Game Center is Apple’s new social gaming network. You can invite friends to play a game, start a multiplayer game through matchmaking, track your achievements, and compare high scores on a leader board. Game Center will be available later this year for iPhone and iPod touch, and supports iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 3rd generation and more recent devices.

Firemint will add Game Center functionality in Flight Control and Real Racing. You can also view achievements and leaderboards in the game or on the Cloudcell web site, so if you have an older device you won’t miss out!

Flight Control

Flight Control will feature Game Center leaderboards, and achievements including:

	Safety Card	5 pts
	Read the game tutorial
	First Flights	10 pts
	Land an aircraft on each airfield
	Jet Power	25 pts
	Land 20 jets in a game

Real Racing

Real Racing will feature Game Center leaderboards, and achievements including:

	Real Racer	20 pts
	Complete a race using method B or E with no assists
	Clean Sweep	40 pts
	Clean sweep a championship (all gold)
	Perfectionist	70 pts
	Achieve the gold qualification time for all classes

(The images shown above are mockups. The final game screens may vary.)

We hope our free updates for both Flight Control and Real Racing will be available as soon as Game Center is launched.

Firemint’s social gaming platform Cloudcell is now connected to over 1 million games. Flight Control players who have uploaded their scores to the online leaderboards have landed a total of 2,482,735,870 aircraft in 57,235,375 games. Per day, this is approximately equal to 5,000 times the air traffic handled by LAX! Real Racing drivers have covered 3,283,078km in time trials and a further 1,106,445km in league races, for a total of 4,389,523km (2,727,523 miles). That’s a daily average of almost 3,000 laps of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit, or about 2,400 laps of the Indy 500 circuit.

Cloudcell has also revealed some interesting high score trends, as illustrated by graphs that show the proportion of players who reached particular high scores on each map (scores are along the horizontal axis, and relative proportions of players on the vertical axis).

The original “Greenfields” map was designed to have early “waves” of aircraft, with rest periods between them. These can be seen in the spikes in the graph above, with noticeable peaks at 32, 45 and 60 landings. Scores drop off rapidly after about 70 landings, with a very long tail of higher scores. At the high end, the Original map becomes a game of patience and perseverance, with some players pausing games and returning to them over extended periods of time, reaching scores in the tens of thousands.

By contrast, the Beach map was designed to have more numerous waves and rest periods, but become incrementally harder to play. It shows more spikes, and has far fewer players in the long tail. Scores don’t reach nearly as high as on the Original map.

The Carrier map was designed to be particularly challenging, and shows far more players concentrated in lower high scores, as well as a noticeable drop off. Three spikes again correspond to the waves designed into the game. If you’re keen to show off your Flight Control skills, the Carrier map is the one for you!

Wherever your personal best scores fall, we hope you’re enjoying Flight Control – and look out for more updates coming later this year!

Firemint is a studio of about 40 people dedicated to making truly great games. Best known for world-wide hits Flight Control and Real Racing on iPhone and iPad, Firemint was founded in 1999 and developed over 30 games on commission from publishers before switching to self publishing original titles.

Early History

Firemint was founded in 1999 (as “ndWare”) by CEO Robert Murray in Melbourne, Australia’s games development hub. Murray initially worked as a one-person programming contractor in his home office. In 2002, he was offered a developer subcontract to create ndWare’s first complete game, a Nintendo GBA title. The following year, the company grew to three people, moved into its first external office (the apartment next door!) and started work on mobile phone game titles for smaller publishers, often without public credits.

In 2004, the studio started to be credited in games and developed “Firemint” as a more appropriate public-facing brand. By consistently delivering the highest quality games and pushing hardware to its limits, Firemint became known in the industry as one of the world’s best mobile game developers, and for the next five years worked with the most successful publishers on premium titles. As the company grew, it hired more people and twice moved into larger office space.

Because of its reputation for excellence, Firemint formed close relationships with hardware vendors and gained valuable insights into future trends. Early in Firemint’s history, it became clear to Murray that games, like other forms of entertainment, were becoming more personal. In the same way as music had moved from the concert hall to HiFi systems to MP3 players, games were moving from arcades to living room consoles to handheld systems. The trend towards digital distribution also became apparent. Together, these trends validated the company’s position as a mobile and digital games studio.

First Originals

In 2005 Firemint started developing its first original title, Mega Monsters, with the assistance of a prototyping loan from the state government of Victoria. Mega Monsters sees the player controlling gigantic cute but petulant baby monsters that crash through fully destructible cities. The game was developed to prototype level and received significant publisher interest, enabling Firemint to secure a partner with the same vision for making Mega Monsters an outstanding 3D experience – Nokia. Mega Monsters was signed up as an N-Gage exclusive and became Firemint’s biggest project up until that time. It was released in 2009 and the Film Victoria loan repaid in full.

