Microsoft BizSpark
is a global program that helps startups succeed by providing
technology, business and technology consulting, and access to a vast
marketing and partner network, and by fostering a BizSpark community. This article is part of a special series that features some of the more than 50,000 startups that have joined the BizSpark program to create successful businesses, jobs and superior value.
REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 6, 2012 —
Multiplayer games thrive when as many gamers as possible can
participate. The longtime friends and game developers who founded
German-based MobileBits
were determined to make it easier for mobile game enthusiasts to
immerse themselves in virtual worlds and compete with players globally,
without worrying about compatibility issues.
Delta Engine Team
December 06, 2012
Delta
Engine, the MobileBits spinoff company created to help with game
development, currently employs 10 people at its Germany-based office and
other locations around the world.
Download: Web
Today, the burgeoning array of device types, versions and
platforms in the mobile game market forces developers to create
different iterations of their games for laptops, tablets and smartphones
running on various operating systems.
“It costs too much for mobile game developers, especially smaller
or independent developers, to create and support different versions of
their games for all the possible mobile devices and operating systems
out there,” says Benjamin Nitschke, co-founder and chief technology
officer of MobileBits and CEO of the company’s recent Delta Engine spinoff.
To address this issue — first for its own game development and
more recently as a technology available to game developers everywhere —
MobileBits developed Delta Engine, a cloud-based, cross-platform
technology based on the Microsoft .NET Framework and running on the Windows Azure platform.
“With Delta Engine, you can develop a game once and deploy it
across multiple mobile platforms,” says Nitschke. “Create a game on your
Windows-based PC, push a button, and all the necessary compiling and
conversion happens in the cloud, via Delta Engine and Windows Azure.”
From the mobile gamers’ perspective, cloud-based multiplayer
gaming systems mean more potential competitors are available, without
regard to players’ geographic location or local processing power.
“Spikes in demand are no problem, because Windows Azure enables
almost limitless scaling, while processing all the game-playing data in
near-real time,” says Karsten Wysk, co-founder and CEO of MobileBits.
“And as game developers, we spend less time compiling and converting
data to work across platforms and more time developing mobile games.”
BizSpark One Membership Extends MobileBits’ Business Reach
Before MobileBits, the company’s founders ran the game development
studio exDream. As early as 1994, the four friends and game developers
have been committed to Microsoft technologies. They wrote the world’s
first .NET game in 2002, and in 2006 Nitschke was given a Microsoft Most
Valuable Professional Award. A year later, he wrote a successful XNA
book, “Professional XNA Programming: Building Games for Xbox 360 and
Windows With XNA Game Studio 2.0.”
On the strength of their history with Microsoft technology, plus
the potential of the Delta Engine platform, MobileBits was invited to
join the BizSpark One program.
“Because we already have such strong technology ties to Microsoft,
and so many years of working with Windows, the advantages to MobileBits
of BizSpark One membership lie
in the business deals we are exposed to,” says Nitschke. “We have
received valuable introductions to Microsoft partner companies such as
NVIDIA. And we’ve had the opportunity to meet with other BizSpark
companies in Germany and elsewhere, already leading to us joining forces
with another BizSpark startup to collaborate on implementing
multiplayer capabilities in a game it’s developing.”
BizSpark One connections also have helped MobileBits increase downloads of its games.
“When our CEO Karsten Wysk was in Silicon Valley recently, he
received some ‘tricks of the trade’ from one of his BizSpark contacts,
including how to improve the description of our games in app stores,”
says Nitschke. “We changed the descriptive text, and downloads tripled
almost immediately.”
A New Era With Windows 8
"Soulcraft" Game
December 06, 2012
“Soulcraft” has had more than 1 million downloads and was part of the Windows 8 launch event in Germany.
Download: Web
MobileBits has followed a “freemium” business model familiar to
independent game developers, especially for role-playing games: Let
gamers play basic versions of a game for free, then charge for access to
premium levels. The model is working well for the company: Its
“SoulCraft” game garnered more than 1 million downloads without
marketing support.
MobileBits’ deep familiarity with .NET, Windows Azure and other
Microsoft technologies also positioned the company to develop and
release its first game available for Windows 8.
“We were proud that our ‘SoulCraft’ game was a part of the
official Windows 8 launch in Germany,” says Nitschke. “We think
Microsoft is heading in a great direction with Windows 8, and we’re
excited about its potential to connect devices ranging from Xbox
consoles to Windows Phones.
“As a company, one of our proudest accomplishments is simply that
we are still here, still in business and still growing,” he says.
“Changing attitudes is part of it. But it’s also true that technologies
such as .NET and Windows Azure help level the playing field for
independent developers like us and help us reach more customers
worldwide.”
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