Hashtag Love

hashtag

Hashtag Love

The obsession is growing and shows no signs of abating whether it be for promotion of a business, a life hack, creating a global conversation or attempts to break the internet (don’t hashtag that by the way), the humble and previously unloved hash symbol, now called hashtag is here to stay… (for the present, anyway). After looking at the hash symbol for years on my keyboard and never having occasion to use it, I was amazed when it was reworked as the metadata tag of choice in the late noughties initially and primarily for Twitter, but now also used by Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest.

We at Fierce Fun

We at #FierceFun like all game developers are reliant on them increasingly for marketing, and the phrase “where would we be be without them” springs to mind. Our new game #Big Bad Quiz will use a lot of pertinent hashtags to our enterprise, such as #MobileTrivia #BagMan to name a few. Our hashtags are intended to identify chat and interaction on the social media channels which may be pertinent to our business here at Fierce Fun. The hashtag allows us target the right people more accurately than previously on microblogging sites and so get our product out there. The Fierce Fun marketing content would ideally reach those interested in free online apps, quizzes, trivia games, trivia questions, for their smartphones. We would hope to reach them as seamlessly and easily as possible using the trusty hashtag.

Do no harm (to yourself)

Of course with the popularity of the hash tag comes responsibility, there are many ways to mess up the message, as millions of people everyday create new hashtags any one of which could be in some tenuous way relate to you or your product, service or cause. Hashtags cannot be copyrighted they are in the public domain and anything can happen. In business the more generic hashtags cannot really reflect or affect a brand’s identity. When a brand establishes a hashtag for itself, they may be using a campaign competition or promotion, but this can easily come back and bite them in the backside as it may be used as a vehicle for disgruntled employees or customers in the Twittersphere. Despite your best intentions many businesses do not anticipate the negative spin that could be put on a promoted hashtag.

A Little Misunderstanding

There is a great example of an international hashtag misunderstanding, which I credit to an article entitled  Hastagology 101, by Jonathon Crossfield of Content Marketing Institute, but in fact it went viral at the time. It refers to the death of ex United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A hashtag soon rang out with the announcement #nowthatchersdead. Across North America this hashtag was taken to mean Now that Chers dead. Same language different meaning. This is happening all the time and regional appropriations of terms, names or perceived celebrities is going to increase with the increased use of the hashtag. In the bible of the English language, (as perceived by those of us living close the source),  the Oxford English Dictionary, they give this following definition –  Hashtag – A word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media sites such as Twitter to identify messages on a specific topic. But what about certain hashtag with acronyms which can be easily misunderstood or misinterpreted. One popular one is #FTW which is often taken to mean F*** the world, but in fact, I am led to believe, actually means For The Win taken from the US game show Hollywood Squares which would translate as a huuh haah moment as you throw your fist in the air triumphantly.  

And now the List – Top Ten Hashtags 2015

Of course the list depends on your favourite hashtags and it is a matter of taste and choice. But remember it is always hard not to look what’s trending as it blinks at you from the left hand corner of your screen. Because everyone loves a list, here are my top ten hashtags 2015 – I have collated these myself and they are an amalgamate of  top ten lists, and from a limited amount of research. The top ten lists vary greatly from Twitter to Instagram and to other channels. But I think the hashtags below are worth a mention, in no particular order they are regularly listed among all channels top ten – #Selfie #friends #Family #style #FridayFeeling #Food #Quiz #100HappyDays #LoveWins #FromWhereIStand

Brief Summary

Briefly to sum it all up, the hash tag is a tool like any other it can be used for good or for bad. It has many great business capabilities especially in the  marketing area and used wisely can provide, not only contact with those whom you want to reach, but also can provide precious feedback, which can be invaluable as we plan future campaigns. In #Fierce Fun we employ our hashtags when appropriate, for example when promoting our new games like #BigBadQuiz and we find it a very useful for our marketing efforts. This once lonely button on my keyboard is now starting to wear away from overuse. What a plaudit for the little character or symbol that is following in the footsteps of its bigger brother the @ symbol.

Press Release: Big Bad Quiz live on Google Play and the App Store

bigbadquiz_home

For Immediate Release

Trivia just got a whole lot tougher!
It's the Big Bad Quiz hosted by the one and only Bag Man

Dublin, Ireland - 14 October 2015: Irish mobile app developer Fierce Fun have today released their trivia quiz game Big Bad Quiz on Apple and Android platforms. Big Bad Quiz is a fast, fun and furious trivia game, hosted by the quirky quiz show host The Bag Man. Bringing personality and humour to the trivia genre, the game features over 150 levels of relentless tough trivia questions.

