Games Pitch: Doof.com

This week we welcome Doof.com's Heidi Foster into the gamesblog's elevator of infamy to describe their online gaming-social networking community.

If you're making a game and want us to know about it, send your idea to gamesblog+at+gmail.com and we'll throw you and your idea into the gamesblog fray.

Explain your game to my mum in 140 words. A huge variety of online games, the chance to compete against old and new friends. Think about a bingo hall where all your friends meet, you all sit down and chat while you play, and you feel a bit smug when you beat Doris from number 47. So then you feel a bit bad so you buy her a little virtual present - you can do that on doof, or you can send her a rude picture that is a bit naughty. We do have kittens and baby sheep as well, if you think that's her thing. The best thing is you can do it from your armchair/desk/bed/commute home.

How do players control the game? We are home to around 50 games, all unique - they share the concept of easy to learn and hard to master. The aim is to give our members games that are easy to drop into when they have a spare five minutes, or 45 minutes on a Friday afternoon when they know the boss can't see their screen.

What is your background? I've been involved in Online Community since 1995, as an avid consumer of all things online, until I was employed at AOL UK in 1999 as an assistant technical producer. I moved to the Community Department in 2001, and was there until 2006. I was the UK Community Manager at Habbo.co.uk until March this year. Now I head up the community here at doof. I am an avid game player, and have been since I got my dirty little paws on a Vic 20 aged 11.

Name your competitors The beauty of doof is the fact that we are pretty unique - a site that mixes casual gaming and all the fun bits of social networks, so we have a few competitors, but no direct competition so far - but in terms of games, Pogo, Kongregate, King - all these sites use casual gaming as a platform. Myspace, Bebo and facebook are the obvious ones in the social networking front - but again we are the ones that meet in the middle of the Venn diagram of social networking and casual gaming, and we quite like being there!

How many players do you have now and what's your target in 12 months? We're currently at about 400,000, and that number is growing at a phenomenal rate, truly showing the power of word of mouth online. Where do we want to be in 12 months? Top of the tree, still forging ahead, still providing engaging and fun times to a legion of loyal members. It's an exciting time!

What's your biggest challenge? Keeping on top of demand - pushing Flex (the technology on which doof is built) to its limits whilst offering just the right amount of UI to members without overwhelming them, engaging such a diverse demographic.

Are indie games the latest killer app? Diversity is the name of the game (excuse the pun), in a world of tabbed browsers, and an audience that can mutltitask like never before, being original enough to grab and hold attention is the winning formula. So, yes, they are.

Are you the next big thing? Without question.