Inside Social Games

Blake Commagere and AJ Olson’s series of “Monsters” games - Vampires, Zombies, WereWolves, and Slayers - are the biggest kids on the block when it comes to popularity. They exploit the cultural obsession with the supernatural, use a subject that lends itself to viral spread (vampirism, lycanthropy, zombism), take full advantage of the Facebook platform, and make the game as deep as an RPG while as low maintence as an arcade game.

Jump into the game and you’ll know what I mean. The main menu includes a “My character” tab, a “Rank” tab, a “Fight!” tab, a “Blog” tab, a “Coven” tab, a “Ruse/Feed” tab, and a “Store” tab. That’s a lot of options for gameplay.

The games operate slightly differently but have similiar economies and playing styles. You get points for spreading the game to your friends by “biting/slaying” them. You can use these points to upgrade your character or you can fight others of your own kind and get dollars that way. These dollars can be used to purchase upgrades like weapons such as silver bullets or chicken suits (don’t ask).

The blog provides a sense of community within each application and the Rank tab lets you know how strong you are compared to other people. You can fight your friends, you can bite your friends, you can taunt your friends on their boards - this game is a great vehicle for staying connected with people while using your friends to make you stronger.

If you don’t have many Facebook friends, there are plenty of opportunities to fight random strangers (the game will show you several people near your level that you can fight) and you can get bucks by not only fighting and inviting, but by rusing/feeding and taking part in partner offers.

Many social games suffer from low-quality graphics, gameplay, or a sloppy interface. The Vampires, WereWolves, Zombies, Slayers games have uniform pictures of the different levels that speak to staff artists and/or a similar set of sources for all of their pictures. This gives the game a clean look. The applications each exploit various pop-culture references to make the games funny and clever as well. The Store has a “Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart” slogan attached to it, which is a great reference to the zombie-slaying “The Evil Dead” series.

You can excel in the “Monsters” games in a number of ways, and they can be as deep as you want them to be. Friends can challenge you to fight and resolve these battles while you’re not even online. The game plays itself if you want it to - you can succeed if your friends who you invited also succeed. The developers take full advantage of the social networking abilities of Facebook, giving players the option to invite (”bite”), ruse, fight, or taunt.

However, there is of course room for improvement. My criticism for a lot of social games is that while they allow anyone to succeed no matter their previous experience, they also don’t have the option for players to succeed by skillful playing or strategy. Sure, there is some strategy to which friends you invite, what weapons you upgrade, and the like. But, if I’m to point out how I’d like to see these games improve (and I’m paid to do so) - I’d like there to be an emphasis placed on roping in not just casual gamers. Converting the fights to Flash animations that may require a bit of strategy, skill, and reflex would not disrupt the balance of the game and would provide another layer of fun for players.

Gameplay: 6/10
Developers: 10/10
Virality: 10/10

Parking Wars is a social game that takes the fun and excitement of parking your car and puts it in a Facebook game! Hoorah! (?)

The idea behind Parking Wars is that you are given a small parking lot and several cars that you can park at other people’s lots. You get cash for successfully parking your car, the longer it remains there, the more money you get. But if you park at a no-parking sign or some other illegal space, the person who owns the lot can ticket the car (in which case you get nothing) and then tow your car away (if they catch you in time).

There is a certain degree of customization in the game. You can change the background of your parking lot, get badges for certain accomplishments, and buy new cars as you get more money. This is also a game that requires a great deal of time and frequent, well-timed visits to prevent your car from getting ticketed and to wait until you have accumulated enough cash to “cash in” your car.

There’s an interesting tie-in to a television show called “Parking Wars” on A&E about how people get absolutely crazy when they get parking tickets. So there’s a sick joy in recreating that for your friends who park in your “yellow car only” spot.

But beyond that, watching you money accumulate is like watching cardboard get made. I checked back on my two cars and my friends hadn’t done anything malicious to them and I hadn’t accumulated enough money to sell them either. The game grows deeper (with more cars and more abilities unlocked), but I wasn’t drawn in by the initial game.

