Facebook Indie Games
Stealing Farmville's thunder one player at a time. 1 down, 80 million to go.
TwitterFacebookPageSearch
Contributors
David Barnes
3 Social Game Design Myths Busted by @PopCap
The 3-headed monster of Zynga, Playdom, and Playfish guards against indie developers entering their space.
If you listen to what Zynga says about Facebook games you'd think that only the massive social game companies can make money with Facebook games. And that's exactly what they want you to believe. These scary myths are designed to put you off from trying Facebook game development out, because it might be -- just might be -- that good, fun games end up stealing some of Farmville's lunch in the long run.
But in that recent interview with Inside Social Games, PopCap busts three of the most pervasive social game myths that might stop indies from releasing a game on Facebook. Read on and see how PopCap's experience with Bejeweled Blitz busts a whole bunch of social game development myths.
Posted
by David Barnes
Make Games for People, Not Platforms
One of the things that struck me about the recent PopCap / Inside Social Games interview was how independent of various platforms PopCap tries to be. Their aim as a company is to flourish on whatever platforms happen to become popular, and ultimately outlast them all.
ISG: How would you define yourself to investors?
Vechey: We make games for everyone. We build really simple stuff that’s hard to do, and can adapt to anything that the market throws at us. When we started out, there was no Facebook, no iPhone or Xbox Live. However the market changes, we can be there.
While many smaller game developers define themselves by the platform they build for -- whether that's Flash, iPhone, Web, X Box, Facebook -- PopCap defines themselves by WHO they build for. In their case, everyone.
It's hard to get to know a particular type of person well. It's much easier to become an expert on a software platform. But knowing your customer like you know your own face gives you much more lasting value. Humanity evolves far, far slower than technology.
When PopCap says "we build really simple stuff that's hard to do", I guess they mean that while their games are technically simple, they are hard to get right because you need a really good instinctive understanding of your player if you're going to write successful, mass appeal games. And that's the real value of PopCap.
What's the real value of your game business?
Read the full interview at Inside Social Games.
Posted
by David Barnes
Bejeweled Blitz's Sneaky Plan to Dominate The "Your Games" Page
Posted
by David Barnes
Facebook Credits, Story Telling in Games, and Cloning -- Highlights from the CNet PopCap Interview
- The average play session length for Bejeweled Blitz is 43 minutes. Even though each game lasts a minute, people keep playing over and over again. "It's just one more minute..." The best kind of suckers.
- Cloning is cool. They talk about how they're fine with Bejeweled kicking off the whole Match 3 genre, and how looking at the innovations from other developers has improved their own game making it even more successful. As long as you're not stealing their art, name, or code, they're happy to have their ideas stolen.
- Resetting the Bejeweled Blitz leader board each week levels the playing field. It's all about making it possible for weak players to enjoy competing with strong ones, rather than feeling like it's hopeless and miserable to try.
- Popcap loves Facebook credits. They think a 30% share is a bargain.
- Characters and morals are more important than story. Games are good for establishing strong characters and a moral dimension, but not so great for telling intricate stories -- at least according to some of PopCap.
- It took two months just to port Plants vs Zombies to the iPad. If they listened to my advice it should only take two weeks.
You should read the full caboodle at CNet.
Posted
by David Barnes
Can Flash Action Games Work on Facebook? Lessons from Bejeweled Blitz...
- Play against the clock. Make it very clear that the player has only one minute, and keep the countdown visible so that the player has to race against the clock -- this will get some adrenaline flowing and force the player to focus utterly on the game. (Which they can afford to do because it's only a minute.)
- Focus on high scores. The goal with Bejeweled Blitz is to achieve a very high score in that short period. This is very different from coin-op and many other game designs, where you want to keep the player in the game for as long as possible -- so you allow the score to accumulate over time as they play. Some games now make the high score based purely on how far you get -- for example Canabalt. Canabalt is a brilliant game, but that score system doesn't seem to work so well in Social networks. People want a guaranteed short playing time.
- Reset the score table every week. So people need to return frequently to protect their position in the ranks, and everybody feels like they can get near the top of the charts (because they only have to compete with other people who played this week).
