Kongregate

Infobox Website
name = Kongregate



caption =
url = http://www.kongregate.com/
commercial = Yes
type = Gaming website
registration = Not required (unless you want to save your progress, obtain badges or cards, and chat with other players)
owner = Jim and Emily Greer
author = Jim and Emily Greer
launch date = December 2006
current status = Online
revenue = Advertising generated

Kongregate is a social web games website, described by its founder as "the YouTube of videogames". 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 and the Ruby on Rails web application framework to power the games that it provides.cite news | last =Baertlein | first =Lisa | title =New site aims to be the YouTube of gaming | work =Yahoo! News | language =english | publisher =Yahoo! Inc. | date =2007-03-23
url =http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070322/tc_nm/videogames_kongregate_dc;_ylt=ArdqXL2QVjpq6UvTdSQf7uZk24cA
accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] cite news | last =Kirkpatrick | first =Marshall | title =Kongregate: a Next Generation awesome site Web Games Marketplace | work = | language =english | publisher =Tech Crunch
date =2006-10-19
url =http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/19/kongregate-a-next-generation-web-games-marketplace/
accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] cite news | last =Wilson| first =Matt | title =Kongregate: Your Gatorade For Flash Games | work = | language =english | publisher =Solution Watch
date =2006-12-20
url =http://www.solutionwatch.com/536/kongregate-your-gatorade-for-flash-games/
accessdate = 2007-03-23 ]

History

The site was created in June 2006 by sister and brother, Emily and Jim Greer. The site was initially run through a testing phase which lasted until December 2006.cite web | last =Greer | first =Jim | title =Gamers asking for Kongregate! | work = | publisher =Jim on Web Games | date =2006-09-01 | url =http://jimonwebgames.com/articles/2006/08/31/gamers-asking-for-kongregate | accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] 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. The site formally entered the beta testing phase on March 22, 2007.cite news | last =Nicole | first =Kristen | title =Kongregate Announces Funding, Launches | language =english | publisher =Mashable Social Networking News | date =2007-03-22 | url =http://mashable.com/2007/03/22/kongregate/ | accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] cite news | last =Marshall| first =Matt | title =Kongregrate, the online social game hub| language =english | publisher =Venture Beat | date =2007-03-21 | url =http://venturebeat.com/2007/03/21/kongregrate-the-online-social-game-hub/ | accessdate = 2007-03-23 ]

The Kongregate website itself was designed by Happy Cog Studios.cite web | title =Kongregate | work =Selected Works | publisher =Happy Cog Studios | date =2007 | url =http://www.happycog.com/design/kongregate/ | doi = | accessdate = 2007-03-23 ]

As of July 2008, Kongregate has raised around $9 million in capital from investments by Reid Hoffman, Jeff Clavier, Jeff Bezos, and Greylock Partners.

Features

Games

Similar to the site Newgrounds, a registered user may upload any type of 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 or when a search is performed on it.

Developers can get 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 week or month wins cash, with runners up receiving smaller amounts. Also, a portion of the advertising revenue goes to the developer as long as the portion is above twenty-five US dollars.

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. Multiplayer games have their own chat rooms only accessible while playing that game. 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. By hovering over a registered user's one can see what games they are playing. By clicking on a name, users can also see a small version of their profile, where they can add them as a friend, or mute them.

Users also have icons next to their names depicting their status on Kongregate. All users have their level number near their names. Moderators have the letter "M" in orange appearing beside their user name. A blue "D" signifies a developer — one who has uploaded a game on the site. Members of the Kongregate staff are designated by the letter "K" in red.

You can add friends by clicking on a user name, then clicking the "add to friend" button. If you have any friends online, there will be a star beside their names.

High scores can be accessed through any game that can submit them, 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.

Profiles

Kongregate profiles are similar in ways to other social site profiles. The profile shows location, age and gender (which can be hidden), one website link entered by the user, a small "about me" section, and what the user has done on Kongregate. The profile also displays any games that a user has rated or marked as a favorite, all the badges and cards the user has earned, and games that the user has recently played.

The friends list is divided into two categories: Friends and Fans. Any user who adds another as a Friend becomes one of that user's Fans; if both users add each other, they are listed as Friends. A user's profile shows both people they have added as friends and people that have added that user as a friend. Also displayed are comments, consisting of shouts, 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.

