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Showing posts with label Chronicles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chronicles. Show all posts
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Hidden Chronicles Rendez-vous Deja Vu Quests: Everything you need to know
by Brandy Shaul, Posted Sep 25th 2012 8:50PM
The Ophidian Threat has become a major cause for concern in the storyline within Hidden Chornicles, and it's time for you to head out into the world to stop it. Your first stop is Paris, which contains brand new scenes for you to explore and quests for you to complete. There are three parts to this new Rendez-vous Deja Vu feature, and we're here to help you get started on finishing them off!
The Ophidian Threat has become a major cause for concern in the storyline within Hidden Chornicles, and it's time for you to head out into the world to stop it. Your first stop is Paris, which contains brand new scenes for you to explore and quests for you to complete. There are three parts to this new Rendez-vous Deja Vu feature, and we're here to help you get started on finishing them off!
Rendez-vous Deja Vu Part 1: 1 of 3 Play Paris Balcony SceneHide 3 Gifts
You'll receive this Paris Balcony scene for free when starting this quest series, so simply jump in and complete it to move on. You'll earn 250 coins, 45 XP and a Star for completing this quest. This Star is used only in this Around the World event, and you can keep track of your stars via the meter at the bottom of the screen. When you fill the meter, you'll receive the Eiffel Tower as your reward.
Rendez-vous Deja Vu Part 1: 2 of 3 Gather 2 Paris PostcardsFind Binoculars in the Paris Balcony Scene
The Paris Postcards are earned by posting a general news item on your wall for help. You'll receive another Star, 45 XP and 250 coins for completing this second quest.
Rendez-vous Deja Vu Part 1: 3 of 3 Earn 3 Trophies in the Paris Balcony ScenePlay 4 ScenesGet 1 Set Puzzle Piece
When you complete this final quest in Part 1, you'll unlock a second Parisian scene at a new Paris Bistro. Now that you've finished Part 1, stay tuned for more on this new Around the World feature, as we work our way towards earning those awesome Eiffel Towers for our Estates!
What do you think of this Around the World feature and the new Paris scenes? Sound off in the comments!
Tags: around the world, hidden chronicles around the world, hidden chronicles quests, hidden chronicles rendez-vous déjà vu, zyngaTuesday, May 8, 2012
Hidden Chronicles Coin Fountain: Win up to 1 million coins each day
While coins may not be as important as energy in Hidden Chronicles, they still allow you to purchase all sorts of decorations and buildings for your estate, which can then be used to unlock additional scenes. Since this is a cycle that we can't really avoid, why not help increase you in-game bank account by adding to it with up to one million coins each and every day? You can now have a chance at doing just that by building the Coin Fountain on your Estate. The Coin Fountain requires building parts to construct:
3 Aqua Vitae8 Fintail Goldfish5 Marble Blocks4 Mosaic Tiles1 TridentThe Marble Blocks and Tridents are earned by asking your friends to send them to you via individual requests, while the other three items are earned via general news posts on your wall. Once the Coin Fountain is finished, you'll be able to collect from it once every nine seconds for a chance at up to 1 million coins.
To be specific, you'll spend two energy each time you wish to collect from the fountain, and are guaranteed to get some amount of coins in return - that's right, this is the first time a fountain has ever given us coins, rather than the other way around. There's no guarantee that the coins you'll receive will be great or small, but there is a chance for one million coins, which would definitely be worth the two energy investment, wouldn't you say?
What do you think of this Coin Fountain? What would you do if you received 1 million coins in Hidden Chronicles? Sound off in the comments.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Hidden Chronicles finds its way to Facebook’s top 5 Hidden Object games
Hidden object games on Facebook aren’t nearly as prevalent as farm or citybuilding sims, but they’re gaining ground among monthly and daily active users. Two of April’s top 25 Facebook games were from the genre: Zynga’s Hidden Chronicles (at No. 3 in MAU and No. 4 in DAU) and Disney Playdom’s Gardens of Time (at No. 23 in MAU and No. 21 in DAU). Here’s a look the top five hidden object on Facebook games by traffic.
Editor’s Note: Facebook is currently experiencing data reporting delays for MAU and DAU numbers since April 5, 2012. Facebook is working to resolve this issue and we’ve backdated our traffic analysis to April 5, 2012.
