A new start-up game studio in Austin is set to launch its first game, Sweet @$! Poker, a Texas Hold ‘Em card game, in the first quarter of 2010. Developer Bling Gnome Studios is led by ex-NCsoft staffers and gaming veterans, producer/programmer Stephen Nichols and artist James Cleaveland, two of the lead creators behind the acclaimed Dungeon Runners online game. Sweet @$! Poker will debut on Facebook and will take advantage of the social network site's massive 350-million active user market.
Why a poker app? "Because that's where the numbers are," says Nichols. "Zynga Poker, also a Texas Hold ‘Em game, boasts more than 22-million monthly active users. More than five million people log in to play each day! And there are several other poker game Facebook apps. We think we can deal our way into the middle of all that action and snatch a piece of it to bankroll our new venture.
"But we're not in this to tastelessly clone the competition with some poor imitation product as is happening in much of the social gaming world right now. We've been in the game development trenches a long time and see many ways to improve substantially on the game play experience. Our intent is to raise the quality bar in the whole Facebook card playing market while also improving the fun factor for the players themselves."
"Sweet @$! Poker will feature a simpler, cleaner user interface," adds Cleaveland. "Much faster play action, more sociable player interaction capabilities, richer graphics, and much more. We see numerous ways to exploit some weaknesses in the offerings of the other products out there."
Just like all other similar online gaming applications based in this country, U.S. gambling laws restrict any cash-out capabilities for Sweet @$! Poker. It is really a fun entertainment application to play with your friends or whoever is sitting at the tables. The game provides players with a bevy of chips to start out and there are several ways to win more chips including the traditional method of completing rounds of poker play with the best hand. Players also have the ability to purchase chips, buy each other virtual drinks and snacks and earn achievements. Sweet @$! Poker welcomes players to its "lobby" area with a catchy, short, original soundtrack by Austin composer/musician, Will Taylor (of Strings Attached), and features Austin trumpet master Steve Zirkel. Tournament play will be added a few weeks after commercial launch. Creating your own tables with just your Facebook friends will be as simple as pushing a button. Other social network play access via MySpace, iPhone and Android is planned for later in the year.
The game is already fully playable and moving into a "limited beta" stage of development. Anyone interested in trying out Sweet @$! Poker can find it by going to the following website: http://apps.facebook.com/sweet_poker. The app is not yet searchable in Facebook's Applications database but will be soon. When clicking on that app, a small player/installer program will first load quickly, and then the game itself will download. The entire download is about three to five minutes depending on Internet connection speed. Depending on how many active players may already be at the tables at any given time, new players may either be able to play right away or there may be a wait. A message will appear if the tables are full. Expanded play capacity will be added every few days over the next several weeks. Sweet @$! Poker supports all major web browsers and is tracking for full public release in early March. It is only available for play via Facebook on PCs at this time.
Some may ask, "What's behind that unusual product name?"
"It's really quite simple," Nichols proclaims. "As we've been iterating on the game play during development, we continuously invited new folks to join us, both novice card players and serious poker players. The common response from many when asked how they liked it was, ‘Sweet!' So that stuck. But we thought Sweet Poker didn't have enough punch. So we said: ‘Sweet? No. Sweet @$!' And so here we are!"