Panel - 4 Keys to a Successful Social Game that All Game Developers Should Know
Moderator: Sana Choudary, Traffichoney
Dan Fiden, Playfish
David Stewart, Playdom
Gavin Barrett, Crowdstar
Mark Skaggs, Zynga
Each panelist was asked to give four words that are key to social.
Dan Fiden - Games must be social, relatable, rewarding, and simple with emergent complexity.
David Stewart - Games must be Appealing, addictive, social, and fun
Gavin Barrett - Quality, (didn't get the rest. I don't think Gavin was too keen on the arbitrary number of four)
Mark Skaggs - mass market, invest (feel excited about putting in your time), relationships
Examples of games that crossed over successfully into the social space - Bejeweled Blitz
To make a game succeed as a social game, add the social factors in from the onset.
Knowing how to tie in to the social network (API wise) is important. Know the deep features of your social networks if you want to take best advantage of it.
The social space is changing, and trying to copy an existing success business-model-wise probably will not work.
Make sure your game is a game that people want to return to. You can sell your game all day, but if people don't come back to it, it'll all be for naught.
They're all hiring and are in acquisition mode.
More large and small developers will be jumping into the social casual games space.
All of their social games have two currencies. Playdom has a couple of PhD economists who manage the in-game economy to be sustainable.
"How Leaky Is Your Bucket" - Getting a high rate of return from a user is nice, but if he doesn't come back, then you're not doing well.
