Kongregate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kongregate | |
|---|---|
 |
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| URL | http://www.kongregate.com |
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Gaming website |
| Registration | Not required (unless you want to save your progress, obtain badges or cards, and chat with other players) |
| Owner | Jim & Emily Greer |
| Created by | Jim & Emily Greer |
| Launched | December 2006 |
| Revenue | Advertising generated |
| Current status | Online |
Kongregate is a social web games website, described by its founder as "video games meets YouTube". The site allows prospective visitors to play games created and submitted by members, in much the same way that YouTube showcases video content created and submitted by its members. The site relies on Adobe's Flash web plugin to power the games that it provides.[1][2][3]
Contents |
[edit] History
The site was created in June 2006 by brother and sister Jim and Emily Greer. The site was initially run through a testing phase which lasted until December 2006.[4] During this time, game developers and players tested the site's interface and functionality. In December of the same year, the site was formally opened to the public.[1] The site formally entered the beta testing phase on March 22, 2007.[5][6]
The Kongregate website itself was designed by Happy Cog Studios.[7]
[edit] Features
[edit] Games
Similar to the popular site Newgrounds, a registered user may upload any type of flash game that they have created. As long as a game is not rated below two stars (out of five) it will show up on the list of games. Those with less than two stars will not, but can still be found in the user-created games list.
Developers can get actual revenue from games they have uploaded if they can attract enough people or receive a high enough rating. After a game is uploaded, it joins a weekly and monthly contest where the highest-rated game per month wins cash. Also, a portion of the advertising revenue goes to the developer as long as the portion is above twenty-five US dollars.
[edit] Chat
Every game has a universal chat window with multiple rooms to allow users to chat with other users playing any of the games on-site. The chat can be muted and also displays high scores and when a new challenge or achievement is released. The chat window also displays a notification when a game has contacted the Kongregate servers to submit statistics for the game. There are many chat rooms that a user may chat in. By hovering over another user's name on the user list they can add other users as friends and mute users from within the chat window. They can also see what games others are playing by hovering over it which they can click to play that game also. The chat window can also be used to view a mini profile of any user by clicking the name of the game.
Users sometimes have icons next to their names depicting their status on Kongregate. If a user has no icons they are identified as a basic user. Moderators have the letter "M" appearing beside their user name to designate their moderator status. "D" signifies a developer - one who has already uploaded a game on-site. Members of the Kongregate staff are designated by the letter "K".
High scores can be accessed through any game that can submit high-scores, and are updated in real-time based on statistics sent to the Kongregate server. Users can be sorted by friends, all-time, weekly, or daily. Once a user has achieved a high score they are immediately notified in the chat window. Only the top 25 are shown for all except all-time which shows the top 50.
[edit] Rewards
Kongregate has a system of points, which are prizes awarded for contributing in votes and accomplishing Kongregate Challenges. The site has stated plans to make points redeemable for certain prizes, but the feature is not yet available. It is also possible to gain levels from gathering points. Right now, points are only used for advancing in levels on the site, which can be used to identify the user's activity on the site.
There are many ways to gain points on Kongregate such as by rating games, referring friends, complete achievements, and uploading games that you own.
Kongregate's Cards are special prizes gained by accomplishing weekly challenges. Kongregate made a multi-player collectible card game, Kongai, that uses cards earned in challenges. The challenges often bring attention to relatively unknown game and make it more famous. The cards were originally designed by Udon Entertainment but are now being designed by Massive Black.[8]
In addition to the points system and the card challenge feature, Kongregate offers a badge system similar to that found on Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming hub. Players have the opportunity to win badges upon reaching particular requirements (called achievements), for example achieving a particular objective or reaching a target level, in certain games.[9]
For each badge, a registered user is awarded a specific amount of points based on the difficulty of the achievement. The "Easy" badges are worth 5 points, the "Medium" badges are worth 15 points, the "Hard" badges are worth 30 points and the "Impossible" badges are worth 60 points. Greg McClanahan, the community manager of the site, is in charge of creating badges.[citation needed]
[edit] Profiles
Kongregate profiles are similar in ways to other social site profiles. The profile shows location, age (which can be hidden), gender, a small "about me" section, and what the user has done on Kongregate. The profile also displays any games that a user has marked as a favorite, all the badges they have earned, one website link entered by the user, games that have been recently played, all the cards a user has earned, people they have added as friends, people that have added that user as a friend, a user's shouts, and whispers, visible only to the owner of the profile (which are similar to comments on Myspace), and the comments a user has left on games.
The friends list is divided into two categories: Friends and Fans. A fan is a user who has added another user as a friend, but the other user has not added them. Friends are when both users add the other to their friends.
In the points display for a user you can see all the games they have rated, the challenges they have achieved and all the other ways you can get points.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Baertlein, Lisa. "New site aims to be the YouTube of gaming", Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Inc., 2007-03-23. Retrieved on 2007-03-23. (english)
- ^ Kirkpatrick, Marshall. "Kongregate: a Next Generation awesome site Web Games Marketplace", Tech Crunch, 2006-10-19. Retrieved on 2007-03-23. (english)
- ^ Wilson, Matt. "Kongregate: Your Gatorade For Flash Games", Solution Watch, 2006-12-20. Retrieved on 2007-03-23. (english)
- ^ Greer, Jim (2006-09-01). Gamers asking for Kongregate!. Jim on Web Games. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
- ^ Nicole, Kristen. "Kongregate Announces Funding, Launches", Mashable Social Networking News, 2007-03-22. Retrieved on 2007-03-23. (english)
- ^ Marshall, Matt. "Kongregrate, the online social game hub", Venture Beat, 2007-03-21. Retrieved on 2007-03-23. (english)
- ^ Kongregate. Selected Works. Happy Cog Studios (2007). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
- ^ McClanahan, Greg. "New Card Art", online, Kongregate, 2008-01-14. Retrieved on 2008-01-14. (English)
- ^ Bardinelli, John. "Kongregate rolls out achievements for Flash games", Online, Joystiq, 2007-06-29. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. (English)
