In some ways, this limits us from being able to compete with the likes of Kongregate, Newgrounds and others. They’re able to support a theoretically limitless catalog of flash games because each one is submitted directly by the developer him/herself. They also have somewhat of an advantage from a search engine standpoint – tons of user-generated pages mean many more URLs that search engines can crawl. In addition, the efforts of those who run the front-end of these sites leans much closer towards deciding which games actually get featured on the front page for promotion, and so on.

In contrast, Candystand hand-picks every single game that makes it onto the site. While that means volume-wise, we have far fewer games than some of our counterparts, it also means we can pay much closer attention to the quality of these games and make sure they fit with what (we believe) our audience wants to play. Handpicking games as exclusives, primaries or sitelocks (see previous post for clarification on terminology) lets us attempt to make a better user experience for gamers on Candystand.

Most importantly, curating games in this fashion means that 90% of the time (as much as possible, basically), developers will integrate their game with our High Score API, which lets users post scores to the leaderboard, earn bronze/silver/gold trophies for achieving certain high scores and earn tickets for playing. The ability to earn tickets, in turn, fuels our prizes/sweepstakes economy.

The result is that we pretty meticulously choose which developer we work with on which games. For our part, we think it offers a great way for developers to get more engaged players (if they have incentives like trophies and tickets), but also means they usually have to commit more effort and time to integrate and QA their game.

So which games do we actually put on the site?

Innovative but accessible. We’re always interested in sponsoring games that push the boundaries of what flash games are, but still manage to remain accessible to our largely very (very) casual crowd. Examples of games that fall into this category are Electric Box (thinking man’s puzzle/physics game) and BigTree Defense (tower defense with branching fractal-style weapon arrangement).

Trend followers. We also aim to have a catalog with games that fall into popular genres — time management, popping games, match three, spot-the-difference. Not only do we lessen the risk that a game will be a flop on our site, but it allows us to be competitive by offering similar types of games that audiences might find on another portal. Examples: Legend of the Golden Mask (hidden object), Momma’s Diner (time management).

Classics. Last but not least, Candystand specializes in games centered around cards, pool, racing, sports and other types of ‘traditional’ games that have existed outside of the flash game world. We’re known for our classic mini golf and billiards titles, and car-based games always do well with our crowd. Ways to expand this part of our catalog are always welcome — even recent smaller pickups like Super Parking World are doing extremely well.

Update: Also please leave any comments with additional information you’d like to know, any questions/comments about the relationships between game portals and developers. I will try to write up additional questions that I remember being asked during the panel.

You may have noticed a lack of updates from the team last week — it’s because we were out in San Francisco at the Flash Gaming Summit and Game Developers’ Conference learning new ways to make great games for you guys (oh and to party with our friends… but mostly we were there for the knowledge).

The guys at Mochi Media (who hosted the Flash Gaming Summit) invited us to be on one of the panels, “Everything About Sponsorship & Licensing” — you can actually still watch a feed from the 50-minute long session here.

One of the big questions that came up during and after the panel had to do with what exactly sponsorship of a flash game meant. The terms vary slightly from site to site, but I thought it might be helpful to some game developers (aspiring or otherwise) to see the basic types of sponsorships we do on Candystand. Most of the other game portals (as well as Flash Game License) follow similar structures — again, this is something you’ll have to make sure to go over with whichever sponsor you end up choosing.

Shout-out to Pierrick of Yamago Games, who is the reason I’ve written these terms out in the first place.

So without further ado, Sponsorship & Licensing 101. Read it, digest it, and then make your awesome game so we can pay you for it.

Exclusive Sponsorship
The game can only be distributed by Candystand. The developer cannot sell the game to other sites. Essentially, any playable version of the game on the web will feature Candystand branding. The version that lives on Candystand.com will feature integration with our high score API, allowing users to earn trophies and post high scores to our site. An exclusive sponsorship also means that Candystand has the rights to release the game virally with our branding. See Viral Version for more details.

Primary
The game is hosted exclusively by Candystand for a certain period of time (usually two weeks to a month). Like the Exclusive sponsorship, this version will feature our high score API. The developer is allowed to sell the game to other sites after this period, without Candystand branding. Candystand also has the rights to release the game virally with our branding.

Sitelock
The game has a different Primary sponsor but the developer is allowed to sell sitelocks to others. Candystand buys a sitelock, which allows the developer to put Candystand branding and integrate our high score API. Candystand does not distribute the viral version of the game.

