Flash Games Get New Voice Capabilities
Green-Ear, a voice technology provider for online games, today released a version of its software development kit (SDK) for developers of games on the Flash platform.
Called Green-Ear for Flash, the SDK will allow game developers to add voice and text chat, voice morphing, voice fonts, conferencing, and other features to Flash games and Flash game portals. It is the first managed service offering to voice-enable Flash games.
With Green-Ear for Flash, game developers can rapidly deploy voice capabilities inside games and across multiple games on portals at a low cost thanks to Green-Ear's managed services and Tier 1 voice network.
Green-Ear's new release also includes Multi-Channel Chat, enabling players to participate in up to 32 simultaneous chats—which is useful in large, multiplayer, battle-style games—and Device Control to enable players to manage their audio preferences, such as where they give and receive audio.
“Flash games are very popular right now,” explains Leba Lualdi, product development manager for Akron, Ohio-based Green-Ear.
Lualdi estimates that 20,000 Flash game portals exist, each containing anywhere from one to thousands of games. But despite its rising popularity among game developers, voice-enabling the Flash portal has not been easy. “It’s a very big need that until now was not being fulfilled. It was an empty hole that was not being filled,” Lualdi states.
In addition to the Flash portal, Green-Ear’s technology currently also supports the Torque and C++ engines, but can really be used with any text-based messaging system or chat application, according to Lualdi.
Green-Ear, which got its start in the corporate communications arena, only entered the gaming arena in the last few months. “We saw a tremendous opportunity to use our technology in games, and there were not a lot of opportunities for [using voice] available to the smaller, independent studios,” Lualdi says. “We want to keep adding more features and platforms so that [Green-Ear] will be accessible to as many developers as possible.
“Game developers buy our SDK. They can buy a specific kit for a specific platform, or a full-use license for multiple platforms,” she continues. “We’ve done all the front-end work to cut down on the developer’s work, and there is no expiration date on the license. It’s good for the life of the game.”