While the developers have a nice TV tie-in (but the ad for that Gene Simmons shows is creepy) and an ability to invite friends to increase the number of places you can park, the economy is pretty limited in terms of how you can earn money and the game doesn’t grab you as “action packed” or “strategic.” Let’s face it, it’s a parking game. It’s enjoyable to do bad things to your friends’ cars - but beyond that, there isn’t much to keep you on the pages for very long.

Gameplay: 4

Developers: 4

Sadism Level: 9

Are your friends cheap? No, I don’t mean “thrifty.” I mean if they were auctioned off by space aliens, how much would you pay for them? Friends for Sale is a social game that asks essentially that same question.

(And what would you do if you could make your friends your pets? This only further compounds the question of “Who is man’s best friend?” - but I digress.)

Friends For Sale’s friendly interface asks you to buy your friends to make them your pets. All of your friends (and some people you don’t know) are in the marketplace. Friends who have this game and have been bought and sold cost a great deal, and friends who are less popular or don’t use Facebook applications often will be pretty cheap. I invested heavily in the latter type of friends to test this application out.

You earn money when other people buy your pets, whenever someone buys you, and every time you visit (a very good idea). After you’ve bought your friends, you can give them nicknames, gifts, or sell them. There are always new gifts to buy your friends and it’s fun to make your friends, as pets, do your bidding.

The profit on a sale is split 50/50 between the pet and the owner. There are also plenty of partner offers to get you more cash.

Friends For Sale is an addictive social game for people with lots of friends, and it’s easy to become thoroughly “invested” in the application. In this way, the game is pretty deep.

But while it can be addictive, the developers need to build more features around the owner/pet relationship. You can buy gifts and poke people in Facebook - if the game only offers the same types of features, it could fall flat pretty quickly.

Gameplay: 5

Development: 7

Counter Strike: Red Team Go takes its name from the popular Half Life mod, Counter-Strike. This game too features guns, terrorists, and counter-terrorists and battle against anonymous strangers. But while Counter-Strike relies on tactics, skill, and teamwork that allows for a balanced, fun, and exciting first person shooter experience, Counter Strike: Red Team Go is a cheap knock-off and cash in that rips the soul out of game and puts it in an easily accessible web format.

I don’t normally hate on social games for taking a popular console or computer game and “porting” it to Facebook. There are several games out there that are worthy adaptations and utilize the social context of the Facebook Platform to create something better than the original. Counter Strike: Red Team Go is not one of these games.

The game play is similar to Armies, a game I reviewed a few weeks ago. Like Armies, you need to buy equipment, raise your rank, and attack other people in order to get points. Invites help you get credits, as does fighting. But unlike Armies, every time you are killed in combat, you lose all of your weapons. You also aren’t very likely to kill the higher ranking general who has a minigun with your Desert Eagle - so get used to getting killed a lot initially.

The tabs for the game are pretty standard - you can attack and taunt your friends or random people, you can recruit people, you can buy equipment, you can see your medals, the leaders, and go on missions or partake in the arena.

The latter two features are unique to CS: Red Team Go, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. You can jump into a battle between counter-terrorists and terrorists and respawn when you are killed, but there is no Flash animation, no skill, and no fun to these battles. They are very similar to single “attack” missions, but are instead loosely based on the actual CS experience.

The developers get kudos for trying to integrate the system into Facebook, but at the same time the creation is awkward and confusing. You only know you’re in combat because a scroll of text updates you that you’ve killed or been killed. If killed, you can respawn a few times. Yay! The “mission” option is basically a way to earn medals by telling you that you should go kill a lot of people and then you’ll get credits AND a medal icon. You can join a clan, and thus establish some network of people to combat other people/boredom with.

