Zynga: Life's a pretty large playground for Farmville creator
If you walk into social game-maker Zynga's offices, you might be confused as to whether you are in their building or in one of the fantasy worlds Zynga's games represent.
By Rituparna Chatterjee, ET Bureau |
If you walk into social game-maker Zynga’s offices, you might be confused as to whether you are in their building or in one of the fantasy worlds Zynga’s games represent. It is because the company goes deep into the world that its games portray.
So, if you walk into the office section where its brand new game Castleville is being worked upon, chances are you might find books and movies about princesses and fairytales as well as medieval toys, swords, wizard hats, castles and so on. “In order to create fun, you need a fun environment.
All of this helped us create an environment of play, which offers fun but also helps with details like how to build a castle wall for instance,” says Bill Jackson, a creative director at Zynga who led the Castleville team. The game offers players a chance to build a castle of their dreams.
All these fun details offered a play so immersive that within just six days of launching, Castleville had over 5 million active users. Being a social games maker also means listening to audience preferences and making changes. “These are not games that we just play. These are games that we make with our players,” says Jackson.
“Once we launch the game, we are asking players the same thing: 'how can we make it more fun for you?’” So changes have to be made. With Castleville, for instance, the players' verdict was that 'beasties' appeared too often, so Zynga had to reduce the frequency of their appearances. And if you don't listen non-stop, chances are your players could find another playground to play at.
For instance, look at Farmville, the Facebook game that catapulted Zynga into stardom. In mid-November alone, Farmville had lost approximately 500,000 of its daily active users (Source: Appdata). What drives Zynga is the premium it places on players’ opinions. But this fun-creation process also poses a challenge.
"There is so much information so how do you process that feedback? It is a management challenge," says Jackson. To better tackle this, Zynga is organising its feedback channels and working on its mission for 2012—of creating a platform for connected play, wherein people can play whenever they can.
So, if you walk into the office section where its brand new game Castleville is being worked upon, chances are you might find books and movies about princesses and fairytales as well as medieval toys, swords, wizard hats, castles and so on. “In order to create fun, you need a fun environment.
All of this helped us create an environment of play, which offers fun but also helps with details like how to build a castle wall for instance,” says Bill Jackson, a creative director at Zynga who led the Castleville team. The game offers players a chance to build a castle of their dreams.
All these fun details offered a play so immersive that within just six days of launching, Castleville had over 5 million active users. Being a social games maker also means listening to audience preferences and making changes. “These are not games that we just play. These are games that we make with our players,” says Jackson.
“Once we launch the game, we are asking players the same thing: 'how can we make it more fun for you?’” So changes have to be made. With Castleville, for instance, the players' verdict was that 'beasties' appeared too often, so Zynga had to reduce the frequency of their appearances. And if you don't listen non-stop, chances are your players could find another playground to play at.
For instance, look at Farmville, the Facebook game that catapulted Zynga into stardom. In mid-November alone, Farmville had lost approximately 500,000 of its daily active users (Source: Appdata). What drives Zynga is the premium it places on players’ opinions. But this fun-creation process also poses a challenge.
ADVERTISEMENT
"There is so much information so how do you process that feedback? It is a management challenge," says Jackson. To better tackle this, Zynga is organising its feedback channels and working on its mission for 2012—of creating a platform for connected play, wherein people can play whenever they can.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
Related Articles
Zynga's FarmVille game will be mobile-only after Adobe ends Flash Player support from Jan 1ADVERTISEMENT
