Games.com Blog: “FishVille dives down to the Deep Sea abyss” plus 6 more

Games.com Blog: “FishVille dives down to the Deep Sea abyss” plus 6 more

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FishVille dives down to the Deep Sea abyss

Posted: 27 Jun 2010 04:19 PM PDT

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Atlantis is coming to an end in FishVille, therefore all of the mysterious items will be leaving the store to make room for the new Deep Sea theme. In addition, the Pearl Stash will be leaving as well, so those of you who have been hoarding your precious pearls should probably consider trading them in before it's too late. So far, there are only a handful of Deep Sea items, and here is the list:

Fish:

Black Angler - 12 Sand Dollars
Black Devil Angler - 10 Sand Dollars
Decor:

Brisingid Starfish - 5 Sand Dollars
Sunken Propeller - 31,250 coins
Submarine Wreck - 312,500 coins
Green Anemone - 10 Sand Dollars
Deep Sea FishVille
This won't be the last of the Deep Sea items in FishVille. Keep an eye on Games.com - The Blog for the latest releases!

 

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Treasure Isle releases browser toolbar for easier gameplay

Posted: 27 Jun 2010 04:05 PM PDT

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Treasure Isle toolbar
Those of you who play FarmVille might be used to the concept of installing a game toolbar. Now, Zynga have released a browser toolbar for their popular digging game, Treasure Isle.

This new toolbar gives several added benefits. First, it tracks your energy so that you can always see when you're ready to go back and dig more. It also alerts you when your crops have grown and are ready to harvest. The one game bar works for all of your favorite Zynga games, so you can easily switch back and forth across games. And finally, you get 25 free Island Cash simply for installing the toolbar. You will earn 5 Island Cash each day for the first 5 days. Even if you decide to uninstall after the first 5 days, this is still an excellent option to earn 25 free Island Cash.

I personally consider Treasure Isle to be my main game, as its the one I log into every day and I'm relatively high in level (55). This is something that I will definitely install in Firefox so I can keep track of my harvestable fruit.

Will you be installing the Treasure Isle toolbar? What do you think?

 

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Cafe World: Lightning Super Stove now easier to build

Posted: 27 Jun 2010 03:40 PM PDT

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Lightning Super Stove Cafe World
It's a regular occurrence that Zynga ends up "nerfing" their collection/buildables, making them easier over time. They did it with the Cafe World Spice Rack, and the Super Stove, after all. Now, the Lightning Super Stove is easier to build and requires less pieces in order to complete.

Previously, the Lightning Super Stove took 10 of each piece, or a total of 40 parts. Now, the Tesla Coil only requires 7 parts, and the Flux Switch only requires 8 parts. For those who aren't math gurus, this brings the total savings down by five. Whether you were planning to collect all of the parts or by them with Cafe Cash outright, it helps that Zynga have given us a break on the requirements. Perhaps something new to build is coming soon? What could it be?

The Lightning Super Stove makes all of your cooking 10% faster, plus it removes the need to do any ingredient sub-steps, therefore making cooking a quicker and more enjoyable experience.

 

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Make ponds and rivers with new water in Social City

Posted: 27 Jun 2010 03:32 PM PDT

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Social City players are very happy tonight, as the game now allows you to place water terrain. Previously, the only way you could have water in your city was if a building or amusement item happened to come with a little pond outside. Now, players can place individual water tiles that allow them to make a freeform body of water - be it a river, lake, pond, or pool.

The new water terrain is available both as a free gift to send to your friends, and also as a regular in-store item. To buy water terrain, you will have to pay 1 City Bucks per tile, which could definitely add up. It's probably a better idea to have your friends send you the water. This feature seems long overdue, but beggars can't be choosers!

What have you made with your new water terrain?

 

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Sneaky Games launches Vanguard Program for alpha testing

Posted: 27 Jun 2010 03:05 PM PDT

Fantasy Kingdoms
Do you play a lot of Facebook games? Are you interested in finding out about new games before anyone else, and can you keep secrets from your friends while you're playing them? You might consider being an alpha tester for Sneaky Games. Sneaky Games are a new Facebook games developer who has created Strife of Sevens, and their more popular game, Fantasy Kingdoms (shown above). They are looking for people who will test new games and features for them and provide feedback along the way.
Have you ever wanted to play a game BEFORE anyone else could play it? Interested in telling the game developers what you think about it? Do you really want your opinion to be heard? If you do, you should be part of our Vanguard Alpha team!

