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The Engaging Web
How Fun and Games Improve Your Site
Gabe Zichermann and Christopher Cunningham
Games are the fastest-growing and stickiest form of entertainment.
The Engaging Web is the definitive design and technical guide for producers and developers seeking to add games to their sites and apps. Packed with real-world design and reusable social gaming code samples, The Engaging Web delves deeply into strategies and tactics that will make your site a real winner.
Download the 1st chapter (PDF 644KB):
What’s inside
- Understanding funware and game design
- Principal funware designs: casinos frequent flyer programs, leaderboards
- Matching games to your business objectives
- Recipes for implementing games on your site
- Games, social networking and you
- Code examples
Table of Contents
- Resources
- 1 Funware, games, and business objectives - FREE
- 2 Your website + games: the basic recipe - AVAILABLE
- 3 Lessons from standalone game sites
- 4 Funware: integrating game design for business
- 5 Designing and implementing funware
- 6 Implementing funware
- 7 Social networking site integration (Facebook, OpenSocial)
- 8 Coding examples
- Appendices
- a. Game service providers
- b. Major game-related APIs
- c. Game design and development resources
- d. Social networking APIs and resources
- e. Key libraries and functions used
Description
Games are the fastest-growing and stickiest form of entertainment. For a website, games offer powerful potential to acquire new users, build engagement, and enhance revenue. Implementing games in a website can be complicated, though. There are hundreds of technical and process options to choose from, and the landscape is constantly shifting.
The Engaging Web: How Fun and Games Improve Your Site shows web developers how to incorporate games into websites. This book will help you decode the possibilities and provide a series of proven and tangible strategies that any web developer, producer, or product manager can use to implement games in their website. Whether you're looking to make games the centerpiece of your site, an added-value feature, or you just want to engage and excite your users, The Engaging Web will help you develop a strategy that harnesses the power of games.
Through this book, you will take away an in-depth understanding of the current state of the art in game and web planning and integration methodologies. It begins by presenting an understanding of basic "funware" principles - or how non-designers can use games to further business objectives. Powerful funware designs like frequent flyer programs, casino games, and leaderboard/ladders will be deconstructed and componentized so that you can leverage their strengths for your specific site and business objectives.
You'll then investigate the three basic recipes for melding games with the web, and look at specific examples of integration approaches that have been successfully deployed across various industries. Finally, you'll examine social networking considerations and look at code examples.
Whether you're building a business or consumer site, games and funware design can be a powerful weapon in your battle for user engagement, stickiness, and revenue. The Engaging Web is the field guide that gives you the best tactics, techniques, and strategies for winning the war.
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