FunOrb
FunOrb is a casual gaming site created by Jagex Ltd. Launched on 27 February 2008, it is the company’s first major release since their successful MMORPG, RuneScape. All of the games are programmed in Java.
Jagex has announced that this site is targeted towards the “hard casual“, “deep casual” or “time-pressured” gamer market (specifically over-18s) and that it intends to expand into the mobile phone games market.[1][2][3] On 3 December 2009, Jagex released its first mobile phone game, Bouncedown, for the iPhone and iPod touch,[4] followed by StarCannon on 15 April 2010[5] Miner Disturbance on 8 June 2010,[6] and Undercroft on September 23, 2010. [7]
Summary
FunOrb offers single-player and multiplayer games. Multiplayer games allow players to communicate with each other through a public lobby, or through private chat, which can be used to talk to people on RuneScape, and vice versa. In all current multiplayer games, players receive a separate rating for each game, which symbolizes their experience with the games and can rise or fall based on their rated game performance. In all current multiplayer games, with the exception of the persistent-world games Dungeon Assault and Void Hunters, players may play “rated” games, which finds random opponents and adjusts their rating based on their performance, or they can play unrated games with people of their choice, which have no effect on their rating.
The site includes an achievement system which gives awards for completing challenges in single-player and multiplayer games. These include “Orb Coins”, which players are able to spend on a variety of game content including desktop wallpapers, music, icons, and more.[8] Also awarded are “Orb Points”, which can be compared to those of other players.[9] The site has been launched in English, German, French and Brazilian Portuguese, with more languages planned.[10]
Jagex have stated that FunOrb will be updated every two weeks, either with a new game, an update to a game or an updated site feature.[11] Currently, only Jagex games are available on the site, but Jagex have stated that they are considering adding third party games to the site.[12]
Cost
Limited versions of all FunOrb games are available for free, with costs covered by advertising. Some games are completely free, with the exception of fullscreen mode. Players have the option of becoming paying subscribers, which gives them access to more ingame content, among other things the option to play games in fullscreen mode and an increased amount of achievements. Subscribers are also granted immediate access to the FunOrb forums, whereas non-subscribers are required to have obtained at least 42 achievements before being allowed to post.[13]
Holiday events
From 22 October 2008 to 5 November 2008, special Halloween Achievements were spread across 10 games, with each of those games having a temporary Halloween theme.[14] These were re-released on 28 October 2009, along with Achievements and Halloween themes for several other games.[15]
On 18 December 2008, an update for the game Arcanists was released in celebration of Christmas, in the form of several costumes that players could buy with Orb Coins.[16]
Current games
A screenshot showing Geoblox, one of the many games on FunOrb.
There are currently 43 games in total:
Name | Category | Single-player or multiplayer? |
---|---|---|
Ace of Skies | Action | Single-player |
Arcanists | Strategy | Multiplayer |
Armies of Gielinor | Strategy | Both |
Bachelor Fridge | Strategy | Multiplayer |
Bouncedown | Arcade | Both |
Brick-À-Brac | Arcade | Both |
Chess | Strategy | Multiplayer |
Crazy Crystals | Puzzle | Single-player |
Deko Bloko | Arcade | Both |
Dr. P. Saves the Earth | Shooter | Single-player |
Dungeon Assault | Strategy | Multiplayer |
Escape Vector | Arcade | Single-player |
Flea Circus | Puzzle | Single-player |
Geoblox | Arcade | Single-player |
Hold the Line | Racer | Single-player |
Hostile Spawn | Shooter | Single-player |
Kickabout League | Sport | Multiplayer |
Lexicominos | Word | Single-player |
Miner Disturbance | Arcade | Single-player |
Monkey Puzzle 2 | Arcade | Single-player |
Orb Defence | Arcade | Single-player |
Pixelate | Puzzle | Both |
Pool | Sport | Both |
Shattered Plans | Strategy | Multiplayer |
Sol-Knight | Arcade | Single-player |
StarCannon | Shooter | Single-player |
Steel Sentinels | Strategy | Both |
Stellar Shard | Arcade | Single-player |
Sumoblitz | Action | Single-player |
TerraPhoenix | Strategy | Single-player |
TetraLink | Strategy | Multiplayer |
The Track Controller | Puzzle | Single-player |
Thirty-Six Card Trick | Puzzle | Single-player |
Tomb Racer | Action | Both |
Tor Challenge | Platform | Single-player |
Torquing! | Platform | Single-player |
Transmogrify | Word | Single-player |
Vertigo 2 | Platform | Both |
Virogrid | Strategy | Multiplayer |
Void Hunters | Action | Both |
Wizard Run | Platform | Single-player |
Zombie Dawn | Strategy | Single-player |
Zombie Dawn Multiplayer | Strategy | Multiplayer |
References
- ^ Leigh Alexander (2008-1-28). “Q&A: Jagex’s Faulkner Talks New Service, Emerging Trends”. Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17136. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
- ^ Robert Purchese (2008-2-29). “FunOrb targeting “every demographic””. EuroGamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=93759. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ Christian Nutt (2008-10-24). “Interview: Jagex CEO Iddison On Going ‘Deep Casual’ With FunOrb”. Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20623. Retrieved 2008-12-1.
- ^ “Bouncedown – Now available on the iPhone”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2009-12-3. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=2469. Retrieved 2009-12-3.
- ^ “StarCannon: now on iPhone and iPod touch”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2010-4-15. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=2840. Retrieved 2010-4-15.
- ^ “Miner Disturbance for iPhone and iPod”. Jagex Ltd. 2010-6-8. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=2991. Retrieved 2010-6-9.
- ^ “Undercroft for iPhone and iPod”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2010-9-23. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=3490. Retrieved 2011-2-3.
- ^ “Orb Downloads”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2008-9-24. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1427. Retrieved 2008-9-24.
- ^ “Orb Points Table”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2008-8-13. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1363. Retrieved 2008-8-14.
- ^ “FunOrb Brazil”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2008-11-20. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1491. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
- ^ “General/Most Popular Questions”. FunOrb Knowledge Base. Jagex Ltd. http://www.funorb.com/kbase/viewarticle.ws?article_id=45. Retrieved 2009-8-9.
- ^ Tim Ingham (2008-6-18). “£12,000… all it takes to create a casual game”. casualgaming.biz. http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/27539/12000-all-it-takes-to-create-a-casual-game. Retrieved 2008-6-18.
- ^ “Forum FAQs”. FunOrb Knowledge Base. Jagex Ltd. http://www.funorb.com/kbase/guid/forum_faqs#qualifying_free_player. Retrieved 2009-8-23.
- ^ “Halloween on FunOrb”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2008-10-22. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1461. Retrieved 2008-11-6.
- ^ “FunOrb Hallowe’en”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2009-10-28. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=2371. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
- ^ “Arcanists Costumes for Download”. FunOrb News. Jagex Ltd. 2008-12-18. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1581. Retrieved 2009-1-7.
URL | www.funorb.com |
---|---|
Commercial? | Yes |
Type of site | Internet/Browser games |
Registration | Free/Monthly subscription |
Available language(s) | English, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese. |
Owner | Jagex Ltd. |
Created by | Jagex Ltd. |
Launched | 27 February 2008 |
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