Games RSS Page en-us Mon Oct 10 13:10:14 BST 2005 Infoglue 2.1 jim@kerb.co.uk webmaster@kerb.co.uk <![CDATA[LocoRoco™ 2 - The official flash minigame]]> When Sony asked us to create a flash game that looks, plays and tastes like Loco Roco, we immediately said yes and then asked our internal developers, who were less sure.

But they stepped up and delivered a game that plays so well it fits into the Loco Roco universe like a long lost brother.

The result is the Official Loco Roco 2 Minigame, made to celebrate the release of the PSP game

]]> 0 Thu Nov 20 15:34:00 GMT 2008 <![CDATA[The War of The Worlds]]> Kerb worked with the Jeff Wayne team and Trinity St to produce this reworking of a classic game to highlight the 30th Anniversary of The War of the Worlds Musical adaptation.
With tickets going on sale exclusively through the fansite from the end of September 2008 until October 2nd, this game will bring the story to a new audience, as well as re-ignite the imagination of those already wise to the terror.

]]> 1 Tue Sep 02 15:31:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Totally Calum Best]]> A game of concentration and temptation avoidance. Can you concentrate your thoughts on the game when some foxy lady is trying to seduce you?

]]> 2 Wed Jul 23 10:30:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Rap Attack]]> Grand Master Sammy G is having difficulty picking up the tunes from his flying antennae. Guide the craft, avoiding the obstacles to keep Sammy in step. He may even bust a move if you do it right.

]]> 3 Thu Jun 05 10:10:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Pup Idol]]> It's as if Simon Growl have molded them with his own hands and tucked them under his uncomfortably high hilted belt. Sammy and the Samettes must score points by keeping their dance steps in time. As ever with the music industry, success takes a lot of balls, and this game is all down to how well you can juggle them.

]]> 4 Thu Jun 05 10:05:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Move On Up]]> Dog Whistle Posse.. Make some noise!!
Here we find Sammy throwing some serious shapes whilst avoiding coming a cropper on a dysfunctional sound system. It's 'hands in the air' time as you direct Sammy to reach for the stars....whilst avoiding getting blown up.

]]> 5 Thu Jun 05 10:03:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Bat Out Of Hell]]> Nothing better than spending your time in a graveyard sulking eh?
Sammy's deathly band are cooking up a dark storm, not aided by the influx of creepy crawlies. Help Sammy to keep on playing by dragging the crawlies to their doom via a creepy crypt.

]]> 6 Thu Jun 05 09:58:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Stack Da E4 Police]]> E4 came to us seeking a way to direct traffic to the revamped E4.com site, but following the unique and off-the-wall E4 approach. Luckily they wanted to use some characters who had appeared in some of their Big Brother stings who had 'unique' personalities.

Our internal physics developers pulled it out of the bag and followed our concept to produce one of the oddest, but 'feel good' games of the year.

There is a little teaser version which will be seeded across the t'internet and then directs you to e4.com to play  this much harder version, with additional levels to test your stackin' skills, and a high score table to prove them.

]]> 7 Tue May 20 10:15:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Pa-doink]]> Pa Doink was developed to promote the alaplaya free games portal and introduce casual gamers to this new online gaming brand. We loved the idea of creating a 'meta game' that would appeal to alaplaya's target audience without infringing on their own unique style of gaming and following their Asian influence Pa Doink was born.

Pa Doink is essentially an arcade puzzler where the strategy and skill are required in equal measures to get through the increasingly challenging 20 levels. We had a lot of fun creating this game and we think it shows. Most of the team got involved in level design, and we're happy to supply their email address so you can complain about their evil conundrums in person.

The game enjoyed over 800,000 plays in the first two weeks of launch click throughs to alaplaya increased so much their sign ups shot up by an astounding 900%.

]]> 8 Tue Apr 29 13:28:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Killawatt]]> This is the first game we released for Sammy's Gamebox Portal and stars Sammy stacking huge speakers onto his flatbed truck in preparation for the Notting Hill Carnival. Featuring a killer soundtrack by Guv’nor Tiggy players have to use timing to expertly drop speakers from a crane onto the truck. Built in our cheeky 2D physics environment we can simulate collapsing speaker stacks so realistically that'll you be cowering under your desk with your hard hat on.

