History of Angry Birds game

Developer-Rovio Entertainment

Publisher-Chillingo/Clickgamer (iOS and PSP versions) Rovio Entertainment

Producer-Raine Mäki, Harro Grönberg, Mikko Häkkinen

Designer-Jaakko Iisalo (lead designer)

Programmer-Tuomo Lehtinen (lead programmer), Miika Virtanen, Antti Laitinen, Atte Järvinen, Mika Rahko, Marco Rapino, Kari Kuvaja

Artist-Tuomas Erikoinen (lead artist), Miisa Lopperi, Joonas Mäkilä

Composer-Ari Pulkkinen

Engine-SDL,[1] Box2D

Platform--iOS, Maemo, MeeGo, HP webOS, Android, Symbian^3, Series 40, PSP/PlayStation 3, Mac OS X, Windows, WebGL, Windows Phone 7, Google Plus, Google Chrome (Chrome Web Store), BlackBerry Tablet OS, Bada, Facebook

Release date-December 11, 2009

Genre-Puzzle

Mode-Single player

Angry Birds is a strategy puzzle video game developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009. Since that time, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, such as those using the Android operating system, among others.

In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playing field. As players advance through the game, new birds appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player. Rovio Mobile has supported Angry Birds with numerous free updates that add additional game content, and the company has even released stand-alone holiday and promotional versions of the game. The game is also available on HP App Catalog.

Angry Birds has been praised for its successful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price. Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal computers and gaming consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even long-term plans for a feature film or television series. With a combined 1 billion downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".

Gameplay

In Angry Birds, the player controls a menagerie of multi-colored birds that are attempting to retrieve eggs that have been taken by a group of green pigs. On each level, the pigs are sheltered by structures made of various materials such as wood, ice and stone, and the objective of the game is to eliminate all the pigs on the level. Using a slingshot, players launch the birds with the intent of either hitting the pigs directly or damaging the structures, causing them to collapse and eliminate the pigs. In various stages of the game, additional objects such as explosive crates and rocks are found in the structures, and may be used in conjunction with the birds to destroy hard-to-reach pigs.

There are several different types of birds used in the game. In the earliest levels, the basic red bird is the only one available. As the player advances through the game, additional types of birds become available. Some birds are effective against particular materials, and some have special abilities that may be activated by the player while the bird is airborne.For example, a yellow bird can increase its speed, a blue bird can separate into three small birds, a black bird explodes, and a white bird can drop explosive eggs.The pigs themselves also appear in different sizes. While small pigs are relatively weak and are easily destroyed either by direct hits or by debris from the damaged structures, larger pigs are able to sustain more damage. In addition, some pigs wear helmets as armor, making them even more resistant to damage; pigs with crowns or moustaches can take the most damage.

Each level starts with the number, types, and order of birds pre-determined. If all of the pigs are defeated by the time the last bird is used, the level is completed and the next level is unlocked. Points are scored for each pig defeated as well as for damage to, or destruction of, structures, and bonus points are awarded for any unused birds. Upon completing each level, players receive one, two, or three stars, depending on the score received. Players may re-attempt unlocked levels as many times as they wish in order to complete them successfully or to earn additional points or stars.

Development  

In early 2009, Rovio staff began reviewing proposals for potential games. One such proposal came from senior game designer Jaakko Iisalo in the form of a simulated screenshot featuring some angry-looking birds with no visible legs or wings.While the picture gave no clue as to what type of game was being played, the staff liked the characters,and the team elected to design a game around them.As the concept of Angry Birds was developed, the staff realized the birds needed an enemy.At the time, the "swine flu" epidemic was in the news, so the staff made the birds' enemies pigs. The game's mechanics were inspired by other petrary physics games that have been released over the years, including another 2009 release, Crush the Castle.The initial cost to develop Angry Birds was estimated to exceed €100,000, not including money spent on the subsequent updates. For the iOS version, Rovio partnered with distributor Chillingo to publish the game to the App Store.Since then Rovio has self-published almost all of the later ports of the game, with the exception of the PlayStation Portable version, which was produced under license by Abstraction Games and then distributed by Chillingo.

When Rovio began writing new versions of the game for other devices, new issues came to light. As the team began working on a version for Android systems, they observed the large number of configurations of device types and versions of the Android software.The number of combinations of software version, processor speed and even user interfaces was significantly larger than that for the earlier iOS version. Ultimately, the team settled on a minimum set of requirements,even though that left nearly 30 types of Android phones unable to run the game, including some newly released phones. One month after the initial release on Android, Rovio Mobile began designing a simpler version of the game for these other devices.

In early 2010, Rovio began developing a variant of Angry Birds for Facebook. The project became one of the company's largest, with development taking over a year. The company understood the challenges of transplanting a game concept between social platforms and mobile/gaming systems. In a March 2011 interview, Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka said, "you can’t take an experience that works in one environment and one ecosystem and force-feed it onto another. It's like Zynga. They can’t just take FarmVille and throw it on mobile and see what sticks. The titles that have been successful for them on mobile are the ones they’ve built from the ground up for the platform.” The Facebook version was expected to incorporate social-gaming concepts and in-game purchases and was scheduled to enter beta-testing in April 2011; the game became officially available on Facebook in February 2012.

Future improvements planned for the game include the ability to synchronize the player's progress across multiple devices; for example, a player who completes a level on an iOS device could log into their copy of the game on an Android device and see the same statistics and level of progress.

