Digital Chocolate’s Galaxy Life Debuts on This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Games by DAU

Zynga games are showing gains across the board on this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by daily active users, with CastleVille, Words With Friends, and Adventure World occupying the top three spots.

At number 10 is Digital Chocolate’s new game, Galaxy Life, which runs both on Facebook and on the developer’s own website. It’s a science fiction-themed strategy combat game where players build up military units to attack other space colonies in a mix of player versus player and player versus environment gameplay. The open web version of the game allows players to remain anonymous in-game, which might have an impact on the PvP aspect.

Top Gainers This Week – Games

Name DAU Gain Gain,%
1.  CastleVille 8,500,000 +400,000 +5%
2.  Words With Friends 5,900,000 +400,000 +7%
3.  Adventure World – An Indiana Jones Game 1,700,000 +200,000 +13%
4.  Diamond Dash 2,800,000 +200,000 +8%
5.  Tetris Battle 2,600,000 +200,000 +8%
6.  FarmVille 7,400,000 +100,000 +1%
7.  Pioneer Trail 1,800,000 +100,000 +6%
8.  المزرعة السعيدة 1,100,000 +100,000 +10%
9.  Games on Mindjolt 800,000 +70,000 +10%
10.  Galaxy Life 150,000 +60,000 +67%
11.  Social Empires 880,000 +60,000 +7%
12.  Triviador Mundo 60,000 +60,000 +0.0%
13.  Men vs Women 110,000 +50,000 +83%
14.  Okey 470,000 +50,000 +12%
15.  Bayou Blast 80,000 +40,000 +100%
16.  Addicting Games 120,000 +30,000 +33%
17.  Bubble Atlantis 230,000 +30,000 +15%
18.  Coco Girl 500,000 +30,000 +6%
19.  JackpotJoy Slot Machines 370,000 +30,000 +9%
20.  Mall World 490,000 +30,000 +7%

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top emerging apps on Friday.

Read our reviews of…

Meteor Games Sunsets Neopets: Treasure Keepers, Allegedly Cuts Staff

Meteor Games is taking Neopets: Treasure Keepers offline today, according to a post to the game’s Wall by the developer. Anonymous sources also tell Inside Social Games that 90% of staff has been laid off after failure to raise funding or find a buyer.

Neopets: Treasure Keepers was launched on Facebook in August, where it peaked at just over 300,000 monthly active users and 35,000 daily active users in September before going into decline. As of today, it’s Meteor Games’ fifth-largest title after Ranch Town, the Turkish version of Island Paradise published by Peak Games, Serf Wars, and the original Island Paradise. The developer enjoys 913,209 MAU and 171,003 DAU across all its apps on Facebook.

Official representatives for Meteor Games could not be reached for comment as of press time. Inside Social Games can confirm that CEO Zac Brandenberg left the developer in November. There is no indication at this time that any of the developer’s other games will be taken offline. Meteor Games was co-founded in 2007 by original Neopets creators Adam Powell and Donna Williams.

Thanks to all the tipsters that sent this in.

Men vs. Women for Facebook Puts a Militaristic Spin on the Battle of the Sexes

Social Empires developer Social Point has rolled out its latest Facebook release, Men vs. Women. This strategy title pits members of the opposite sex against one another in a literal war to determine who will rule the world. It launched in late November.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Men vs. Women currently has 520,000 monthly active users and 110,000 daily active users.

Men vs. Women is a military strategy title inspired by Zynga’s Empires & Allies. It’s set in the future, where women (or men, if you decide to play as a woman) have taken over the Earth and forced men into slavery. A group of men decide to fight back to reclaim the planet, and do so by building bases, raising an army, and, ultimately, destroying women (or vice versa). It’s an out of the ordinary concept, for sure, but definitely takes a turn for the weird when an army of men — however cartoon-like — are depicted shooting an army of women.

In the game, players initially build their own military base, complete with training centers for troops, houses for workers, and buildings that produce offensive weapons such as tanks and attack helicopters. They’re also able to chop down trees, mine, and refine oil into fuel, all materials that are needed to build more of their war machine. Performing actions requires energy, which recharges over time or through micro-transactions, but rewards players with gold and experience points. When players accumulate enough experience points, they level up and have access to more items and deco to purchase, while also receiving the premium currency, dollars, and energy refills.

Once they’ve purchased/trained some troops and vehicles, they can engage in simple real-time strategy style combat by selecting their units and clicking on enemy troops/vehicles to attack. Players can also build defensive measures to help fend off attackers, even when they’re away from the game. After they reach a certain level, players can go on quests and seek out other players to do battle with.

Social features span the usual array of adding friends, sending/receiving gifts, and bragging about accomplishments via viral channels. Players can also visit their friends and collect bonuses once per day.

