I've actually been thinking of doing something like this for a while. I think the market is there, but I don't think it's SaaS providers. I think you should start looking at web games and social games. Also take a look at Facebook games. There's a LOT of Facebook game developers out there. Granted, it's moving very much so from individuals to large companies, but you might still see some customers there.
As for implementation I'd definitely use a server side API. It would be nice to be able to send a large list of the user's data and receive back any possible achievements. For example if I had an RPG and the user had just killed a monster I would want to send you my health at the time of kill, what level I was, what level the monster was, how many of that monster I've killed, how many monsters total I've killed. That way I could get back multiple achievements if they were "Kill 10 Monsters" and also "Kill a Monster That is a Higher Level Than You" but only use one API call.
Anyway, I think it's a good idea. Try asking some web game developers.
I was thinking about a "Web Achievements" toolbar for Firefox etc. Where people would get awards for being rickrolled, spending time on websites, visiting certain websites for x times and so on. Maybe with a (adblockplus like) subscription thing that allows any site to provide achievements for itself.
It's not like I will ever pursue this idea, so if someone thinks this is a good idea, please use it!
Comments
I've actually been thinking of doing something like this for a while. I think the market is there, but I don't think it's SaaS providers. I think you should start looking at web games and social games. Also take a look at Facebook games. There's a LOT of Facebook game developers out there. Granted, it's moving very much so from individuals to large companies, but you might still see some customers there.
As for implementation I'd definitely use a server side API. It would be nice to be able to send a large list of the user's data and receive back any possible achievements. For example if I had an RPG and the user had just killed a monster I would want to send you my health at the time of kill, what level I was, what level the monster was, how many of that monster I've killed, how many monsters total I've killed. That way I could get back multiple achievements if they were "Kill 10 Monsters" and also "Kill a Monster That is a Higher Level Than You" but only use one API call.
Anyway, I think it's a good idea. Try asking some web game developers.
I was thinking about a "Web Achievements" toolbar for Firefox etc. Where people would get awards for being rickrolled, spending time on websites, visiting certain websites for x times and so on. Maybe with a (adblockplus like) subscription thing that allows any site to provide achievements for itself.
It's not like I will ever pursue this idea, so if someone thinks this is a good idea, please use it!