Entrepreneur Builds Social-Networking Game from Basement, Credits 'Cloud'
WAYNE, N.J., Dec. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In advance of the holidays, Fun Factory Apps announces the launch of new iOS mobile app iACTaFOOL where people can play video charades in what founder Hani Shabsigh calls "an Instagram-style game." Users can record videos of themselves or friends acting words and dance moves such as JELLYFISH, SUPERMODEL, or TWERKIT. Videos can be part of a private game with one other user, posted publicly for the possibility of being featured on the popular page, or posted exclusively to friends a user has approved as followers. A user's score, or 'fame', is based on a number of factors including the number of likes, dislikes, and guesses their videos have accumulated.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121218/NY29867-INFO)
"iACTaFOOL is unique because a user's fame is directly based on social interactions. Unlike traditional leaderboards that compare users based on their successful progression through a game, iACTaFOOL's leaderboard is based on a user's ability to amass social interactions," says Hani Shabsigh, founder of Fun Factory Apps and the developer of iACTaFOOL. "We believe users will enjoy the ability to share content within an Instagram-style game and will embrace the gamification of the social network."
iACTaFOOL is the brainchild of founder Hani Shabsigh and angel investor Ibrahim Khaddash. Hani has developed the game as a one-man show straight from his parent's basement. Quitting his job at Deloitte Consulting, he bought roughly 10 programming books, scoured the web for tutorials, took online courses at popular learning sites such as Coursera and Codecademy, and locked himself in his parent's basement. Nine months later he is launching iACTaFOOL on the Apple App Store.
Hani asserts that the emergence of sophisticated backend-as-a-service (BaaS) providers has empowered entrepreneurs to quickly develop complex apps capable of competing with much more established products.
"Our app is built on the excellent Parse service. Although I had some experience managing servers on the Amazon cloud platform, the ease-of-use of Parse's platform cut my development time in half. As a new developer, I was able to quickly learn Parse's API because it's written in the iPhone native programming language. In addition, services such as Facebook authentication, emailed password resets, push notifications, and in-app purchasing have enabled us to achieve a high level of polish for an initial release."
Download iACTaFOOL today from the iTunes App Store at: iTunes.FunFactoryApps.com
About Fun Factory Apps
Fun Factory Apps strives to build mobile social experiences that users can enjoy with the whole family. Founded in March 2012 in New Jersey, Fun Factory Apps is built on a reliable and scalable cloud infrastructure. By focusing on developing innovative user experiences built on leading-edge industry standards, Fun Factory Apps hopes to create long-lasting products that amuse and surprise users.
For more information, screenshots, and founder bios please go to Story.FunFactoryApps.com to download our press kit.
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Entrepreneur Builds Social-Networking Game from Basement, Credits 'Cloud'