1. Hidden Chronicles, Zynga — 33.4 Million MAU, 6.2 Million DAU
Zynga’s Hidden Chronicles quickly became one of the company’s top-performing titles when it launched in January. Traffic peaked at 33.4 million MAU on Feb. 22, 2012 and has been in decline for the past couple of months. The game’s DAU shows a different pattern, however, with a number of gains and drops. Between March 21 and March 22, Hidden Chronicles spiked to 7.4 million DAU, nearly matching its February 10 peak of 7.5 million DAU. It’s now back down to 6.2 million DAU.
Hidden Chronicles asks players to solve the mystery of their uncle’s disappearance, uncovering clues as they play through various painted hidden object scenes. Players are also tasked with restoring their uncle’s mansion with items purchased from the in-game store and unlocking new areas to explore by earning trophies and reaching other milestones like accumulating a certain amount of soft currency and clues. These milestones and the online leaderboards encourage players to replay scenes in order, and Zynga also seems to be getting on the player-created content bandwagon, as the company held a contest in February to let players design scenes that would be included in the game.
As the most recent game to launch on this list, Hidden Chronicles features many of the same monetization techniques that other hidden object titles use: Players are encouraged to purchase hard currency in order to replenish energy, bypass milestones and acquire premium vanity items for the manor grounds. Note that the game also benefits from Zynga’s massive cross-promotion network and is playable on Zynga’s recently launched platform.
2. Gardens of Time, Playdom — 5.8 Million MAU, 1.3 Million DAU
Disney Playdom’s Gardens of Time continues to bring in high traffic numbers, even though its past its 17.2 million MAU prime seen in September 2011, at just 5.8 million MAU as of April 5. The game’s DAU has dropped from its 4 million peak from August 2011 to 1.3 million DAU.
Gardens of Time casts players as agents recruited by the Time Society, which sends them on missions throughout history to find clues, solve mysteries and prevent other groups from abusing time travel for their own gain. Hidden object gameplay takes place on various painted historiogeographic scenes, including Victorian England and Ancient Egypt. There’s also a citybuilding/decoration mechanic courtesy of the Time Garden, which players are encouraged to expand as the game progresses.
Monetization occurs via hard currency, which can be used to speed up production on vanity pieces and purchase energy in order to continue playing through hidden object scenes.
3. Blackwood & Bell Mysteries, Playdom — 2.2 Million MAU, 430,000 DAU
Blackwood & Bell is Playdom’s first spiritual successor to Gardens of Time. The game launched in March of 2012 and hit peaks of 2.5 million MAU and 510,000 DAU in that same month. The game now claims 2.2 million MAU and 430,000 fDAU.
Like the other hidden object games on this list, players are tasked with solving a larger mystery via hidden object scenes and building up a section of property (the “Evidence Yard” in this case). Players also pick up “clue” objects in the scenes they play through, which are tied to the ongoing story of the game. What helps differentiate the game from others in the genre is its “Sleuth Challenge” feature, allowing players to engage in asynchronous matches where friends try to find as many hidden objects as possible.
Playdom launched Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers today and the title will undoubtedly draw players thanks to the Disney name. As a result, Blackwood & Bell Mysteries may very well be overshadowed by both of the studio’s other hidden object games in the coming months.
4. Mystery Manor, Game Insight — 990,000 MAU, 250,000 DAU
Game Insight’s Mystery Manor has the most erratic traffic of any title on this list, thanks to its large spikes. Just two months after it launched in April 2011, reached nearly 2.2 million MAU before dipping to 1.76 million MAU in July 2011. Traffic jumped again in October to 3.8 million before sliding back down to its current levels at 990,000 MAU. Mystery Manor’s DAU shows a nearly identical pattern: It reached 338,000 DAU in June 2011, dropped to 296,000 DAU in July 2011, bounced to 602,000 DAU in September 2011 and is currently at 250,000 DAU. These jumps in traffic could be related to 6waves’ publishing and cross-promotion, to the game’s iPad release (in winter 2011) or to other user acquisition activities.
The story in Mystery Manor has players trying to escape from a mansion they’ve suddenly become trapped in, accomplished by searching rooms for clues and (hopefully) finding a way out. Hidden object gameplay takes place in painted rooms, while players navigate around the manor via a 2D map and unlock new rooms via milestones. Aside from leaderboards, the game features an additional social mechanic by placing friends on a player’s map. Visiting players provide daily powerups for their friends, and can also earn additional soft currency and special items when they visit another person’s map by clicking on different rooms.
