Why and How to Develop Facebook Games?

After the introduction of Facebook’s Open Platform in late 2007, the social gaming industry has become hot with hundreds of millions of dollars poured in by venture capitalists.
Moreover since 2007, several large Facebook gaming companies have come of age – Zynga, Playfish (now EA), Playdom, Crowdstar being the most notable examples – and have shown the world spectacular spurts in revenue unprecedented in recent business history.  Social gaming is perhaps one of the hottest industries to step into right now in terms of bottomline potential and relative poverty of barriers to entry.
If you’re looking to jump into this niche, here are some pointers to get you started:
Why Facebook gaming?

• Because it’s fairly simple to build compared to AAA games like World of Warcraft and the like.
• Because it’s not that hard to monetize through the sale of virtual goods and offers.
• Because gaining user-base is immensely helped via Facebook’s social stream.
• Because Facebook is adding around a 100 million users every month (ever-growing potential user-pool).
• Because these games cannot be pirated.

But then, some may wonder: why not get into iPhone game development? Afterall, it’s an incredibly powerful tool with great production-value potential and never-seen-before mechanics.  Here are my thoughts on the subject:

• Because Facebook trumps the iPhone in terms of potential user-base by hundreds of millions of more users!
• Because piracy is endemic over iPhone games. You won’t get a dime for around 70% – 80% of your downloads unless you invest serious resources in anti-piracy measures.
• Because as a monetization platform, the iPhone undersells your applications whereas Facebook over-sells them.
• Because as a monetization platform, the iPhone takes a 30% cut in every dollar you earn. Facebook takes none.

Make no mistake about it; the iPhone is a great way to make some money. Just that Facebook is greater.
What technology should I use?
The game itself will have its front-end coded in ActionScript 3.0 (older versions are not supported anymore), artwork done in Adobe Illustrator and/or Flash, animation work done in Flash, and the back-end having your usual mySQL database(s). These are essentially tools you’d need for any flash game.
Here’s where things change: communicating with the Facebook API. You’d probably have Flash communicate with javascript (through an FBJS-bridge), and then have javascript complete the communication loop with the Facebook API from there on.
Confessedly, this is not the only way to do it. But whichever method you end up using (and you can research that on Google), it’s going to be complicated stuff. There will be days (and nights) when you’ll be stuck on something and no one in the whole world would be able to help you. Literally! So be consistent.
Do expect numerous bugs which keep popping up on the Open Platform, coupled with ever-changing Facebook API may bug you hard, but don’t give up. I’m not saying don’t get into this business, I’m saying know what you’re up against. Bet on facts, not hope.
How do I monetize?
There are two answers to this conundrum. The trivial one is this: outsource your monetization platform to service providers such as these. They’ll probably do some sort of a revenue share with you and it’ll be an all-round win-win situation.
Here’s the harder answer: coming up with content which users actually want to buy. The one thing that you’ll need to keep in mind is ensuring your game centers upon sale of virtual items. That’s the real money-maker. You can Google virtual goods if you don’t understand the concept – many blogs such as these are littered with information.
What should be your strategy to get maximum users to fish out their credit cards for you? Take it from the gurus of monetization here. Be very clear about the fact that unless your game is rich in content, it will not be a good candidate for sale of virtual goods. Which means that quizzes and simple games are out. Which means content-rich games like Pet Society or Farmville are good ideas to emulate. Perhaps the least content-rich game which still monetizes nicely is this – you can use this as a least common denominator of sorts.
Last but not least, whatever content you finally decide on – please do not forget that majority of Facebook game users are female (around 55%-45% break-up), and that vanity virtual items (e.g. decorations) are the biggest selling category of virtual goods out there.
Where do I gather research from?
First of all, do not forget that those who don’t do their research won’t last long in this industry. In any industry. Even beginner’s luck doesn’t last forever.

• To find out all about Facebook gaming trends, bookmark www.insidesocialgames.com.
• To find out Facebook games’ metrics in terms of monthly active users (MAU) or daily active users (DAU), bookmark www.appdata.com
• To understand the psychology that goes behind effective virtual goods monetization, bookmark ZT Online’s classic case study here.
• To understand what successful viral mechanics on Facebook work best, bookmark this article (though the ‘notifications’ bit of it is outdated).
• To understand how Facebook’s Open Platform will morph over time, bookmark this.
• And lastly, to understand virility, bookmark this article.