Following the success of the Mega Monsters concept, Firemint developed the “Kindred Spirits” original IP (working title). The game has been developed to prototype status and is intended as a cross platform title. It’s an ambitious game that will require significant investment of both time and money to complete to the Firemint standard. We do not have a timeline for completion at this stage.

Real Racing Development

In May 2008, Firemint started development of “Real Racing” to take advantage of the powerful upcoming next generation devices with accelerometers, which would allow players to tilt the device to control the on-screen action. Firemint planned to offer the game to publishers, similar to the Mega Monsters project, if it was not possible to commercialize the title without a third party. The game was incredibly ambitious, with a large development team of up to 15 people at a time. A Real Racing prototype running on several mobile phone platforms was unveiled at the Leipzig Game Convention in August 2008 to an enthusiastic reception. A video of the game on site gametrailers.com was repeatedly described as “fake”, as it was far superior to anything seen on a mobile phone before (“there’s no way you can do that on a phone”).

At the same time, Apple was making history. In July 2008 Apple launched its App Store and it soon became clear that this would be the perfect channel for Real Racing, while not giving up any rights to a third party. Prior to the App Store’s launch, the mobile games industry was massively fragmented, with developers, publishers, aggregators, hardware vendors and numerous telecommunications companies around the world creating an incredibly complicated ecosystem and making it impossible for a small, independent studio like Firemint to develop and release original games. Apple was able to create a single, simple channel from developers straight to consumers – and everything changed. Firemint now had a clear path to sell Real Racing directly to players, and retain the intellectual property in the brand. Combined with the iPhone’s powerful hardware, the App Store created the perfect platform for the studio. Real Racing’s launch date was pushed back several times as it continued to improve dramatically, and the team realised that they were creating something truly special. The studio continued to invest in the title to make sure it would live up to its potential.

Flight Control

Over the 2008/2009 New Year and Australian summer holiday, Murray decided to spend some time away from Real Racing on a small personal project to explore some game design ideas and to test run the App Store publishing process, in preparation for the launch of Real Racing. He loved the feeling of drawing on the iPhone screen, and wanted a setting that fit. He researched professions that seemed exciting and a little glamorous, and in the process came across many stories from air traffic controllers who all seemed to agree that while the job is incredibly stressful, they absolutely love it. This was a perfect setting for the line drawing mechanic Murray had developed, and “Flight Control” was born. Murray spent a week in January 2009 developing a fairly complete prototype, and then brought the game into the studio for some feedback. Several people started playing the game, including Jesse West, Firemint’s Art Director, and Alexandra Peters, Firemint’s Community Manager. West and Peters both started helping Murray with his “holidays, evenings and weekends” project, West developing Flight Control’s distinctive retro art style, and Peters writing the text and sourcing the sounds and music. The game was submitted to the App Store, and launched on March 5, 2009.

Flight Control immediately received enthusiastic praise from players all around the world, and started to spread through word of mouth, supported by Firemint’s social media and PR marketing campaign. As Flight Control started spreading virally, it was featured by Apple on the App Store and in early April, sales exploded – Flight Control became the top selling app on the iPhone in at least 20 countries around the world, including the USA, UK, Germany, Japan and Australia. By June 2009, Flight Control had sold a million copies, and in under a year, over two million, making it one of the most successful games on the platform. This also meant sudden and drastic changes for the studio as it changed from a “work for hire” to a “self publishing” business model, taking on all of the publishing, marketing and support operations that had previously been handled by its clients.

Flight Control stands out on the App Store not only thanks to its commercial success, but in its critical acclaim and impact on the industry. It has many fans among long-time professional game developers, and has been nominated for two of the most prestigious industry awards: The Interactive Achievement Award (Best Casual Game) and Game Developers Choice Award (Best Handheld Game). Flight Control launched a new genre, with “line drawing games” now a popular style on touch screen platforms and numerous imitators, none of which have approached the success of the original.

Real Racing Launch

After extensive rounds of polishing, Real Racing was finally ready for the spotlight on 8 June 2009. Even before release, the title had won two highly regarded awards, the International Mobile Gaming Award (Connectivity) and the Independent Games Festival Award (Technical Achievement). The massive spike in first-day sales demonstrated the huge anticipation for the title, and enthusiastic reviewers widely praised Real Racing as by far the best iPhone racer – some going so far as to name it the best handheld racer on any platform. Real Racing introduced revolutionary new features including the ability to automatically upload race replay videos to YouTube, and a cockpit view with animated instruments displaying race data. Most importantly, the game is incredibly fun and easy for anyone to pick up and play thanks to its realistic handling and intuitive controls – just turn the device to steer. Real Racing has been used extensively by Apple in its global iPod touch advertising campaigns online, in print and on TV, as well as numerous iTunes and App Store features. It was honored with an Apple Design Award at the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference, for setting “the standard for quality and console-like performance and capabilities on iPhone”. Real Racing is Firemint’s high end flagship title, and together with Flight Control perfectly demonstrates the studio’s ability to craft a wide range of successful games.

