Inside Social Games

Not to long ago, we took a look at the latest social gaming startup, Gravity Bear. Founded by Flagship Studios and Blizzard Entertainment veteran Phil Shenk, he and his team of six are looking to create social games to compete with market leaders like Zynga, Playfish, and Playdom. And, the company recently released a small teaser preview of its first Facebook game, Battle Punks.

This game actually looks very, very cool. Slated to enter open beta sometime before the close of the year, Battle Punks will contain 3D combat-based game play, customizable avatars, and a beautiful fantasy environment.

Players will begin by creating a personalized avatar and, by the looks of things, enter into fights with other users in order to become the best fighter around. As they play, they are capable of winning weapons, spells, treasure, and, of course, experience. Furthermore, characters will need to carefully select items from their inventory, “Battle Items,” in order to grant them the best strategic advantage they can garner before each bout.

The new application will also launch with the new analytics system from its partner SQLstream. This way, the developer will be able to more closely monitor what users are doing and fine-tune game features.

“Our goal with Battle Punks is to help people have fun and deeply memorable experiences with their friends through games,” says Shenk, “This is the primary mission of Gravity Bear, so our first title is designed from the ground up to be a shining example of that philosophy of community and fun. We can’t wait to build a new community of people who simply love games as much as we do.”