Conclusion
Facebook game development is a hot industry right now and the time is ripe to jump into the fray. Any later and you would run the risk of missing the band-wagon. If you’re ready to take on the challenges, the rewards can be immense. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, I’m just saying it’s going to be worth it.

Study in KOREA

There is an excellent opportunity to study in KOREA, the GLOBAL IT program for year 2012 is now open. The deadline for submission of the documents is June End.

Benefits:

Financial Support
- 5,000,000 KRW (about 4,234 USD)/ 6 months for two years
- Internship payment: 1,500,000 KRW (about 1,270 USD)/ month
(6 months internship within two years)

80% of the tuition fee is waived

- The tuition fee of the Ajou Graduate School in 2010: 5,851,000 KRW
(about 4,955 USD)/semester
- You must pay 20% of the tuition fee: 1,170,200 KRW (about 991
USD) / semester

Higher priority of occupying dormitory rooms

Required Documents
Applicants from foreign countries must submit the following documents.
Admission will be granted based on these documents instead of the
entrance exam.
1. Application for Admission (Prescribed Form) [Download]
2. Official Transcript (Undergraduate transcripts)
3. Original Diploma (Undergraduate diploma)[You can send the photocopy now, later you can show them]
4. Self-Introduction
6. Letter of Recommendation from the academic advisor(or Chief of
department or dean of college) of the university graduated
7. Photocopy of Applicant’s Passport
8. Linguistic(English or Korean) proficiency rating report card- TOPIK
or TOEFL, IELTS, TEPS)
9. Foreigners with Foreign Parents[Each parent’s certificate of foreign nationality]

For more information you can visit http://globalit.ajou.ac.kr/

Blogger Meet-up (Punjab Youth Festival)

Punjab Youth Festival 2012 organized under Sports Board Punjab is the largest event organized at Government level, targeting to improve the bad image of Pakistan around the world and providing opportunities to young talent in Pakistan.
PYF Team inviting you for MOU signing event, it will be biggest bloggers meet up of 2012. Large number of National and International Bloggers will attend the MOU signing ceremony. Both National and International Media will cover the 2012 biggest MOU signing ceremony.
Entrepr

eneurs, Famous Personalities, Vice Chancellors of different universities will attend this ceremony and discuss about various education and technology related actualities.
Guinness World Record team will also attend this MOU signing ceremony. So be a part of 2012 biggest bloggers meet up and change the image of Pakistan around the world and also help us in breaking the record.
Event is for everyone and has no registration charges.! \

Blogger Meet-up (Punjab Youth Festival)
Google Drive is down. for MOU siging Ceremony confirmation we need details from you. so Kindly email us following details asap at: socialmedia.pyf@sportsportal.punjab.gov.pk

DEtails Required:
Name:
Gender:
Age:
Blogging Since:
Sector of Blogging:
Blog Address:
Contact Number:
CNIC:
EMAil:
Facebook Profile:
Twitter Profile:
Google+ :
LinkedIn:
Address:
====================
Benefits:
====================
Exposure to Natural and International Media
Chance to meet National and International Bloggers
Senior bloggers will share their blogging experience
Students: Discover how you can earn your own pocket money
Housewives: Learn how you can earn & support your family while staying at home
Professionals: See how you can enjoy a second income while still doing a full-time job
Everybody: Other than the monetary perspective, learn how to share your thoughts/opinions with the world

Event Summary:
==========
The idea is to encourage Internet users & bloggers to meet offline as well. Senior bloggers get a chance to share knowledge & experience. New wanna-be bloggers can learn from the local success stories and network with leaders & professionals in this field.
Host:
===
Punjab Youth Festival,
Sports Board Punjab.
(In collaboration with PITB)

Venue (Tentative):
====
Sports Board Punjab,
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Date: September 20, 2012
Timing: 7:00 PM – 9 PM
================
Agenda (draft/tentative):
================
- Success story of different Bloggers
- Moderated discussion & tea

Requests:
======
- Please help spread the word in any way you can
- Please help post about it on your blogs, twitter, FB, Digg, Stumbleupon, etc.
- You may bring your laptops as we hope to have WiFi connectivity there; Enjoy live blogging, twitter, etc.
- Please DON'T be shy at the event to ask even the silliest of questions.