Viral
The game may or may not have an Exclusive/Primary sponsorship with Candystand. This particular version is not hosted on Candystand.com but rather seeded to other game portals for free. Sites include Kongregate, Newgrounds and Mochigames (where the viral version will also be available to distribute for free to other sites). The viral version features links back to Candystand.com for more games, and occasionally highlights bonus content that is only available on the Candystand.com version. Third-party ads are allowed — whether the revenue from those goes to Candystand or the developer vary depending on the agreement.

Questions? Want to pitch us your game? Email robin [at] candystand.com

Shoot us your portfolio/resume at jobs@candystand.com — and if you’re swinging by San Francisco next week for the Flash Gaming Summit or GDC, let us know. We’ll be there with our bells on.

What’s BigTree Defense? Check out our preview of the game, which will launch on Candystand.com on Tuesday March 2, 2010.

How weapons in BigTree Defense work
When you first start up the game, a short tutorial will guide you through the steps of buying and equipping weapons. If you’re like us though, you’re probably going to skip it to just get into the game as soon as possible.

First you’ll need to unlock weapons with Points. You’ll earn points when you kill enemies during each battle, and they add up even when you lose the battle. This is done on the Upgrade & Equip screen before every battle.

You can upgrade each weapon to Level 5 using points, which unlocks the ability to level up your weapons during the actual battle. For example, if you unlock Shine Flower’s Level 3 in Upgrade/Equip, you’ll be able to level Shine Flower up to Level 3 during the battle using Water points.

Weapon Guide for BigTree Defense
Fruit Cannon: Basic cannon, average damage, fire rate and range.

Candystand says: Solid basic cannon that’s cheap to purchase and upgrade, but you’ll probably only use this for your first battle.

Nut Cannon: Fast cannon, low damage but high fire rate and range.

Candystand says: The high rate of fire makes this a staple when we equip our weapons for each level. It upgrades nicely even though it has relatively low damage.

Torpedo Fruit: Heavy splash damage, but low fire rate and range.

Candystand says: Good if you want a nice, in-between weapon that does more than direct damage, but ultimately you’ll want something more powerful.

Gem Fruit: Slows enemies down, low fire rate and average range.

Candystand says: Slowing enemies down is great, especially if you want to prevent insects from returning back to their portals and multiplying!


Serum Cannon: Poisonous attack, enemies continue to lose HP for a short while.

Candystand says: This is a great cannon to attach to your outer limbs — since it’ll continue to cause damage even after insects have left the range of your weapons, you might be able to score a few extra kills per wave.

Shine Flower: Every enemy in firing range will take damage.

Candystand says: This is the wide-area cannon you want to upgrade for. The ’shine’ emitting from this weapon will deal heavy damage to all enemies in range – great for levels where you have larger swarms of insects.

Nut Snail: Fast cannon, high fire rate and range as well as heavy damage.

Candystand says: The Nut Snail is probably the most versatile weapon in the game once you have enough points to buy and upgrade it. With a high rate a fire, heavy damage and range, this will likely be your staple weapon if you can spare the water points to equip it.

Blaze Cannon: Emits flames, enemies take damage if they come in contact.

Smog Fruit: Emits smog, enemies in range will be slowed down.

Laser Chunk: Locks onto an enemy until eliminated or out of range.

Carronade Chunk: Fires an exploding shell, heavy splash damage.

Hungry Apple: Devours enemies one at a time.

Candystand says: Great defense against insects with a lot of health, but will take quite a lot of effort to purchase. Still pretty valuable to have towards the center of your tree to prevent attacks.

Rocket Fruit: Fires high-damage rockets at weakest enemy in range.

Candystand says: A weapon so powerful, the developers created it just for us! The Rocket Fruit is only available on the Candystand.com version of BigTree Defense.

BigTree Defense takes its inspiration (as the name implies) from the tower defense genre that has become hugely popular in the Flash gaming community recently. Waves of enemies will come to attack, and you’ll need to purchase and upgrade weapons in order to fend them off.

That’s where similarities to other tower defense games end, though. BigTree Defense has multiple layers of complexity, starting with the fact that you’ll have to control the actual shape of the tree by growing branches and stems on which to place weapons.

The weapons themselves are inspired by plants — you’ll use fruit cannons, shine flowers, nut snails, rocket fruit and more in your quest to defend the Big Tree from insect attacks.

Before each round, you’ll be able to upgrade and equip up to seven different plants to use during the battle. Each weapon can be leveled up to 5 (which means you can use water points during the battle to upgrade the weapon).

