<unlurk />
Excuse me if google translate has done some of your postings a disservice, but basically this thread has evolved into whether the "gold rush" on social network games is over, yes?
Well, from my perspective, the answer is a resounding no to this, but with a few caveats.
Cloning someone else's offering will no longer work. There are already many, many Vampire, Mafia Wars, etc. etc. type games on the market, and Zynga have that area sewn up. Going head-to-head against them with that approach isn't the most direct route to success. They have also invested really heavily in advertising in order to generate their initial traffic and market position. Just because it's F2P and socially enabled doesn't mean that "if you build it they will come".
If you are looking to enter this field, then you have to understand what it is that the market leaders do, plus how and why they do that in order to be successful. Then you need to tailor this to your offering. Applicability and interpretation will vary from case to case, but essentially what they do boils down to this.
- Understanding their customer. Why, when, how do people play their games? Why do they *keep* playing their games, and what do they do when they stop playing a game. Secondarily, why and how will people pay to play your game? How can you enable this in an equitable manner for those that just want to pay without paying. FWIW, if you don't consider the latter group to be important, then I suggest you find another thread to read.
- Enable virality within their individual gaming ecosystems. Successful games cross-promote within the universe, and build customer acquisition into the gaming mechanics. For every person that gets annoyed enough by Mafia Wars spam on their wall to block it, there's probably 10 people that have started playing the game because of it. Additionally, because some paths of gameplay are blocked unless you recruit your friends into your gaming circle, and their is a high colleague / friend crossover on SN sites, there's a lot of water-cooler talk about the games.
- Simplify, simplify, simplify. The successful games are ridiculously straightforward. They're easy to pick up, easy to play, and easy to master. They also share another factor, but I'll let you work that one out for yourself
- Reuse. Because of the simple approach taken with their game design, they can reskin games with comparatively little effort. This means they can target demographics as they are identified as underserved on the networks. This will enable the player to migrate around your games but still stay within your universe, plus promote equivalent games to members of their social circle who have different interests. Note that this heavily ties into the "understand your customer" point.
Finally - ya gotta have a
schtick. Just like anything else, determine what it is that will make you special. See if it works in context of those points outlined above. If it doesn't, then either rethink, or feel free to disagree with me.
By the way - should we organize an IGDA Business cSIG around this topic? We can set something up mid-November if there's enough support?
There's the separate (and arguably more on-topic) discussion of whether FB Credits are a good or a bad thing for existing and new SN games, but that would be an equally long post!
- Dave
