E3 2012: Fashion Hazard on iPad: Finally, a girl game with gusto

Who knew that it would take media monument Conde Nast to create a mobile fashion game that isn't a snore fest? The famed publisher of Vogue has assembled a crack team of mobile game makers to create Fashion Hazard, the company's first game for iPhone and iPad that's set to launch this July for a cool $.99. Fashion Hazard sends players across the runway as one of two models, throwing numerous obstacles, bonuses and challenges in their path.

The Unity-developed, (almost) endless runner takes some smart cues from hits like Temple Run and Subway Surfers, but tailors the entire experience toward lady gamers. (You know, the same audience that CrowdStar seems to have struck gold with?) You might be in doubt that a print-turned-hybrid media company can make a decent digital diversion, but here we are, and for one simple reason.

Unlike the lot of games geared toward women on mobile devices, Fashion Hazard actually challenges the player's skill in more ways than one. For one, players send a model out on one of four runways across New York, London, Paris and Milan, tilting the device to guide her. The model strolls automatically across the catwalk, leaving the player to swipe up or down at the touch screen to either duck to avoid oncoming trash or hurdle over obstacles.

Along the way, it's the player's job to collect as much "bling" as possible and to jump to catch stars, which unlock special, brief challenge sequences that further test players' reflexes. More specifically, sequences that task players with tapping photographers in order to ensure a successful photo op or tracking an inexplicable circle along a track.

If players successfully reach the end of the runway, they'll earn up to six stars, and this is right where Fashion Hazard falls a bit flat. There's no way for players to brag about their scores or see how they stack up against the competition, a staple in any addictive casual game for iPhone and iPad. While we're told by Conde Nast project lead Juliana Stock that the team didn't want to clutter up Fashion Hazard with social features, that could very well be what it needs to reach Jetpack Joyride-like success.

At any rate, Fashion Hazard succeeds where other fashion games for iPhone and iPad don't in that it respects the fact that some--if not not quite a bit of--women want to be challenged at least a tiny when they steal away precious minutes for game time. Fashion Hazard is due out this July on the App Store, and interested faux fashionistas can learn more here.

Are you excited about Conde Nast's Fashion Hazard? Do you like a challenge in your iPhone games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Metrogames’ Coco Girl Glams Up Facebook Fashion Game Scene

Auto Hustle developer Metrogames revisits the fashion genre with its newest game, Coco Girl, for Facebook. The game launched at the end of September and has already overtaken Fashion World as the developer’s top title, thanks to improvements in graphics and aggressive viral sharing features.

According to our traffic tracking service, AppData, Coco Girl currently enjoys 1.8 million monthly active users and 350,000 daily active users.

Like other fashion games on Facebook, Coco Girl’s core gameplay loop involves obtaining clothes that can be mixed and matched to form outfits. Players control a female avatar that functions like a 2D paper doll posing in various environments that the player navigates using the mouse. Also like other fashion games, the bulk of the play session is spent in virtual shops that offer different styles and pieces of clothing in exchange for virtual currency (Rubies) or Facebook Credits. Players can dress their avatar in two outfits per day, creating a Daily Look and a Quest Look that the game stores each day for other players to vote on. Once worn, an outfit is sent to the cleaners, temporarily removing it from the player’s inventory and forcing them to craft a new outfit with different pieces the next day.

The voting system in Coco Girl is incentivized with Rubies. As part of a daily checklist that can be completed for additional Rubies, players are invited to vote on a number of looks available from a Fashion Expert magazine in the player’s virtual home. Most votes involve a star rating, but there are also alternative votes for “best out of these three” or “thumbs up, thumbs down.” The more closely the player’s vote align with other players’ votes, the more Rubies they earn for participating. Top-voted outfits are made visible to all players from the home location and in the Hall of Fame location.

Where Coco Girl gets interesting is in the player-driven economy, to which the voting process contributes. Aside from the in-game store front and a “catalogue order” location, players can obtain or sell items for Rubies at a marketplace where players determine the price of goods. Prices tend to fluctuate based on which items turn up in the top voted outfits. The developer takes a 10% selling fee, which also impacts price. As many players will sometimes try to offload the same item, the store often features the same item for a variety of prices (see below).