Social Point is monetizing Men vs. Women through the use of Facebook Credits to purchase additional premium currency, as well as premium some premium buildings, vehicles, units, and deco items.

You can follow Men vs. Women’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Watch Sessions from Facebook’s First Ever Games Hack

Facebook’s first social games hack, aimed at educating developers on Open Graph integrations, ended with prizes for GameHouse, Tien Len, GameFace.me, and Attributor.

GameHouse — already established on Facebook with the Uno franchise and a deep bench of casual game classics — built a bubble shooter with a competitive multiplayer mode that publishes results via Open Graph. Thus far, we’ve only really seen an integration like this in Zynga’s Words With Friends for Facebook, where individual moves and scores are published with screen captures of the game board. Vietnamese card game developer Tien Len added Achievements to their HTML5-based game at the event — unfortunately, we were unable to view the results for ourselves as the game is compatible only with Google Chrome browsers. GameFace.me added to their game a customization option that use friends’ profile pictures and also created game stories based on that activity to share in News Feed. Attributor, which isn’t actually a social game developer, added an Open Graph feature that publishes stories whenever users add books to their virtual bookshelf.

The lecture portion of the evening contained segments on best practices for building Social Games on Facebook, Scores and Achievements, Open Graph, Game scenarios for Open Graph and the Facebook mobile platform. Some of the information was probably already known to the audience, which was made up of devs from experienced Facebook game developers like 6waves Lolapps, Crowdstar, EA and EA PopCap, GSN, iWin, Kixeye, Nexon, Disney Playdom, Ubisoft, wooga, and Zynga. A few details may lead to new social game features, however, as these developers experiment with exposing different player activity types via Open Graph — such as how much users spend on specific items, which we could imagine seeing in a game that uses a player-driven auction house for virtual items.

Transparency is an issue game platform developers struggle with in closed systems like Facebook, Steam, or any of the major video game consoles. In cases where a platform developer hasn’t made it easy for developers to understand and integrate key platform features (e.g. Nintendo when the Wii console was first released), there tend to be a lot of substandard games flooding the platform in its early days. Over time, as developers become more familiar with the features, the games improve — by then, however, the target audience may have lost interest both in the games and in the platform itself.

Facebook initially encountered this problem by at first allowing game developers a great deal of freedom, and then cutting back on that when the nature of social game viral mechanics began to damage the broader Facebook user experience. This year, Facebook has taken great pains to restore some of the virality and open up lines of communication between itself and game developers through the Facebook+Games Page, Operation Developer Love, and events like the game hack. By the middle of 2012, it’ll be easier to see if these efforts have paid off in the form of a vibrant and well-informed game developer community.

Being Human Game Brings Syfy’s Supernatural Drama to Facebook

Being Human is based on the Syfy TV series of the same name, which was itself based on a BBC program. The game follows the plot of the series, which revolves around a vampire, werewolf, and ghost who all share a house and must do their best to deal with the conditions and fit in with society. Launched in beta in early November, the game is the product of London-based Utinni Games and Zodiak Active.

Clarification: This game is not licensed or operated by SyFy.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Being Human currently has 60,000 monthly active users and 10,000 daily active users.

In Being Human, players take on the roles of the series stars — a vampire, werewolf, and ghost — who go on missions in order to improve their aura and earn money to spend on household decor and clothing. The game is divided into two portions, the world and home. While out in the world, players must use the characters’ unique abilities to fight other supernatural beings, which increases the player’s reputation meter. There is also a humanity meter, which fills as players perform actions such as helping humans. When both meters are full, the player goes up a level and unlocks more missions, items, and so on. The gameplay out in the world relies heavily on exploration, with players spending energy points each time they wish to interact with anything. Energy replenishes over time, but can be immediately refilled by players if they purchase boosts.

Energy also refills faster as players interact with the home portion of the game. As they purchase new furnishings for their home, a Home Score meter fills. The more full it is, the faster their energy replenishes. In addition to improving their homes, players can purchase new clothing and styles for their characters, as well as choose names for them. The game also offers a means to expand the size of the player’s home.

Social features come in the form of bragging about accomplishments via viral channels, visiting friends’ homes, and adding friends to the game. By visiting their friends, players can earn energy boosts. They also earn one additional energy boost per day per friend they have playing.

Being Human is monetized using Facebook Credits in exchange for many of the game’s household deco items, clothing, and appearance improvements. Some items can be purchased with the soft cash currency, which can also be had in exchange for Credits.

Utinni Games has recently expanded the game with additional “episodes” and expects to do so on a regular basis. The developer is also taking a very active approach to the game’s Wall, soliciting feedback on features that should be included in future updates from its community.

You can follow Being Human’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Words With Friends Creeping up on CastleVille in This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Games by MAU

Words With Friends continues to work its way toward the top of the heap while CastleVille keeps a strong lead in this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by monthly active users.

