What Makes A Great Social Game

As the popularity of Social Networking sites has increased, the number of games that are being developed are skyrocketing as well. Much like anything that comes in such an abundance, there are only a handful of gems in the bunch that not only “get it”, but also do it well. There several factors that makes for a great game for the user, as well as factors that make for a profitable experience for the publisher.

The first factor for a great player experience is that a game must be simple. This follows many of the hallmarks of a casual game, in that, the player who is playing may not necessarily consider themselves a game player. Any type of complex game mechanics, controls, or asset management can alienate the non game player. Games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars are based on a simple decision and click system, which feature a low barrier to entry for non game players.

A second factor for a great player experience is that the length of the game should be tightly constricted. Since the game lives within the usage of social media, the game can’t overwhelm the constraints that it lives within. Experiences should be held to a fraction of the user’s average activity across the social community, meaning that if a user only spends 5 to 10 minutes per visit, a game should only last a minute or two. Games like Metro Game’s Plock, or Popcap’s Bejeweled Blitz, give the player literally only a minute to play, while games that are simple check-in and click based can be played within seconds.

The third factor for the player is that the game needs to effectively utilize a player’s social network. While some games utilize a simple leaderboard to compare all of your friends, this just scratches the surface of what can be done. In games where a randomization seed can be used so that players experience an identical game (like that seen in skill based challenges), friend based challenges can be issued, enhancing the social aspects of the game. Alongside leaderboards, increased statistic tracking with the ability to compare not only top performance, but also detailed historic achievements allows the player to see how they stack up with their friends at a deeper level.

However, utilizing the social network is more than just comparing scores and stats. It also includes helping out other players that are in the player’s network. This can be done voluntarily, where the player chooses to engage in the assistance of a friend, conversely a player can use the size of their network to assist them. Along side of the assistance, the action of gifting items to other players, allowing friends to either be introduced to the game, share the wealth, or just pass along items.

The fourth and possibly most overlooked factor for making a great player experience is keeping the game fresh. This means that once a game is up, it needs periodic updating in order to keep the actions in the game from being repetitive. Doing this allows players to have a continued experience with the title, allowing not only for extended enjoyment, but also more opportunities to involve their social network.

For the Publisher, the biggest factor to make a great game is the ability to monetize on it. Currently the Free to Play (F2P) methodology where a player can opt to purchase items to enhance their experience (or gift to others to do the same) has been proving to be very profitable for companies like Zynga, where one report shows that they turned in nearly $50 Million (US) in 2008. Other methods of monetizing include advertising, and also as a marketplace for related non-game items, like MP3 sales in Music Challenge from Metro Games.

Today’s Game 9-23-2009 – Texas Hold Em (Zune)

Since I’ve been on the road quite a bit in the last week, I’ve been playing games on my Zune (Classic not HD) while in transit. I must admit that I’m not a Texas Hold Em fan, and I don’t consider it a sport even though it appears on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, NBC, CSN, and some other sports networks on a seemingly hourly basis. It has that Saved By The Bell feeling from the mid 90s, or Law and Order now, where you can change a channel and it is always on. Also, coming out of a semi-casino based company, I’m not big on gambling either, but I will admit that this is the best Texas Hold Em Poker game I’ve played, and unfortunately, that’s a lot.

Texas Hold Em Poker (Zune)

This is entirely a different experience from playing at a place like Full Tilt Poker, Party Poker, or Poker Stars, it isn’t even like playing against casual players like Zynga’s Texas Hold Em on Facebook. You’re playing against an AI bot in either a Heads Up (1 on 1) game, or a Multiplayer game, with 6 other bots. Playing against others is available, but then you have to find other people, with Zunes, have the game installed, and wireless turned on, so it only happens on days that don’t end in “y”.

For being played on a device that isn’t primarily a game device, the interface is very clean and responsive, but then the number of options is extremely limited, and the control scheme is based on the Zune interface, so take it for what it’s worth.

The biggest thing about the game is the AI. Playing against the easy level AI is like reading through the first couple of chapters of Texas Hold Em for Dummies. The bot will fold immediately if you raise and it has nothing, and will not raise unless it has something, no bluffs, and very easy to read. The only thing that determines how much you’ll win is how long you can play for. The Medium AI plays as if it read a little further in the book to the chapter where the probability tables are introduced.

However the Hard difficulty left the Dummies book at home, and started to read The Psychic Handbook: Discover and Develop Your Psychic Abilities. It is nearly impossible to beat, where it seems like it knows not only the probability tables, but also what hands were folded, and has an inkling of either what’s in your hand or what is coming out of the deck. It’s no longer a fun experience, just frustrating.

One of the joys about playing on the Zune is the integration of music playback, and that the controls for song selection and volume are accessible, but also nicely tucked away. What would a primary music player be without the functions of playing music? Overall, it’s an enjoyable way to kill time, but it’s not going to do anything for your poker skills.