The Bag Man challenges all trivia players to test their brain power in the Big Bad Quiz

Game Description
Big Bad Quiz is designed for TV quiz show fans. It’s a fast, fun and furious trivia game hosted by the one and only Bag Man. He is one crazy quiz master who has scoured the universe for the toughest questions ever. With topics covering sports; music; movies; history; celebs; and more - the full game features more than 150+ levels of ultra fast non-stop rounds.

With only seconds to answer each question, a brisk brain and fast fingers are needed. No waiting, no connections, no selections - players just start the game and start answering straight away. The free version contains a limited question set. For the full set of trivia questions, players have a number of in-app-purchase choices.

Full Game features:
- Fast, fun & furious trivia
- 1000’s of great questions
- More than 150 levels
- Immediate play, no selections, no connections
- Online High Score table
- 5 types of bonus points
- Correct answers provided
- B-Factor showing your personal speed & accuracy
- Online connection not needed
- Hall of Fame
- Extra lives by sharing
- Report a question or answer
- Funky soundtrack and effects

Game Details
Publisher: Fierce Fun
Platforms: IOS/Android
Genre: Quiz, Trivia
Apple App Store Page
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/big-bad-quiz/id1003825133?ls=1&mt=8
Google Play Page
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.bigbadquiz

Press Kit URL:
https://fiercefun.com/big-bad-quiz-press-kit/

Fierce Fun
Fierce Fun is a mobile game development company based in Dublin, Ireland. It specialises in viral and cross promotional game systems. In addition to original IP products, the company also provides custom game and app development services. The company is a registered Google Play and Apple App Store Developer.

 

Top 10 countries for Trivia

So where are the world’s trivia fans located?  Here are the top 10 nations for trivia players.

1. United States
2. Germany
3.  Russia
4. France
5. United Kingdom
6. Spain
7. Brazil
8. Italy
9. Argentina
10. Mexico

According to Google Play 2015

Game Production Coordinator – WE Part Time

The Coordinator works with a game’s production staff to ensure the timely delivery of the highest quality product possible. They are the key link between the digital marketing and production team.

– Ensure the production directory structure is followed for all projects
– Ensure key game design documents are updated each week
– Ensure QA and publishing checklist are completed for all projects
– Track and coordinate production  tasks
– Compile and send out regular reports on game production projects
– Work with the Project Manager to identify and allocate resources
– Keep the digital marketing team updated on new game assets and features
– Attend and take notes in any team production meetings

Ideal Qualifications:
Strong interest in games design and mobile app production
Good work ethic and an ability to learn quickly
3rd level qualification (business, games or marketing)
Highly organised and efficient with an excellent attention to detail
Good interpersonal and team communication skills

Terms:
Duration          3 months, part time
Days                  3/4 days per week (10 to 4)
Location          Docklands Innovation Park, East Wall, Dublin 3

Note: this is a work experience position – training will be provided. Contact us via the About Us form.

Ireland’s Fastest ISP (Internet Service Provider)

internet

So here we have it. A list of the top performing Internet Service Provider (ISPs) in Ireland. This list was taken from Steam, the global online gaming portal developed by Valve. It has close to 100 million users and as it hosts online games, it gives a good indication of the performance of ISPs as regards heavy download usage.

The table was compiled in September 2015 and shows the average download rates for Steam clients on the most popular Internet Service Providers, sorted by the number of bytes delivered to each network.

As it is just for gaming, obviously it is not a true measure of overall performance. However it is a useful indicator of those providers that have some serious download pipes!

 

Network Average Download Rate – Mbps
Liberty Global 39.2
HEANET HEAnet Limited,IE 24.4
MAGNET-AS Magnet Networks,IE 16.8
EIRCOM Eircom Limited,IE 11.2
VODAFONE-IRELAND-ASN Vodafone Ireland,IE 10.5
DIGIWEB-AS Digiweb Ltd.,IE 9.9
AS-BTIRE BT Communications Ireland Limited,IE 7.5
IBIS-AS Imagine Group Ltd.,IE 4.5
H3GIE Hutchison 3G Ireland Limited,IE 4.3

WebGL: The Future of Interactive Web Animation

webgl-html5
WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a cross-platform, royalty-free web standard for a low-level 2D/3D graphics API based on OpenGL ES 2.0, exposed through the HTML5 Canvas element as Document Object Model interfaces.

Ok, in plain English!. WebGL is a JavaScript library for displaying interactive 3D and 2D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins. As it uses a computer’s GPU (graphics chip) directly, it is very fast and allows for smooth animated 2D and 3D graphics.

It is supported by all the major browser vendors such as Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome), Mozilla (Firefox), Opera (Opera) and Microsoft (IE).

As animation plug-ins such as Flash, Unity and Silverlight are not supported by default in many browsers, WebGL offers a cross platform solution for online and mobile animated graphics.

Fierce Fun can produce WebGL animations optimised for all the major browsers. For more details, please contact us.

