The creators of Tiny Village in September released a social project – a turn-based word game for iOS based on the popular tabletop Taboo. Her results were far from ideal.
The spring laurels of Draw Something do not allow developers to sleep peacefully, even though it was temporary. The success of another Zynga project, Words with Friends, also keeps you awake. And really, what else can explain the constant releases of social “dictionary” projects, one of which is Guess!.
TinyCo artists have studied Draw Something very carefullyThe rules of the game from the Californian developers from TinyCo, according to Mike Thomson from Inside Mobile Apps, are taken from the popular board game Taboo.
The player chooses a word that his friends have to guess, and gives them a key of 160 characters, thanks to which you can find the answer. In the key, you can not use the same root words, analogies and synonyms. For correctly guessing a word, players receive coins that can be spent on power-ups. The latter give various bonuses and, among other things, allow you to open letters in hidden words. In general, everything is in the spirit of creation from OMGPOP, but you don’t need to draw.
Users who have downloaded the app can search for players both among their friends on Facebook and on Twitter. Curiously, the key to the word can be immediately shared in your feed of these social services. Also in Guess! users can discuss the word by texting in an in-game chat.
However, despite the innovations and regular updates, the game of TinyCo studio, responsible for Tiny Village, Tiny Monsters and Tiny Pets, has not yet shown any significant results. The project is now at 678 positions in the Word category in the American box office top.
The creators of the Spell Rift from Kieffer Bros. we wanted to make the project as original as possibleThis could be explained by the fatigue of the audience from “dictionary” games.
But the good performance of the recent Spell Rift (18th position in the same Word-top), a paid (!) single application, without IAP (!), in which it is also necessary to compose words, demonstrate that it may be something else. Hardly in quality, TinyCo usually has everything in order with this. Perhaps in positioning, in the absence of the original setting, which, by the way, is largely due to Spell Rift.
What are we leading to?
Even in games with verified, time-tested gameplay, critical changes are needed now. The user gets tired of the same colors, panels, and the same chips that wander from one game to another. A new approach – adding a powerful storyline, role-playing elements and an unusual world even in the most banal match3 will help draw attention to the game.
By the way, Rovio is now following this path. Her Angry Birds Star Wars is not only a verified marketing ploy, but also a great reason for all fans of the original game to return to really new birds, to a new, albeit well–known world.