Game while you can: Anonymous plans Jan. 28 Facebook attack

Anonymous, the worldwide group of hacker activists (a.k.a. "hacktivists"), wants Facebook's head on a platter. In light of the recent shutdown of file sharing service MegaUpload, the group plans to assault the social network with a DDoS, or distributed denial of service, attack at 12 a.m. EST on Jan. 28.

If this actually goes down, Facebook could be inaccessible for some time this Saturday. (And yes, that means no Facebook games.) DDoS attacks, in short, overload a website's servers, rendering it unusable and vulnerable to other security breaches. In fact, a video created by an Anonymous member specifically describes just how to contribute to the scheduled attack.

But why? The video below, which appears to be the work of one Anonymous member rallying fellow members and potential recruits, cites that "While SOPA and PIPA may be postponed from Congress, this does not guarantee that our internet rights will be upheld. For those unaware, there is still ACTA or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement."

Still, Anonymous does not explain what Facebook has to do with this, and that's especially strange considering Facebook publicly opposes both the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. Anonymous has declared war on Facebook several times, none of which were ever made good (or bad?) on.

While Anonymous is generally a unorganized group, it recently rallied to temporarily shut down CBS.com on Sunday morning. The Department of Justice, the Recording Industry Association of America, Universal Music Group, the Motion Picture Association of America and the U.S. Copyright Office all fell victim to Anonymous' attacks last week. So, get in that Facebook game time while you still can this Friday, and make other plans for Saturday.

[Via All Facebook]

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Play CityVille, Army Attack on your iPad with GameBox for Facebook

That is, of course, if you're willing to let go of three bucks. For $2.99, GameBox for Facebook--which, to dispel any confusion, is the name of the iPad app--will allow CityVille and Army Attack players to get their city building (and destroying) fix on the go.

What the app does is take Flash-based games (i.e. almost every Facebook game ever), which Apple devices cannot support, and makes them available for play on the iPad. However, there are several caveats to GameBox.

First of all, CityVille already exists on the iPad, though in a version far different from what's available on Facebook. Second, the app already has a competitor in iSwifter for iPad and Android, which offers a stable of games from not just Facebook, but several other Flash game portals like Kongregate (and the games we host on Games.com). Though, the app is a bit pricier at $4.99.

Of course, GameBox developer Mobi2SNS plans to make more games available through the app in the future, according to Mobile Entertainment. Regardless of how many games either app makes available, there are two issues that face them. For one, getting players to pay to play games on their iPad that they've never payed to play before will be a challenge. More importantly, Facebook's rumored Project Spartan--an initiative to bring the platform along with several apps and games (including Zynga games) to mobile browsers through HTML5--could render both GameBox and iSwifter moot.

Click here to download GameBox for Facebook ... for iPad Now >

[Image Credit: Mobi2SNS, iTunes]

Would you ever pay real cash to play your favorite social games on your mobile device? How do you think Facebook's Project Spartan will affect these apps? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Digital Chocolate’s Marc Metis Explains Army Attack Strategy

Late last month, Digital Chocolate quietly released its newest game, Army Attack, to Facebook just a week or so ahead of Zynga’s debut of a similar product, Empires & Allies. Both games join Global Warfare developer Kabam and several smaller developers in exploring the hardcore strategy genre on Facebook. While we’re still waiting to see which games emerge victorious, we interview Digital Chocolate President Marc Metis on Army Attack’s strategy now that the game is live and the strategy genre growing.

To date, Army Attack has 2.1 million monthly active users and 446,000 daily active users. Empires & Allies has 1.1 million MAU and 526,000 DAU. Global Warfare, meanwhile, has 698,000 MAU and 75,000 DAU. You can follow each of these games’ traffic patterns on AppData, our tracking service for social games and developers.

Inside Social Games: Army Attack launched with a single-player campaign and some light social features that allow players to visit one another’s armies. Will you be adding player-versus-player combat to the game in future iterations?

Marc Metis: We will be rolling out PvP to the game, but we haven’t announced when, yet. We’re also working on other features and some surprises. What we’re trying to do here is create a game that blends [real time strategy] elements with proven Facebook mechanics in a way that’s a real game with deep and satisfying gameplay. Which is difficult to do all at once. Getting a polished game and getting cooperative gameplay has been a starting point, and PvP is a natural evolution that’s been in our road map [since the beginning].

ISG: Did you know about Zynga’s Empires & Allies when you were conceptualizing Army Attack?

