Inside Social Games

This is a guest post by Christopher Mack.

Until recently, Electronic Arts was the largest developer and publisher of video games in the world. But despite the company’s staggering profits, one of their top development executives, Neil Young, recently made the decision to leave his 11 year home to lead development of mobile games for the iPhone platform with new startup Ngmoco.

With estimated iPhone sales by 2009 at around 45 million, it is no wonder that game developers see potential to create games for the platform. From a design standpoint, the capabilities of the iPhone are up there with Nintendo’s Wii and DS systems. The built in accelerometer allows for the orientation of the iPhone to be translated into game commands (allowing for innovative and intuitive game play), and the built in messaging, email, and global positioning adds further possibilities to compete, play, and socialize with not only real world friends, but people from all over the world.

Now with 3G, the iPhone is even more usable than before with faster network access, and the large touch screen provides ample opportunity for creative and intuitive design in small, casual games. However, it is the open internet and connection to real world friends that opens the doors to social gaming opportunities.

Mobile devices including the iPhone are already used in abundance for social communication amongst much of the world’s population. Recent statistics have shown that in the US 63% of people ages 18-27 use mobile text messaging, 31% of people ages 28-39, and 18% of people ages 40-49 - with over 4.7 billion text messages sent on average each month. Clearly, people use the social aspects of mobile devices. In addition, there are over 1 million java game downloads per month on average on mobile devices. There is clearly potential for a new class fo social gaming applications to emerge on the iPhone.

The iPhone’s phenomenal internet capabilities make it much better than that of other mobile devices for social/online game development.  The iPhone has the capability to locate users using GSP or cell tower triangulation, and connects to the internet both on cellular and Wi-Fi networks. With the release of the iPhone 3G, users can access GSM, EDGE, UMTS, and HSDPA networks. Just like a laptop with Wi-Fi capabilities, the iPhone will ask if you wish to connect to a network and for a password. When Wi-Fi is active, the iPhone will automatically switch to any other nearby, previously approved, networks.

And according to Google, the iPhone generates 50 times more search requests than any other mobile handset. Deutsche Telekom states that the average internet usage of an iPhone customer is over 100MBytes (30 times that of the average contract-based consumer)! This includes everything from email, chat, iTunes, YouTube, mySpace, Facebook, and virtually ever other social network people use. Clearly, the iPhone is ready for prime-time web applications.

Perhaps the biggest change in the business model for iPhone developers is the new gatekeeper: Apple. Traditionally, mobile games are payed for when they are downloaded. With the iPhone, Apple controls all application downloads through the App Store. Whether or not developers feel too much risk in developing in such a world remains to be seen. In the past, anything but a pay-per-download model for games on mobile devices has struggled - subscription based payments have only ever had limited success.

All the tools needed for the construction of great social games are already built into the iPhone, and the iPhone has already been adopted by the millions of consumers. Now it falls to the developers to build the next generation of games for a new platform. Who will becme the leader in mobile social games on iPhone?

A day after Scrabulous developers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla took the game offline in the US and Canada, the team of Indian brothers has relaunched the game with a new name and board design: Wordscraper. Wordscraper uses the same UI as the old Scrabulous and is played essentially the same way Scrabble is played, but with different “bonus tiles” and board dimensions.

Meanwhile, the official version of Facebook Scrabble, developed by EA under license from Hasbro, has experienced continued growth in the first day since Scrabble’s disappearance: usage has grown to nearly 60,000 daily active users. At its peak, Scrabulous drew over 700,000 daily active users.

We’ll track the growth of both games to see whether users will migrate to Wordscraper or the official version of Scrabble.

Acid-trip inspired physics lesson or nightmarish balloon fantasy world? I can’t decide.

The Blobs Game inside Facebook is an arcade Flash game where you launch a round little ball towards other brightly colored balls before they multiply and rise to the top. You must effectively keep their populations in check without being able to ever effectively kill all the blobs. It’s like how hunters in New Jersey used to come out and thin the numbers of deer so they wouldn’t take over Jersey’s easily stormed state Senate.

