Article by Matt Hulett, reposted with permission from Games.com.

Moms. Throughout history mothers seem to never get enough credit, yet as eloquently said by President Theodore Roosevelt, “for upon her time and strength demands are made not only every hour of the day, but often every hour of the night.”

President Roosevelt made that statement in a speech in 1905 but more than a century later, any comment can put “mommy wars” in the news as evidenced by the firestorm that democratic strategist Hilary Rosen created when she commented that Ann Romney “has never worked a day in her life.”

So, as the political season heats up and presidential candidates fight for womens’ votes, we found that moms – working and stay and home – frequently escape into the world of online games. A recent study with Harris Interactive found that 68% of moms who worked found time to play video games, compared to only 30 percent of homemakers. And for GameHouse, we could care less if they are working or stay-at-home moms–we’re just happy busy moms have an escape. The survey also found that moms are playing games at least four to six times per week to escape from life’s never-ending demands. It might seem nominal to hardcore gamers who spend countless hours on their Xbox 360, but moms seem to get plenty of satisfaction from a brief getaway on a computer screen playing social games like Collapse! Blast and Bayou Blast.

In fact, the study found that more than 45 percent of moms say that playing fun, casual video games make them happier and feel smarter. And Facebook games seem to be the favorite among women with children, especially in the Southern parts of the U.S. Twice as many moms play Facebook games than games on their mobile phone or tablet, the study reported.

So when do these busy moms find the time to login and play social games? Of those surveyed, about 60 percent of moms said they played games after the kids were tucked into bed or after 8 p.m. Nearly half (45 percent) of these moms had children between the ages of 13-17.

And don’t be quick to think these moms are giving up any other activities like working out, meeting with friends or having sex. More than 80 percent of moms indicated that they socialize with friends online and offline, the study claimed. And the passion for playing games seems to spark some passion in the bedroom. About 61 percent of moms who play games reported that they have sex at least one time per week–more than moms who don’t play video games.

As we approach Mother’s Day, here’s what we at GameHouse know (and what I know as a father and husband to a working mom) – no good mother should be discredited for their work inside and outside the home.

Moms are often the first ones to wake up, and the last to go to bed. They wipe runny noses, change diapers, pack school lunches, track soccer practice, music lessons, and doctor appointments, and often that happens before many of them head into office.

But we know that all work and no play can make anyone grouchy. Moms deserve some much-needed downtime, and instead of turning to nail parlors or the ladies bridge clubs which were popular in past generations — moms today are turning to online games.

So attention dads and kids! For Mother’s Day, you might want to skip the perfume and consider giving mom Facebook Credits so that she can relieve some stress and take a mental break. Then, we have to ask Hilary Rosen and Ann Romney – “Do you game?”

Matt Hulett is the chief gamer of GameHouse, the games division of RealNetworks. He is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully built profitable companies from scratch and has a proven track record of growing businesses throughout a variety of stages, including startups and turnarounds from travel, e-commerce, advertising, and gaming sectors. Follow him on Twitter at @matt_hulett.

I sat down with Adam Dalley, the Art Director at Backstage, our sister Gamehouse studio in Victoria BC. to find out how he got into games, his day to day tasks and to get his thoughts on how to enter the business.

1.  How did you get into the games business?

Adam Dalley Sketch

After going to school for 2D animation I actually spent a fair amount of time in the 2D animation industry. I worked on a variety of television cartoons, pitches, and commercials. Most of the work was done in Flash and from there it was a pretty natural progression into social games which use similar tools. I found a job at Backstage and the rest is history.

Adam Dalley sketch

2. Can you describe a typical day at work?

A typical day actually tends to have a fair amount of variety. In the morning we always have our daily stand-ups which lets everyone touch base with where things are at with each project. From there it tends to be a lot of back and forth with the Lead Artists and Producers to talk over upcoming artwork, schedules, and any other issues of the day. There’s also a lot of reviewing work that has been done and trying to help out with anything that can help facilitate the other artists in the studio. Then of course there is the Mario Kart Challenge which I have yet to win.

3. What would you say your role is, as an artist, in the game development process?

I would say my role is to provide visuals that fit well with the theme and design of the game while also having appeal to the intended audience.

4. What is your area of expertise?

That definitely has to be animation. That’s been my training and most of my work history so I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on it, however, there is always more to learn.

5. How much time do you spend actually playing games?

Adam Dalley sketch

I play from time to time but I find that as an artist I’d rather be drawing. There is always so much to improve on making it hard to put down the pen or wacom pen or book on drawing. However, that is what I like about social games; they are easy to play for 5 minutes at a time and feel fulfilled. I don’t really play console games any more.

6. Outside of your day job, who influences you as an artist?

I love this question because I can geek out about some of the artists I admire.