Metis: Not when we green-lit the game, no. It’s not as huge surprise, though. It’s a big market and there were other players out there with [strategy] games. We’re trying to deliver a fun and easy to get into experience with real gameplay and depth. We don’t shy away from being a war game. When you jump in, it feels like a war game from the start, not like a citybuilder you’re already playing. We don’t need to build a war game that will appeal to every demographic under the sun. We’re going for it.

ISG: Real time strategy is a genre nobody seems to want to fully realize on Facebook, as the very nature of the platform is asynchronous, which is why so many strategy games are currently turn-based. Which elements of the RTS genre did you focus on for Army Attack, if not the “real time” part?

Metis: You can’t just take [RTS gameplay] and slap that on Facebook in its old incarnations and expect it to work in the same way. Players don’t want that much complexity, but there are a significant number of players that want a deeper, more real gameplay experience.

When we launched the game, we felt no one had yet cracked the code in making a great war themed game on Facebook. We do have that balance of elements where if you want to play it like a traditional RTS, you can move quickly and it will respond virtually when you move and [the enemy characters] will also attack you while you’re away. The AI lets you play how you want. There’s all kinds of signs of life, of battle going on. If you step away from it, there’s not a huge punishment for that. And if you want to slow down and think strategically, you can pause as well. That lifts the best elements of RTS and turn-based games.

ISG: A core element to strategy games, especially ones that feature PvP combat, is the idea of losing. We’ve heard developers say that it’s actually difficult to encourage strategy gamers to attack one another initially because the Facebook demographic seems to be conflict averse. Especially when it’s people from their friends list they’re attacking.

Metis: We have some experience in this area with MMA Pro Fighter and we’ve taken lessons from that [game] to advance our approach [to combat]. We believe that you don’t have to part ways with friends in real life because of a game, you just have to approach it reasonably. People love competition. But we won’t be so punitive that all your efforts and progress get crushed by someone else.

There’s also benefits to competition between people beyond your friends [through random match-ups]. It’s challenging and gets people’s competitive juices flowing, but you feel like it’s fair. If there’s someone just ahead of you, and we haven’t taken something from you or set you back too much, [it feels] both fun and fair. That is one of the differences between truly really hardcore games on other platforms [and our games].

ISG: You’ve alluded to the concept of “real” games on Facebook for “real” gamers. What do you mean when you say “real” in this context?

Metis: You know it when you see it. We try and have games that go beyond simple click compulsion and have some strategy elements. The core idea that [the game] is easy to get into, but if you choose to master it, you can go a lot deeper. There’s a few ways [to definite] real gaming.

[For gamers], there are groups of people who spend money on games, spend money regularly on games, or spend an inordinate amount of time on games and openly consider games to be their hobby. This is in contrast to people who will play games, but won’t identify with the experience. Or [people] who will spend time in a game, but not spend money on it. There is a difference between a simple time-wasting diversion and something you want to spend time and money on.

There’s some correlation between types of games people will spend money on and types that are pure diversions. Not all games that have high MAUs monetize, not all of them serve people who identify as [gamers]. If you offer games that go beyond the simple click compulsion with elements of strategy and competition, and allow them to go deeper than what [they] find in the first sessions of gameplay, you can tap into [both] those audiences. Few companies are well positions to understand both, [because] hardcore gaming as it’s been defined by [video game] consoles [is different from] the very specific approaches and mechanics on Facebook, which in many ways are a world of their own.

ISG: So now that Army Attack is live and set for some content updates, what else can we expect to see from Digital Chocolate in the near future?

Metis: We have a number of other games coming out soon. You’ll also see us using our unique proprietary technology to take our games to other platforms, such as mobile. We started off on Millionaire City, that’s done well for us on mobile on both iPhone and Android. Don’t be surprised when you see Zombie Lane on a mobile platform in the future.

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Army Attack Blends Real Time Strategy, Treasure Hunting Genres to Create Deep Singleplayer Experience

Army Attack is the latest game from Millionaire City developer Digital Chocolate. The just-launched game focuses on single-player gameplay while incorporating social features to encourage collaboration, interaction and cooperation between players.

According to our traffic tracking service, AppData, Army Attack currently has 33,304 monthly active users and 28,370 daily active users.