The major problem is that this game never ends. Keep launching your little ball of destruction at the rising collections of balls and they’ll still multiply. Ultimately, you will lose. The blobs will win. How long this will take depends on how many drugs you’re taking/how long it takes you to become bored and stop. The answer to the latter question for me was five minutes

There’s a leaderboard and a way to invite your friends. There are also better arcade games out there with better animation and have less irritating sound tracks (think weird trance music). But if you feel like playing something weird and inescapable, give it a try.

Gameplay: 4

Development: 3

Trippiness: 9

This morning, Vindu Goel at the NYT reported that Scrabulous, the popular Facebook game and Scrabble clone, had been shut down. Just last week, Hasbro, owner of Scrabble IP in North America, filed a DMCA claim against the makers of the game.

However, it appears that the take-down was not Facebook’s doing. Instead, it was a voluntary move by the Agarwalla Brothers (see interview here) while they sort out their legal matters in North America. Scrabulous remains accessible elsewhere in the world.

> Read more at Inside Facebook

One of the interesting things about social network application development is that many developers attempt to solve their retention problems by adding game-like elements (points, achievements, leader boards). It’s a great way to start thinking, but most web app developers underestimate the challenge of designing balanced game dynamics that both suck new players in and keep the top players coming back for more.

As Lightspeed’s Jeremy Liew notes,

Most MMOGs have built an end-game to keep their best players engaged after they have topped out on the standard game. This end-game often relies on different game dynamics to the original game. I have seen few social games build such an end-game yet, although this is actually much easier to do for a web based games since it doesn’t actually have to be built until you have end-stage players.

Jeremy points to an excellent post by Cameron Sorden at Massively who points out some suggestions that all game developers should consider for keeping top players engaged:

• Player vs player combat
• Raiding
• Special achievements/advancements
• Collecting special items
• Anti-grief patrol (protecting newbies from more experienced ones)
• Role-playing
• Cultivating trade skills
• Playing the market

Game designers invest months upon months doing this right in MMOs. Do you see any examples of games on Facebook doing this well?

I’m really bad at bowling. So it is with a certain level of chagrin that I take a look at Bowling Buddies on Facebook.

Developer Playfish has created a pretty solid Flash bowling game here, but I’m not very good at it. You control the ball by manipulating your mouse and releasing it at the appropriate time. You can also spin the ball after you release by using your mouse, but even with this advantage, I’m still not very good.

But I’m a bit hooked. The Flash graphics are great, the difficulty is believable and the depth is pretty substantial.

The more you play, the more achievements you unlock. There are some for skills, and there are some for how many times you play, and there are some for how many people you invite. You can customize your bowler, and this little sprite will cheer or groan depending on you do. In order to get new outfits to dress your character, you need to invite more of your friends.

Though the “challenge” feature is just launched, you get a sense that there is a large community here by clicking on the “world” feature (and subsequently letting a little groan yourself as you are nowhere near as good as these people).

The game has some nice innovations over typical Flash animation as well. You can play 2-D or 3-D version and manipulate the graphic quality depending on how good a computer you are running. Touches like this make Bowling Buddies a universal winner.

Gameplay: 7
Development: 8
My average score: 89

In a move that many have been expecting for a long time, Hasbro, owners of the popular Scrabble game for the past 60 years, has filed a lawsuit against the developers of the popular Facebook application Scrabulous. Scrabulous, which sports over 500,000 daily active users, is one of the most popular applications on Facebook, and was an early favorite amongst many employees at Facebook itself. Now, it’s the subject of a suit in US District Court.

According to Brad Stone at the New York Times,

“Hasbro has an obligation to act appropriately against infringement of our intellectual properties,” said Barry Nagler, Hasbro’s general counsel, in a statement. “We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our Scrabble intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the Scrabble brand.”