No Game Today – Just a commentary on the Casual PC Downloadable Game Market

Just an update, I need to get the power adapter for my netbook so I can get the posts that I wrote on the road out. The games covered include NCAA Football 2009 and Triple Punch. Today however I want to speak on the state of how screwed up the Casual PC Downloadable has become.

It started when I saw a discussion on a LinkedIn group that stated how the Facebook game and Free To Play (F2P, but some also refer to titles as Freemium) games have destroyed the download market. This was a hard statement to even consider since the play mechanics of an F2P game vary greatly from the established downloadable game types like the match-3, hidden-object, and time management. It’s like saying that iPhone shovelware is going to destroy the home console market, the only corrolation is that they are games.

I would leave it at that, but then I saw that a relatively new release was already marked down to $6.99 within two weeks of the release. A year ago, this would have been the norm if subscription based game clubs were taken into account, but over the past year, games have just be devalued from $20 to chicken scratch, for various reasons, but I have my finger pointed in one specific direction, which really was the price point and distribution changer all wrapped up in one website.

It’s now hard to determine how to monetize on a PC downloadable game, with price points reduced to near nothing, portals grabbing their share of the next to nothing, and rising production costs to meet consumer expectations with exceptional assets and licenses.  Potential solutions include using the connected advertising model to monetize on the back end, upselling to have a non-connected experience, outsourcing, or reducing the trial period from a time based period to a defined demo experience. The thing is, the change needs to take place, and happen soon in order to save ourselves.

Today’s Game – 9-17-2009 – Fairway Solitaire (PC)

I’m out on the road for a couple of days; sans hand held consoles and sans mouse, so I’ve decided to take a look at one of the games I keep on my laptop, that plays excessively well with a touch pad.

Fairway Solitaire (PC)

In the casual market, it’s very rare to see something that is so overtly male themed be very successful in the marketplace. However the golf actually fits in very well since the card game is a variant of Golf Solitaire, where you have to remove cards from a layout in order. Layouts are very varied, but the set of layouts keep within the theme of the course. The added “power up” of having a bag of clubs (cards that can be substituted), makes the game slightly more interesting.

On the flip side, some of the power ups and mini-games are ill-fitting, with a very golf feel, and very little casual feel. This especially comes in with the driving and putting contests. Some of the purchasable power-ups also feel a little weak and tacked on to what otherwise is a strong, golf solitaire game.

Overall there’s enough variation to keep it fresh and exciting, despite technically being very repetitive. It’s also best played muted, as the TV Golf commentary gets old, quick.

Today’s Game 9/16/2009 -Play For Your Club : Striker of The Month (Web)

European football season is in full swing, and of course I cheer for Arsenal in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions’ League. With Arsenal winning 3-2 today, I decided that one of my favorite footy games.

Play For Your Club – Striker of the Month (Web)

If you haven’t gotten the chance to play this simple game, go check it out. The core of the game is Mousebreaker’s Volley Challenge type of game, where you need to get balls in the goal, with a structured scoring system. In the way of Web Footy games go, it’s a decent experience, but standing solo, it would get old quick. What makes it much more palatable is that the game is always undergoing changes for things like the World Cup, Euro, and other competitions. This just keeps it fresh.

The freshness and humor is where the game excels. When you pick your striker, you’re given a caricature of the player, over exaggerating the huge stature of Peter Crouch, or the diminutive  statures of the likes of Robbie Kean and Theo Walcott. The teams are also kept up to date, so if a certain player isn’t playing in the league anymore, don’t expect to see them in the game.

In addition to the game, the community features of selecting the Striker of the Month, makes replaying feel fulfilling. With my team being Arsenal, and of the available Gunners, I go with Robin Van Persie. The more points that all the players score while playing with Van Persie are added to the total, and in August of 2009, he had enough to be the Striker of the Month. This game is a great way of displaying your fandom.

Today’s Game – 9/15/2009 – Sneak King (Xbox / Xbox 360)

Yes, of all the games I could pick to touch on today, I decided to go back a couple of years and look at one of the “Trilogy of Burger Games”. In November 2006, Burger King sold a suite of XBox/XBox 360 games developed by Blitz. In order to buy them you had to also buy one of their value meals (or get the game used or later on from a liquidator).

Sneak King (XBox/XBox 360)

The first thing that I want to mention about the game is that it was somewhat of a technological wonder, having the same disc being able to be utilized in both the orginal XBox and the 360. Before the shouts of “Half-assed backwards compatibility!” come into play, play on the 360 version did feature achievements, whilst the Xbox version played like an Xbox game.

