- FunOrb
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FunOrb 
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 Games Studio Created by Jagex Games Studio Launched 27 February 2008 FunOrb is a casual gaming site created by Jagex Games Studio. Launched on 27 February 2008, it was the company's first major release after 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 23 September 2010.[7]
Contents
Summary
FunOrb offers single-player and multiplayer games. Multiplayer games allow players to communicate with each other through a public lobby, game chat, which can be used while playing in a game, 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 symbolises 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 game, Dungeon Assault, 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] though the last website update was on 15 September 2010. 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.[13] 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.[14]
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.[15] These were re-released on 28 October 2009, along with Achievements and Halloween themes for several other games.[16]
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.[17]
Current games
A screenshot showing Arcanists, one of the games on FunOrb.
Another screenshot showing the game Armies of Gielinor.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 (2008-01-28). "Q&A: Jagex's Faulkner Talks New Service, Emerging Trends". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2011-07-29. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17136. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
- ^ Robert Purchese (2008-02-29). "FunOrb targeting "every demographic"". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 2011-07-29. 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. Archived from the original on 2011-07-29. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20623. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
- ^ "Bouncedown — Now available on the iPhone". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 2009-12-03. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=2469. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
- ^ "StarCannon: now on iPhone and iPod touch". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 2010-04-15. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=2840. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^ "Miner Disturbance for iPhone and iPod". Jagex Games Studio. 2010-06-08. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=2991. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ "Undercroft for iPhone and iPod". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 2010-09-23. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=3490. Retrieved 2011-02-03.
- ^ "Orb Downloads". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 2008-09-24. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1427. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- ^ "Orb Points Table". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 2008-08-13. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1363. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
- ^ "FunOrb Brazil". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 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 Games Studio. http://www.funorb.com/kbase/guid/general_most_popular. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
- ^ Tim Ingham (2008-06-18). "£12,000... all it takes to create a casual game". casualgaming.biz. Archived from the original on 2011-07-29. http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/27539/12000-all-it-takes-to-create-a-casual-game. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
- ^ "FunOrb Members' Benefits". FunOrb Knowledge Base. Jagex Games Studio. http://www.funorb.com/members.ws. Retrieved 2011-05-27.
- ^ "Forum FAQs". FunOrb Knowledge Base. Jagex Games Studio. http://www.funorb.com/kbase/guid/forum_faqs#qualifying_free_player. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
- ^ "Halloween on FunOrb". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 2008-10-22. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1461. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
- ^ "FunOrb Hallowe'en". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 2009-10-28. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=2371. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
- ^ "Arcanists Costumes for Download". FunOrb News. Jagex Games Studio. 2008-12-18. http://services.funorb.com/m=news/newsitem.ws?id=1581. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
External links
Jagex Games Studio Games developed - RuneScape
- FunOrb
Games published - War of Legends
- Planetarion
- Herotopia
Games in development - Stellar Dawn
- 8Realms
- Transformers Universe
People Categories:- 2008 video games
- Browser-based game websites
- Browser-based multiplayer online games
- Jagex
- Java platform games
- Video games developed in the United Kingdom
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