Awards

In February 2010, Angry Birds was a nominee for the "Best Casual Game" award at the 6th annual International Mobile Gaming Awards in Barcelona, Spain. In September 2010, IGN named Angry Birds as the fourth best iPhone game of all time. In April 2011, Angry Birds won both the "Best Game App" and "App of the Year" at the UK Appy Awards.At the 15th edition of the Webby Awards, Angry Birds was awarded "Best Game for Handheld Devices"

Special editions

Angry Birds Seasons   :In October 2010, Rovio released a special Halloween edition of game. Angry Birds Halloween, exclusive to iOS at the time and a separate application from the main game, included new levels with Halloween-themed music and graphics. In December 2010, Rovio released Angry Birds Seasons to iOS, Android and Symbian^3 devices. Seasons introduced 25 Christmas-themed levels, one for each day leading to the holiday, similar to an Advent calendar. All versions include the previously-exclusive Halloween levels and are offered as separate, stand-alone paid applications, with the exception of the free, ad-supported Android version; Angry Birds Halloween users on iOS received the Seasons levels as a free upgrade. The Halloween version was given the episode title "Trick or Treat", while the Christmas episode was entitled "Season's Greedings". In February 2011, Rovio released a new Valentine's Day update to Angry Birds Seasons, entitled "Hogs and Kisses", complete with new themed levels and graphics, as well as the option to send Angry Birds-themed Valentine's Day messages through Facebook. In March 2011, Rovio released a new St. Patrick's Day update, entitled "Go Green, Get Lucky",[88] followed by an Easter update, entitled "Easter Eggs", in April 2011 and a summer update, "Summer Pignic", in June 2011.. In September 2011, "Mooncake Festival" was released in conjunction with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. On October 20th, 2011, "Ham'O'Ween" was released and introduced a new orange bird, known as the globe bird. In December 2011, "Wreck the Halls" was released with 25 Christmas-theme levels also arranged in an Advent calendar setting. "Year of the Dragon," a Chinese New Year-themed update, was released on January 20, 2012 (around midnight China Standard Time or January 19, 4:00 p.m. GMT). The update includes an episode-exclusive Mighty Dragon. Its function is the same as the Mighty Eagle, but it can be used even by iOS users who have not purchased the Mighty Eagle, as well as Android and Symbian^3 users, whose versions do not carry the Mighty Eagle. Another new update came on March 7, 2012 with the Japanese/Hanami-themed episode "Cherry Blossom". This was announced earlier by Rovio Entertainment's Antti Sonninen in the ADC Meetup Sound event on February 29.

Angry Birds Rio:Rovio launched Angry Birds Rio in March 2011. In this version, based on the 20th Century Fox animated film Rio, the Angry Birds characters appear in Rio de Janeiro and interact with characters from the film. Angry Birds Rio initially included two chapters including a warehouse chapter entitled "Smuggler's Den" and a jungle chapter entitled "Jungle Escape", but it has been updated with additional chapters and levels including a beach chapter entitled "Beach Volley", a carnival chapter entitled "Carnival Upheaval", an airfield chapter entitled "Airfield Chase", and one more chapter as "Smuggler's Plane." Since release, Angry Birds Rio has been downloaded more than 10 million times'

Angry Birds Space:    In February 2012, Rovio announced a new game in the Angry Birds franchise to be called Angry Birds Space. Angry Birds Space launched on March 22, 2012 and features elements from the preceding Angry Birds games as well as new gameplay mechanics. The game contains 60 initial levels with extra levels available as free updates and in-app purchases. Angry Birds Space launched on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac, with a Windows phone release to follow. For the launch of the game, Rovio partnered with wireless carrier T-Mobile to erect a 300-foot tall contraption, with a 35-foot tall red bird resting in it at the Seattle Space Needle to make it look like a giant slingshot.

On March 8, 2012, new footage of Angry Birds Space, presented by NASA astronaut Don Pettit onboard the International Space Station, was released. The video shows that the game's stage is no longer flat, instead comprising several different planets, each of which has its own gravitational field that affects the trajectory of the birds after launch.

NASA states that such collaboration with Rovio Mobile may share the excitement of space with the Angry Birds community, educate users on NASA’s programs, and create interactive educational experiences for the public

The game also features new bird characters that carry their own unique abilities.As of March 26, 2012 Angry Birds Space has been downloaded a total of 10 million times since launching on iOS, Android, PC and Mac.

Angry Birds Magic: A special version of the game, called Angry Birds Magic, will be developed exclusively for Nokia's NFC-enabled Symbian devices. This version of the game will include functionality that will unlock game levels upon contact with another NFC-enabled phone running the game. A free version of Angry Birds Magic came preinstalled with all NFC Symbian devices to be sold in 2011, starting with the Nokia C7.

Other media

In March 2012, Rovio announced plans for an Angry Birds attraction due to open in summer 2012 at the Särkänniemi adventure park in Finland.

Also in March 2012, Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen unveiled an Angry Birds crash helmet that he will use in the 2012 season, following sponsorship from Rovio. Kimi Räikkönen has also a Angry Birds Space logo on his cap.

A TV series based on the game is expected to make its debut in the second quarter of 2012. Initially it will consist of 52 episodes, with a duration between two and a half and three minutes each. Also, a full-length feature film is expected for release in 2013–2014.