[johnard]

Hi,

Is there any commercial SNAP games deployed yet? Octopi http://www.octopi.com/snap.htm has some information about SNAP games but is there any off portal site that distributes SNAP games?

How will the SNAP business model work? What are the licencing fees?

How does SNAP compare to other platforms such as Terraplay MOVE, j2play and Exit Games Neutron?

/ Johnard

[juarezjunior]

Hi johnard,

SNAP was discussed at GDC this year. Forum Nokia published some good docs, look for those docs. http://forum.nokia.com/main/0,6566,050_3,00.html

Hope it helps :)

[heihauki]

Hi Johnard,

Thank you for your questions. Here is finally some more information for you and for everyone who are interested in SNAP Mobile game development:

Q1) Are there any commercial SNAP games deployed yet?
A1) Yes. There are currently, 6 commercial games powered by Nokia's SNAP Mobile that have been deployed; namely, Castle Jack Online and Ohimesama-Oshokuji-desu , and Pocket Kingdom, Reversi, Lose Your Marbles and Black Jack . Since launching the SNAP Mobile 3rd party publishing model at GDC this March’06, we are expecting more 3rd party titles to be deployed together with other Nokia published titles from the 2nd half of 2006.

Q2) Octopi http://www.octopi.com/snap.htm has some information about SNAP games but is there any off portal site that distributes SNAP games?
A2) Octopi has developed a suite of games powered by Nokia's SNAP Mobile for Nokia. These Pocket Party games will be made commercially available through various channels - operators, service providers, and Nokia's own content distribution channels, from the 2nd half of 2006.

Q3) How will the SNAP business model work?
A3) In short, Nokia's SNAP Mobile offers a usage based service/technology licensing model with no initial cost. The client SDK is available at no charge. Once a game has been developed and passed SNAP Mobile certification, Nokia will then charge publishers/developers (or operators when they subsidize the development) for using server side services - setup, hosting and use of server side middleware, based on monthly unique user/player access. You can learn more about the SNAP Mobile 3rd party publishing process at http://snapmobile.nokia.com

In brief, the SNAP Mobile 3rd party publishing process involves the following simple steps:-
1. Publisher/Developer downloads docs, tools and SDK from www.forum.nokia.com to evaluate the SNAP Mobile technology
2. Publisher/Developer contacts SNAP Mobile Business Development at fn.snapmobile@nokia.com for the Platform Agreement
3. Nokia presents Platform Agreement and both parties sign if the business terms are agreeable
4. Publisher/Developer develops game
5. Game developed goes through SNAP Mobile Game Certification (an upcoming program)
6. Publisher/Developer places game on own sales channel decks
7. Nokia will then set up the production online game environment for the game, administer the data center and perform all community management

Q4) What are the licencing fees?
A4) For exact fees, please contact SNAP Mobile Business Development at fn.snapmobile@nokia.com

Q5) How does SNAP compare to other platforms such as Terraplay MOVE, j2play and Exit Games Neutron?
A5) Whilst Nokia is unable to comment on the other platforms mentioned, the main strength of SNAP Mobile is in addressing the end-to-end needs for creating, deploying, and managing connected mobile games and making the process as easy as possible for all game developers and publishers.

To support game development, our tools, documentation, and Forum Nokia developer support are hard to match. Furthermore, to help prevent technology fragmentation and cost increases related to that, we are co-operating with Sun Microsystems, Inc to provide SNAP Mobile as part of the leading Sun Java™ Wireless Toolkit (2.3 Beta Release currently available).

For game deployment and live support, we offer managed data centers hosted by a highly competent team of connected games hosting professionals who have been hosting online games for years.