“Hasbro has always had the same two priorities,” said Mark Blecher, general manager for Hasbro Digital Media, in an interview this morning. “One is to offer a great playing authentic game for fans and the second is to protect our intellectual property. This was theft of I.P., plain and simple.”

Apparently, Hasbro and Scrabble licensee EA briefly spoke with the Agarwalla Brothers about working together, but then decided to file a motion to shut Scrabulous instead. EA recently launched an officially sanctioned version of Scrabble on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.

It’s a shame that Pogo.com is a bit late to the game with their latest word-scramble application, because it’s a great little app. Word Whomp Dash demands you power a little gopher powered car. With what power you ask? How about the power of words. That do anything for you? We’re talking vocabulary, Holmes.

In simpler terms, you need to make as many words as possible given the letters listed before time runs out. Each scrambled word you find gives gas to power your little gopher-mobile. You can rearrange the letters as many times as you’d like and even pass on a set of letters and get some new ones, though you’ll lose time. The more words you make, the faster and further your gopher will go, the more experience and points you’ll get, and the more time you’ll be awarded.

By gaining more experience and inviting more friends you’ll be able to unlock additional cool vehicles for your little gopher. The animations that surround the game are detailed, original, and adorable. The game provides a different package for the typical scramble game, and has plenty of challenge/leader/invite features to keep players connected. The experience element will hopefully lead to even more bonus features for dedicated fans, and if this game takes off, will likely lead to a dedicated fan base.

I only worry that this game is late to the game against equally well-developed applications. If you like this particular gopher-flavored word scramble game, this might be your cup of tea.

Gameplay: 7

Developers: 8

Difficulty: 7

Blackjack Attack, despite the name reminding me of a 80s hip hop group, is a step-up from the more popular Blackjack application on Facebook. Mytopia is creating a line of games that have interconnected economies and interfaces, and better visuals help. But really it’s just a nice new take on a game that’s been done before.

The Flash animation seems to be higher end than most other gambling apps, but the network is what really stands out. Mytopia is trying to create a gaming empire. When you install any app, you get 1000 game tokens up front that can be used in any of the games.

However, it’s just one of the two economies in the system. The other is “gold” - which hasn’t been launched yet. You’ll be able to win prizes in addition to leveling up your skills by playing various games, changing your ranks and title. We’ve seen this before, but not so well integrated.

However, the games aren’t perfect of course. The load time is long, and the Blackjack table can only fit four people. Some basic moves in Blackjack are missing as well. Mytopia should really fix some of these details. (They should also find a way to keep the apps in one window - most users don’t like pop-ups and many people will have pop-up blockers to prevent the game window from opening.)

Developers should watch this application with interest because Mytopia combines partner offer pages, invites, leaderboards, and log-in rewards to make it very easy for players to get tokens and even easier to switch applications. We’ll see if they can get this empire off the ground and truly unfurl all the plans they seem to be working on.

Gameplay: 5

Development: 8 (for now)

Potential for Mytopia: 9

led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Institutional Venture Partners, and includes funding from previous investors Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group and Avalon Ventures.

As part of the investment, Bing Gordon, who recently left EA for KP, will take an active director role in building the company. Gordon, who was the co-founder and former chief creative officer of Electronic Arts, joins LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman, Brad Feld of Foundry Group, and CEO Mark Pincus on the board.

In addition Zynga is announcing the acquisition of Facebook application YoVille, which it claims is the “largest virtual world game” on social networks. YoVille’s rapid growth to 150,000 daily active users has caught the attention of many Facebook application developers recently, and it joins a number of other top (and formerly independent) Facebook game developers that have joined the Zynga fold.

What are Zynga’s plans for its $39 million war chest? “We are doubling down on social gaming, raising the production quality and scaling the infrastructure,” says Pincus. Apparently, Zynga plans to spend a lot more than most small developers have spent creating the first generation of social games.

For more, see Inside Facebook.