ZingMagic brings classic games to your phone

OviPublisherSuccesses | 08 December, 2011 16:46

In 1994 when ZingMagic started, the primary mobile device was a Psion Series 3 PDA, Palm had yet to release their PDA devices and Symbian hadn’t even been developed. With only a handful of part-time developers creating third-party applications for mobile devices, founder John Holloway concluded there was a significant business opportunity. With two friends, John set up what later became ZingMagic to focus on creating mobile-optimized versions of classic board, card and strategy games, such as Chess, Backgammon and Bridge.

Seventeen years later, ZingMagic is an award-winning company with a portfolio of more than 20 different apps across major smartphone platforms. In 2002, the company was awarded the first ever BAFTA in the Interactive Entertainment, Mobile Games Division for their Chess app on early Symbian-based phones. Their Chess app also won an award for the best Handango game in 2003, and ZingMagic were awarded Symbian Developer of the Year in 2008 by Handango.

ZingMagic originally built classic board, card and strategy games because of their universal appeal. The developers wanted to enable others to share their passion for the games by making mobile versions available and easy to use. Writing the artificial intelligence for these applications was a challenging feat, but ZingMagic’s success is apparent in their latest product, Chess V, which has garnered nearly one million downloads in 190 countries.
   

An ancient game, modern experience

With Chess V, ZingMagic set out to create the most powerful, user-friendly chess game on any platform that challenges skill levels ranging from beginning to expert.

To that end, the developers created more than 20 different skill levels in which consumers can compete. They also gave users the option to play against the clock or to play at their own pace. Chess V features sophisticated graphics with choices of boards and piece sets, as well as hints and tips to improve the players’ skills.

The challenge and the magic of developing

The artificial intelligence engines that power all of ZingMagic’s applications are built with standard C/C++. This means the application engines can be ported rapidly, efficiently and usually without change to most other smartphone platforms. This ensures the integrity of the game engine is maintained across all platforms and the experience remains relatively unchanged to the user. The user interface is written in the most appropriate environment for the target device; for example, Symbian OS for Symbian devices.

The development process for games like Chess V is never-ending—there are always improvements to be made. Since development began in 1994, John estimates that 10 years of developer time have gone into the Chess engine. However, the engines are not written from scratch for each platform. It typically takes three to six months of developer time to port an engine, write the UI and optimize any engine performance for that new platform.

“Software development remains an intellectual challenge throwing up new problems to solve on an almost daily basis,” says John. “The thrill of creating an application today burns as brightly as it did when any of us wrote our first application.  Putting all those 1 and 0’s to good use, even if it’s ‘only a game’ still seems magical.”

To date, ZingMagic has achieved 5M downloads in Nokia Store from consumers in 216 countries. Providing free, advertiser-supported versions (ad-funded) has played a valuable role in raising the company’s profile among users. The advertisements that display across all ZingMagic apps on Nokia Symbian smartphones result in about 600,000 impressions per day. The company also generates reasonable revenue from paid versions of their apps.

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