|
Dora’s Rapido River Rafting Race & SpongeBob Shrink and Sink Golf - Nickelodeon Jr./Sarbakan
Nickelodeon
 Nickelodeon, the top-rated entertainment brand for kids, has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. Its activities include television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 89 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for more than nine consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.
 Sarbakan
Founded in 1998, Sarbakan has established itself as one of the most sought-after interactive entertainment creation studios in Canada . The company's reputation as a developer of first-rate intellectual property - like the highly successful products: Steppenwolf, Arcane, Firechild and Good Night Mr. Snoozleberg series - is reinforced by its ability to provide world-class, on-time, on-budget production services.
As a Virtools Authorized Game Developer, Sarbakan's talented creative team consistently delivers the most innovative, captivating and original concepts, while following to the letter the artistic direction, the content and the intent of the intellectual properties that client entrust them with.
The Applications
Dora the Explorer’s 3D River Rafting adventure is Nickelodeon's first downloadable game made with Virtools. With Dora’s success, Nickelodeon also added a golf game starring SpongeBob SquarePants on its arcade platform and is planning further developments thanks to their fruitful collaboration with Sarbakan and Virtools’ proven technology.
Dora’s Rapido River Rafting Race
 Since the game targets 4-7 year old kids, the player always wins even if Swiper remains ahead throughout the race, heightening the game’s tension. Children work through riddles and obstacle courses on the way down river, making educational play fun. The player also can accumulate points by picking up collectible Stars along the route and is rewarded for exploring the environment to find hidden Stars . Moreover, the raft’s air level functions as the player’s “health”. While the player will never completely run out, he/she will be prompted to stop at a special pump to fill up. In the final leg of the game, the player passes Swiper in an ultimate sprint-like finish.
SpongeBob Shrink and Sink Golf
 Starring famous SpongeBob SquarePants, this 3D underwater mini golf game is the second game developed by Virtools Authorized Game Developer Sarbakan for www.nick.com website. Funny, light hearted and easy to play, the game benefits from a simple but effective gameplay.
The
Challenge
The main challenge was to create games that could be playable both online and as a standalone, downloadable application while keeping development time and costs under control. The 3D games needed to be playable on a wide range of systems and be cost efficient to produce yet provide a high level of interactivity. These games had to promote Nickelodeon’s high quality brands through consistent, high quality gameplay.
The Solution
Sarbakan finished Dora’s game development in a timeframe of 12 weeks even though the complete version contains nearly 40 minutes of gameplay. This rapid development cycle and easy deployment for both standalone and on-line application was the key benefit of using Virtools.
"Virtools has definitely helped us save on development time of some online 3D titles we are currently producing for various clients. We have found that Virtools is a cost-efficient and powerful solution that increases productivity and meets the high quality standards that Sarbakan games are renowned for." says Stephane Menard, CEO of Sarbakan.
Both applications have been wildly successful with Nickolodeon fans coming back for repeat performances and create high traffic on the nick.com and nickjr.com websites.
Key Benefits
See
Screen Shots
|
|
