Professor designs, sells online games
- Professor designs new virtual card game
- The game, "Dashabooja," was sold to BigFishGames.com
Graphic Communications adjunct Professor Sean Gleeson’s Dashabooja offers a style of poker different from the classic video poker games. It presents a taste of five-card draw, with the pace of a video slot game, and an option of chance, that is easy to pick up on Gleeson said.“It’s a game that anybody can play,” he said. “You don’t have to be a poker guru.”
By Matt Bishop, Staff Writer (staffwriter2@occc.edu)
An art professor on campus has created an online video poker game with a few twists from ordinary poker.
Graphic Communications adjunct Professor Sean Gleeson’s “Dashabooja” offers a style of poker different from the classic video poker games.
It presents a taste of five-card draw, with the pace of a video slot game, and an option of chance, that is easy to pick up on, Gleeson said.
“It’s a game that anybody can play,” he said. “You don’t have to be a poker guru.”
After placing an initial bet, the player will be dealt 10 hands of five cards, receiving specified amounts of points depending on what cards the hands draw and how big a bet has been placed.
When receiving the combined points for each hand, the player has an option of taking the points, or picking the higher out of two cards to double the points.
The game was released on www.BigFishGames.com Aug. 25. It is free to play online.
The website gets paid from advertising, Gleeson said. The more hits for the game, the bigger cut the maker of the game gets.
The game has many unique features that make it unlike any other online poker game, he said.
“I’m most proud of the sound effects the game offers,” Gleeson said.
“There are different sounds for every situation, some the player may not hear until the game has been played to the fullest.”
He said the game sounds best when hooked up to a stereo sound system.
Gleeson also created a legendary story for his character Dashabooja, who is a 10-handed poker-dealing brass statue.
Gleeson made a timeline from its beginnings in 1851 London, through its tragic end, where the statue was burnt to ash while sitting in a Chicago billiard room.
Gleeson said that he made up the story behind “Dashabooja” to add mystique to the game and to the character.
Many graphics, textures, and complex animations give the game a realistic feel.
Gleeson said he used Macromedia Flash 8 software to create the game. This is a program that students can learn to operate in Gleeson’s Advanced Animation class.
He said that Dashabooja is about the sixth game that he has created, all online.
Gleeson said he has a game called “Wichita Faro,” another poker game that can be played on the website of the TNT show “Into the West.”
The game was licensed to Steven Spielberg, Gleeson said.
He also has an online poker game for the sitcom “My Boys”.
“It was awesome to get those games on such popular websites,” Gleeson said. “With ‘Dashabooja,’ I would like to eventually present the game to gaming vendors and get the game into casinos.”
After the game is released and enough people play, he will present the game and statistics to a vendor such as IGT, one of the most prestigious gaming companies in the casino business, and hope they like the idea, Gleeson said.
“It’s got a great chance of achieving that status. It’s a popular concept, with a few twists that everyone can enjoy.”
