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每日观察:关注Playdom即时战略游戏及Wooga新项目(4.11)

发布时间:2012-04-11 11:40:28 Tags:,,

1)据MarketWatch报道,社交游戏开发商Zynga在过去数月曝光率极高,其首席执行官Mark Pincus也因此不得不频频抛头露面,为保护Pincus及其家人的人身安全,Zynga公司在2011财年为其投入高达137万美元的安保经费。

mark pincus(from gamesindustry.biz)

mark pincus(from gamesindustry.biz)

据称Mark Pincus在2011年时常被人跟踪,并曾向法院起诉跟踪者。不过Zynga公司并未透露是否将为Mark Pincus投入更多安保经费。

2)据games.com报道,德国社交游戏公司Wooga近日的一则制作人招聘启示表明,Wooga正在开发一个代号为“Game 9”的新项目。

招聘内容显示,这名制作人将负责监管这款“异域冒险游戏”的开发过程,该游戏将首先登陆Facebook、iPhone和iPad;“Game 9”目前开发团队成员超过25人,其中包括“工程师、图像美工和产品经理”,但游戏上线后,Wooga将把每周更新的美术内容外包给第三方完成,而寻找及联络外包人员正是这名制作人的职责之一。

3)迪士尼Playdom最近也开始向Facebook硬核游戏市场进军,并于近日推出即时战略游戏《Armies of Magic》,但仅有部分受到邀请的Facebook玩家能够参与游戏内部测试。

Amies of Magic(from games)

Amies of Magic(from games)

目前仍然缺乏关于该游戏的截屏等信息,只知道玩家在游戏中将引领人类、Elves和Dwarves三个部族之一打败邪恶的Goblin Hordes。

与其他Facebook战略游戏一样,玩家也可以组建公会与好友并肩作战,该游戏Facebook页面已收获2.2万个“赞”。

4)Playdom近日通过Twitter宣布,寻物解谜游戏《Garden of Time》在Facebook已上线一周年,并向玩家推出一系列虚拟商品奖励活动。

Garden of Time(from games)

Garden of Time(from games)

观察者称《Gardens of Time》在2011年不但收获多个奖项,而且还引燃Facebook寻物解谜游戏热潮。据AppData资料显示,《Hidden Chronicles》仍是Zynga旗下最热门的游戏之一,而Playdom两款寻物解谜游戏也都在Playdom最热游戏前5名之列。

5)在本周MAU增长最快的Facebook游戏榜单上,《Zynga Slingo》以11%的增幅位居榜首(新增140万MAU),Playplus旗下的《Soul Crash》、Ludia游戏《The Price is Right Slots》分别实现20%和13%的增长率。Digital Chocolate游戏《Gangs of Boomtown》增幅达71%(游戏邦注:该游戏已结束在Google+的独家发布时期,现已登陆Facebook平台)。

Top gainers this week--MAU(from AppData)

Top gainers this week--MAU(from AppData)

而6waves新发布的《Rollercoaster Mania》虽然已跌至第20名,但仍实现了9%的MAU增幅;迪士尼Playdom为推广5月4日上映的《复仇者联盟》(The Avengers)而开发的《Marvel: Avengers Alliance》新增20万MAU,目前位居第5名。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

1)Zynga has spent $1.37M to protect CEO Mark Pincus

by Tom Curtis

Newsbrief: Social game giant Zynga has attracted plenty of attention over the last several months, particularly as it geared up for its major IPO late last year. As a result, CEO Mark Pincus has had to deal with a handful of security concerns, and his company spent more than $1.37 million in fiscal 2011 to keep him and his family safe.

While it’s relatively common for companies to invest money into protecting their executives, Zynga’s figure is fairly high relative to other large companies, reports MarketWatch. The security funds reached this lofty sum since Zynga recently had to protect Pincus from an alleged stalker.

In early 2011, Pincus filed for a restraining order against this individual, and he has since worked to settle the conflict in court. Zynga has not confirmed whether it will need to invest more money to protect its CEO. (source:gamasutra

2)Diamond Dash maker goes for the exotic with secret project ‘Game 9′

by Joe Osborne

And this bearded fella pictured right looks to go along for the ride. Wooga, creator of this year’s March Madness winner Diamond Dash, has a secret game project in the works that it refers to as “Game 9.” The German social games maker has revealed a few sliver’s worth of details in a job posting on its website for a producer that will oversee the game’s development.

