The content for most user generated content sites is pretty easy to make. Just shoot a photo for Flickr or record a video for YouTube. But when it comes to the user generated games on Kongregate, you’ll need to acquire some basic programming skills before contributing anything.
Instead of relying on its users to go out and buy O’Reilly books on Flash development, the two-year-old startup has put together a series of tutorials for a new section of its site called Kongregate Labs. The tutorials (nine planned but only three available today) hold your hand throughout the entire process of creating a spaceship game - from downloading Flash CS3 for the first time to adding advanced power up and boss elements. At each step of the way, you can play the game as it should be played (and how it should function if you’ve following the directions closely).
CEO Jim Greer says the new Labs guide is primarily intended to give Kongregate’s devoted players more things to do onsite by helping them become developers for a change. Ultimately, Greer also hopes that the tutorials will spur a greater general interest in amateur game development, which in the long run could persuade would-be developers to create some of the hits that draw crowds to his site.
Of the 3,000 developers that have contributed 8,000 games to Kongregate, the vast majority of them are garage developers who don’t work for companies. Greer estimates that only about 1 in 100 games come from professional studios.
After launching 18 months ago, Kongregate now attracts 4.5 million unique visitors worldwide, according to internal statistics. The average player is 19 years old and male, with developers tending to be just a little older.
The launch of Labs also marks Kongregate’s biggest advertising campaign to date, for Toyota’s Scion line of cars. Branding for Scion not only pervades the Labs section; the startup is also running a developer competition in which Scion is giving a few hundred dollars to the best sample spaceship game enhancements.
Kongregate will release additional developer tools in the future, such as a hosting service for multiplayer games and a micropayments service for in-game transactions. When asked about the mobile gaming space, Greer insisted that Kongregate was focused on the desktop experience right now and does not consider mobile a priority.
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I’m going to try this. I’ve been playing Kongregate games for a few months now.
Impressive: “Since its launch 18 months ago, Kongregate has attracted 4.5 unique visitors worldwide, according to internal statistics.”
hey, every visitor counts. fixed
Hey, just because I’m short doesn’t mean I’m less than a complete person.
“Since its launch 18 months ago, Kongregate has attracted 4.5 unique visitors worldwide, according to internal statistics.”
I would have sworn we had at least 10 unique visitors to the site. Those 4 and a half users sure do have a lot of alts!
Kongregate is going to get a huge marketshare after a while. They are amazing.
Now everyone can gobble up even more bandwidth with useless Flash apps.
For those that don’t want to learn how to program but still have an idea for a game, check-out Mockingbird (http://playmockingbird.com).
wow, 4 and a half unique visitors.
Damn ….. maybe they can pay the Game Creators some revenue. This will Game developers will be more enthused to build better games … I’ll check it out.
Kongregate does pay developers up to 50% of advertising revenue generated by their game page (something almost no portals do), and gives away cash prizes every week and month for the top rated games on the site.
That’s pretty neat.
Yeah, I have dabbled a little with them. Seems just alright.
Are there any lower priced alternatives to Flash CS3 (or now CS4, I guess) to use with Kongregate?
If so a tutorial about how to use them instead might be worth making.
flash mx
A member of the Kong community has translated the first few tutorials (and I suspect will also translate the rest) to be used with free flash alternatives on all major operating systems. Check out the forum thread here: http://www.kongregate.com/forums/11/topics/23746
Kongregate is a tremendous site. My son, who turned me onto it, is on it daily. At the end of a day I myself frequently will do a bit of gaming. This is a great way to encourage these kids to develop a skill that could potentially prove to be very lucrative.
Wasn’t Sims Carnival supposed to be similar? Haven’t heard about that one since launch…
never heard Kongregate this website, will try to plat the game and the Kongregate Labs really attrach me,
These tutorials could prove the be quite helpful. I’ve tried to fool around with Flash before in the past and it’s pretty difficult.