PopCap Games Releases Open Source Framework

Represenatives from PopCap Games have announced the release of the PopCap Games Framework, an in-house development toolset used to create titles such as Bejeweled, Bookworm and Zuma. The toolset is to be offered under an open source license and can be used free of charge by any developer for commercial or non-commercial use. The PopCap Games Framework is intended to provide developers with a quick and easy way to get their projects off the ground. Casual game developers, in particular, will have access to a reliable framework that has been tested in dozens of games. "Our primary goal is to help grow the casual games space," says PopCap President and CTO Brian Fiete. "But we're also hoping that by sharing our toolset we'll come into contact with innovative and talented developers." "PopCap's framework is powerful, flexible, and intuitive. I could not ask for a better framework for this type of game," says George Fan of Flying Bear Entertainment, who used the toolset for the game Insaniquarium. Luc Van den Borre of Nuclide Games says, "It halved the time spent on testing and customer support for Rocket Mania and Pixelus. It's a rock solid foundation on which to build a downloadable game." The PopCap Games Framework is available now at developer.popcap.com. It currently supports Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP operating systems.