Panda: Tactical Sniper

I don't play computer games much but my middle son, Robert, who began to take an interest in the summer when he created this game, has moved on with a new game called Panda: Tactical Sniper.

It was published for the first time yesterday (Monday, October 13) and has been played almost 30,000 times already. That seems to me an astonishing figure yet it is still a comparatively modest number compared with some of the industry leaders.

I say "industry" because this kind of games publishing is an industry in its own right. Rob has been paid a good fee up front for the work (with bonuses if it succeeds) and an artist was employed to improve on his work.

This particular genre is a "sniper game." Rob is no fan of gun games but they are a popular choice among young adolescent males. He is more in to problem-solving and he has worked the sniping activity in to a puzzle game that is no pushover.

Of course it works on both levels and those who want to rack up a big score go through it again for speed and accuracy once they have worked out the puzzles. I have been looking at a few of the other games on this site and some are very clever indeed.

It's easy to be put off by all the advertising on the sites but in this world where sites such as Facebook have still to make a profit this is one part of the internet that really works as a business.

I sent him a couple of my own ideas this morning which failed to impress. Instead (between his studies) he is engaged in creating an obvious follow up - Panda II.