Facebook Indie Games
Stealing Farmville's thunder one player at a time. 1 down, 80 million to go.
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David Barnes
Playfish Blog Offers Clues to Social Game Design Success
Playfish's blog post, "A chat about social game design with Kim Daniel Arthur", works hard to say a lot without giving too much away. Even so, it's an interesting read with a few interesting clues to what makes Playfish games tick. For instance:
What are most important elements in a successful social game?
We try to create games that people love.
From a creative standpoint success means bringing friends together in a high quality and memorable experience. Access should be instant, the learning curve manageable and there should be ways for players to be engaged with the game over a longer period of time. Most importantly, people should be smiling and having fun with their friends through a social game.
From a business perspective a successful game should drive its own distribution while achieving some target level of monetization through a combination of advertising and transactions.
Other questions addressed include, What makes a good social game?, and What are the three biggest challenges to creating a social game?
It's a light, engaging read. Take a look at the full post.
Posted
by David Barnes
Facebook Giant Playfish to Sell Currency Gift Cards in UK Retail
EA-owned Facebook game brand Playfish plans to launch iTunes-style "gift cards" in UK retailers:
The otherwise online-only firm has tied-up with the likes of Sainsbury’s, HMV and even games-shy WHSmith to sell in-game currency cash cards.
While the developer offers a range of free-to-play titles online – with 60m players every month – the firm says its cash cards have already sold extremely well after a pre-Christmas roll out.
This could open up monetized social games to players who don't have credit cards or other means to pay online. It's a way for Playfish to get their mittens on kids' pocket money, in other words. Devious but brilliant.
Sadly this won't bring much joy to indie devs, because it's just another way that the big players with many game offerings can use their muscle to move further ahead. How should indies respond? Can independent developers carve out niches on Facebook, just as they've done with other game styles?
Read the full story at MVC.
Posted
by David Barnes
