Pocket Gems and W3i expand Android monetization partnership

Social mobile game company Pocket Gems announced it’s expanding its existing partnership with W3i. Under the expansion, W3i will provide monetization solutions for two more of Pocket Gems’ Android games, Tap Paradise Cove and Campus Life.

W3i will also provide monetization solutions for Pocket Gems’ other Android games and Pocket Gems will expand the use of W3i’s Offer Exchange. The Offer Exchange provides offers courtesy of an offer wall and featured alerts. Ad units, meanwhile, include videos and app installations, which means Pocket Gems can implement advertising in its Android games without having to integrate offer networks into its titles.

Tap Paradise Cove originally came out for iOS in March 2012 and is still going strong. Our AppData traffic tracking service shows the game is still the No. 39 top grossing app, the No. 25 top grossing iPad app, the No. 28 top grossing iPad game and the No. 37 top grossing game. Campus Life is performing even better: it’s the No. 32 top grossing app, No. 21 top grossing iPad app, No. 30 top grossing game and the No. 17 top grossing iPad game.

Pocket Gems continuing W3i’s partnership on the Android side of mobile monetization will probably make the former even more tempting for third-party developers to publish their games with. While the iOS versions of these games are clearly monetizing well, we regularly hear from developers with similarly strong free-to-play titles that the Android audience doesn’t monetize nearly as well (back in July, GameDuell told us iOS users outspend those on Android four to one).

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Pocket Climber (iOS) review

Pocket Climber is an iOS game from PunchBox Studios. It’s available now as a free, ad-supported download from the App Store, and carries additional in-app purchases of in-game currency.

Pocket Climber is, at heart, a 3D “endless running” game similar to titles like Temple Run. In a slight twist on the usual formula, however, the player character in Pocket Climber is scaling a huge, architecturally diverse and probably quite unsafe skyscraper by leaping from ledge to ledge. The player must ensure that the climber stays safe by swiping left and right to move between “lanes” and avoid obstacles, and swiping up to “jump” over obstacles that appear immediately in front of them. Obstacles vary from open windows preventing sideways jumps through window-cleaning cradles to residents of the building flinging barrels and sofas out of their windows. Every so often, the tower changes its architectural aesthetic, and the obstacles also change their appearance accordingly.

Like most other endless runners, Pocket Climber allows players to collect in-game currency as they play. This may either be spent in the in-game store to unlock and upgrade various special abilities or cosmetic items, or spent immediately upon failing in order to continue where they left off. There is no hard limit to how many times a player may continue in a single session — so long as they have the currency on hand to spare, they may keep continuing indefinitely, though the price increases rapidly as they proceed up the tower, and spending money on continuing means that is money that can’t be spent on upgrades or other special items.

Pocket Climber is built for social, competitive play. Upon completing a run, the player may share their score on Facebook or Twitter — the former initially connects via the external Facebook app and subsequently through a pop-up window, while the latter uses iOS 5+’s built-in functionality. The default tweet has a spelling mistake in it and also starts with an @-mention of the Pocket Climber Twitter account, which means anyone who doesn’t already follow Pocket Climber won’t see it. If PunchBox is hoping to use this functionality as a form of viral promotion — and apparently they are, since both the Twitter and Facebook posts carry a direct App Store link to download the game — then they need to fix this in an update, as they can’t necessarily rely on players correcting it every time they post a score.

Pocket Climber also has Game Center leaderboard support, though for some reason this is only presented on the game’s title screen, not on the post-game results screen. Users running iOS 6 may make use of the new Challenge functionality to directly compete against their friends for a high score. The large number of people with identical, massive scores at the top of the global leaderboard suggests that, as usual, there is a considerable amount of score-hacking going on, but players with enough friends playing may ignore this easily and concentrate on beating people they know. In a future update, PunchBox would do well to make the leaderboards more prominent, as this will help encourage players to check in on the game more often in an attempt to compete against their friends.

Pocket Climber is a fun, decent quality game with good audio-visual presentation — it just needs a bit of polish here and there, particularly with regard to spellings in the in-game text and Twitter functionality. The “climbing” aspect provides an interesting twist on the usual endless running formula, and the user figures certainly seem to suggest it’s a big success so far — Game Center claims that there are over 1.3 million players. It’s certainly a proven formula, and proof positive that players apparently aren’t tired of the endless running genre just yet.

Pocket Climber is currently ranked at No. 10 in Top Free Apps and No. 5 in Top Free Games. Its iPad counterpart is currently ranked at No. 7 in Top Free iPad Apps and is the No. 1 free iPad game at the time of writing. Follow its progress with AppData, our tracking service for mobile and social apps and developers.

A decent entry in a genre with enduring popularity — albeit one that could do with a bit of polish here and there.

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NimbleBit's Pocket Planes soars over tiny towers on iPhone this summer

The Tiny Tower creator looks to strike iPhone game gold once again. Pocket Planes is the NimbleBit's next iOS game, revealed to TouchArcade at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. According to the website, this free-to-play game is markedly different from its predecessor, despite employing the same adorable, classic Nintendo-like art style.

In Pocket Planes, players will run their very own airline from a small-time operation into a global commercial flight empire akin to Virgin Airlines. (Though, we seriously things will go "Galactic" in Pocket Planes.) Players will have to ferry passengers around the globe in 100 percent customizable planes to real-life locations across a cute little map of the Earth.