Punctuality is virtue!
Visit Sports Portal Daily for latest updates.

Kind Regards,
PYF | Social Media Marketing Team
E-Mail: socialmedia.pyf@sportsportal.punjab.gov.pk
URL: www.sportsportal.punjab.gov.pk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SportsBoardPunjab
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DGSportsPunjab
Google+: plus.google.com/113338620832194442192
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/SportsBoardPunjab
Registration Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFhBalpnZXFxTFp1UGszLV9BTjBhWVE6MQ#gid=0

Fuel Efficient Car

Weaving Textile Engineering

Weaving is a textile craft in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced to form a fabric or cloth. The threads which run lengthways are called the warp and the threads which run across from side to side are the weft or filling.
Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. Weft is an old English word meaning "that which is woven" A fabric band which meets this definition of cloth (warp threads with a weft thread winding between) can also be made using other methods, inclluding tablet weaving, backstrap, or other techniques without looms.
The way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave. The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: plain weave, satin weave, or twill. Woven cloth can be plain (in one colour or a simple pattern), or can be woven in decorative or artistic designs, including tapestries. Fabric in which the warp and/or weft is tie-dyed before weaving is called ikat.
Though traditional handweaving and spinning remain popular crafts, nowadays the majority of commercial fabrics in the West are woven on computer-controlled Jacquard looms. In the past, simpler fabrics were woven on dobby looms, while the Jacquard harness adaptation was reserved for more complex patterns. Some believe the efficiency of the Jacquard loom, with its Jacquard weaving process, makes it more economical for mills to use them to weave all of their fabrics, regardless of the complexity of the design.

Telenor Pakistan BTS site visit - Part 2

Diversity techniques

To improve the quality of the received signal, often two receiving antennas are used, placed at an equal distance to an uneven multiple of a quarter of wavelength (for 900 MHz the wavelength it is 30 cm). This technique, known as antenna diversity or space diversity, avoids interruption caused by path fading. The antennas can be spaced horizontally or vertically. Horizontal spacing requires more complex installation, but better performance is obtained in this configuration.

Other than antenna or space diversity, there are other diversity techniques such as frequency/time diversity, antenna pattern diversity, and polarization diversity.

Splitting

The flow of power within a particular area of the cell, known as sector. Every field can therefore be considered like one new cell. By using directional antennas, the co-channel interference is reduced. A typical structure is the trisector, also known as clover, in which there are three sectors, each one served by separate antennas. Every sector has a separate direction of tracking of 120° with respect to the adjacent ones. If not sectorised, the cell will be served by an omnidirectional antenna, which radiates in all directions. Bisectored cells are also implemented with the antennas serving sectors of 180° separation to one another.

Telenor Pakistan BTS site visit - Part 1

A base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment (UE) and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones (handsets), WLL phones, computers with wireless internet connectivity, WiFi and WiMAX gadgets etc. The network can be that of any of the wireless communication technologies like GSM, CDMA, WLL, WAN, WiFi, WiMAX etc.
BTS is also referred to as the radio base station (RBS), node B (in 3G Networks) or, simply, the base station (BS). For discussion of the LTE standard the abbreviation eNB for evolved node B is widely used.

Pakistani Mechatronics Engineers

Solidworks in Design and Assembly

SolidWorks is a 3D mechanical CAD (computer-aided design) program that runs on Microsoft Windows and is being developed by Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp.,. SolidWorks is currently used by over 1.3 million engineers and designers at more than 130,000 companies worldwide. FY2009 revenue for SolidWorks, was 366 million dollars.