I guess a more pressing issue, other than the bastardization of a classic game, is the fact that the existing game is poorly developed. The economies of health, weapons, credits and combat are not well-explained in the two-page long “how to” guide. The “under the table” system for determining who wins a given battle is mysterious, and if you’re going to create a combat game that relies on text rather than animation, you need to make sure the players understand how they can “win.” Your economy needs to be well-defined and your system needs to be pleasing both to casual gamers and the more experienced crowd. Neither is really satisfied here. As a social gamer I couldn’t understand how the game was going to help me meet people and as an experienced gamer I was frustrated by how boring this was.

The real Counter-Strike can still be downloaded for free in many places, includes live texting and social-networking, and is actually fun. Go play that instead.

Gameplay: 2

Development: 4

How much I hate these people right now: 9

PackRat offers a unique blend of puzzle, memory, and social elements to create a thoroughly enjoyable Facebook game.

Developed by Alamofire, the goal of PackRat is simple: gain as many cards as possible. You can acquire them through purchase at the market, through invitations to your friends, or by stealing from your friends (or Rat bots). Your friends can prevent thefts by putting locks on their cards or by storing them in their vault. In order to place something in a vault, you must have acquired five of the same card or collection.

When you steal something, you must place something in its place, so there is a high degree of strategy to the game. It’s plenty addictive and has many layers of game play. In addition to stealing and buying cards, you can also create new cards by combining existing cards or spending time perfecting your locking and lock-picking techniques.

Locks are cards as well, but can be set and broken by various Flash mini-games. The mini-games themselves are plenty addictive and are well animated. They also provide an element of reflexive skill to a game that already rewards strategy.

The developers get similarly positive marks for not only creating a unique gaming experience, but integrating it fully into the Facebook Platform. The introduction is casual and approachable, and asks you to invite friends but says up front that it wants you to be able to enjoy the game without having to do so. The game is much better with lots of friends, but you’ll figure that out quick enough and want to help the creators spread the word.

The addition of bots in the form of funny rat names (usually puns on famous celebrities like Shakirat) is a clever feature that allows people to still play the game without friends. All of the cards are uniform and adorable. They’re attractive enough to want people to capture them, which is essential for the game’s success.

The only criticism I have is that the rules of the game can be better laid out early in the game. I figured things out for myself pretty quickly, but initially the locking ability was a bit counterintuitive. Still, it’s a solid game that is perhaps one of the top social games out there that combines strategy, socializing, and action into an attractive package.

Gameplay: 8.5

Developers: 8

Adorability: 9

Despite the fact that avatar customization is a business, while hundreds of games have been developed for Facebook, almost no successful games have them. Why is this the case?

Bret Terrill, CEO of Tenuki, identified 4 reasons in a recent blog post:

1. You’re really you on Facebook. In most situations where avatars are successful, users are masking their identities…
2. Avatar applications don’t encourage repeat usage. I customize my avatar once and I’m done…
3. It’s all lead-gen. The goal of most of the well-done avatar apps is to drive you from Facebook to another property. That’s not the way to grow a Facebook app.
4. No virality. None of the existing avatar applications have any viral hooks build into them, except the common “Here’s 50 coins if you add a friend” invite page…

Blake Commagere, developer of the Monsters suite of Facebook games, touched on this subject in a recent interview. Blake said,

I’ve also added some new things recently, including the ability to put your friends in a chicken suit. This is a very polarizing feature – users either love it or hate it. It’s a big deal when you change players’ avatars – you have to make that really expensive (all other weapons don’t affect look).

While developers have not yet created games that use avatars inside the social networking context, there are bound to be people who will get it right over the coming year. Who do you think it will be?

This Thursday I’ll be moderating the Social Games Everywhere: Methods for Distribution and Development panel at the InterPlay: The Business of Games on the Social Web conference in San Francisco.

The InterPlay blog already covered why game developers should attend InterPlay, so this morning I asked the question from the other side - why should Facebook application developers attend?  Here’s 5 reasons:

1. Games engage and retain users. (A lot better than most applications do.) Learn more about how to make your application keep your audience glued.

2. Good games are hard to design. See 1.

3. It’s a good time for social game developers to raise money. Have you heard about the Series A’s SGN, Zynga, and Serious Business raised?