While many reviewers of the game criticized it for being bad on all fronts, with the horrible NPCs that can only see 3 feet in front of them, horrible controls, and shoddy mission design, it wasn’t a $60 game, not even $20, or even a $5 downloadable title – it was $3.99! And to add to it, it used commercials as the reference material. With that in mind, this is where the game excelled. If you use the reference that a movie is about 2 hours, and the game should run about 5 – 6 times the length of the movie, a game with about 10 – 12 hours of an enjoyable gameplay experience based on the IP is par for the course. Now, if the average commercial is 30 seconds, that rule of thumb would be 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, and the game accomplished it for 4 different commercials.

What stands out the most about the game isn’t the game itself, but the marketing and promotion that went into a promotional title. Anywhere a person would see BK advertising, the would see the combo of the game ad with BK accompaniment.  This went on through the holiday season and quite a few copies had to have been moved since every Gamestop now has a dump bin of them for 99cents!

I’ll admit that I enjoyed the game, it was really a micro-sized licensed property that gave me the experience I expected. For the price, my expectations however were low, and that’s being kind. But where else other than America would you have to pay to play as corporate mascot, promoting obesity, in a slipshod game?

Today’s Game – 9/14/2009 – Plock (Facebook)

I came across this game over the weekend and became slightly obsessed with it. In all of the invites of friends to join social games, or compete with their scores, I ended up playing some Pixel Ranger by Metro Games. While poking around with their other games, I discovered a bad Pac Man clone and a typing game amongst others, however there was one that gained my attention.

Plock (Facebook)

The game is very simple, in that it takes the Collapse/Sega Swirl mechanic of removing groups of same colored blocks, with more points being awarded for removing larger numbers of blocks. In addition, there are multiplier and bomb pieces that spice up the game.

However, while the mechanic is dramatically different, the gameplay is a duplicate of Bejeweled Blitz. You’re given one minute to score as much as you can. This takes the game from being a strategy game to being a frantic reaction based game. While this does even the playing field for comparing scores, it does completely alter the way that the game is played. Also in the same vein as Bejeweled Blitz, pieces coming down will always result in at least one available match.

Looking at this, it seems that the one-minute frantic micro game is looking to be a direction that some single player, competitive games are headed. Is it a bad thing? It will be if there’s no innovation.

This Weeks Poll – Which College Football Game

Since it is College Football season (and Professional as well), I’m going to do an entry on a NCAA Football game this week, but giving you the opportunity to select which one it’s going to be!

Today’s Game – 9/13/2009 – Who? What? Where? (Board Game)

So to continue with the varied types of games I want to discuss, I’m going to touch on one of my favorite board/social/party games. So without much adieu, here’s today’s game

Who? What? Where? (Board)

First off, this isn’t so much of a board game, as it is a set of 3 boxes of cards and some paper. The cards of course are a selection of Who?s (Famous People or Characters), What?s (activities), and Where?s (locations, both specific and general). Each player selects one card from each to draw their scene, and with a time limit imposed, it levels the playing field between artists and those artistically inept. The drawings are then passed around, and points are awarded for guessing the categories correctly.

The fun in the game comes from the wildness of interpretations visually as well as the crazy guesses that are thrown out. The other great thing about the game is that it is very well paced, with drawing, guessing, and sharing. It doesn’t suffer from the end of the game lulls that bog down things like Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly.

However, as much fun as the game is, there’s a handful of things that could be improved. The first, which can’t really be controlled since my edition sat for about 4 years before being played, is the timeliness of some of the cards. Some of the Who?s leave players now scratching their head, since they haven’t been relevant in about a decade. The second is the amount of content that is in the game, since playing the game multiple times, especially with a lot of people, you start seeing the same items again, leaving you guessing on the interpretation. And the third is that the box is just way too big for a game that is really about the size of 3 decks of cards.

Today’s Game – 9/12/2009 : Fantasy Football (Various)

With the start of the American Football season upon us, one of the big things that surrounds the actual sporting events is Fantasy Football. And while the past couple of entries have been titles I’ve gushed over, this one doesn’t follow suit.

Fantasy Football

There is some slight appeal to the game, when playing with a bunch of friends, and not one of the versions that is the equivalent of gambling (contest ones) or those when playing in a faceless, nameless, friendless league. However, usually after the third week, interest wanes from some participants, and the ones that have fared the best are the only ones left actively playing.

Most of the league management now is done via some form of internet service, like Yahoo, EA, or ESPN, so that cheating is mitigated and scoring can be done in real time. However, this is what changes how people watch the actual American Football games. I fall into the same camp that many of the ESPN.com Page 2 columnist also reside, stating that the Fantasy Football is EVIL.

If I am a NY Jets fan, and during the real world week the Jets are playing the New England Patriots. However, Tom Brady is the quarterback for my fantasy team. This brings the dilemma that do I want to see the team that I normally cheer for completely obliterate their division rivals, or do I want to see the person on my fantasy team have a great game and score lots of points so I can beat my friend?

This little dilemma is what makes those that play fantasy football BAD FANS! Its plain and simple, if there’s any reason you would want to see any damage done to “your” real-world team, you are a bad fan. Period.