Words With Friends for Facebook launched in August with a large userbase already available to it via the game’s fan Page. Once live, the app factored in Facebook Connect logins from from mobile players on Android and iOS where the game is available as a one-time download or as an ad-supported free version. Since October, it’s seems as though the app is also reflecting users accessing the game through Facebook’s mobile platform. Note that the Facebook version is also ad-supported with the option to play the game ad-free by paying Facebook Credits or by inviting a certain number of friends, which could explain the steady growth:

Top Gainers This Week – Games

Name MAU Gain Gain,%
1.  CastleVille 32,600,000 +7,200,000 +28%
2.  Words With Friends 13,000,000 +600,000 +5%
3.  Bubble Witch Saga 9,600,000 +400,000 +4%
4.  FarmVille 31,500,000 +400,000 +2%
5.  Gem Rush 910,000 +400,000 +78%
6.  Tetris Battle 8,300,000 +300,000 +5%
7.  Bayou Blast 290,000 +220,000 +314%
8.  Adventure World – An Indiana Jones Game 8,800,000 +200,000 +2%
9.  Bejeweled Blitz 8,700,000 +200,000 +2%
10.  Diamond Dash 11,500,000 +200,000 +2%
11.  Zoo World 1,900,000 +200,000 +12%
12.  Men vs Women 490,000 +180,000 +58%
13.  Slots Farm – Slot Machines 800,000 +120,000 +18%
14.  Best Casino – Free Slots, Bingo, Poker & Blackjack 1,500,000 +100,000 +7%
15.  Bizim Çiftlik 1,100,000 +100,000 +10%
16.  Bubble Atlantis 1,300,000 +100,000 +8%
17.  Bubble Saga 6,400,000 +100,000 +2%
18.  Café World 6,700,000 +100,000 +2%
19.  Chef Quest 170,000 +100,000 +240%
20.  Magic Land 2,200,000 +100,000 +5%

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top emerging apps on Friday.

Read our reviews of…

This Week’s Headlines From Across Inside Network

A roundup of all the news Inside Network brought you between December 5th and 11th.

Inside Mobile Apps

Tracking the convergence of mobile apps, social platforms and virtual goods. 

Monday, December 5th

Tuesday, December 6th

Wednesday, December 7th

Thursday, December 8th

Friday, December 9th

Saturday, December 10th

Inside Social Games

Covering all the latest developments at the intersection of games and social platforms.

Monday, December 5th

Tuesday, December 6th

Wednesday, December 7th

Thursday, December 8th

Friday, December 9th

Inside Facebook

Tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.

Monday, December 5th

Tuesday, December 6th

Wednesday, December 7th

Thursday, December 8th

Friday, December 9th

New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: King.com, Natural Motion, Deep Fried and More

The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms.

Here are this week’s highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at King.comDeep Fried Gaming50 CubesBLiNQ MediaJibJab Media Inc.Acquinity InteractiveNatural Motion Games24MAS Group and W3i.

Listings on the Inside Network Job Board are distributed to readers of Inside Social Games, Inside Facebook and Inside Mobile Apps through regular posts and widgets on the sites. Your open positions are being seen by the leading developers, product managers, marketers, designers, and executives in the Facebook Platform and social gaming industry today.

Social Gaming News Roundup: Playfirst, Cie Games and Google Chrome

Nexon Sets IPO Price at $1.2 Billion - Reuters is reporting that Nexon has reduced the price of its upcoming IPO to $1.2 billion dollars (91 billion Yen). Earlier this month Nexon revealed it would be aiming to raise $1.3 billion. Even with the drop in valuation, it will be the biggest Japanese IPO of the year.

GREE Teases First Games for New Social Mobile Platform – GREE has revealed more details about the initial lineup of games it will be offering on its upcoming mobile social network. According to a new Japanese GREE portal site, Square Enix, Capcom, Sega, Namco Bandai and Taito will all have games on the new platform.

Playfirst Lays off Employees – Diner Dash publisher Playfirst has laid off an unspecified number of employees according to Gamasutra. It’s unknown at this time how many employees were affected by the layoffs.

Tour Vostu’s Argentina Office - Business Insider has put up a virtual tour of Vostu’s Argentinian offices. Vostu now employs 580 people between its three offices in Beunos Aires, Sao Paulo and New York City. The company’s most popular Facebook game is Megacity, which has 1 million MAU and 130,000 DAU according to AppData.

We R Interactive Gets EU Grant - We R Interactive, the London-based social games publisher behind first person soccer social game I Am Player, has landed a €150,000 Euro ($200,000 USD) grant from the EU’s MEDIA program to create a new music based social game called I AM STAR.

PopCap Donates Studio Tour for Charity – At the annual Child’s Play Charity Dinner and Auction in Bellvue, Seattle-based PopCap games auctioned off a private tour of its studio, which sold for $5,000 after a round of intense bidding. Overall the evening raised more than $350,000 for the charity, which donates money and toys to hospitals all over the world.