 

Big Bad Quiz goes Beta

Big Bad Quiz is now in beta testing and will be published soon.

The Big Bad Quiz is played like a real-life quiz show, with fast-paced rounds, bonus points, and of course, our much “loved” host: the Bag Man. He will break you down with tricky questions about sports, movies, history, and everything in between.

Featuring:
– The coolest quiz host around: The Bag Man
– A large database of tough trivia questions
– Super fast rounds and levels
– High score tracker to compete with your friends
– Save points after each round, for quizzing on the go

The Big Bad Quiz is packed with plenty of tough questions that will come at you in a random assortment, meaning it’ll truly test your brain power. While playing, you will be asked questions on a mix of topics, so be ready for historical questions to mingle with questions about the latest musicians. Be warned though, you will have only a limited number of lives before the Bag Man busts you out of the game and forces you to start from scratch. Add to that the fact that you’ve only got a few seconds to answer, and you’ve got yourself a tough game. There will be no memorizing the answers either, since the questions are randomly selected each round, making the Big Bad Quiz endlessly re-playable.

The Bag Man will be challenging you every step of the way, making sure that the questions get harder with every round, and not holding back with the insults when you get some questions wrong. If you beat the Bag Man, you’ll have the chance to get some serious bonus points to boost your score. Make sure to check out the leaderboards every day to see how you and your friends stack up!

 

Games Development & Publishing: Links We Like

Resource for Indie Game Developers
http://www.pixelprospector.com/

HTML5 Game Development – JavaScript Libraries
http://www.createjs.com/

Free Online Games
http://www.kongregate.com/

VC/Game Industry News and Information
http://venturebeat.com/category/games/

Make Games with Google
https://developers.google.com/games/

Facebook Games Developer Center
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/games

Irish Game Development - Gamedevelopers.ie
http://gamedevelopers.ie/home/

Adobe Gaming
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/games/gaming.html

Flash Game License
https://www.fgl.com/developer_home.php

Tech Blog: RunTheProgram
http://runtheprogram.com

Gamasutra – The Art and Business of Making Games
http://www.gamasutra.com/

Starling: Cross Platform Game Engine
http://gamua.com/starling

Casual Games Association
http://www.casualgamesassociation.org

Games Development Jobs
http://www.gamesrecruit.co.uk/Index.aspx

Mobile Games Monetisation and User Acquisition
https://www.chartboost.com/

Windows 10 Game Develop
https://dev.windows.com/en-us/games

Amazon AWS: Game Hosting Services
http://aws.amazon.com/game-hosting

Programming Guide For Video-Gamers
http://ithare.com/programming-guide-for-video-gamers/

 

Big Bad Quiz – register now

Like TV quiz shows, you will love Big Bad Quiz. It’s a fast, fun and furious trivia quiz game hosted by the one and only Bag Man. He is one crazy quiz master and has scoured the universe for the toughest questions ever. With topics like sports, music ,movies, history and celebs, the full game features over 150+ levels of ultra fast non-stop rounds. With only seconds to answer each question, a fast brisk brain and snappy fingers are needed. No waiting for other players, just get going.

The Big Bad Quiz is packed with truck loads of tough challenging questions that will come at you relentlessly. While playing, you will be presented with a mixture of topics, so your brain has to stay alert at all times. Be warned though, you will have only a limited number of game lives before the Bag Man busts you out of the game.

The Bag Man will be challenging you every step of the way, making sure that the questions get harder with every round. Being a quiz host, he’ll let you know when you are playing badly, in his own special way.

Games features include:
BFactor – this ranking is a combination of your speed and accuracy in answering questions.

Highscores – the game features a global highscore table. See if you can get ranked.

Extra Lives by Sharing – you can get extra lives by sharing your achievements on Facebook and Twitter.

Hall of Fame – the Bag Man will feature players who contact him with mega highscores.

Tons of Topics – you get questions on: sports, celebs, tv, music, movies, places, people, history, technology, geography, dates, science, nature, numbers, fashion, media and lots more…

The Big Bad Quiz is not for the faint hearted – like a rhino on roller-blades, it is big, mean and fast.

The Bag Man challenges you to take on The Big Bad Quiz!

Register for it here:

Apple and Android App Development

android-apple

So you are planning your next digital campaign for the Irish market. You’ve got all boxes ticked; SEO, PPC, banner ads, social media and blog posts. The problem is your competitor has also got those boxes ticked.

If you need your campaign to be effective in the Irish market, you should consider a custom mobile gaming app. Like other territories, Irish mobile consumers love gaming apps. A gaming app can be used as:
– A mobile focused advertising or marketing campaign.
– An interactive tool to educate consumers about your product features
– A highly effective viral and social media marketing tool
– A competition to get new registered users

Above all, they offer a cost effective solution to increase your online and mobile business. Contact us for more details.