Of course, the game will contain microtransactions, though NimbleBit promises TouchArcade that it will balance the money-making scheme so that it retains the fun factor for those who refuse to pay up. Based on this in-depth preview of the game, Pocket Planes sounds far more complex than Tiny Tower ever was, something NimbleBit is admittedly worried about.

That said, everyone knows the name Tiny Tower, thanks to both a "Game of the Year" nod on the App Store in late 2011 and ... recent events. As excited as we are to see the next big NimbleBit game, we almost wish the developer would have waited a bit longer to reveal Pocket Planes. You know, so it could have a healthy head start? Pocket Planes is due out this summer.

[Via PocketGamer]

Are you psyched for Pocket Planes' summer debut? How long do you think NimbleBit has before other developers become "inspired"? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Wilson washes up on Pocket God players' shores on Facebook

Boy, Pocket God seems to be killing it these days on Facebook. Well, it's more like the players are killing it in Pocket God on Facebook. Either way you look at it is a good reason for Canadian developer Frima Studio to update its social take on the hit mobile game. In "Episode 11 1/2," a new friend has arrived for all players to interact with and score goodies from: Wilson.

A clear nod to Tom Hanks's best, inanimate buddy in Castaway, Wilson sounds like the CityVille Sam or Frontier Jack of Pocket God. In that sense, he's a non-player friend for players to visit and get some free sacrifices from daily. Players can also drop Wilson on their islands for the same effect Frima tells us.

And speaking of curing "the lonelies," players can now use their friends' unlocked powers to clobber some pygmies while visiting their islands. And for checking out powers that you might not have, Frima will calm down your fit of jealousy with some free XP, SP and a devotion bonus.

And finally, a small power has been introduced to the game: the Glowfish. This power, according to Frima, will make your pygmies a whole lot brighter when eaten ... and probably make them explode or something else disastrous. With all of these changes, we could easily see the game's 170,000 players wiping out another 2 million pygmies by December 2012.
Are you still plotting pygmies' demise in Pocket God? If not, what did you think of the game? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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The Killer Pumpkin assaults Pocket God on Facebook this Halloween

Do not under any circumstances mistake this for The Great Pumpkin. A killer pumpkin beast has attacked everybody's favorite pygmies in Pocket God on Facebook. Quebec-based Frima Studio has released a Halloween update to its social rendition of Pocket God, complete with new quests and powers, which means new ways (and reasons) to send pygmies to their doom.

While the game is down for maintenance as of this writing, a new Global Challenge awaits the game's 190,000 monthly players. The Great Jack-o'-Pygmy wants pumpkins everywhere this Halloween, and has granted players with the power to summon a giant pumpkin that transforms pygmies into pumpkins. And when those gourds grow to gigantic proportions, they can even be used to crush more pygmies.

A healthy seven solo quests have been introduced in honor of the costume and candy-filled day. Alright, we know all you care about is how you're going to squish more pygmies. Does this top a unicorn that farts radioactive rainbows? Not by a long shot, but hey, it's the Halloween season, and pumpkins just work. Besides, to best the unicorn, Frima would have to make a unicorn that farts double rainbows--that's still hip, right?

Check out the rest of our Halloween coverage right here >

Have you played Pocket God on Facebook before? What do you like about the game's social edition, and what would you do to change it? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: FunCom, Tagged, Pocket Gems, EA and More

The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms.

Here are this week’s highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at Funcom Oslo AS, Tagged, Pocket Gems, Glu Mobile, Kabam, Electronic Arts, LeadBolt, King.com and Dynamic Signal.

Listings on the Inside Network Job Board are distributed to readers of Inside Social Games, Inside Facebook and Inside Mobile Apps through regular posts and widgets on the sites. Your open positions are being seen by the leading developers, product managers, marketers, designers, and executives in the Facebook Platform and social gaming industry today.

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Pocket Gems Passes 28 Million Downloads, Largely On Tap Zoo Hit

Birds aren’t the only animals that can make a top-grossing mobile game.

Pocket Gems, one of the handful of mobile game developers that has recently taken funding from a top-tier venture capital firm, just passed 28 million downloads with its casual, free-to-play title Tap Zoo leading the way. While the company has five apps out, Tap Zoo is one that’s been a fixture at the top of the charts for virtually all of its seven-month existence.

The game, which lets players manage a virtual zoo by buying and breeding animals, has been in the Top 10 grossing games for 27 out of the last 31 weeks. It’s the #1 highest-grossing app today in the U.S. (The company isn’t disclosing other metrics like MAU or DAU.)

“We like to think about games that are going to have a universal appeal,” said chief executive Daniel Terry. “They have to be easily accessible and attract a huge audience with a lot of diversity.”

There are a couple factors that have led to Tap Zoo’s success. First, it’s a free game that monetizes with in-app purchases of virtual currencies, meaning the game’s downloads are probably at least ten times what they would be if Tap Zoo were a paid app. The game doesn’t use in-your-face pressure to get its players to buy currency with invasive interstitials. But there are a number of animals and items that a player simply cannot get without having “Stars,” a virtual currency in the game that they can only get through in-app purchases or downloads of other apps. Pocket Gems constantly refreshes the content with new animals. Plus there are other unique features like cross-breeding, which leads to entirely made-up animals like ligers and more.

> Continue reading on Inside Mobile Apps.

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