An interesting thing happened a few weeks ago: Tim Crosby, of Froghop.net e-mailed me about my RSS in Gaming articles. Aparently, someone actually reads the stuff I write! Overwhelmed with excitement, I asked Tim if he would be so kind as to answer some questions about Froghop, As it turned out, he was, so here it is, my first real interview ever. I’m so thrilled!

This interview provided by Geekstreak

My questions are in bold, whole Tim’s answers are normal.

What is Froghop?

Froghop is a Boston-based company software and middleware company that enables what we like to call Transmedial Access, or TMA. Essentially, Froghop works with game developers and publishers to provide — via web and wireless technologies — interaction with a persistent virtual world. Although the origin was to provide our services for Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), we can enable mobile functionality for any game with a persistent environment or community focused.

Does Froghop develop for these platforms, or do you simply provide training and resources for your customers?

Froghop is a full-service TMA solutions provider, so we don’t just give you an development kit, some instructions, and wish you luck. Since the successful implementation of TMA is both technology and design critical, helps every step of the way through our ADVISE process (assess, design, verify, integrate, support, educate). Froghop doesn’t do any MMOG design; we work off of the design doc to design proper TMA interaction. There are different levels of services we offer, so it’s not a one-size fits all. Some developers initially only want our design consulting services to see how mobile access could potentially fit into their game. Actual integration requires us to custom-build the mobile UI and integrate our infrastructure with their game database. We also create some mobile mini-games (which we like to call pocket universes), and design our solutions to fit the developer/publisher business and creative goals. We’re talented in lots of ways!

You focus on community-interactive gaming, such as MMORPGs, by extending the game beyond the original platform. What is that process like?

The overview answer is that we work with game developers and publishers at every step in the process to extend their vision into the mobile arena.

More in detail: the first thing in getting TMA off the ground is to talk to the game developer and publisher to understand their needs and wants. This would be the “Assess” step of the above-mentioned ADVISE process. Sometimes the developer has a high-level vision already, while others don’t have a clue what they want. We first need to understand what the vision of the overall game is, and objectives the developer is trying to accomplish. We analyze their design document, and assess where we think TMA can benefit gameplay, specifically think about in what way, why and who does TMA benefit. We also consider other features like the ripple effects of that decision into other areas of gameplay and the priority level of the TMA. This assessment is broken down, and the developer gets to see the detailed write-up to understand the appropriateness of TMA. If a requested aspect of game to be transmedialized, but is not actually improved by mobile interaction, we will explain why it is not optimal. After these details are hammered out, Froghop designs a TMA solution. Before presenting the design in a design solution proposal, we put our design through a rigorous Content Verification Process (this is now the “Verify” of the ADVISE process). After the design solution proposal has been accepted, Froghop begins integrating our RAIN platform into the game. Then, after integration, Froghop provides support and maintenance on a technological and educational front.

Is there an infrastructure for this already in place, or is one built on a case by case basis?

As mentioned before, Froghop has developed a process for the ‘consulting’ portion of our process to allow the clearest and fastest communication of the game vision. Having the formal structure makes the implementation of TMA as easy and clear as possible for the game designers. Froghop also has a RAIN platform already established that facilitates cross-platform communication, trigger management, device management, remote access and response system, data mining, etc. The mobile and web interfaces are unique to the client, as are the pocket universes. In what our clients actually receive from TMA, it is fully customized to them and their game.

How much does something like this add to the overall cost of developing a community-driven game?

There’s a rule in the games industry that the earlier one implements a feature (or at least allows for implementation), the cheaper it is. This is why we try to get publishers and developers to consider TMA as early in a project’s life cycle as possible. Unfortunately, I can’t give you hard numbers here, and even so the specific cost to a developer depends on the project and how much of the implementation they wish Froghop to do.

Of course, all of that is the upfront cost — which is far outweighed by the benefits. It can be hard to quantify increased player attraction or renetion to a game, but TMA beats out many more standard marketing techniques in terms of benefit/cost ratio. We leave the pricing of the TMA features up to the developer — but in most cases it appears that the cost of paying for TMA is less than the additional time, ease, fun, or money gained for the developers or players. Essentially, TMA helps everyone – simultaneously — to be more profitable.

Talking about the backend and what it can do for companies is all well and good, but what exactly will I see as a gamer, and why should I be excited about what you’re trying to push?

Oh, this is always my favorite question! There are lots of uses for how TMA can be great for gamers. One thing that’s nice is being able to check on the status of the game remotely. Rather than having to log in to check your character’s stats or the progression of your faction, you can see it remotely. Even better, you can have a communication system: you can set it up so that if your base is attacked, your phone rings; guild members in-game can text message your phone, and you can message back. That even can help with privacy, as no one would ever need to exchange real email or phone numbers, since all communication can be done via game handle. There is real interaction with the game world. Want to put a game item up for sale, or buy something in the game? Now you can do that wherever you are, during a commute, on the street, or during a coffee break. One of the most interesting uses of TMA is to actually play a mini-game on your cell phone, then have the results of that actually affect your character. Imagine playing a racing game that when you complete your character in-game moves slightly faster or playing a puzzle that reveals more of the game’s plot.

So, those are some of the possibilities about what players can do. But what’s the real benefit? One benefit for the hardcore players is that they can always be informed about important in-game events. More moderate players get more interaction with the game of their choice — they can fit more play into their schedules. All players gain the benefit of performing their more mundane tasks remotely so that the time spent in front of the computer is only the game experience you want. In addition, players can be sure to keep in touch with their online friends even if they are away on vacation or are just too busy to log on. Fundamentally, almost all players crave more contact with their game: if they can’t play it right then, many are on forums. With TMA, players can gain more hours per week connected to their game — not just with auxiliary material, but in a way that actually progresses their character - but spend less time chained in front of a computer. It’s about quality of gameplay, not quantity.

This all is just a sampling. Pretty much every person I’ve talked to has come up with new, interesting and good uses of how to use TMA in a game and how it would benefit them.

Phew, feels like I rambled a long time on that one. Next question!

Finally, are there any plans to add RSS to your lineup?

We would love to. The trick here is convincing the game designers to do it! As I’m sure you know, game developers must always be considering features for their games and juggling the priorities of those features. If a game company were considering RSS for some in-game content, Froghop can easily give remote access of that information — and certainly the acceptance of TMA or RSS will help the other also become a game feature. Hopefully, if all of us gamers keep being vocal, the game companies will take notice and have automatic RSS enablement.

Thanks once again to Tim Croby for the interview! You can visit Froghop’s website at http://www.froghop.net.

This interview provided by Geekstreak