5. Hidden Haunts, Making Fun — 470,000 MAU, 50,000 DAU
Making Fun’s Hidden Haunts peaked in March 2012 at 560,000 MAU and is currently sitting at 470,000 MAU. The game’s highest DAU activity was on March 14 with 90,000 DAU, which has since dropped down to 50,000 DAU.
Hidden Haunts puts players in charge of a team of “specialists” tasked with getting rid of a town’s ghost problem, with various story chapters taking place in different haunted buildings. The plot was originally going to include a missing relative players were searching for, but it was changed in order to distinguish the game from Hidden Chronicles and World Mysteries.
Hidden Haunts stands out from the crowd — for better or for worse — thanks to its graphics and building mechanics. The game utilizes photorealistic imagery instead of the painted scenery that’s currently the norm. While it’s notable that using photographs to create the game’s content is certainly a different approach, it’s been noted this makes the gameplay much more difficult because items are harder to identify. Instead of expanding a base, players build out from villages and eventually turn them into sprawling, haunted cities. This portion of the game plays similar to other city builders, and reaching certain milestones unlocks new scenes to play through.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Hidden Chronicles Gardening Storage: Everything you need to know
With all of the decorations that you could potentially have placed on the grounds of your Manor in Hidden Chronicles (on top of the buildings you're required to construct for quests), it's safe to say that you might be running out of room for more items. Since you're limited to the number of scenes you can explore based on the number of Estate Points your Manor has, you'll need all of the space you can get for these items. This leaves us at a bit of a brick wall, as you might struggle to expand your Manor while still not having any room to unlock more scenes. To solve this problem, you can now place a Gardening Storage shed on your Manor, which will allow you to store up to 16 different items once its built.
The key here is the "building" portion of this feature, as you'll need to collect construction materials before you can actually use it. You'll need to ask your friends to send you five each of Acrylic Sheets, Glass Cutters, Sandpaper and Tar Paper, and will also need to post general requests on your wall for five Ladders and five Watering Cans.
When this is done, you'll have a new icon available when you click on the Arrow in the game's lower right-hand menu (the button you would click on if you wanted to sell, rotate or move something in your Manor). Now, a new Store icon will allow you to use one of your 16 storage spaces per individual item, regardless of its size. There's no word yet on whether or not storage expansions will come to this Gardening Storage shed, but hopefully, 16 spaces is enough to get you by for now.
Good luck completing your Gardening Storage shed and clearing up that much needed room on your land!
What do you think of this new storage option in Hidden Chronicles? Had you ran out of room long ago for new items, or will you just build one of these in anticipation of eventually needing to free up some space? Sound off in the comments.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Hidden Chronicles Teapot Tussle: Everything you need to know
A new limited edition event has launched in Hidden Chronicles this week, with Oliver finding an antique silver teapot, the ownership of which is in question. Oliver wants to own the teapot for himself, and needs your help in making that happen. There are three scenes to unlock via these Teapot Tussle quests, but only one scene is available as of this writing: Kids' Tea Party. We're here with a look at the quests that are available in this event so far, so let's get started. Teapot Tussle 1 of 3: Place a Decoration from the Silver Teapot set on your EstateGet 3 Tea Cups
The Tea Cups come by way of individual requests sent to friends. A fairly cheap item in the Silver Teapot is the Teapot Topiary, which costs just 185 coins to purchase (it adds 18 Estate Points to your total, for the record). When you finish this quest, you'll receive two energy.
Teapot Tussle 2 of 3: Have 1,500 coinsPlay FastFind Once
Finishing this quest gives you 190 coins, 35 XP and two more energy.
Teapot Tussle 3 of 3: Get 3 Tea CupsGet 3 Grass SeedsGet 2 Response Cards
You should already have the Tea Cups from the first quest, and shouldn't have to collect anymore. For the Grass Seeds, these are earned through a general news post placed on your wall. Finally, the Response Cards come from more individual requests sent to friends. For finishing this third Teapot Tussle quest, you'll finally unlock the first scene here: the Kids' Tea Party.
We'll make sure to update this space as more of the scenes and quests in this series launch, so keep checking back with us!
