition is available for your iDevice and Android gadgets. Go ahead, download your favorite pixelated block building tool for just $6.99.
Furthermore, Steam has an amazing offer you can grab! Super Meat Boy Anniversary Bundle for $24.99 will give you Super Meat Boy, Bit Trip Beat, Bit Trip Runner, World of Goo, Braid, Gish, Aquaria, VVVVVV, Machinarium, and Half-Life 2. What is more, soundtracks for many of the games are also included into the pack.
STUDY: Playing Video Games Changes Brain Structure
Scientists have discovered that the brains of people, who regularly play computer games is different from the brain of ordinary people. The study published in Translational Psychiatry magazine suggests, that the brain reward system which functions during the addiction process, was increased in adolescents who play video games.
An international team of scientists found out if computer games alter brain structure.
They ranked 154 14-year-olds according to the number of hours per week spent playing video games, with an average of about 9 hours per week. Those who played more than 9 hours were classified as constant players, but no one was classified as a dependent.
3D Solar System For iPhone and Hasbro my3D Viewer is Out!
We are excited to let you know that 3D Solar System application for iPhone is already out! You can lay your eager hands and eyes on your Hasbro my3D Viewer to take a journey throughout our solar system and explore all planets and many moons in a beautiful as-real-as-it-can-get 3D setting.
It's a great way to learn more about the small part of the universe we all inhabit and take a virtual tour on your own spaceship. If you have an exploration urge, don't hold back - get 3D Solar System in the AppStore and push the thrust button.
If you need some visual motivation here are the screenshots and video demos:
It's been fantastic to collaborate with Reason Interactive on 3D Solar System and we are amazed by the great feedback we are hearing! If you want an independent opinion, Luke Patrick with iPhone App Review has a very detailed outline of the app.
Have you piloted your spaceship around our solar system? What's been your experience? Please share with us in the comments!
Steam Goes on a Crazy Halloween Sale!
Dear gamers, as always, Steam has rolled out huge Halloween sale on many "spooky" titles. The prices are a great bargain. So if you've waited for quite a long for titles like Bioshock, Left 4 Dead, and many others it's time to grab the games to keep busy till Christmas sale.
Alternatively, if you still don't have any plans for Halloween, download as many as your wallet allows. Who needs trick-or-treating when there is Penumbra on sale?
You can check the list of games on a dedicated Steam page.
Heyworks is coming to Unite 11. Are you?
As most of you know, next week, September 28-30, Unity is holding a massive event for developers, publishers, tech geeks and beyond in San Francisco, California, known as Unite 11. Heyworks will be attending Unite 11 and we would love to meet up with you for a talk or discussion during these 3 days. Our CEO Alex Yarmolik will be packed with gadgets and recent works we've done, so be sure to ping him for demos of our last games and visualization projects. What is more, Alex will gladly answer all your questions on projects porting with the help of Unity, niche visualization projects and, of course, making games. You can schedule a meeting with Alex via
- our contact form,
- email,
- by skype - yarmolik.heyworks,
- or leave a comment and ping us on twitter or facebook.
Take a look at the projects we will be bringing to Unite 11 after the cut.
Who Pays For Freemium Games to Remain Free
We are all aware that freemium model dominates both Android Market and App Store. But who pays for all these free games, buying power-ups and making other in-app purchases? Flurry has analyzed data from more than 20M users across major smartphone platforms and here is what they found out.
Weekly Unity Games Series: Aurora
At Heyworks we enjoy making games. But also we love playing great games. Today we are kicking off a series of posts, in which we will highlight best Unity 3D games available to play. As Unity becomes a an increasingly popular option as a gaming platform of choice for games developers, tons of great games pop up. With today's vast array of AAA and indie titles available for casual and sophisticated gamers it's easy to miss a hidden gem. We'll open a veil off amazing games created by our peer game dev studios around the world.
Games Are Cheaper Than Last Year by %28, Revenue is Up
Latest report from Distimo takes a look at mobile gaming market and tells us that games are cheaper now than they were last year by 28%, however, the revenue generated by freemium games has increased. Most of the games use virtual currencies to monetize in the App Store for iPhone.
