It looks like Zynga and the CityVille team have received a New Year's gift now, too. (In fact, CityVille doesn't seem to need an occasion anymore.) TechCrunch reports that CityVille has become the biggest social game to ever grace Facebook, breaking FarmVille's record-setting peak of nearly 83.8 million monthly players in March 2010 with 84.2 million monthly players. Zynga's most recent social-gaming juggernaut has been shattering records since it launched early in Dec. 2010, but this is a first for both CityVille and the Facebook game genre altogether.
We've all said that the growth has to plateau at some point, but continues surging upward, blowing away our expectations and doubts without much more than a few stutters, according to a chart provided by Inside Social Games (ISG). It's ISG that also predicts CityVille to reach 125 million players at some point in 2011. Well, if the game keeps soaring at this rate of almost two million new monthly players daily, it's only a matter of time before CityVille at least reaches 100 million. Either way, CityVille is already the most popular social game to date in the genre's infantile lifespan. That is until Zynga launches something else, of course.
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn FacebookGames. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn FacebookGames. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Thứ Năm, 12 tháng 1, 2012
Top 25 Facebook Games - January 2011
Inside Social Games has released the top 25 Facebook games for January and -- to no surprise -- Zynga's new darling CityVille has gone straight to the top of the charts, overtaking FarmVille, which until recently, seemed darn near impossible. The real question is how long CityVille will stay at the top or if this number is inflated due to extra promotion and the 'new'ness of it all.
Other newcomers to January's Top 25 list include PopCap's Zuma Blitz, which is a timed version of the classic PC game,and CrowdStar's uber girly game, It Girl, which grew 1.2 million last month.
top 25 facebook games 2011
A few other things to point out in this list:
- CityVille gained 80 million users in one month. Wow. It's surprising to see how a city-building game, which isn't drastically different from the many other city-building games out there, gained that much traction. It's a true testament to the power of Zynga's cross-promotion (and it also might be a sign that Zynga's learning how to make more compelling games).;
- FarmVille has been losing players for monthy (roughly 30 million so far), but in December, managed to gain 4 million players One would assume that's due to a combination of all of the special events in the game for the holiday season, the return of game notifications on Facebook and a cross-promotional synergy among all of Zynga's games, many of which were also up last month (with exception of Mafia Wars).
Other newcomers to January's Top 25 list include PopCap's Zuma Blitz, which is a timed version of the classic PC game,and CrowdStar's uber girly game, It Girl, which grew 1.2 million last month.
top 25 facebook games 2011
A few other things to point out in this list:
- CityVille gained 80 million users in one month. Wow. It's surprising to see how a city-building game, which isn't drastically different from the many other city-building games out there, gained that much traction. It's a true testament to the power of Zynga's cross-promotion (and it also might be a sign that Zynga's learning how to make more compelling games).;
- FarmVille has been losing players for monthy (roughly 30 million so far), but in December, managed to gain 4 million players One would assume that's due to a combination of all of the special events in the game for the holiday season, the return of game notifications on Facebook and a cross-promotional synergy among all of Zynga's games, many of which were also up last month (with exception of Mafia Wars).
Little War on Facebook: Stone Age game at a Stone Age pace
Little War on Facebook
If there is one niche that Facebook games have yet to hit, it might very well be the Stone Age. Thanks to Chinese social game developer Five Minutes, that's no longer an issue with Little War. Set in prehistoric times, Little War puts you in the role of chieftain, overseeing a fledgling tribe as they kill, expand and cultivate their way to caveman supremacy. Drawing obvious similarities from established warfare and city-building games like My Empire, Little War brings a lot to the table in presentation as one the most visually appealing Facebook games out there. Unfortunately, the game moves at a fossilized snail's pace, forcing players to wait for sometimes days before seeing the fleeting moments of combat.
Find more detailed impressions of Little War after the break.