Once the battle starts, an arrow will indicate which direction the first wave of insects will approach from — that’s when you’ll need to strategize plant/branch placement. If an insect reaches the main trunk of the tree, they’ll start draining HP — and since you won’t want your weapons to damage the tree itself, insects are invincible for this short amount of time. This means you’ll protect the tree most effectively by building branches outwards.

There are three ‘Acts’ to BigTree Defense, with three battles each. The trees you can build are unique to each Act, so you might find that a strategy that worked perfectly in the first few battles will fail you in the next.

And fail you probably will. BigTree Defense is one of the most challenging and punishing games we’ve put on Candystand in recent memory. Even after testing and replaying this game for weeks, we still run up against waves of enemies that overpower us sometimes. We’ll post a ton of tips and tricks for this game after it releases to point you in the right direction

BigTree Defense will launch on Candystand.com on Tuesday March 2nd. Check back to play the game!

The main goal is simple: eliminate all the opposing forces in each level by sending your troops out to their bases and outnumbering them. This is done by clicking on a base from which you want to send troops and dragging them to another base to take over.

Protip: you can send multiple sets of troops to the same base by dragging your cursor over different bases that you’ve already conquered. This helps when there are a high number of enemies in the base you’re gunning for.

With over a dozen levels, a handful modes per level (including a Mummy mode where you have to fend off waves of undead!) and numerous upgradable special powers, we think Civilizations Wars is going to be hit when it releases tomorrow on Candystand.com, especially for those of you who may have thought last week’s parking game was too ‘easy.’ Who loves ya?

Here’s what you need to know!

It’s a brand-new way to play with your friends. We’ve launched a ton of awesome games like Balloono, Putt Putt Penguin, Draw My Thing and more — all multiplayer-enabled, meaning you can play alongside thousands of other online players, for free!

You’ll want to log into your Candystand account before you play. Since the OMGPOP games need your username to identify you in each multiplayer match, we can’t let you play unless we’re able to tell you apart from the thousands of other players. You can also use your Facebook-Connected account. Once logged in, you’re all set!

Instead of earning trophies or tickets, you’ll earn coins! Coins can be used to buy powerups for games, clothing for your characters or just decorations for your profile — you can earn coins simply by playing OMGPOP games.

Look for the OMGPOP icon on games around Candystand.com. All the OMGPOP games will be listed on the OMGPOP category page, but if you’re ever browsing around for a great multiplayer game, just keep an eye out for the icon on the game’s thumbnail image.

We’re super excited to be launching these great games tomorrow morning. Check back on Candystand.com to play – you won’t miss it on the homepage, we promise

Tell us about the development of Wrath of Anubis – when did you start development?
It’s been about 6 months since I started tinkering around with the engine that powers the final build of the game. After developing a level editor and playable character, the game elements were slowly added. However, most of the development time was spent on creating the individual levels that fill the three worlds of Wrath of Anubis. Much care was taken ensuring the player is not overwhelmed by difficult or underwhelmed by a slow-paced game. I believe the current version has a nice balance between the two.

Why Egypt?
Wrath of Anubis was originally just a tech demo for a tile-based platformer. I experimented with different movement and jumping mechanics that are the basis of Wrath of Anubis. Incidentally, I included yellow bricks as wall and ground tiles and the game was formed around that.

Jeff used this playable tech demo to find an artist for the final version of the game.

What are you working on next?
Right now I’m looking in to incorporating new themes into the platformer genre. Re-working some of the code in Wrath of Anubis and implementing some enemy path finding has created some interesting possibilities. Without giving out all my ideas, just think how awesome “platforming zombies” would be. And no, right now I don’t even know what that fully means.

What are some games you’ve been playing lately? Any cool things you see happening?
Jayisgames.com just wrapped up their user-voted top games of the year segment. It’s nice to have a list of the top games in each category and see what gameplay innovations have been introduced. This is especially important for a game designer to see what others have done which is hard given the sheer amount of flash games released.

As for console games, I have been working hard levelling up my character in Modern Warfare 2. However, like many others, I am also getting torn apart by the gamers online. Oh well, I’ll get better some time!

Play Wrath of Anubis now >

Controls:
- Use the arrow keys to drive your car.
- Hit the spacebar once you’ve reached the accuracy you’re happy with.

Super Parking World launches on Candystand.com Tuesday morning! Check the homepage to play, and then let us know what you think