Facebook: Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

In case it was not obvious that FaceBook is a viable platform for games (and everything else):


[Source: Mashable.com]

FaceBook Games that had something of interest

Just a quick list I made.

FarmVille (by Zynga)- http://apps.facebook.com/onthefarm/

Other than the fact that is likely the most profitable game on FB now.

As a sandbox game, it has no real objectives other than to earn the ability to decorate your virtual farm with more options.

It has led to numerous clones, including clones made by Zynga themselves like CafeWorld, YoVille, etc. It was also a clone of another similar farming game.



Mafia Wars (by Zynga) - http://apps.facebook.com/inthemafia/

Instead of using Flash, it only uses HTML. Some of its more interesting features include achievements, trading, collecting, frequent new content. It has also inspired a lot of clones which are all very similliar.



Castle Age (by Jelsoft Enterprises) - http://apps.facebook.com/castle_age/

One of the better clones of Mafia Wars. It added cooperative play against limited duration enemies which sometimes involved over 200 friend and friends-of-friends.



WarStorm (by Challenge Games) - http://apps.facebook.com/warstorm/

A collectible card game on FB using Flash.



Who has the Biggest Brain? (by PlayFish, Electronic Arts) - http://apps.facebook.com/biggestbrain/

Make nice use of Flash to create a "brain training" game.



MindJolt Games (by MindJolt Games) - http://apps.facebook.com/mindjolt/

Quite a large collection on flash games that are integrated with FB to challenge friends' high scores.



Whirled Games (by Whirled Games) - http://apps.facebook.com/whirled/

Another collection of simple flash games.



Battlestations (by TYLER Projects) - http://apps.facebook.com/battlestations/

Singapore's first Facebook MMO, with a monthly sales of over $50,000.



Any others that you think that are worth mentioning?

Review: Battleships Forever

Battleships Forever is a game in development by 22 year old Singaporean poly grad and indie game developer, Sean "th15" Chan. It was a IGF 2008 Finalist where it received a "Design Innovation Award".

"I like games that have depth and strategy to them and as such I try to make intelligent games. As far as possible, my design philosophy is to keep the player engaged all the time and to have a good reason for everything that exists in the game. Every gimmick, every unit, every mechanic is there to encourage a particular play style. When I make games, I think about specific scenarios that I think would be exciting." - Sean

During an interview by GameDev.net, Sean mentions that he initially started making custom maps for Warcraft 3 and then progressed to using Game Maker.

Battleships Forever is a 2D real-time strategy (although it is more tactical, with no resource gathering or diplomacy) where you control multiple spaceships and fight other spaceships. The main feature of it is that each spaceship is built from multiple modules like: turrets with fixed firing arcs, deflector shields, linking structure, etc and each can be individually destroyed. Thus, positioning is very important and you will have to decide between facing your offensive modules or protective modules towards the enemy.

There are currently 17 pre-designed spaceships that you can control and over 50 enemy designs, each with their own weakness and strength. Also, you can create your own custom designs. [Download: wyrdysm.com]





Sean has said that Battleships Forever is inspired by and loosely based on Warning Forever by Hikoza.T.Ohkubo, where the each round had only one boss which evolved based on how you killed it the previous round. [Download: cnet.com]






If you like the concept where spaceships are modularized, then you may wish to also check out another indie game, Captain Forever (US$15) which puts you in control of a single ship that you need to upgrade in battle using part from destroyed enemy spaceships.

Ex-Ubisoft staff goes indie and likes it

Interesting story of a person, Phil Fish who was working for an established game developer and developing a game, Fez during his own free time.

He quit when he received an IGF nomination for Excellence in Visual Art (which he later won in 2008) for Fez and his boss did not allow him to attend it.

Not bad for someone fired from Ubisoft, who still calls his experience at the publisher "the worst experience of my life." It was his first gig in games, and initially he was jazzed.

"The way these people make games, it's so horrible," he says. "Hundred of people on your team, you don't know any of their names. It's so big and impersonal." Some people find ways to persevere, to grow in that environment, Fish adds — like weeds pushing up through cracks in concrete.

"In my case it made me want to give up games altogether," he continues. "It was an extremely dark period of my life. Years and years thinking this was my dream only to realize it's a sweatshop."

Gaming was changing, the way games were being made was changing and with the rise of the video game blogs, the way gaming was covered was changing, too. Everything was in flux. Indie developers were saying "Screw the corporate ladder" and going off and making their own games — devs like World of Goo's Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler. Young developers, like Everyday Shooter's Jonathan Mak, weren't even climbing that ladder.

[Source: Kotaku.com]

Working in an established game developer is not for everyone. I am sure there are advantages too, but as it seems some people just prefer being indie.

Events like the Independent Games Festival held every March are slowly helping indies gain awareness and popularity, by listing finalist and winners of the event. One such winner was Portal in 2006, which became very famous and got snapped up by Valve.

Here's an IGF trailer... excuse the language.