1）据insidesocialgames报道，Zynga游戏《CityVille 2》日前已上线，玩家在其中任务是建设一个繁华的大都市，解琐更多可用土地，其玩法与《CityVille》和《SimCity Social》相似，但采用了昼夜机制，玩家在不同时间段可执行不同的事项，搜集不同的资源。

CityVille 2(from insidesoicalgames)

该游戏与《FarmVille 2》一样呈现全3D画面，其摄像功能允许玩家从不同视角查看自己的城市，另外还引入了具体的叙事元素，要求玩家（即市长）找出炸毁市长宅第的纵火犯下落。

《CityVille 2》出自Zynga East工作室之手，含有类似于《FrontierVille》的机制，即振荡进度条，玩家执行任何一项活动时都会呈现这个进度条，如果玩家在正确的时机中点击相关内容，就可以获得额外的积分奖励。

游戏中不同的区域含有不同的建筑和图像风格，并允许玩家更加自由地装饰自己的城市 ，因此不会出现玩家的城市几乎完全雷同的情况。

2）据insidesocialgames报道，德国游戏开发商Wooga日前宣布将向iOS平台推出泡泡射击游戏《Bubble Island》。

该游戏通过Facebook Connect为玩家提供跨平台体验，据该公司首席执行官Jens Begemann表示，这款游戏一年前就已断断续续地投入开发，原因是其模型“不够有趣”，因此该团队先致力于开发《Diamond Dash》移动版本，然后再重新制作《Bubble Island》。

Bubble Island(from appdata.com)

这款游戏支持运行于iPad和iPhone 5，其iPad版本呈现的是横屏模式，而iPhone版本则是竖屏模式，这两个版本采用不同的关卡。

《Bubble Island》玩法机制与King.com游戏《Bubble Witch Saga》并不相同，后者要求玩家手动瞄准目标并用双手玩游戏（游戏邦注：一只手瞄准目标，一只手射击），而《Bubble Island》的控制方式则允许玩家在点触屏幕的同时就能进行射击。

3）据gamasutra报道，Unity Technologies跨平台游戏引擎Unity 4.0日前已开放免费测试服务。

unity4(from indiegamesstudio.com)

该开发平台采用了新角色动画系统（游戏邦注：这可能发挥了Unity所收购的动画工具公司Mecanim的优势），支持DirectX11，含有Flash输出选项，支持在Linux预览游戏部署情况。

据该公司所称，Unity 4.0甚至可支持小型工作室制作出AAA级水平的游戏，其画面保真度得到了极大的提升和优化。

4）据insidesocialgames报道，Facebook日前推出App Center新检索功能，允许用户通过“汽车”或“健身”等关键字检索应用（此前用户需通过名称检索内容）。

facebook app center(from simplerna.com)

这一变化有助于用户更好地在App Center进行导航，在此之前，Facebook页面顶端的的检索条功能并不完善，它允许用户检索页面、地点、群组和Facebook上的一切内容，但就是没有提供关键字检索功能。（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）CityVille 2 follows on FrontierVille design philosophy

AJ Glasser

After a slight delay brought on by Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast, Zynga’s CityVille 2 goes live today.

The game is a citybuilder not unlike the original CityVille or SimCity Social. Players are tasked with constructing a thriving metropolis by adding residential and commercial buildings to a preset grid, unlocking more available land as the buildings generate resources for the player to spend. CityVille 2 diverges from other citybuilders mainly through a daytime/nighttime mechanic where different events and certain resources can only be seen or collected during specific times of day. A camera feature allows players to view their city from several different pre-set angles, which resolves a common issue in other citybuilders where players lose access to buildings behind larger structures. CityVille 2 also follows SimCity Social’s lead in introducing a concrete narrative where the player (as the town’s Mayor) must discover the identity of an arsonist that blows up the mayor’s mansion during the game’s tutorial. Like FarmVille 2, CityVille 2’s graphics are full 3D.

Click to view a larger version of this image:

CityVille 2’s design takes several cues from FrontierVille, which also came from the Zynga East studio. That title took the successful FarmVille and layered on additional mechanics  such as the “bonus bar” system — a meter that provided additional bonuses based on how fast a player clicked on dropped resources like coins and experience points — and created a new gameplay experience. We see similar mechanics in play in CityVille 2 with oscillating progress bars that appear whenever the player interacts with an activity (e.g. clicking on a burning building to put out a fire with fire trucks). A shaded-in portion of the bar is the “sweet spot,” where the player tries to land a marker with a well-timed click for an additional scoring bonus. This creates a more engaged sense of gameplay than the original CityVille in much the same way FrontierVille felt more active than FarmVille.