To sign up for the Vanguard Alpha team, click here and fill out the form on Sneaky Games' website. This could be a great opportunity to have input on the direction of the next big Facebook game.

 

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Breaking: Zynga to close Roller Coaster Kingdom on June 29

Posted: 27 Jun 2010 01:51 PM PDT

Players who log into Zynga's game Roller Coaster Kingdom today may be granted with a popup message alerting them that the game will be closing its doors on June 29th 2010. At its peak, Roller Coaster Kingdom had around 15 million monthly active players back in November 2009, but over the months have slid down to just over 1 million players per month. The text of the closing message is as follows:
We regret to inform you that Roller Coaster Kingdom will be closing its doors on June 29 2010. The new bloodthirsty managers who are taking over want the entire park for themselves! Someone should tell these boys to get lost!

The new managers hope you will share their taste in fun, and encourage you to check out Vampire Wars! Click Accept to Play!

Anyone who plays Roller Coaster Kingdom may not be surprised that it will be closing; people have been asking if the game is dead since February. Many players state that the game has gone downhill because it has had little developer feedback in the past few months. While 1 million monthly active players may be a low number on Zynga's terms, most game developers on Facebook will not even come close to that kind of traffic. It's apparent that the revenue coming in from Roller Coaster Kingdom wasn't paying the bills to continue supporting the game.

Interestingly, it appears that Zynga are heavily pushing players over to Vampire Wars, a game that isn't doing spectacular either. At one point, Vampire Wars was up over 4 million players, but is now hovering around 2 million. If you had purchased Coaster Cash, the above message in Roller Coaster Kingdom will offer you Favor Points in Vampire Wars for clicking "Accept".

This is the first game that Zynga has sunsetted, and June 29th will be a disappointing day for the 60,000+ people who were playing it every day.

Why do you think Zynga are closing Roller Coaster Kingdom? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

 

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First Look: Fashion World makes shopping a social experience

Posted: 27 Jun 2010 11:26 AM PDT

Fashion World is a new game on the Facebook gaming scene that has captured the attention of over 1 million people in just a short month. Released in early June by Metrogames (the company in which Playdom invested 5 million dollars earlier this year), this clothes creation game is essentially a hybrid of Cafe World or Restaurant City combined with Mall World. In Fashion World, the player owns their own store. Instead of just buying the clothing and accessories from a catalog such as Mall World, players in Fashion World have to sew and create their own items. This is the part that feels very much like a baking game, because each item needs to go through a quick clicking process to get started: sewing, cutting, putting buttons on, etc.

Creating new clothing items to sell in your store is as easy as clicking on the sewing machine provided for you and then selecting an article of clothing you wish to create. Each article of clothing takes a different length of time to complete, anywhere from 5 minutes to several days. The longer it takes to create, the more coins and XP you will get for producing it. After your item has been finished, you then have to click on it and transfer it to a rack in your store. Once it is on a rack, there is a limited quantity that can either be purchased by computer-generated shoppers, or your friends.

One thing that sets Fashion World apart is the shopping experience being more social. When you visit a neighbor's store, you can see all of the clothing and accessories they are selling on their racks. You can then click on the clothing and buy directly from your friends. Any clothing that you buy from your friends will be added to your inventory and can be worn by your avatar (or sold again). This gives players the option to collect clothing, mix and match attire, and choose whether they wish to shop for their clothing or create it themselves. One thing is for sure, creating clothing and knowing that your friends can shop in your store is a very virtual world experience that doesn't have many comparisons to other Facebook games.


Over all, Fashion World plays very simply, much like all the other Facebook games. A brief tutorial walks you through the main game loop and gives you just enough to get you started and leave you interested enough to keep exploring. A quick perusal through the store shows that players can decorate using all sorts of interior design techniques, including buying decorations and changing out the walls and carpet. Stores can be expanded using either Facebook Credits or coins (if you have enough neighbors)



On the exterior, Fashion World is very pleasant to look at. It's bright and colorful, whimsical, and resembles many other games. I personally feel this is the best fashion-themed game so far, with the ability to buy and shop at your friend's houses, and a more involved clothing creation process. At just over 1 million monthly actives this month alone, Fashion World is a game that we're going to be keeping a close eye on. It seems like Metrogames was a good investment for Playdom, and we can't wait to see what comes next.

Play Fashion World on Facebook >

 

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