Casual games are actually some of the most popular games of all right now (especially among women gamers), as you can easily jump into a quick game when you have some time, easily know every move in a matter of seconds, and then off you're running without having to invest a lot of time at once. However, there is one thing better than playing casual games, and that is being able to make your own. We here at Killer Betties got to talk a bit with Brad Edelman – Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of PlayFirst – about their upcoming project they are unveiling at GDC, which will put the tools in your hands to make your own casual games, and perhaps even be featured on their site and played by millions all over the world.

Brad Edelman and John Welch founded PlayFirst in April of 2004, but they had already been around working with casual games before it had become the buzzword in the press. After seeing that nobody was filling the needs of a publisher for the casual games economy, PlayFirst was founded to be the first publisher of casual games. As a publisher PlayFirst facilitates the creation of content, followed by the marketing and distribution of that content. To this date one of their greatest successes has been the Diner Dash series, though beyond that they have an extensive portfolio including games like Plantasia, Oasis, and games on various mobile phones and handheld consoles.

Branching out to not only find the best casual games out there to promote but to inspire creativity among the casual game developers and wannabe developers everywhere, PlayFirst is introducing the Playground SDK. As Brad Edelman told us, "What we want to do as a publisher is expand the market for casual games, and a key element of that is finding new developers and new talent to bring them into the market. So we want to enable these developers to make great games, and one of the ways we are going to be doing this is we are announcing our Playground SDK. It's for programmers – it's not for non-technical people – but it's a platform for creating casual games that is way easier than starting from nothing and is really oriented toward maximizing the marketing opportunity in the casual game marketplace. It's going to get your games onto the Mac, the PC, onto the Web – those specialized channels like translated into European versions, Asian versions, integrated into sites with special requirements like MSN. And we make that really easy for you so you can just focus on creating great games and fitting into our distribution model, which will get you the most money for the least work."

Being able to express your creativity and shape a game like you want it is one thing, but for some the idea of being known as the next Alexey Pajitnov or Will Wright or Shigeru Miyatmoto isn't enough. What's recognition and fame without a bit of spending of money? Don't worry, because PlayFirst is acknowledging that, as they'll be giving away some money to the casual game creators who use Playground, to inspire creativity and help the casual game market continue to grow. "And to get people to really come and look, we are announcing our developer/program which we want players to use to make games with the Playground SDK and let us take a look, and if we like it we'll give you some money, so we're going to be giving away $100,000 a little bit at a time to people who show us their work, to reward them, just to do-gooders in the casual game space to expand the market and find the talent and expand the talent pool."

If you've been following the gaming industry as of late, the idea behind Playground should sound familiar, as Microsoft released their own Microsoft Game Studios program not too long ago, but though the idea may be loosely the same, there are key differences between Microsoft's and PlayFirst's Playground. "It's a different focus. Microsoft's package is heavily oriented towards Microsoft technology; it's only for Windows or Xbox. It's a C-sharp framework, which is very technical, but it's something that is very Windows specific. So if you want to bring that game to the Wii or the Mac or some handheld console, you're going to have to start over because it's not going to be compatible. So we see that as a more specialized offering that is geared towards a different market."

But what if you aren't the best in the world and you need a helping hand, either to get some much needed help or tips, or either find a group to work with so you can all collaborate together on one singular project? Will there be a way for people utilizing Playground to be able to come together as an actual community? "Absolutely. You can actually head to developer.playfirst.com and we've got forums and online documentation and frequently asked questions and you can signup to download the SDK and get started building your game today and collaborating with others."

So now you've got the tools in your hand to actually quit playing games and start creating your own with PlayFirst's Playground, but what comes next. When you're standing in front of your slab of marble, tools in hand, what do you create? Does PlayFirst have anything in particular they are looking for when it comes to the next great casual game? "That's the million dollar question. If I could answer that all day I'd be a rich man. We know what we're not looking for; we're not looking for games with sex and violence or orcs, which we don't feel are the mainstream of casual gaming. You've seen some of the great, innovative content that has come out over the last several years. Bejeweled is probably the first that kicked off the craze. You've got Diner Dash, Mystery Case File, the virtual builders, and somewhere is the next one, and there are a lot of creative and innovative permutations of games – not copies – but twists and turns and fresh new ideas on existing genres. And we're interested in all of it; we want to see the cream rise to the top. One of the ways that will come to us is we're putting the technology out there – no strings attached – and we hope people will appreciate that, come show us their content, and give us a chance to be their publisher."

If you find yourself itching to get involved with the casual game market, be sure to head on over to PlayFirst and look into their Playground SDK, because it certainly sounds as if it could be the answer to all your questions. We'd like to thank Brad Edelman for taking the time to talk to us, and be sure to look for more from Brad here on Killer Betties coming soon, to learn more about their casual games, what's coming next, and how women make up the majority of their players.