- Make luck a significant factor. Lots of gamers disapprove of luck. But in casual, social competitive games I think luck is absolutely essential. I want to be able to have fun competing with players that are either significantly better or significantly weaker than me. When a game is purely skill based, it's only really fun to compete with people of a similar level to you. Luck levels the playing field. (Think of how fun it is if you're on a losing team in Trivial Pursuit, and the opposition gets a run of bad dice rolls -- it makes up for everything!) Furthermore, luck makes the game more addictive -- next time, I might get luckier.
- Leverage the reward for frequent plays. You get a high score based on your prowess with the game, but you also get coins every time you play. These coins can buy power ups, which in turn enable you to get a higher score. Thus by playing frequently the player is doubly rewarded -- firstly because the practice makes them better, and secondly because the game specifically rewards them for playing.
- Level-up the player, not the level. Most action games push the player through a sequence of levels, which get more challenging as you go along. Social games seem to work best when the player earns abilities to improve their performance, rather than pushing them into a new level that's harder than before.
- "Sell" unlockables that increase possible score. The coins you earn can be spent on power ups that mean you can achieve a higher score.
What Facebook action games have got you coming back? Do you plan to try Facebook versions of your own Flash games? What changes would you make?
Posted
by David Barnes
Unity Devs! Turn Your iPhone Game into a PC Download. Charge FIVE TIMES the price. That's What PopCap Does!
Plants vs. Zombines on the iPhone = $2.99 $14.99 / $2.99 = A FIVE TIMES price premium for the PC version. With the new game Bejeweled Blitz, the price gap is even bigger -- more like a SEVEN TIMES premium ($19.99:$2.99). The iPhone price is hidden on the PopCap site, because it's an embarrassment. Look -- no price. And don't go thinking that the PC version is somehow bigger than the iPhone one. As it happens, the download size for the iPhone is about 30% larger than for the PC. Both versions are the full game. If you happen to have been building iPhone games with a cross platform development tool, and you're now worried about clause 331, then port your game to the PC now, whack up PayPal button and charge 5 times the iPhone price. What do you have to lose?
Posted
by David Barnes
Describe Your Game Better! Hook More Players! Make More Money!
It's sell time!
Make your game a success by giving it a kick ass description!
When you release a game you need to describe it -- on the App Store, on Facebook, on your own site. Get the description right and you can expect to see a lot more players. Get it wrong, and people who'd probably LOVE your game will never even get to try it.
Can you improve your game describing skills? Read on and find out!
First of all, successful game descriptions follow a particular structure: one sentence to sum up the game; up to five sentences describing it; the "snapper" that closes the deal and hooks the player; and a list of features the persuade the uncertain.
Let's look at each of these in turn.
One Sentence to Sum Up the Game
This sentence needs to be sharp as a knife. It's purpose is to get people who will like the game to read on, and get rid of people who won't. You have to get the main "game fun" across in just one sentence.
Try to establish the key goal of the game, the theme of the game, and the main mechanic. You don't need many words to do this. Here's the one sentence description for Dynomite by PopCap:
"It's prehistoric egg blasting fun!"
Theme -- dinosaurs. Key goal -- destroy eggs somehow. Mechanic -- unclear, but involves blasting so there's probably explosions. Oh, and it's fun by the way. A brilliant one sentence summary that tells the player a lot in only 5 words.
The one sentence summary absolutely needs to end with an exclamation point. And it needs to earn that exclamation point too.
How can you sum up your game in just a few words?
Up To Five Sentences Giving a Fuller Description
This is where you tell your reader what it'll be like to play the game. Dynomite needs only one sentence here:
Use your slingshot to match three or more dino eggs of the same color... and watch them explode!
Notice that this doesn't describe the game. Instead, it describes what the player does. Use your slingshot. Match three or more. Watch them explode.
This is a crucial difference. Look at any of the top games on the App Store or Facebook or anywhere else. The game description text doesn't describe the game, it describes what the player does when they play.
Most games can use about 3 sentences here. Some need more. Some fewer.
Tell the player what they get to DO in your game, in about 3 short sentences.
The Snapper -- A Challenge or Call to Action
The snapper makes a brazen appeal to the reader to just play the game already. In Dynomite:
Can you blast all the eggs before Mama Brontosaurus tramples your game?
