It is hard to believe that it has been more than a year since we launched CampPete.com, one of our largest projects ever! Camp Pete is an extremely robust multiplayer online game for kids, filled with more than 40 unique virtual world game scenes and 10 online football games.
More than 300,000 people have signed up for accounts on Camp Pete since it launched at the end of April last year. Anytime you login you'll find hundreds of kids online chatting, interacting and playing the games together.
The game was custom built from the ground up by our Flash development and .NET programming teams. The game is an example of web application development at its best. We developed an advanced technical architecture, including load balancing, real-time multiuser communication through a socket server and much more. The design is equally as impressive, and many steps were taken to optimize the usability of the user interface for kids playing the game.
Here are some of our favorite features that we built into the game:
1. The Online Football Games
Camp Pete is filled with more than 40 different kids football games, many of which we custom developed. One of the kids’ favorites is Quarterback Touchdown Throwdown. It's an online football game in which you act as a quarterback by passing the ball to your receivers and attempting to make a touchdown. Insiders' tip: if you make it far enough you go into overtime mode and get tons of Touchdown Tokens!
2. Teaching Kids Football
Many of the Camp Pete’s games are designed to teach the rules and strategies of football. There are games that test your knowledge of all the field positions, and there are kids' football games that teach playcalling basics.
3. Videos about Leadership and Teamwork from Coach Pete Carroll
Camp Pete is filled with tons of videos from Coach Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks. Kids can earn Touchdown Tokens by watching Coach Carroll’s lessons on leadership, teamwork and perseverance. Then, they can trade in their tokens for cool virtual gear!
4. Interaction with other Kids in a Safe Online Environment
Camp Pete is not just about online kids' games; it’s also a place were kids can interact and share their passion for football. Kids can make their own “player” and manage their own locker. And there are two chat options so that parents can regulate their child’s online experience.
5. Teaching Healthy Habits to Kids
A new study shows that online games can influence kids’ food choices and guide them toward a healthier eating style. The study, which was published in the July 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, showed that kids who play games that encourage healthy habits are significantly more likely to eat healthier snacks and exercise.
Building Camp Pete was a lot of work but also a ton of fun! The success of the project is something our entire company is proud of.