]]> 9 Tue Apr 29 13:23:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Turfwar – Hug a hoodie]]> When we were asked by YouthNet to develop a game that encouraged young people to think responsibly about money we knew that we had to do it in a thoroughly irresponsible manner to grab their attention. So in inimitable Kerb style we decided to set the game in a downtrodden neighbourhood where rival gangs are waging a turfwar on a shoestring budget. What's new about that? well as the player you have to tactically purchase artillery from a particularly sorry arsenal of weapons ranging from dead cats to dog poo and yes even used condoms, all of which have rather amusing consequences on your enemy.

 

The game itself has had over 1.5 million plays in the first three months with over 50,000 players clicking through to the content that actually provides support for youth debt. It got voted No 2 in the FHM Top 100 games and as far as investing in an online game to promote it's services Youthnet said "TurfWar has already proved its worth".

]]> 10 Tue Apr 29 13:09:00 BST 2008 <![CDATA[Student Park]]> University Choice TV is a next generation social network delivering student generated content in the form of video blogs and promotional university films, making the important decision of where to study a much easier prospect. This viral was commissioned by UCTV in order to promote and drive users to the web site, with an additional budget allocated to seeding.

Kerb were tasked with the challenge of creating a viral which attracted both genders in the 16 - 19 age bracket. We came up with Student Park; 15 levels of addictive mayhem which combines beautiful, smooth animation with superb game play. This game slightly goes against the grain of traditional virals as it requires a fair amount of patience and problem solving in order to complete, but it's well worth the effort.

It's another game we're very proud of at Kerb HQ - the graphics are up to our usual standard and the game engine is incredibly tight. Initial results are promising too, with almost 2 million uniques recorded in just 3 weeks of going live, and an astonishing click through rate of almost 30%.

Give it a try and see whether you can complete all 15 levels.

]]> 11 Wed Mar 28 15:58:00 BST 2007 <![CDATA[Snack Dash viral game]]> Our client, Digital Public proposed a viral game to the School Food Trust to promote their healthy eating message, raise awareness of the Trust and drive traffic to their site "http://www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk".

Their proposal was to provide more than just a game with a logo on it, or with information regarding healthy eating embedded in it - they asked that we conceive a game that would appeal to kids but actually illustrated the benefits of healthy eating within the game play.

The overall objective is to guide the main character from start to finish in the shortest possible time, whilst collecting as many points as possible along the way. In order to fulfil the brief, one of the game's key features is the inclusion of healthy and unhealthy food.

Collecting healthy foods (such as apples, water and carrots) increases the player's score and protects the player from danger. Conversely the consumption of unhealthy food (such as crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks) cause the character considerable instant weight gain. The player can still move but is unable to move quickly enough to negotiate features like the loop the loop or jump over the baddies.  A little bit of exercise is required to lose the excess pounds (toggling the A and S keys will make the character perform a number of press ups in order to lose that puppy fat), however this all takes up precious time. The only way to get a decent score and speed is by avoiding the fatty foods altogether.

The target market are a cynical age group and the task of creating a game with such a nannying message without alienating them is a minefield. We did it through pure game play and humour.

Did it work?  At the time of writing, the game has achieved over 3,000,000 visits in its first 2 weeks – with no budget spent on media buying. We are viral purists and so buying media to promote a viral campaign is totally against our ethos.  The game has been independently tracked by Memecounter and Viralchart.
 
"Out of over 400 campaigns this is the fastest moving viral that we have ever tracked" Viralchart.com
 
“Memecounter have recorded over 340 thousand visitors in one day on Kerb’s latest viral game – Snack Dash - beating the previous record by over 80 thousand." Press release from Memecounter.com
 
(the release was a little premature as the following Saturday we received just under half a million visits in one day).
 
The game can be played at http://www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/game.asp.