Cie Games Makes Forbes’ Most Promising Companies List - Car Town developer Cie Games has been named to Forbes’ List of America’s Most Promising Companies. Cie was the only game developer to make the list and was ranked 47 out of 100 on the list of privately held companies.

Shanda’s Earnings Up in Q3, Online Division Strong - Chinese gaming company Shanda Interactive Entertainment Media has announced its Q3 earnings. Overall the company saw revenues of $279 million, up 28 percent year-over-year. The company’s online revenues were $54.1 million dollars, a 35 percent increase year-over-year. In 2010 Shanda bought San Francisco based Mochi Media, a company that provides advertising and analytics services to social game developers.

Nanigans Opens San Francisco Office - Facebook advertising company Nanigans is expanding with a new San Francisco office. The move puts the company, which uses a proprietary platform to manage large scale Facebook ad campaigns, much closer to both its client base and to Facebook’s headquarters.

Google Launches Native Client for Chrome Apps – VentureBeat is reporting that Google has created a native client for Chrome apps that allows games running in the browser to access a computer’s 3D graphics hardware, which will allow for console-quality graphics in its Chrome browser games. Square Enix has created a Chrome version of its console game Mini Ninjas using the new client.

DeNA’s Baseball Team is Official – DeNA’s baseball team has an official name and logo now. The team will be called the Yokohama DeNA Baystars according to Andriasang. DeNA originally wanted the team to carry the name of its Mobage network.

[Launch] Digital Chocolate Debuts Galaxy Life – Zombie Lane developer Digital Chocolate has released its latest social game, Galaxy Life. The sci-fi strategy game is available on both Facebook and Digital Chocolate’s website.

[Launch] Richard Garriott Collaborates on Facebook Game – Austin based developer Portalarium has almost finished its first social game, Ultimate Collector: Garage Sale. Developed with the assistance of games industry veteran Richard Garriott (Ultima Online, Tabula Rasa), the game will be going into closed beta before the end of the year.

Nexon Christens Wonder Cruise on Facebook

Wonder Cruise is the latest social gaming offering from Nexon on Facebook. The title is currently in open beta, having gone live in “pre-beta” form in August of this year.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Wonder Cruise currently has 8,000 monthly active users and 2,000 daily active users.

Similar to Perfect World’s ailing Perfect Getaway, Wonder Cruise, players are in charge of operating a luxury cruise ship and tending to the needs of their passengers. They do this by stocking up on supplies, building attractions, and directing their passengers to them. These, in turn, pay out coins, the game’s soft currency. Supplies for the attractions become depleted and must be re-stocked. If players run out of supplies, more can be purchased. They’re also able to take their ships to new ports of call, and earn coins and experience for doing so.

The deck of the cruise ship serves as the building platform for various attractions, including food vendors, swimming pools, basketball courts, and games of chance. There are also “Wonders,” fanciful attractions such as butterfly gardens and animal habitats that can be won during gameplay or purchased using Facebook Credits. The more elaborate the attraction, the more it costs, but also the more it pays out in terms of coins. Players are also able to buy new deco items to enhance the appearance of their ships.

Helping out passengers with their needs rewards players with experience points. As they gain more, they level up and have access to more attractions and decoration items. Actions require energy, which replenishes over time or can be purchased. In addition to pointing them towards attractions, players can help their passengers in need of socializing and partying, and will see when they have passengers who’re looking to find a type of attraction they don’t yet have on their ship.

Wonder Cruise includes a standard set of social features, such as posting of accomplishments on their Walls, asking for help on the friends’ Walls, sending/receiving gifts, and adding friends in the game in order to visit their ships for bonuses.

Nexon is monetizing Wonder Cruise by offering energy, supplies, and coins in exchange for Facebook Credits. Players can also spend Credits on premium attractions, decoration items, and Wonders.

Given the game’s similarities to Perfect Getaway and Ravenwood Fair, it’ll be interesting to see if Nexon makes use of any branding or art design to make Wonder Cruise unique. So far, the South Korean MMO developer has developed or co-developed three games for Facebook and invested in two established social game developers.

You can follow Wonder Cruise’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Inside Social Games Sponsors
6waves Addmired Frima maudau Kontagent TinyCo Peak Games
Featured Company
Jobs of the Day

GOOD/Corps
Los Angeles, CA

Creative Circle
Los Angeles, CA

MTV K
New York, NY

More Research & Information from Inside Facebook

Sign up for free email updates beyond today's news.

 

WebMediaBrands
Mediabistro | All Creative World | Inside Network
Jobs | Education | Research | Events | News
Advertise | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Copyright 2012 WebMediaBrands Inc. All rights reserved.