4. New people are playing games for the first time on Facebook. Find out who. (Hint: it’s not your 16 year old cousin staying up all night.)

5. Games are just more fun. Who wants to work when you can bite more chumps?

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Who Has the Biggest Brain is a quiz show game developed by social game company Playfish. For a Facebook application, the game is remarkably well-polished. I had to upgrade my version of Flash to allow for the game to play, and I’m glad I did.

Essentially, WHBB is an IQ test jazzed up and made to fit in the Facebook world. An adorable game show host tells you the rules before you go through a series of four types of mental tests. They’re tough and they change enough so that you can’t simply memorize the answers.

Despite their difficulty (I started cursing when I screwed up some simple math problems) the tests are rendered in pastels and aren’t very threatening, even as the clock runs down. The visual games involve cartoons of sushi and the numbers games often depict floating meteors.

After you finish the tests, you’re given your “brain size” and your level. Shortly thereafter, the host takes a commercial break to let you look at the various websites that sponsor the game. It’s a very clever and subtle way to get advertisements into the game. Again, it’s challenging and addictive, well-animated and fun, and something that lends itself to competitive playing. Both casual gamers and experienced players will find it worth checking out.

WHBB also spreads through invites. The friendly and well-polished icons depict both your Facebook photo and score and that of your nearest competitors. You can invite more friends to see how they rank. You can also see how you rank in the world on a weekly and monthly level. You can discuss the game in the forums, you can write a review for the game, you can check your brain profile, and you can even change the game to be in a different language (an overlooked feature for applications).

In short, this game delivers a fun IQ test that becomes easier through practice, but is one of the few games you really want to beat your friends in. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to increasing my numbers skills.

Gameplay: 8/10

Development: 9/10

Difficulty: 10/10

With over 4,500 games from over 1,700 developers, Kongregate has been helping Flash game developers and players meet for over two year - and it’s about to extend its reach into Facebook. Starting this week, Kongregate will launch the first of several Kongregate games ported to the Facebook Platform (Dolphin Olympics, not yet live, will be one of the first to launch).

Inside Social Games sat down with Kongregate CEO Jim Greer yesterday to learn more about Kongregate’s plans for bringing its games to Facebook and other social networks.

Jim, what are Kongregate’s plans for bringing your game library to Facebook?

Unlike other social network game developers like SGN and Zynga, we are more focused on Kongregate as a destination site. However, we’ve created a templated system whereby we can take Kongregate games and make them into Facebook applications. Usually, this means adding a simple viral mechanic of being able to challenge friends.

We’re starting with selected simple single player games to “Jetmanify,” but may move into longer playing games later. We’re putting the Kongregate brand on our Facebook games, so we will only pick the best ones.

Which kinds of games do you think will work well in social networks?

Games with the most general appeal will always work well there, because people don’t want to learn new games to play with their friends. We don’t want to get in there and scrap with Zynga on Texas Hold Em or Scrabble.

Once you get beyond those kinds of standard games, a lot of players prefer to play them in a place like Kongregate where more hard-core web gamers are. We have a robust gamer community on Kongregate.

How do Kongregate’s stats compare to those of game developers on social networks?

Kongregate currently has about 3.2 million monthly uniques, and the average player plays 42 games per month. In Facebook terms, we have about 250,000 daily active users.

So what is Kongregate’s model for sharing revenue with developers? How will being on social networks affect developers’ ability to make money?

Most of the games that developers upload to our site are simple Flash games that are already done, and we make available a simple API for leaderboards and achievements, and build community around their games. From there, we offer developers a 25% to 50% revenue share on ad revenue generated by their games.

However, we’re working on two intiatives to increase and expand our monetization. First, we’re building up a direct sales team that will allow us to generate higher ad revenue. Second, we’re launching a microtransaction wallet system that developers can use to enable transactions within their games.

Thanks Jim. Finally, is Kongregate developing games or acquiring game developers right now?

We are funding the development of some games to make sure our wallet system has a high quality launch. However, we’re not looking to acquire developers. Kongregate is more of a place for indie games.