]]> 12 Thu Oct 26 11:36:00 BST 2006 <![CDATA[CITB Blocsmart viral game]]> Blocsmart is a viral puzzle game promoting the CITB for games portal Freeloader. It was created in order to engage with and excite kids about a future in the construction industry.

This game is a 3D isometric puzzle game testing the logical ability of the user to the limits.  It starts off straight forward enough - use the forklift to move the blocks around the building site so that the cranes can pick them up .  However, as more blocks start appearing and with more obstacles in the way - it all gets a little bit more difficult.

]]> 13 Wed Aug 23 16:35:00 BST 2006 <![CDATA[Bowmans strip poker viral game]]> Bowmans poker is a lifestyle poker company aimed squarely at sophisticated lads.  Rather than feel restricted that their product is only available to an adult market - Bowmans were prepared to embrace the fact and allow us to have a little fun with our viral campaign.  Our brief was to "turn people on" to the video lessons that Bowmans have online.  This was acheived primarily by the suprise ending that graphically explains how users need to learn to "know their opponents".

Continuing with the adult theme we produced a video strip poker game that knew would attract potential punters and gave them an added incentive to pass it on to their friends by producing a bizarre twist at the end.  The concept might seem a little sexist but just give it a spin and see if you have your perceptions altered....  

edit: in it's first week this campaign has been played by 340,000 unique visitors with over 40,000 clicking through to Bowmans own site to learn more about poker.

warning:  features full-frontal nudity and probably not safe for work (depending on your job obviously - in fact if you are researching viral marketing then this is probably one of the few chances you'll get to sit and your desk and have a justifiable reason for gazing at soft porn)

]]> 14 Wed May 17 16:51:00 BST 2006 <![CDATA[Disney Pooh viral game]]> 15 Mon Jan 23 12:52:00 GMT 2006 <![CDATA[RAF Global Rescue viral game]]> This is very possibly one of the best Flash viral games created to date. Built for Freeloader who commissioned a game to promote their client, the RAF.

The game is based on Choplifter, an arcade classic, but brings it right up to date.  Your missions involve rescuing civilians caught in a war zone and also logistical levels where you have to pick up vehicles and deploy them behind enemy lines - all the time avoiding incoming fire from SAM's and Anti Aircraft Artillery.

]]> 16 Wed Dec 21 12:08:00 GMT 2005 <![CDATA[easyWatch viral game]]> This viral game was commissioned by easyGroup to promote their new range of watches.

Since most potential customers are already familiar with the concept of a watch, there was no need for the game to educate the user as to their purpose.  This left us with the job of simply building a Flash game that would get huge traffic.  Popular viral games always have the same things in common; they are simple to understand, easy to play, quick to master and have instant gratification of an amusing nature.

In this viral game you have to drag the mouse back to set the speed of the motorbike and then watch as Stelios goes careering off a large ramp.  Simple but fun.  It requires a fairly modern computer to play it at an acceptable speed due to the amount of physics crammed into the game - but we believe the payoff is worth that price.

]]> 17 Mon Dec 12 16:06:00 GMT 2005 <![CDATA[easyMoney viral game]]> This viral game is a take on the 80's classic 'Spy Hunter'. This time around the enemy isn't some intangible evil boss but some vaguely familiar characters..  You get to squish a blue rat, catch a nodding dog, laser a red phone with an annoying ring  and even chase down a theme park reject in the elephant suit.

All together, there's some awesome animation backed up by some superb gameplay. Don't worry it's only a Flash game..

]]> 18 Fri Dec 09 15:44:00 GMT 2005 <![CDATA[easyCruise viral game]]> easyCruise liked the viral game we did for Zurich so much - they asked if we could do something similar with a big orange ocean liner.  They wanted to promote their brand new route centred around the islands of the Carribean.  The game involves having to dock your ship in the various ports by careful use of the rudder and thrusters - careful because it gets more difficult as it goes on as the winds get stronger and those pesky local fisherman get right in your way.

The game had 250,000 unique visitors in its 1st month and you can follow its progress with our real-time DoubleQuick tracking application.

]]> 19 Sun Nov 20 13:51:00 GMT 2005