I'd like to thank the Academy... - PlayFirst Grapevine

2008

JUN

by SunPath

As Nemone announced in the Diner Dash Lounge recently, Diner Dash: Hometown Hero (or DD:HH, as it's known in the halls of PlayFirst) has been nominated for two People's Choice Zeeby Awards (Best Time Management Game of 2007 and Best Casual Game of 2007)!

Nemone asked cazcreator and I for some thoughts on what it has been like working on this exciting and innovative internally-developed PlayFirst game.

First of all, we'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of the loyal players who have been playing the game (and the downloadable content)! These nominations are especially exciting for us, because we've seen the DD:HH community grow, and because every single person here at PlayFirst truly contributed to this project. In addition to the DD:HH game team, the PlayFirst site team pitched in by creating new destinations to celebrate all things Flo--DinerDash.com and Diner Dash Boutique--and supporting new multiplayer features, user-created content, and customizable avatars. Our games QA team put in tons of time and hard-work, and the entire company's feedback was requested during numerous multiplayer feature tests.

I was a DD:HH game producer from just after the game's green light (official approval to begin producing) in November 2006 until the game's initial launch in late September 2007. In the final months we had a small team of leads from across the company meeting every morning (at 8:30 am, no less!) to make sure the schedule was running smoothly.

My favorite DD:HH launch moment was the first time we played online multiplayer with you guys. Our late night dinner had been ordered; the game and site were ready to go. Everyone was so excited to be finally launching the game, and to be online playing with our users. I played with Heather89 first. I'm pretty sure she beat me because I was so busy chatting with actual PF users – the internal tests were over!

As a blast from the past, here's the DinerDash.com post where sorbet announced the DD:HH initial launch on September 24, 2007.

Cazcreator is the producer working with the current Diner Dash team on all of the downloadable content, including restaurants like the newest Buccaneer Bistro. Although I'm working on a different project now, I still get to see (and hear!) the new restaurants in progress since cazcreator and I sit near each other. We even upgraded to a great view in our new office.

I asked cazcreator for his thoughts about working on the downloadable restaurants and other content. Here's what he said:

“We are immeasurably thankful for the support of the downloadable restaurants. Our hope is that we can continue to be creative and deliver fresh content for our loyal Diner Dash: Hometown Hero fans to enjoy. The restaurants give us the opportunity to send Flo, our fans, and our development team on boundless adventures to faraway places in our imagination.”

We're all very excited to be nominated for the Zeebys--both Chocolatier and Dream Chronicles are up for awards, too--and hope you get a chance to vote.

Comments

You know the playfirst is totally extremely very cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

Fashion1974 (joined Jul 19, 2008)
posted Jul 30, 2008 2:26:52 AM

Mark Inappropriate

I'm crossing my fingers and hope that PF wins!

DarkWaitress101 (joined May 22, 2008)
posted Jun 29, 2008 10:18:21 AM

Mark Inappropriate

I love many many casual games but DDHH is by far the BEST EVER!!!!! I just can't imagine it not winning. My votes are cast and thanks again PF for bringing us the best game ever!!!!