For one, “Game 9″–which is almost definitely a codename–will be available on Facebook, iPhone and iPad initially. (And based on Wooga’s love of cross-platform play, we’re willing to bet both versions of the game will communicate somehow.) Secondly, “Game 9″ will “be a great adventure taking you to exotic places,” according to the job posting. That sounds vague, but based on what that bearded dude is wearing, we’re guessing the game is inspired by classic adventure stories (i.e. Indiana Jones).

The job posting reads that “Game 9″ is under development by more than 25 staffers, “including engineers, graphic artists and product managers.” But once the game is live, Wooga will outsource the graphical content of weekly content updates to a third party, and it’s this producer’s job to find and oversee that outside team. That’s it for now, but if Wooga is already considering weekly updates, we can’t be far from even juicier details.(source:games

3)Armies of Magic is Playdom’s answer to Facebook strategy games

by Joe Osborne

Three hidden-object games may say otherwise, but Playdom has a “hardcore” side too, you know. The Disney-owned developer currently has its own real-time strategy game strategy in the works for Facebook. It’s called Armies of Magic, and it’s in a closed beta test phase as of this writing, meaning only those who are invited can get in on the fantastical fighting action.

There’s an unfortunate lack of information on the strategy game at the moment and even fewer screen shots or artwork. Currently, it’s known that Armies of Magic players can choose to lead one of three races into battle–Humans, Elves and Dwarves–against evil Goblin Hordes.

Like most strategy games on Facebook, players will get to form guilds and go to battle with their friends. One would hope this means that players will not need to be Facebook friends to play together. Sadly, only promotional art is available at the moment, so there’s no clue as to what the game will look like during play. However, the Armies of Magic Facebook page already has over 22,000 “Likes”, so perhaps we’re close to release.

Playdom sees the growing “hardcore” Facebook games scene (and its dedicated audience) and simply can’t help itself–just look at Deep Realms. While that game recently died off, releases like Avengers Alliance make it seem like the developer has learned quite a bit about the “hardcore” crowd. Hopefully it’s not long before we see whether that’s the case.(source: games

4)The game that started Playdom’s hidden-object love affair turns one

by Joe Osborne

Gardens of Time, the Facebook game that arguably sparked a trend in social gaming, is officially one year old. Disney-owned creator Playdom announced the milestone today on Twitter, and offered players a nifty in-game item to celebrate. Players who click on a link provided on either Facebook or Twitter will score a free Garden Party decoration.

The item takes up a mere 1 by 2-tile space in players’ gardens and boosts their Reputation by 500–a likely boon for players looking to unlock more hidden-object scenes. But back to Gardens of Time turning one year old: Within that year, the game earned numerous awards, including a nod from us in the mobile social games category for its iPad and iPhone version.

What’s even more important than the game’s several accolades is that it arguably inspired not just other social game makers to hop on the bandwagon but Playdom itself to revisit the genre not once, but twice. (Of course, some will argue that Playdom was inspired by existing hidden-object games either on Facebook or elsewhere.)

The one-year mark is as strong a gauge for a social game’s “stickiness” as is its daily players, but in this special case it’s also indicative of the livelihood of the genre. Zynga’s Hidden Chronicles is still one of the developer’s top games, and both of Playdom’s hidden-object games are in its top five, according to AppData. With another on the way, it looks like hidden-object is here to stay on Facebook.(source:games

5)Zynga Slingo yet again tops this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by MAU

Mike Thompson

Zynga Slingo continues to top our list of fastest-growing Facebook games by monthly active users, having gained 1.4 million MAU (up by 11 percent).

Four other games on the list saw double-digit gain percentages. Playplus’s Soul Crash and Ludia’s The Price is Right Slots were up by 20 and 13 percent, respectively. Digital Chocolate’s Gangs of Boomtown is saw a 71 percent gain, now that the game’s exclusive deal with Google+ is over and it has come to Facebook. Best Arcade Games appears on this week’s list thanks to a 70 percent gain, but it probably won’t stay on the cart for long since the app is a series of cloned Flash and arcade games that are playable on Facebook.

6waves new publishing focus continues to pay off with Rollercoaster Mania. Although the game dropped a couple of places from last week to the No. 20 spot, the game was up 9 percent. The game may get a boost in numbers this week, though, since 6waves showed us some new features (including the ability to design custom rides) that are launching soon.

The other title that may see a notable MAU increase in the coming weeks is Disney Playdom’s Marvel: Avengers Alliance. Although its gains have been slowing over the past few weeks, The Avengers film is due to hit movie theaters on May 4 and the game is being used to help market the movie. As the film’s premiere date draws closer, it seems likely that new and lapsed users will flock to the game on Facebook.(source:insidesocialgames


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