What do you think of this Teapot Tussle feature in Hidden Chronicles? Have you already unlocked the Kids' Tea Party scene, or are you just getting started on these quests now? Sound off in the comments.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Hidden Chronicles passes FarmVille and CastleVille, becomes #3 Facebook game
And Zynga has done it yet again. Proving that the hidden object genre can definitely work to attract a crowd on Facebook, Zynga's Hidden Chronicles has skyrocketed up the AppData charts for top Facebook games, and now sits in spot #3, just behind Zynga Poker and, of course, CityVille. Hidden Chronicles has gained 2.9 million players in just the last seven days, and now sits at 31.2 million monthly active players and 7 million daily active players. Meanwhile, CastleVille and FarmVille now sit at places #4 and #5, with 29.5 million and 28.3 million monthly players, respectively.
The Hidden Chronicles cross-promotions definitely seem to have been a major factor here, as the charts really started to climb around January 20, when those promotions started launching. Still, the promise of free items in other Zynga games can only go so far, as users look to be sticking around for the long haul, at least for now. Will Hidden Chronicles continue to climb at such a steady rate? Could CityVille have another challenger in the arena for top Facebook game? We'll make sure to keep an eye on things and will let you know if Hidden Chronicles pulls off what seems to be the impossible: dethroning CityVille.
Have you jumped into Hidden Chronicles yet? What do you think of Zynga's take on the hidden object genre? Sound off in the comments.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Hidden Chronicles, Words With Friends top this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by MAU
Zynga’s Hidden Chronicles once again tops our list of fastest-growing Facebook games by monthly active users.
All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top emerging apps on Friday.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Hidden Chronicles: Zynga joins Good Morning America in national coat drive
For the past week, Josh Elliott of ABC's Good Morning America has been bouncing around ABC talk shows and visiting celebs in an effort to bring in one million coats for the Warm Coats, Warm Hearts national donation drive. So far, exactly 963,583 coats have been collected. In an effort to bring their numbers over the edge, GMA, who has been running this drive with Burlington Coat Factory since 2007, has partnered with Zynga's Hidden Chronicles to provide a special, in-game offer. Players who donate $5 USD to the Warm Coats, Warm Hearts drive through the game will receive the following four rewards: 40 Energy, a Warm Coats Heart decoration piece, a Jewelry Store level scene, and 20 Estate Cash (the game's premium currency). Normally, paying for the game's $5 package gets you the choice of 34 Estate Cash or 5,000 Coins.
This isn't the first time Zynga has reached out to GMA. Josh Elliot, along with ABC anchorwoman Lara Spencer, earned themselves an official CastleVille makeover when they visited the Zynga HQ last November.
Will you be donating to the national coat drive by using Zynga's game? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Friday, January 20, 2012
Hidden Chronicles tops this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by MAU
Though we can assume Zynga is leveraging its massive cross-promotion platform to guide users to its newest game, Hidden Chronicles appears to be growing at a much more modest rate than Zynga games released in mid to late 2011. This could be due to the genre of the game, or it could be that Zynga is exercising more caution in flooding new games with users. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see if Hidden Chronicles can break through the one month wall where most of Zynga’s newer games have stopped growing.
All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top emerging apps on Friday.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Zynga’s Hidden Chronicles launches today on Facebook
The game was developed in San Francisco by a team of established video game industry veterans hired by Zynga for the project. This includes Gabriel Knight creator Jane Jensen, ex-EA art director Margaret Foley-Mouvais and longtime hidden object developer Cara Ely. as we’ve previously mentioned, the effort Zynga put into building this team suggests a deeper level of commitment to the hidden object genre than a low-cost reskin of rival hidden object games Gardens of Time (Disney Playdom) or Mystery Manor (Game Insight).
In Hidden Chronicles, players are invited to solve the mystery of their fictional uncle’s disappearance in his mansion. Solving the mystery involves completing hidden object puzzles both within the mansion and in other areas on the mansion grounds. Each puzzle completed earns the player soft currency, experience points, a static ranking called Estate Points and potentially unlocks news puzzles in different parts of the mansion. Completing all puzzles in a specific location (or “Chapter”) earns the player another clue in the larger mystery of the uncle’s fate.