Older artists : N.C. Wyeth, John Singer Sargent, Nicolai Fechin, Alphonse Mucha, Heinrich Kley, Charles Dana Gibson, Andrew Loomis, Maxfield Parrish and Arthur Rackham.

Current artists: Burton Silverman, Craig Mullins, Henry Yan, Seung Ho Henrik Holmberg, Michael Kutsche, Feng Zhu, Peter de Seve, and Jerome Opena.

7. Which Gamehouse games can I see your artwork in?

Adventure Slots, Let’s Make a Deal, and Slotorama. Mostly Adventure Slots when I was still doing a lot of artwork.

Click on the images above to play Adventure Slots! Slotorama and Let’s Make a Deal

8. How long have you worked at Gamehouse?

I’m fast approaching 2 years!

9. If I wanted to get into games, which path should I take?

Adam Dalley sketch

I really think that depends on the artist and specifically what they want to do in games. There is room in games for many different roles that tend to accommodate many different focuses. In Social Games a well rounded skill set is very useful. On any given day an artist in our studio may be tasked with a variety of things so having a background that includes drawing, animation, UI, compositing, and 3D can all be useful. I would say that for our studio drawing skill is probably the main focus when looking at new candidates.

10.   What is your most memorable moment in the games business.

Well I am fairly new to games but I’d say it was launching the first game I worked on extensively : Adventure Slots. It was a fun project and a great start to my games career.

Thanks Adam. Recently I had the opportunity to help out Adam and Backstage with their latest game – Slotorama. I got to create a Collapse! Blast slot machine! So be sure to check out Slotorama when you have a chance and have a great week.

Jeremy Jones
Lead Artist
GameHouse

Video-game industry veteran, Jared Brinkley, comes to GameHouse as our new General Manager of Social Game Design, and brings nearly 20 years of interactive entertainment design and development experience on titles such as Gardens of Time, Tiki Farm as well as Disney Feature Animation, Dr. Seuss, and James Bond franchises.

Brinkley relocates to Seattle from San Francisco to help expand on the company’s successful Facebook games including Collapse! Blast, Bayou Blast, and Slotorama, which officially launched this week. In this role for GameHouse, he will lead the overall design and creative direction of social games from concept to creation and optimization.

Brinkley has held a variety of game design and production roles with marquee companies including Playdom, Disney Interactive, MGM Interactive, and Vivendi Universal.  We sat down with Brinkley to ask him about his experience in the video game sector, what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s next for GameHouse.

Q: How did you get into the video game industry?

A: I was very young when my video game career began – back in 16-bit era of video gaming and before mobile phones, Facebook, PlayStation or Xbox. I started from the ground up, doing quality assurance for console games, before moving into game design after two years. When the first generation of PlayStation launched, I moved into game production and published some incredible titles for Disney, MGM, and Universal.

I spent a decade managing the game production for these major entertainment houses, and focused on the mantra that a game’s mechanics are just as important as the creative. This is what makes social and mobile games so interesting because it’s the game’s stimulating mechanics that triggers people’s responses and not visuals alone.

Q: What has changed since you first began designing video games?

A: Everything. The video game industry at that time was extremely different than it is today, including design. Gaming was considered the third rail of entertainment in the late 1980s, lagging behind music and movies, and heavily geared towards tween and teen boys.

Designers and developers had to create experiences moment-by-moment, and pixel-by-pixel that ignited people to play. Graphics were low-definition compared to today’s standards, and social gaming meant a second player was sitting next to you with a controller.

Games were much simpler then, but in many ways, game design was much more challenging since you couldn’t rely on voiceover, cinematics, and advanced audio to engage players. Designers had to closely study what players responded to – what kept them actually coming back to play purely for fun.

Q: Today, aren’t social and mobile games inferior to console games in terms of design and development?

A: Certainly not, but they are very different.

The console market has matured since the days of first-game consoles over 30 years ago. As consoles became more powerful, so did video game production. This has contributed to some tremendous industry growth in the past two decades, from about $10 billion in worldwide sales to $65 billion last year.

But now, the development and design of “core” games seems intensely focused on ROI, rather than balancing those goals with real gameplay innovation. High-production costs of console games have prevented designers and developers from exploring new gaming concepts that they have the talent to create.

In contrast, the social-games market is about five years old. The market barriers for social game development are much lower, which gives designers much more creative freedom since they are not restricted so much by ROI and overhead costs. And where teenage boys drove the console market, a new type of gamer has emerged from social – adult women and men who never had considered playing games before.

As a designer, I believe the social-games market presents new creative challenges that let us successfully explore new (or reinvent old genres) that may trigger different responses between men and women. Already, we’ve seen resurgence in match-3, puzzle, hidden object, and casino games — thanks to Facebook. And these genres’ mass appeal arguably dwarfs first-person shooters, racing, and sports titles on consoles.

