What makes a successful traditional social game!
Facebook games can be classified into 2 categories:
Casual Games are the social games too but a little less on the social features. Games like bejeweled, Tetris can be categorized as sociocasual games.
Coming back to the question to what makes a game successful on facebook?
below are few critical features that I personally believe that would make a game successful on facebook.
Simplicity of the "Game Loop": Right from the moment you log in to the game the "ease" factor comes into play. One needs to exploit this ease of access to the activity while designing the game. lets start by looking at the "Game Loop" (A chain of actions you do over and over again to gain in-game currency) in some social games:
The game loop should be designed with a mindset that we are try to make a 5-6yr old understand it just by looking at someone play (this is something i use) or complete that activity. This usually helps in simplifying the activity that I want to work on. If we take the above examples i feel they are practically very simple but the added layers makes the goal of the activity complex. I don't deny the fact that layers should be added to make the activity more interesting but one has to draw the line between what we want in the game to what the game needs to make it happen. the bottom line here is to keep the initial activity for the player very simple and elementary so that it keeps him engaged and more importantly make him have fun while doing it.
By now I feel i have made my point about simple "killer" game loop.
Missions/Story:
A sense of meaning is added to FishVille via missions that also deliver a story over time. Completing missions yields rewards and unlocks new missions. Some missions require items obtainable only from neighbors, effectively incentivizing social engagement and, subsequently, virality.
Talking about sociocasual games they generally do not require a story. Taking the hit example of Angry Birds, the moment you log in to the game in the initial screens there a short pictorial representation of the theme of the game giving the user enough context of what the game is about and once you start playing it the game gets more addictive and the rest is a proven history.
Collections:
Collecting items adds an element of anticipation to a degree of that found in the Sims Social. Users who cannot seem to get that “rare” item from their game can add it to their wish list or send an gift request, which allows a friend to gift the item.
Action Element:
Where FarmVille and its predecessors were criticized for not being true games, FrontierVille or the recent games on FB have started adding an action element—clicking to collect reward items—that creates a more engaging game experience. (In fact, this very same mechanic was employed in EA's Battlefiled 3/NFS RUN, where players must tap a button to perform attacks instead of them occurring automatically.) Users are granted bonus coins for collecting action rewards in succession, thus adding strategic complexity.
Social Interactions:
Users may visit their neighbors’ land and complete a set number of actions per day. These actions benefit both parties. It is also possible to “hire” a neighbor to perform tasks on their own land. These elements provide functional rewards for having more friends, which is further compounded by Reputation, a stat which increases the functional benefit a user provides when hired by neighbors.
the above are just few examples that I feel can catalyze the progress of a social game in the present scenario of online FB gaming.
- Is it the highly evolved game play engaging the users to stick for a long time?
- Is it the simplicity of the activity like just click and play?
Facebook games can be classified into 2 categories:
- Social Games
- Casual Games
Casual Games are the social games too but a little less on the social features. Games like bejeweled, Tetris can be categorized as sociocasual games.
Coming back to the question to what makes a game successful on facebook?
below are few critical features that I personally believe that would make a game successful on facebook.
Simplicity of the "Game Loop": Right from the moment you log in to the game the "ease" factor comes into play. One needs to exploit this ease of access to the activity while designing the game. lets start by looking at the "Game Loop" (A chain of actions you do over and over again to gain in-game currency) in some social games:
The game loop should be designed with a mindset that we are try to make a 5-6yr old understand it just by looking at someone play (this is something i use) or complete that activity. This usually helps in simplifying the activity that I want to work on. If we take the above examples i feel they are practically very simple but the added layers makes the goal of the activity complex. I don't deny the fact that layers should be added to make the activity more interesting but one has to draw the line between what we want in the game to what the game needs to make it happen. the bottom line here is to keep the initial activity for the player very simple and elementary so that it keeps him engaged and more importantly make him have fun while doing it.
By now I feel i have made my point about simple "killer" game loop.
Missions/Story:
A sense of meaning is added to FishVille via missions that also deliver a story over time. Completing missions yields rewards and unlocks new missions. Some missions require items obtainable only from neighbors, effectively incentivizing social engagement and, subsequently, virality.
Talking about sociocasual games they generally do not require a story. Taking the hit example of Angry Birds, the moment you log in to the game in the initial screens there a short pictorial representation of the theme of the game giving the user enough context of what the game is about and once you start playing it the game gets more addictive and the rest is a proven history.
Collections:
Collecting items adds an element of anticipation to a degree of that found in the Sims Social. Users who cannot seem to get that “rare” item from their game can add it to their wish list or send an gift request, which allows a friend to gift the item.
Action Element:
Where FarmVille and its predecessors were criticized for not being true games, FrontierVille or the recent games on FB have started adding an action element—clicking to collect reward items—that creates a more engaging game experience. (In fact, this very same mechanic was employed in EA's Battlefiled 3/NFS RUN, where players must tap a button to perform attacks instead of them occurring automatically.) Users are granted bonus coins for collecting action rewards in succession, thus adding strategic complexity.
Social Interactions:
Users may visit their neighbors’ land and complete a set number of actions per day. These actions benefit both parties. It is also possible to “hire” a neighbor to perform tasks on their own land. These elements provide functional rewards for having more friends, which is further compounded by Reputation, a stat which increases the functional benefit a user provides when hired by neighbors.
the above are just few examples that I feel can catalyze the progress of a social game in the present scenario of online FB gaming.
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