Collaboration with Volkswagen

Players and critics were impressed with Real Racing, and so were leading car manufacturers. Almost as soon as Real Racing was released, Firemint started to be approached by numerous manufacturers who wanted a branded game of Real Racing’s calibre. Volkswagen Group of America was the perfect partner as it was gearing up to launch the new 2010 GTI in North America. With VWGoA’s digital agency AKQA, Firemint created Real Racing GTI, sponsored by VWGoA. This free demonstration version of the full game (with limited content) was the exclusive launch vehicle for the 2010 Golf GTI in North America. The project was a great success for all parties – players got a free game of unusually high quality as well as the chance to try a taste of Real Racing; the game measurably drove buzz and sales for the GTI; and sales of the full version of the game increased immediately, as players tried the free version and wanted more. The campaign marked the first time a car manufacturer used the free version of an existing game to promote its vehicles, and has received numerous marketing awards. Within one week, Real Racing GTI was downloaded over a million times and reached the #1 app position in 36 countries around the world. It has now been downloaded over 5 million times.

iPad

On 3 April 2010, Apple’s highly anticipated iPad went on sale in the US. Firemint’s two iPad games, Real Racing HD and Flight Control HD, were available at launch as well as being included on demo units in Apple stores and preview units Apple sent to about half a dozen key technology media. Both games have been incredibly successful. Real Racing HD in particular was consistently in the top apps as well as being the top grossing game in the critical launch periods for both the WiFi and 3G iPads. It has reached the #1 game position in 8 of the 10 countries where iPad has gone on sale, including the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan and Italy.

Flight Control HD has also performed well in the charts around the world, reaching the top 3 games in five countries and just outside the top 3 in the rest. Flight Control HD was recognized with an Apple Design Award at the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference, as an excellent example of how to adapt an iPhone game for iPad. Together with the award for Real Racing, this marked the first occasion in the award program’s history that one developer received awards for two applications in the one year.

We have not released download numbers for our iPad titles.

iPhone 4

On June 24 2010, Apple released the iPhone 4 and again Firemint immediately took advantage of the upgraded capabilities of the platform, with free updates to Flight Control and Real Racing available on launch day. Although both games were over a year old, they rose significantly in the charts as players appreciated the improved graphics that perfectly show off the Retina display. Real Racing was also updated to use input from the iPhone 4’s gyro sensor in addition to its accelerometer controls, for even more accurate and responsive handling. Both games were again showcased by Apple on the App Store, and Flight Control re-entered the top 10 charts in true “evergreen” fashion.

New Platforms

Thanks to its immense worldwide popularity, Flight Control has spread its wings to additional platforms. It was published on the Nintendo DSiWare Shop in February 2010, and Firemint has licensed the rights for non-Apple mobile phones to Namco. Flight Control is expected to land on numerous mobile phone platforms in the second half of 2010.

Current Work

Firemint no longer accepts commissions, instead preferring to develop original titles for self-publishing. While we don’t create “advertorial” games, we are always interested in opportunities that create a win-win-win situation: players of our games get awesome content, our commercial partner gets a highly engaging and positive brand experience, and we get to bring our games to more people.

As a rule, we believe that development should drive PR, and not the other way around so we do not announce our titles or updates in development until we have a clear timeline for release. We also prefer to develop a small number of hit games rather than a larger number of “just OK” games. We are currently working on several unannounced titles, but truly great games take time to make – we look forward to revealing them when they are ready for the spotlight!

On 15 September 2010, Firemint will release Flight Control HD for PlayStation®Move in Europe and Asia, to be followed by Japan on October 21. Flight Control HD features support for the PlayStation®Move motion controller as well as DUALSHOCK®3 Wireless Controller, drop-in/drop-out multiplayer for up to 4 players, the all-new Metropolis map, stereoscopic 3D mode and gorgeous 1080p graphics. More information will be added here as it becomes available.

Resources

• Screenshots (1080 pixels wide), high-res versions for print (300dpi)
• Logo and Artwork
• Press Release 17 Aug 2010: Flight Control HD On Approach to Sony PlayStation®Network
• Game web site
• Firemint Backgrounder

Release Information

Release Dates:
Europe/UK: 15 Sep 2010
Asia excluding Japan: 15 Sep 2010
Australia: 16 Sep 2010
Japan: 21 Oct 2010
Unfortunately we do not expect that Flight Control HD will be released in North America.

Prices:
TBA

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Flight Control is coming to Windows Phone 7! Developed and published by Namco, Flight Control will be in the first wave of games landing on Microsoft’s new phones this holiday season. You can catch a brief glimpse of it in Microsoft’s trailer, visit the Xbox Live on Windows Phone page for more details!

Quick video for everyone who has been asking about what it’s like playing with the Move controllers!