Little War Tirbe
Your nascent tribe begins already facing the stony tips of an opposing tribe's spears, which serves as the training ground for you, the only person this small community has to look up to. While that sure sounds pretty intense, it quickly boils down to "harvest this" and "train this." Worse off, these processes will take hours outside of the tutorial, which grants you with Hourglasses to instantly finish training cycles and push the invaders back with your own pointy weapons.
Unlike most games that operate in coins, Little War is all about Food, which is at least historically accurate to a point. Everything from building dwellings and warrior training grounds to decorations costs Food. Harvesting crops, completing quests, killing roaming monsters and leveling are all sources of Food. Of course, harvesting is the most readily available and reliable source of food, but also the least entertaining. There is also your population cap to worry about, which fills up with the more soldiers you train and increases with the more dwellings you create. Admittedly, it has the potential to become an interesting balance considering it all draws from a single resource.
Little War Monster Hunt
To mix things up, your tribe can also tap ancient magics to summon more monsters to hunt, increase your tribe's statistics, damage other tribes and more. These are accessed by creating new Wonders, or buildings whose only purpose is to fuel new magic powers. Once built, Wonders can be upgraded using parts collected from defeating monsters, purchasing from the shop, completing quests or even--dare I say--asking friends. Yes, asking and helping friends with requests is a major component to Little War like most social games.
On to what should the most exciting part of Little War: combat. Unfortunately, I've yet to enter a combat experience with another tribe on any scale since the tutorial. And while it hasn't been a terribly long time since then, why should it be? When there are plenty of other games out there that are much more rewarding of building and maintaining a community, combat should be more frequent and far more exciting than it is. When fighting monsters, all that decides the outcome is a small cartoon-style scuffle cloud accompanied by a loading bar. When fighting opposing tribes, scale that same goofy animation to fill the entire screen, add some more oomph to it with more warriors and that's how large scale combat is decided. The only statistic that contributes to your success in combat is Combat Power, which is merely a measure of the amount of warriors you possess in your army. In short, the combat won't exactly have you running back to your computer screen for more like in games such as Mighty Pirates or Monster Galaxy.
Little War Level Up
As mentioned before, getting into combat takes long enough--but so does everything else. Training even the smallest regiment of warrior takes two hours, most of the more meaningful magic powers take almost a day to recharge and harvesting a worthwhile amount of Food takes a full day. You're going to spend a lot of time either staring at timers or setting alarms around events that aren't exactly enthralling. Little War has an incredibly charming art style and smooth presentation, but sadly is sitting on a gold mine of potentially exciting content while emulating elements of other popular social games so well. Just because your game is about the Stone Age doesn't mean it has to move like it.
If there is one niche that Facebook games have yet to hit, it might very well be the Stone Age. Thanks to Chinese social game developer Five Minutes, that's no longer an issue with Little War. Set in prehistoric times, Little War puts you in the role of chieftain, overseeing a fledgling tribe as they kill, expand and cultivate their way to caveman supremacy. Drawing obvious similarities from established warfare and city-building games like My Empire, Little War brings a lot to the table in presentation as one the most visually appealing Facebook games out there. Unfortunately, the game moves at a fossilized snail's pace, forcing players to wait for sometimes days before seeing the fleeting moments of combat.
Find more detailed impressions of Little War after the break.
Little War Tirbe
Your nascent tribe begins already facing the stony tips of an opposing tribe's spears, which serves as the training ground for you, the only person this small community has to look up to. While that sure sounds pretty intense, it quickly boils down to "harvest this" and "train this." Worse off, these processes will take hours outside of the tutorial, which grants you with Hourglasses to instantly finish training cycles and push the invaders back with your own pointy weapons.
Unlike most games that operate in coins, Little War is all about Food, which is at least historically accurate to a point. Everything from building dwellings and warrior training grounds to decorations costs Food. Harvesting crops, completing quests, killing roaming monsters and leveling are all sources of Food. Of course, harvesting is the most readily available and reliable source of food, but also the least entertaining. There is also your population cap to worry about, which fills up with the more soldiers you train and increases with the more dwellings you create. Admittedly, it has the potential to become an interesting balance considering it all draws from a single resource.