The hidden object puzzles themselves are more like Gardens of Time than than Mystery Manor. For example, objects remain in the same locations no matter how many times a player attempts a puzzle with only the specific list of objects that the player needs to find changing with each play. Additionally, finding objects in quick succession nets the player a scoring bonus, which earns the player additional rewards like the premium currency Trophies. At launch, the game will only feature one hint item within the puzzles — a spyglass that reveals the general area of where an object is. Ely tells us that additional hint items will be made available through friend gifting or reaching a certain level.
Taking a page from CastleVille’s book, Hidden Chronicles uses Trophies as a means to extend gameplay through land expansions around the uncle’s mansion. Some sections of land contain additional puzzle sites that flesh out the story — such as a tree house area behind the mansion — while others can be used as decoration space, which increases the player’s Estate Points with each decoration purchased. New land expansions also cost the player coins and clue items that can be gifted by friends or purchased with premium currency.
Aside from the traditional single-player hidden object games, Hidden Chronicles also offers mini-games like jigsaw puzzles or card matching as a break from the typical gameplay. The game also features a competitive head-to-head mode where two players race to find as many objects as they can in 60 seconds on special levels. At launch, this mode will allow players to challenge a friend or rematch a friend only once per day each. Ely explains that Zynga may adjust the cap to challenges based on player level.
Beyond the head-to-head mode, social features in Hidden Chronicles are limited to gifting clue items, visiting friends to earn the standard Reputation soft currency featured in most Zynga games, and achievement posts that appear on player walls and news feeds. Interestingly, the wall and news feed stories offer word scrambles rather than the traditional bragging text. Though solving the scramble doesn’t actually have any effect on the game itself, it’ll be interesting to see if the mechanic is more compelling than brag posts that invite players to click to earn in-game rewards.
The game monetizes primarily through level unlocks. It appears as though all puzzles in the game can be unlocked if the player has enough coins, Reputation, Estate Points, Clues and/or is a high enough level. These components can be bought and the requirements bypassed with premium currency (purchased with Facebook Credits), which allows the player to progress through the game more quickly.
Hidden Chronicles launches on Facebook today. Zynga’s last game, CastleVille, currently enjoys 37.1 million monthly active users and 6.7 million daily active users as tracked by our traffic monitoring service, AppData.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Hidden Chronicles on Facebook: Zynga's echo of a growing trend
Hidden-object games are nothing new, and they're not even new to Facebook. When Zynga announced Hidden Chronicles late last year, it was tough not to assume it was simply the company's echo of that trend. While it might not necessarily be a bad thing for super fans of the genre, that's exactly what Hidden Chronicles is, save for a few interesting enhancements. After a first look at the game, courtesy of creative director Cara Ely, it's clear that Hidden Chronicles is an intriguing, more mature step for Zynga. And much of that is likely thanks to Ely's expertise: Before joining Zynga, she spent five years crafting hidden-object games for companies like Sierra Online and iPlay. In short, she knows her stuff, and it shows in Hidden Chronicles throughout. But while it's a slightly more mature experience, Ely promises that newbies won't be left behind.
"This is a game for everyone. If you've ever read Highlights magazine at the dentist's office, that's sort of the childlike version, Ely tells us. "Thematically, we do have this mystery, we have this element of 'The Da Vinci Code' a little bit. There's this thread line of a mystery throughout. I think the storyline is certainly a bit more sophisticated."
So, instead of wasting valuable words discussing how Hidden Chronicles plays, an attempt should be made to explore what's new about this hidden-object game. When compared to the downloadable item-finders of yore, Hidden Chronicles is far more social, boasting leader boards and even 60-second scenes that Facebook friends can challenge one another with, called Fast Finds. Ely likens these to the turn-based play of Words With Friends. 
But that's only how it's different from traditional games in the genre. How does it stand out from its social competition? Players can also find, yes, more hidden-object scenarios to complete by exploring the manor's massive acreage. "You can see something we've really learned from CastleVille," Ely admits, "players love exploring and finding new things on their game board."
Hidden Chronicles appears to do a wonderful job in the visuals and sound department, a Facebook experience perhaps only a studio with Zynga's resources can provide. Ely's vast experience in the hidden-object world shines throughout, and will especially blow away those who have yet to play such a game on Facebook. And while even those that have might have a similar reaction, Hidden Chronicles looks as if it's an (far more robust) echo of those games. Hidden Chronicles launches today on Facebook in 15 languages.
Click here to play Hidden Chronicles on Facebook Now >
What do you think of Hidden Chronicles based on this first look? Is this different enough for you from what's already available? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.
