We would like to have a Flash-based “Video Poker” game built which our customers can play for free, but have it attached to a list of our informational products on gambling awareness which they can download after paying for them via PayPal or shopping cart.
The video poker game must adhere to all the strict coding concerns of a real, play-for-money video poker game. For example, all random number generation for dealing cards must happen at the server, every credit played must register in the database before a result is given to the client, no memory-resident info or game code can be on the client side that might be exploited to compromise the security of the game, etc. Although the game will be played for free, there will be a lot of prestige tied to winning and we will spend a lot of money promoting it so it is important that the game is secure and that the logic is true to every aspect of a normal video poker game based on standard probability and a regular deck of cards. In short, our informational products are based on the likelihood that almost *all* gamblers lose, and we trade in informational products to promote that notion, so we need the game authentic with perfect odds. We can’t have people win (or lose) more than they’re normally “supposed to.” One of the products we will be selling is the cumulative results of all players playing this play-for-free video poker, so the playability must be perfectly inline with mathematical expectations of the same machine sitting on a casino floor. The reason they can only play after buying one of our products is because we need to limit the number of credits people get, otherwise if you could play 100% for free indefinitely you would do many careless things you wouldn’t otherwise do as a player. Since play “credits” are somewhat limited, there is more prestige in people “winning prizes” which are just awards they can print on their local printer which have the name of some reward like “steak dinner” or “penthouse suite”.
The game must have a ‘progressive jackpot’ which increments as any player plays, and as all players are sitting in the site they must see this grand jackpot climb in real time, even if they are just sitting idle on the shopping cart page or in the chat lobby. Also, as players sit on the site they must see flashing banners announcing other players’ winnings who are logged on somewhere else in the world, again in real time.
There are two sites you could use to see the playability we are looking for:
Golden Palace dot com – select to play the free, Flash-based version of jacks-or-better video poker.
FreeSlots.com/poker – this is EXACTLY what we want, minus the ancillary features like hints, double pays, etc. Although it is important to note that this version does NOT get its results from the back end, the RNG and all game code resides on the client side which we do NOT want. Otherwise, this site is a perfect example of the look and feel, the sounds, placement of buttons, etc, since it is based off of the original video poker game by IGT. The version we want specifically is the game “8/5 Jacks or Better.”
We would like a couple other ancillary pages such as a login page, edit profile page, etc – no biggie. Please respond to the following questions:
- can you do this work?
- we’re a very cash-poor startup. Can you work ‘cheap’ even if it takes longer to complete? Could you detail what you consider ‘cheap’ either as rate-per-time or a project bid?
- we’ll want to build more games into this site as the first one takes off, what would your ‘less cheap’ rate be to continue development of future enhancements?
- what technologies will you use? We think we prefer Flash, PHP, MySQL but are open to suggestions.
- will we have absolute rights to source code and all necessary components/technologies upon completion?
- where are you located, and if not near Chicago, how do we coordinate & validate development throughout the production process?
Thank you, I look forward to your response.