Little War Monster Hunt
To mix things up, your tribe can also tap ancient magics to summon more monsters to hunt, increase your tribe's statistics, damage other tribes and more. These are accessed by creating new Wonders, or buildings whose only purpose is to fuel new magic powers. Once built, Wonders can be upgraded using parts collected from defeating monsters, purchasing from the shop, completing quests or even--dare I say--asking friends. Yes, asking and helping friends with requests is a major component to Little War like most social games.
On to what should the most exciting part of Little War: combat. Unfortunately, I've yet to enter a combat experience with another tribe on any scale since the tutorial. And while it hasn't been a terribly long time since then, why should it be? When there are plenty of other games out there that are much more rewarding of building and maintaining a community, combat should be more frequent and far more exciting than it is. When fighting monsters, all that decides the outcome is a small cartoon-style scuffle cloud accompanied by a loading bar. When fighting opposing tribes, scale that same goofy animation to fill the entire screen, add some more oomph to it with more warriors and that's how large scale combat is decided. The only statistic that contributes to your success in combat is Combat Power, which is merely a measure of the amount of warriors you possess in your army. In short, the combat won't exactly have you running back to your computer screen for more like in games such as Mighty Pirates or Monster Galaxy.
Little War Level Up
As mentioned before, getting into combat takes long enough--but so does everything else. Training even the smallest regiment of warrior takes two hours, most of the more meaningful magic powers take almost a day to recharge and harvesting a worthwhile amount of Food takes a full day. You're going to spend a lot of time either staring at timers or setting alarms around events that aren't exactly enthralling. Little War has an incredibly charming art style and smooth presentation, but sadly is sitting on a gold mine of potentially exciting content while emulating elements of other popular social games so well. Just because your game is about the Stone Age doesn't mean it has to move like it.
Trial Madness 2 on Facebook is addictive, antisocial motocross
Trial Madness 2
Alright, so it's not exactly a social game in the traditional sense. But Trial Madness 2 by Spanish developer Social Point is just plain fun. Sure, you can add your friends and compare times with them--not to mention to global leader boards. And of course you can create a custom player profile and avatar that will display your highest score and currency. But none of this is the main draw of Trial Madness 2.
It's the gameplay.
And while gameplay alone doesn't seem to get social games very far these days, Trial Madness 2 certainly brings it in spades. Not to mention plenty of competition. Check behind the break for our detailed impressions of Trial Madness 2.
Trial Madness 2 gameplay
This balance-heavy biking game doesn't exactly advance the sub-genre of casual gaming, but Trial Madness 2 certainly does add some much need polish to it. The gameplay remains the same: simple to understand, nearly impossible to master. Players navigate a motocross bike across both somewhat normal and at times ridiculous terrain using the arrow keys. The "up" and "down" arrow key accelerate and apply the brakes, respectively. The "left" key leans the bike backward and "right" leans it forward. Throw in some horribly uneven courses and you got yourself what should be a headache.
Let's put it this way: you're going to crash. A lot. But reload times are so quick that I find myself almost pressing the "Retry" button via muscle memory. Trial Madness 2 evokes this almost insatiable need to beat the next level while maximizing points. Completing the level in the least amount of time will surely increase your score, throwing in a few skillful back flips or front flips here and there will rack up the points. To do a flip, just hold in either the "left" or "right" key while in midair, but the key to a successful flip is knowing when to stop. This trial-and-error gameplay (hence the name) is admittedly addictive.
Level Complete!
After every successful level, you'll be given the option to brag through a News Feed post, taunting your friends into trying to beat your time. Turning up the scale on the competition is World mode, which displays the top players globally with their highest score and Gold won from tournaments.