Gameplay in Army Attack blends real time strategy combat with a bit of the treasure-hunting social game genre. The player’s military units take it in turns to explore the grid-based map, “conquering” unexplored squares as they go, acquiring items, experience, standard currency and energy randomly along the way. Obstacles can be destroyed by the player’s units, with thematically-appropriate items being released from the various structures. For example, the player can earn enemy intelligence to spend on expanding the play area by destroying “propaganda towers.” Discovered enemy units can be engaged in combat, with defeated vanishing from the map.

Strategy comes from unit placement as attacking units receive a bonus when allied units occupy squares adjacent to both the attacking unit and the target. It costs at least one energy to move a unit to a square and depending on what squares the player has “conquered,” it can be a challenge to maneuver units into a bonus-friendly firing position without spending the entire energy gauge. Moreover, tnemy units get similar firing bonuses, so players must consider attack formations before sending off single units into unknown regions of the map where clusters of enemies might wait.

Army Attack also features a base-building mechanic which is introduced via a series of missions. Producing buildings requires both energy and several resources, the latter of which can either be collected from destroyed structures and enemies or traded with friends. Players can set up a “wishlist” of items that they need and publish this to their wall so their Facebook friends who are also playing the game can help out. Resources can also be used to acquire “fire missions,” which are very strong attacks which the player can inflict on the enemy if they’re encountering a particularly tough challenge.

Lastly, there’s a supply chain from the structure the player builds to the towns the players liberate. Generating supplies from specific locations nets the player additional standard currency. The larger the town or city, the better the payout for supplies provided, though the larger towns and cities take longer to payout.

Despite the violent subject matter, the presentation of Army Attack is similar to a children’s cartoon, with defeated units exploding in puffs of smoke and dropped items rather than any show of gore. The presentation is somewhat reminiscent of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS Advance Wars real time strategy series, so players who enjoy gaming on dedicated platforms will feel right at home.

The game is monetized exclusively with Facebook Credits as the premium currency players use to purchase in-game items and boosts. Players can also use Facebook Credits to buy the standard form of currency, Cash. Certain mission objectives and building resources can also be bought with Facebook Credits, though this is not always possible, and buildings can either be instantly completed as well. Certain particularly strong or useful buildings and units can only be produced through spending Facebook Credits. Buying new maps for the player to conquer can be done with a combination of Cash and the Intel resource that can be gifted by friends.

At present, the game offers three opponents to defeat throughout the course of the single-player campaign. Social features appear to be limited to visiting friends’ maps and gifting; which is interesting, as it seems this type of combat would lend itself to competitive multiplayer. As the game only just launched May 20, we expect to see additional features introduced into Army Attack as the game scales.

In the meantime, you can follow Army Attack’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking application for social games and developers.

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Army Attack Leads This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Games by DAU

Looks like we spoke too soon about Playdom’s Deep Realms possibly gaining ground in daily active users. It falls off this week’s list of fastest-growing games by DAU, as recorded by AppData, to be replaced by Digital Chocolate’s new game, Army Attack.

At number two on the list, we see the Facebook version of mobile social network Foursquare, which sort of a strange addition to a social games list. Technically it is a game because it rewards points and badges to people for “checking in” to locations with their GPS-enabled devices. Its “Facebook game” label, however, is tenuous at best because you don’t really play Foursquare on Facebook so much as use Facebook to get to Foursquare. In any case, the Facebook Foursquare app has had a troubled history and today’s DAU spike seems to be a temporary high in an overall low.

Be sure to watch this space in the next four to six weeks for an emerging growth race between the rapidly up-and-coming Army Attack and Zynga’s just-released Empires & Allies similar to what we saw in the hidden object genre with Gardens of Time and Mystery Manor. Army Attack and Empires & Allies share a genre and similar gameplay elements, asking players to build up structures that produce military units to send into battle, much like classic real time strategy video games. Unlike classic RTS games, however, both Army Attack and Empires & Allies make use of asynchronous turn-based combat to better suit the Facebook audience. At this time, only Empires & Allies claims a live feature that allows players to attack friends’ armies.

It is unclear whether or not Digital Chocolate and Zynga were aware of each other’s games while in the early development phases. We observe that as more developers from traditional video games arrive in the social games space, many of them eventually try to recreate the genres with which they are most familiar. The RTS and generalized strategy genre is one of the oldest in video games; so it’s not difficult to imagine that two companies staffed with ex-core video game developers could come up with similar social games without external market influence. Doesn’t mean some espionage didn’t happen — we are talking about strategy, after all.

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top emerging apps on Friday.

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