Q: It seems that casino games are the hottest ticket for developers right now. What do you think about this emerging category on Facebook?

A: The rise of casino games on Facebook is a prime example of how social can push new opportunities and innovations in the market. It may even be changing the way policymakers are thinking about online gambling, which I believe has led to ground-shaking acquisitions of casino games on Facebook.  There’s been a flood of similar casino games that have followed suit, but the possibility of cash prizes isn’t the only thing that is powering this rapid growth.

The industry has already proven that Facebook games don’t need cash prizes to be successful. What makes casino games like Slotorama great is the relationship between the risk and the reward. Casino games whether online or offline is all about testing our luck, and we all like to think we’re lucky. I believe that emotional connection to play is equally powerful to a cash payout, and we may start to see more Facebook apps that are casino-like but have different types of rewarding experiences.

Q: What types of video games do you play?

A: I’ll always have a place in my heart for console games, but I find myself playing more social and mobile games these days like Collapse! Blast, Groove Coaster, and Sword & Sworcery. It fits into my daily routine, doesn’t demand harsh time commitments or money, and it’s extremely accessible. I probably discover and play three or four new Facebook games every week, and I have a growing library of more than 100 games on my iPhone.

Some of the games that I get most excited about are those that sit on the fringes, and are a bit quirky for the average player. I guess I appreciate the level of creativity that comes with these types of titles. I also find that half the fun of gaming these days is discovering under-the-radar games to play, and following the rise of indie developers.

Q: What do you think is next for the video game industry?

A: The video game industry, especially in the height of the console era, has modeled after the motion-picture industry. You have big production budgets, and blockbuster hits that generate record-breaking revenues. Like the motion-picture industry, console games will continue to be about high-def graphics and in-depth stories told through an interactive lens.

I don’t expect that will ever go away, nor should it, but I don’t expect to see as many breakout or revolutionary games with fresh ideas on consoles released each year as we have in the past.

The social and mobile games industry however, is where things will get very interesting. The rise of app stores and free-to-play games has allowed games to reflect the music industry in terms of distribution and media usage. That means people will lead the future of the video game industry, and not next-generation platforms like in years past.

We’ll soon see all games will be stored in the cloud, accessible across various devices, and people will have a games library rivaling their music library. Game releases on social and mobile will be offered as a single download or via a compilation, and purchases will be made based on personal tastes rather than platforms.

Q: Who will likely get us there – Seattle game studios or Silicon Valley game studios?

A: I look at Seattle as the hub of creative content innovation and player experience, which is why I decided to move up here from the Bay Area. Silicon Valley studios are filled with great talent, but the focus is often on the platform and intense monetization at the expense of player enjoyment. Seattle has an energized developer community, and a proven track record in terms of game development and innovation.

Take GameHouse, it has built, and not bought its way into the social-games market. That takes guts, as well as a talented team of developers, designers and business leaders. It’s a corporate culture that I truly admire in this space, and I’m excited to lead GameHouse’s creative team for social game development.

As the lost city of Atlantis begins to sink beneath the waves, chaos reigns.  Amid earthquakes, tidal waves, and collapsing cities, the last Queen of Atlantis selects you as her champion to save the people of Atlantis from a watery grave.

To save your fellow Atlanteans, you must evacuate them from their homes before the cities sink.  Clear paths and build roads to the various dwellings that populate Atlantis, then connect them to the edge of the map to help the residents escape!  Sounds easy, right?  Not quite: you’ll also need to fight off enemies, dig canals and try to save Atlantis’ priceless treasures from being destroyed.

This is a really exciting new effort, and I know the gang over here at GameHouse hopes it turns out to be the first installment in a series!  If you’re jonesing for some new Time Management game, Legends of Atlantis – Exodus will definitely hit that spot.  If you’re a fan of Royal Envoy you’ll probably love Legends of Atlantis, too; it’s got a similar combination of cute, fun artwork and challenging game play.

To learn more about Legends of Atlantis: Exodus, including the inside scoop on how it was made and what’s up next, check out the official blog at http://www.legendsofatlantisgame.com/.

The Webbys – it’s the Academy Awards for the web. And GameHouse walked away with its first-ever, make that first-two Webby Awards for Collapse! Blast and Doodle Jump.

The Webby Awards presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences reviewed more than 10,000 entries before it selected the best of the web. The Academy honored GameHouse’s Collapse! Blast as an Official Honoree in the Games category and Doodle Jump in the Handheld Gaming category.

Only 15 percent of all Webby applicants were recognized as an Official Honoree, and other sites named included THQ.com, IGN.com, Klout.com, Parenting.com and AllThingsD.com.