Another component layered into the core gameplay experience is the concept of “districts” that unlock as the player’s city levels up. Each district has unique buildings and graphics, allowing players to customize their city more thoroughly than the original CityVille currently allows. Districts also level up as a whole, unlocking new perks and bonuses as the player progresses. Because each district is different, the idea is that no two CityVille 2 players’ cities will look exactly alike.

The game monetizes much the same way as other social games — with premium items and the ability to unlock higher-level items without meeting the level requirement.（source：insidesocialgames）

2）Wooga launching Bubble Island on iOS

Mike Thompson

Game developer Wooga is launching its popular bubble shooter Bubble Island on iOS today.

Bubble Island on iOS will use Facebook Connect to provide players with cross-platform play. The game’s been in development for a while, on and off, with the first attempt at a mobile version being worked on over a year ago, but Wooga CEO Jens Begemann tells us that build “wasn’t up to our ambition of fun.” Instead, the developer spent time working on Diamond Dash’s mobile version and then came back to Bubble Island with newfound experience.

We got to spend some time with the game on both the iPad and the iPhone 5, which provide totally different play experiences. The iPad version of the game is presented in landscape perspective, while the iPhone version works in the portrait layout. Begemann tells us the game has different levels for iPhone and iPad, and the iPhone 5′s larger screen size will also allow users to see even more of the game board than on the iPad.

While it might be tempting to compare Bubble Island’s mobile version with that of King.com’s Bubble Witch Saga, the play mechanics are actually pretty different. Bubble Witch Saga has manual aiming and requires two hands to play, (one to aim, one to fire), Bubble Island’s controls let players tap on the screen and fire a bubble at the area they tapped.

“We wanted this to be a game you could play with one hand,” Begemann explains. “This should be a game that’s really snackable while you’re waiting for your Starbucks coffee or you just got it and are holding it in the other hand.”

The move follows this summer’s news that Wooga plans to bring Diamond Dash to Android and Monster World for iOS. When asked about the status of those projects, Begemann tells us the games are still planned to launch soon but are being polished because Wooga wants to make sure they’re fun experiences.

Bubble Island on iOS is the continuation of Wooga’s pivot to mobile platforms while still developing social games. We’ve recently heard that iOS versions of games monetize three times better than they do on Facebook, and Begemann tells us Wooga’s seen similar numbers in territories where Facebook has a similar audience size to the number of mobile users.

“Making this transition to mobile isn’t trivial,” he says. “Usually, when a platform shift like this happens, the developers don’t traditionally make the shift. We wanted to make sure we were the exception to the rule. Therefore our focus has been on how to make the best possible mobile game. So we’re limiting the number of devices we’re on… now that we know it’s working, we’re investing heavily into Android.”

Bubble Island should be available on iTunes sometime today. Begemann tells us there’s an Android version also in development, but can’t tell us when that version will launch yet.（source：insidesocialgames）

3）Unity 4 beta is now public

By Eric Caoili

Unity Technologies has made the next version of its popular multiplatform game engine, Unity 4.0, available to the public for the first time with a free beta.

The development platform features a new character animation system (made possible by Unity’s acquisition of animation tools company Mecanim), DirectX11 support, exporting options for Flash, a preview of game deployment to Linux, and more.

Unity has billed the 4.0 engine as one that will make it possible for even small studios to create AAA-level titles, thanks to a promised boost to visual fidelity made possible by the platform’s new features (e.g. real-time shadows on mobile) and optimizations.（source：gamasutra）

4）Facebook brings keyword search to App Center

Brittany Darwell

Facebook is rolling out search for App Center, allowing users to not only find apps by name but also by keyword such as “cars” or “fitness.”

This change will help users better navigate App Center, which previously offered filters by category but no direct search. The main search bar in the Facebook header wasn’t always helpful, either, since it searches people, pages, places, groups and everything else on Facebook. Plus, it does not yet offer keyword search. If users don’t know the title of what they are looking for, it isn’t very helpful.

App Center is more focused on discovery and surfacing web, mobile and canvas apps that users are likely to be interested in based on other apps they’ve tried and what their friends use.

App Center allows users to see photos and read details about an app before adding it. These details are now indexed in App Center search, and Facebook says there are no changes or additional requirements for developers. The company did not offer details about the search ranking system, but it is likely a combination of keyword relevance, MAU, star ratings, friend connections and more.

In a blog post Wednesday night, Facebook announced that it would allow developers to create Sponsored Results ads for their canvas apps through the App Dashboard in four steps. Developers can create more targeted search ads through the Power Editor or the API, as was available previously. Sponsored Results appear in the main search typeahead, and for now there are no ads in the App Center search module.

In early October, Facebook said 220 million people visit the App Center each month, and compared to users of the previous Apps and Games dashboard, users who discover apps through App Center are 40 percent more likely to return to the app the next day.（source：insidesocialgames）