Rewards

Points

Kongregate has a system of points, which are prizes awarded for performing certain on-site actions. There are many ways to gain points on Kongregate such as by rating other users' games (one point per rating), referring friends (15 points upon sign-up, and up to 13 points as they level up, up to level 10), completing achievements or points challenges (5, 15, 30 or 60 points depending on difficulty), and uploading self-created games (25 points + bonuses for the rating of the game). 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. Currently, points are only used for advancing in levels on the site, which can be used to identify the user's activity on the site.

Cards

Kongregate's Cards are special prizes gained by accomplishing weekly challenges. Kongregate made a game, Kongai, that uses cards earned in challenges. The challenges often bring attention to relatively unknown games and make them more famous. The cards were originally designed by UDON Entertainment only, but now Massive Black is designing too.cite news | last=McClanahan | first=Greg | title=Witches in Kongai! | work=online | language=English | publisher=Kongregate | date=2008-08-19 | url=http://www.kongregate.com/forums/1/topics/17537?page=4#posts-319151 | accessdate=2008-08-24 ]

Badges

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. Registered users 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.cite news | last =Bardinelli | first =John | title =Kongregate rolls out achievements for Flash games | work =Online | language =English | publisher =Joystiq | date =2007-06-29 | url =http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/29/kongregate-rolls-out-achievements-for-flash-games/ | accessdate = 2007-07-21 ] For each badge, a 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.cite news | last =McClanahan | first =Greg | title =Create your own badge graphics! | work =Online | language =English | publisher =Kongregate | date =2007-10-17 | url =http://www.kongregate.com/forums/1/topics/2762/ | accessdate = 2008-08-24 ]

Banning

Members of the Kongregate staff, and moderators are permitted to ban users from the site for certain offenses. Repeated spam in the site chat can be punished with an hour-long ban; creating multiple accounts to gain cards at Kongai can be punished with a week ban and deletion of those cards; trolling is punished with up to a week ban, and chain letter posting will receive a week ban as well as deletion of messages. Being banned permanently is reserved for heavy trollers or moderator impersonators.

Silencing is also used for more minor offences, like using only caps. Silences are normally only for about 15 minutes. While somebody is silenced, they can not chat, leave whispers or shouts or post on the forums, but can still play games and achieve high scores or badges. Silencing is used more as a warning system over banning, but warnings are still currently being used.

Kongai

ynopsis

Kongai, designed by David Sirlin, is the latest and first premium game released by Kongregate. Kongregate members can earn collectible cards for use in this turn-based card game. The game was available through a limited beta which started in early 2007. It was released to the general public on July 10, 2008.

Kongai is a multiplayer collectible card game featuring 46 cards which are obtainable through challenges. When first entering the game, registered Kongregate members are given the opportunity to choose any three of those cards; these are called Starter cards and are identical to their counterparts, with the exception that they have the label "STARTER" on them and their colors are darker and less saturated.

Gameplay

In Kongai, two players fight with pre-arranged decks. Each player's deck consists of a number of character cards (either three or five, depending on the player's chosen play format). Each character can be equipped with an "Item" card, which gives a passive benefit to the character it is equipped to (or negative effect toward the enemy). Cards are not drawn as they are in many other collectible card games; all cards in the deck are initially available for use by the player, though only one character can fight at a time.

Also, players can challange the in-game bot. Challenging the CPU will not let players earn anything but just understand more about the game, and also to develop different tactics. Occasionally, Kongai also has cards which can be earned.

There is also a ranking system in the game. After defeating a certain number of players, a player would "level up". One can also challenge other players to a "ranked match". Ranked matches do not affect the "level" of a player, but separately, the rank of the player.

Kongai uses a simultaneous-movement turn-based model. Each turn is divided into two phases, the Range phase and the Action phase. During the Range phase, players can choose to move their characters in an attempt to change the current "Range" from which their characters are fighting. The range is always either Close or Far, and since certain attacks require a specific range, controlling the active range is an essential part of the game. During the Action phase, players have four options: attack, switch out the active character for another character, "intercept" to block the opposing player's attempt of switching out (which does nothing if the opposing player doesn't actually choose to switch out, giving this game a style comparable to rock, paper, scissors), or rest to recover energy for attacks. A player wins by defeating all his opponent's characters.

References

External links

* [http://www.kongregate.com/ Kongregate Official Website]
* [http://www.kongregate.com/games/Kongregate/kongai/ Kongai, Kongregate Collectible Card Game]