3D Mechanical Design Applications

SolidWorks Standard
SolidWorks Professional
SolidWorks Premium provides a suite of product development tools mechanical design, design verification, data management, and communication tools. SolidWorks Premium includes all of the capabilities of SolidWorks Professional as well as routing and analysis tools, including SolidWorks Routing, SolidWorks Simulation, and SolidWorks Motion.
SolidWorks Education Edition Provides the same design functionality but is configured and packaged for engineering and industrial design students.

Design Validation Tools

SolidWorks Simulation is a design validation tool that shows engineers how their designs will behave as physical objects.
SolidWorks Motion is a virtual prototyping tool that provides motion simulation capabilities to ensure designs function properly.
SolidWorks Flow Simulation is a tool that tests fluid-flow simulation and thermal analysis so designers can conduct tests on virtual prototypes.
SolidWorks Simulation Premium is a design validation tool that caters to designers without engineering background.
SolidWorks Sustainability is a product that measures the environmental impact of designs while they are modeled in SolidWorks.

Product Data Management Tools

SolidWorks Workgroup PDM is a PDM tool that allows SolidWorks users operating in teams of 10 members or less to work on designs concurrently. With SolidWorks PDM Workgroup, designers can search, revise, and vault CAD data while maintaining an accurate design history.
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM

Design Communication and Collaboration Tools

eDrawings Professional An e-mail-enabled communication tool for reviewing 2D and 3D product design data across the extended product development team. eDrawings generates accurate representations of DWGgateway is a free data translation tool that enables any AutoCAD software user to open and edit any DWG file, regardless of the version of AutoCAD it was made in.
SolidWorks Viewer is a free plug-in for viewing SolidWorks parts, assemblies, and drawings.

CAD Productivity Tools

SolidWorks Toolbox is a library of parts that uses "Smart Part" Technology to automatically select fasteners and assemble them in the desired sequence.
SolidWorks Utilities is software that lets designers find differences between two versions of the same part, or locate, modify, and suppress features within a model.
FeatureWorks is feature recognition software that lets designers make changes to static geometric data, increasing the value of translated files. With FeatureWorks, designers can preserve or introduce new design intent when bringing 3D models created in other software into the SolidWorks environment.

Specialty Design Tools

SolidWorks Routing
MoldflowXpress is a mold design validation tool that was built into a solid modeling environment. It enables mold designers to quickly and easily validate whether a plastic injection-molded part can be filled.
SolidWorks MoldBase is a catalog of standard mold base assemblies and components. The package enables designers to generate a completely assembled mold base.
Print3D is a 3D printing feature that allows users to convert their 3D CAD model to an .STL file and then have it sent to specialty manufacturers for quote. The .STL files can be used to generate an instant binding quoted using the Quickquote technology.
DriveWorks Xpress DriveWorksXpress is the easy to use, Rules-based Design Automation tool for SolidWorks Engineers.
Create multiple variations of parts, assemblies and drawings quickly and accurately.

Roles of Engineers in Manufacturing

Many engineers have as their function the designing of the products.The product is brought into reality through the processing or fabrication of materials.

Design Engineer should know what the design is to accomplish what assumption can be made, what service environment of product must withstand what appearance the final product is to have.

To meet  these requirements  the material(s) to be used must be selected and specified. In most cases to utilize the material, and to enable the product to have the desired form, the designer knows that the certain manufacturing process will have to be employed. In many cases the selection of material may dictate the what the manufacturing process must be used or the utilization of the process effectively and economically, certain dimensional size can dictate the process. Design for manufacturing uses the knowledge of manufacturing process,  and so the design and manufacturing engineers should work together to integrate design and manufacturing activities.

Manufacturing Engineers select and coordinate specific process and equipments to be used, Or supervise and manage their use. These engineers must have a broad knowledge about manufacturing process so that desired operation can be done effectively and efficiently without overloading or damaging the machines and without adversely affecting the materials being processed.

Industrial Engineers /Manufacturing Engineers are responsible for the design layout of the factories. They must take into account the inter relationship of design and the properties of the materials.

Material Engineers devote their major efforts to developing new and better materials. They too concerned with how these materials can be processed and with the effects that the processing will have on the properties of the materials. Although their role may be quit different, it is apparent that a large proportion of engineers must concern themselves with the interrelationships of the material and manufacturing process.