The Webby Awards are known for its five-word acceptance speeches. Here’s what we have to say: “Fun games at our house.”

We were thrilled and flattered that you chose our Team Captains, GameHouse’s own Mortimer Beckett and Delicious games, to face off in the championship bout.  For most of the tournament, Hidden Object and Time Management games have fared about equally well, but in this final match there was a conclusive victory.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Your winner is….

Delicious

After a long and hard battle, and some very close calls, Emily from Delicious is your number one!  Fans were rooting her on the whole way but in the final round she really turned up the heat, scoring 62% of the total vote.  Team Captain Mortimer Beckett just couldn’t compete.  It was a close call, but in the end Time Management games reign supreme!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this contest.  We hope you had fun and maybe discovered some new Time Management or Hidden Object games to play!  We’ll be announcing the winners of the Kindle Fire and the free games later this week.  Thanks for playing.  Game on!

YOUR TEAM CAPTAINS!

Mortimer Beckett

Delicious

We’re thrilled that you voted for both of your Team Captains to represent their teams in the final showdown.  Mortimer Beckett handily beat out Campfire Legends, proving that our players prefer the spookily silly to the downright scary in their Hidden Object games.  The Time Management race was so close we couldn’t call it until the very end, but a tremendous showing here on the blog and a very narrow victory on Facebook finally propelled Delicious to victory.

It’s time for the moment of truth: Which game will be our champion?  Remember, these games are not only competing for themselves – they’re also representing Hidden Object and Time Management games in the ultimate battle for supremacy.

Thanks so much for participating in the March Mayhem tournament!  We love to hear from our fans and we hope you had as much fun as we did.  We’ll announce the winner of the championship on Monday, and the winners of our prizes later on next week.

Don’t forget – you can play all these games with FunTicket!  Every game you play with FunTicket this week will enter you into a drawing for a $100 Visa gift card.

All right Team Mortimer and Team Emily fans, time to vote your hearts out!

Left Bracket

Mortimer Beckett

Vs.

Campfire Legends

It’s no surprise that both of these games have an element of the spooky – Hidden Object fans love a good mystery.  However, that’s where the similarities end.  Team Captain Mortimer Beckett travels through time and space trying to help people, whether it’s his Uncle Jerome or the Lost King of a far-off land.  The characters in Campfire Legends, on the other hand, are just trying to survive as they go up against some of the scariest characters from spooky campfire stories.  Which game do you think should represent the Hidden Object side in our Championship round?

Right Bracket

Delicious

Vs.

Diner Dash

A restaurant is a great place to set a Time Management game; anyone who’s worked in a restaurant in real life will tell you that you’ve gotta be quick on your feet!  Team Captain Emily from Delicious has worked her way up from helping out at her family’s restaurant to owning her own café.  She’s no stranger to hard work, and she always makes time for her kooky family and her lovable best friend, Francois.   Flo from Diner Dash also knows how to work hard.  She’s built up her restaurant empire from the ground up, and has gone up against greedy tycoons and even traveled through time working at restaurants along the way.  These games are always favorites among our Time Management players – but only one game can go on to the championship!

Come back tomorrow to find out which games will face off in our championship game!

Ladies and gentlemen: YOUR FINAL FOUR GAMES!!!

Adventures Bracket

Mortimer Beckett

Team Captain Mortimer is in it to win it!  Even though Golden Trails has kept up a pretty serious level of competition in the first two rounds, the plucky pioneers were no match for our resident master of Hidden Objects.

Fantasy Lands Bracket

Campfire Legends

This race was almost too close to call! In the end, a surge of support from Facebook wasn’t quite enough to keep My Kingdom for the Princess in the running. With just a few votes making the key difference, Campfire Legends carries the Fantasy Lands Bracket.  Tomorrow, Campfire Legends will face off against Team Captain Mortimer.  We’re biting our nails already!

All Business Bracket

Diner Dash

This contest was really a battle of the Facebook stars.  Both Heart’s Medicine and Diner Dash have enjoyed a lot of support from their devoted Facebook fans over the lifetime of the contest.  In Round 3, however, a neck-and-neck match on the blog was no match at all on Facebook, where Diner Dash took a commanding lead early on and held it – and the All Business bracket.

Big Responsibilities

Delicious

Wow, the Big Responsibilities bracket turned out to be the most exciting Round 3 contest at all!  On the blog, it concluded in a March Mayhem first: a tie between Delicious and Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles.  The votes on Facebook were back and forth for much of the day, but in the end Delicious pulled ahead.  This means GameHouse’s two biggest restaurateurs – Flo from Diner Dash and Emily from Delicious – will go up against each other in tomorrow’s Final Four voting.  Which one will have your vote?

Tomorrow’s the big day for Final Four voting.  Is your pick to win still in the running?