In addition to the fashion economy, Coco Girl also offers a series of mini-games like a slot machine simulation or a connect-the-two-sides puzzle. Players can play these games for free up to three times a day each to earn Rubies as part of the daily checklist. The mini-games also award the player Prize Tickets, which can be spent on bundles of Rubies or on special customization items for your avatar, like a smartphone or guitar accessory.

Social features include an outfit posting system that encourages non-players to vote on Coco Girl outfits both on Facebook Walls, Friend Requests, Twitter, and anywhere the player can post a URL. The player economy is also supported by sharing Wall posts that name which players are ranking with which outfits — and who is buying from or selling to whom. Additionally, players can visit in-game friends’ homes to help speed up their laundry load for outfits at the cleaners.

Coco Girl is primarily monetized through the sale of premium fashion items, which are mixed in on store racks with items available for in-game currency. Players can buy discount cards for Facebook Credits that take a certain percentage off the next 10 items the player buys, regardless of which currency the game charges for that item. Decoration items for the player’s home are also available for Rubies or Credits. Lastly, additional mini-game turns can be purchased for Facebook Credits.

We’ve seen the fashion genre grow quite a bit in the last six months as Facebook game graphics have improved, making for more interesting visual choices. The social aspect of the genre, however, relies on players expression their opinions to other players on what looks good. Coco Girl provides more avenues for expression than most social games — but at times, the steady Wall post and Friend Requests prompts feel oppressive and distract the player from other gameplay objectives.

You can follow the game’s progress on AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

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The Top Fashion Games on Facebook by Traffic

Fashion is a newer social game genre on Facebook compared to farming, fishing, and restaurants, with the potential for growth as developers experiment with expanding the scope of the genre.

Here are the top fashion games on Facebook today by traffic:

Games By Genre: Fashion

The earliest fashion games for Facebook weren’t very complex: dress your avatar and look at the way your friends’ avatars were dressed. These games were limited at the time by technology and by the lower standard of art quality common to successful social games. As the platform matured and this “art bar” rose, however, the fashion genre picked up throughout 2009 and 2010 as developers were able to offer more — and prettier — clothing and accessory items as desirable virtual goods.

Then came the gameplay. Early fashion games suffered from a lack of a core gameplay loop because the reward was the same as the activity: buying the clothes. To add some sense of challenge, newer fashion games introduced energy and resource gauges that essentially limited how much a player could shop. Other games relied on different core gameplay elements, like throwing parties or getting jobs as a means of creating something for the player to do to earn the resources to spend on clothes.

Other games introduced the concept of competition, where the way a player dressed their avatar determined the type and quantity of gameplay rewards they reaped from “fights” or other fashion contests. This is also where social features became a natural element in fashion games as friends could not only gift resources, but potentially add statistic bonuses in competition modes.

Monetization occurs in fashion games mostly in the sale of fashion items and later the energy and resource items. Some games introduced additional commodities (e.g. It Girl allowed players to purchase clique members) or mini-games players could pay to play in order to win more items, like a daily spin-the-wheel activity. It could be the real challenge of monetization in the fashion genre comes from their core demographic: teen girls without much disposable income to spend on social games.

As the Facebook platform has matured and many developers are at the point in their development cycle where they want to work on new games instead of supporting old ones, fashion games now face a new challenge: how to automate the creation of new content so that the developer isn’t responsible for making new fashion items for the game. After all, “fashion” is only as good as the items for sale; and not all developers have the resources to keep making new content indefinitely.

This is where developers have the potential to expand: user-generated content. Already, games like the recently released Fashion Designer have players creating their own fashion items. The actual marketplace for the exchange or sale of user-created clothing isn’t very robust at the point, however, with Fashion Designer only allows players to vote on or purchase user-made items for use within their own game.

Moreover, there are other elements of the fashion industry that could be incorporated into a fashion game to greater effect — such as organizing fashion shows or the business of loaning dresses out for modeling events. Lastly, there is a lack of brand integrations with real-life fashion brands. It Girl has had sponsored stores selling branded virtual goods for outfitters like Old Navy; but what if a fashion game could offer coutuer branded virtual goods?

The possibilities are certainly there and it’s looking like the genre is far from saturated at this point.

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