An otherwise meaningless statistic, Gold is used to buy into Tournaments, which offer large Gold prizes and bragging rights. As you might have already noticed, most of the game's social elements are pretty nebulous, deceptively simple features. Tournaments and Gold are both those types of features, offering no more incentive to partake than a chance at the glory of having your face attached to one of the highest scores. Throw in a long list of Achievements to obtain for nothing more than, again, glory, and Trial Madness might be one of the most competitive games on Facebook. But with such shallow social features, only you and the other otherwise anonymous bikers will know anything of it.
Alright, so it's not exactly a social game in the traditional sense. But Trial Madness 2 by Spanish developer Social Point is just plain fun. Sure, you can add your friends and compare times with them--not to mention to global leader boards. And of course you can create a custom player profile and avatar that will display your highest score and currency. But none of this is the main draw of Trial Madness 2.
It's the gameplay.
And while gameplay alone doesn't seem to get social games very far these days, Trial Madness 2 certainly brings it in spades. Not to mention plenty of competition. Check behind the break for our detailed impressions of Trial Madness 2.
Trial Madness 2 gameplay
This balance-heavy biking game doesn't exactly advance the sub-genre of casual gaming, but Trial Madness 2 certainly does add some much need polish to it. The gameplay remains the same: simple to understand, nearly impossible to master. Players navigate a motocross bike across both somewhat normal and at times ridiculous terrain using the arrow keys. The "up" and "down" arrow key accelerate and apply the brakes, respectively. The "left" key leans the bike backward and "right" leans it forward. Throw in some horribly uneven courses and you got yourself what should be a headache.
Let's put it this way: you're going to crash. A lot. But reload times are so quick that I find myself almost pressing the "Retry" button via muscle memory. Trial Madness 2 evokes this almost insatiable need to beat the next level while maximizing points. Completing the level in the least amount of time will surely increase your score, throwing in a few skillful back flips or front flips here and there will rack up the points. To do a flip, just hold in either the "left" or "right" key while in midair, but the key to a successful flip is knowing when to stop. This trial-and-error gameplay (hence the name) is admittedly addictive.
Level Complete!
After every successful level, you'll be given the option to brag through a News Feed post, taunting your friends into trying to beat your time. Turning up the scale on the competition is World mode, which displays the top players globally with their highest score and Gold won from tournaments.
An otherwise meaningless statistic, Gold is used to buy into Tournaments, which offer large Gold prizes and bragging rights. As you might have already noticed, most of the game's social elements are pretty nebulous, deceptively simple features. Tournaments and Gold are both those types of features, offering no more incentive to partake than a chance at the glory of having your face attached to one of the highest scores. Throw in a long list of Achievements to obtain for nothing more than, again, glory, and Trial Madness might be one of the most competitive games on Facebook. But with such shallow social features, only you and the other otherwise anonymous bikers will know anything of it.
Santa Claw: Use Facebook Connect to play a claw machine from home
Well, at this point it's more like, "Wait in line to play a real claw machine from home," but it's awesome nonetheless. Mashable reports that Real Art Design, a Chicago-based design firm, have created a gigantic claw machine using one ton of steel, 700 feet and wire and 1.5 wheelchairs to be played with solely online. That's right, just log in using your Facebook account, Twitter handle or e-mail address and... wait for a really long time to play. As you can imagine, word of this intriguing creation has spread like wildfire--so much so that we can't even fit in the line at the moment.
The idea behind the creation is to give away the gifts that Santa had leftover from this past Christmas. That is, of course, if you manage to get in line before all the presents are gone. If you do somehow squeeze in and, through some mystical alignment of whatever celestial bodies symbolize luck, win a prize, then Real Art Design will send that exact present directly to your house. Who knows what could be inside, but we sure hope Santa dropped a MacBook somewhere along the way.
The idea behind the creation is to give away the gifts that Santa had leftover from this past Christmas. That is, of course, if you manage to get in line before all the presents are gone. If you do somehow squeeze in and, through some mystical alignment of whatever celestial bodies symbolize luck, win a prize, then Real Art Design will send that exact present directly to your house. Who knows what could be inside, but we sure hope Santa dropped a MacBook somewhere along the way.
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