A challenge is just one way to do this. Another popular method is even more brazen. Look at Farmville's snapper:
Come and see what everyone is hootin' and hollerin' about.
Play the game to find out why other people are playing the game. Bejewelled uses a similar technique:
Bejeweled is the first and only puzzle game since Tetris to be inducted into Computer Gaming World's Hall of Fame. Play it yourself to find out why!
There are loads of ways to do this.
What's the one thing you can say that's going to compel the player to take action and play / buy / download your damn game?
The Feature List
The App Store has its own section where you list features as a set of bullet points. Treat this as a benefit list not a feature list.
For every feature you list, make it really obvious why it'll make the game more fun. If you can't figure out how to make the feature sound fun then don't bother to mention it.
Keep throwing in game-friendly words and phrases like "exciting", "addictive", "challenging" and so on. Words that will sell the game.
For each feature you want to list, how does it make the game better for players?
Game Copy Writing Tips
- Sell! Nobody is really interested in a description of your game. People are there because they want you to persuade them to buy / play it. Use the opportunity to sell your game directly to the player.
- Avoid "[title] is a..." in your description. It's boring and is more suited to an encyclopaedia than a sales pitch for a game.
- Be sparing with techy and gamer words. They probably don't mean as much to the reader as they do to you, and they carry no emotion for most people. MMO, RPG, persistent browser game -- these words don't mean much to most people, and will rarely close a sale.
- Do use "genre appropriate" words. Action games should include words like "action-packed", "fast-paced", "thrilling". HOGs should include words like "discover", "find", "uncover", "unlock", "mysteries". And so on.
- Every single thing you say must be a good reason to play. If you've put in a sentence or phrase that doesn't give the player a reason to play, take it out.
- Start sentences with VERBS. Starting sentences with a verb puts the player into the action. "Fight your way to the top!" is better than, "A game where you must fight your way to the top" -- and much better than "get to the top by fighting". Serve up big, action packed verbs at the start of sentences.
- Say "you" and "your" a lot. Never "the player". After all, you're talking to people who you want to BE players. Right?
- Say "the" not "an". "It's the addictive puzzle game where you have to unblock the sewer" is better than "Pooper Scooper is an addictive puzzle game where the player has to unblock a sewer".
- Don't waste words. There are lots of phrases that you just don't need, because the context makes it obvious. Phrases like "is a game", "the backstory is", and so on. We don't need to be told this.
- Suspend disbelief. We know that there isn't really an intergalactic war going on. We know that we won't really be piloting a faster than light star ship. But it's more fun and more compelling if the game description lets us forget reality and experience the game. That's another reason for leaving out "is a game" and "the backstory is" type phrases.
- Keep sentences short. More than 20 words is really pushing it. Much less is best.
Case Study
Here's the opening sentence for Solitaire Siege by Bad Bumble...
Solitaire Siege is an action based solitaire (Pyramid) style game where the player gets to use Grenades, Flame Throwers, Rocket Launchers, Snipers and even Air Strikes to help them clear the table of cards.
This describes the game, but it doesn't sell the game. Let's:
- Get rid of "Siege Solitaire is an" and replace it with "it's".
- Break it into 2 shorter sentences.
- Use "the" instead of "an", use "you" instead of "the player".
- Ditch the wasted words -- particularly "gets to"
- Find more powerful verbs than "use"
New opening sentence...
It's the action-packed solitaire game where you fight against the nastiest playing cards you've ever seen!
And the left-over becomes the first part of the fuller description...
Hurl grenades, fire rocket launchers, and call in air strikes to help clear your cards in this thrilling take on pyramid solitaire!
For homework, rewrite the next section of the description into the remainder of the full description, and the snapper:
It’s a fun, quick game that will make you want to play it over and over again and with it been on the iPhone, you will be able to play it where ever you are.
The basic background story to the game is that an evil general is secretly creating an army of clones to take over the world and it’s your job to stop him by any means possible. You will travel from the deepest forests, to hot, dusty deserts, to the cold snow covered lands and even to hidden underground bases in your quest for the general.
Post your answer in the comments. Or even better, give your own game descriptions an overhaul and tell us how you get on.
This post is long but I think it's about the most useful thing on this blog so far. If you agree please retweet, link, and fall down on your knees before me (but no funny stuff).
Posted
by David Barnes
