Social City: Cheats, Bugs or Bust 1.1

Below, Paul Simon performing Graceland at a South African concert in Zimbabwe:

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Saving Graceland

Graceland is in trouble!

Stan’s town needs your help.

Oh Noes!

The game they got going in Social City is as deep as a puddle. Nevermind the toxic, oily (but pretty) rainbow shimmer of the new Tudor Mayoral Estate. I think Billy got knocked around there once. Or twice. Billy who? Billy Shakespeare, of course. But that’s just a rumor – mind you.

The Mayor of Graceland is considering resignation. And Graceland will be no more. It will fall apart. Factories will grind to a halt and the people of Graceland will get laid off. Public services will stop. People will move out. There will be rioting mimes. Killer robots. Cute kittens left in trees. Fires in the historic downtown. Potholes that swallow whole cars.

Organize a rescue mission!

Your reward should be something like 100 Gazillion City Bucks.

Maybe, it should be a lot more. But heck, they only offered 100 City Bucks to the contest winner who came up with the most popular building to add to the “store”. That’s comes out to about 5 bucks for which you may or may not be taxed. Brian Drake, Playdom’s Social City Community Manager, must think we all live in a low population, under-developed village in India or South America- if they can imagine that we could appreciate the symbolic value of that prize.

A truly symbolic reward would be 1000 City Bucks and it would include credit to the lucky guy or girl in the object information. That credit would include their F/B pic and a working link to their F/B account. Better still, there should be 20 winners – not just one. Because, most likely, they will eventually use more than 20 object suggestions – if not hundreds.

Anyway, what’s up with the five bucks?

Is that what they are paying to sweat shops in India, South America or China for all those Social City goodies they want to raffle off and sell to us? <grin> It’s not unheard of!

Backyard Monsters: Game Play 1.4

Backyard Monsters: Game Play

by Stan Faryna

Below, Coolio, Gangster’s Paradise:

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Backyard Monsters

As I mentioned in a previous post on Backyard Monsters , the apparent genius of The Casual Collective’s most popular game, Desktop Tower Defense, is that there’s a million ways to get it wrong. Or almost right. I also mentioned that Backyard Monsters doesn’t accomplish that same emphasis on creativity, choice and failure.

While Backyard Monsters arguable stands out among Facebook games in terms of game play, throughout my blog posts on Backyard Monsters, I have proposed that this game can be better without breaking the bank. David Scott and his team at The Casual Collective (CC for short) just need to think through future updates with three things in mind: venture capital, business objectives, and game play.

In terms of game play, what Backyard Monsters has going for it now is a great start. Dave and the team deserve kudos. The next step in developing this game into the purple, cash cow (a la Arrington and Seth Godin) that will open up the next level in venture capital funding for CC is not far from their grubby reach. <grin>

Backyard Monsters: Free Shiny 1.3

Fail: Village Defense

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Backyard Monsters: Free Shiny

by Stan Faryna

Backyard Monsters Spoiler: Pick mushrooms outside your construction zone for more shiny. The mushrooms keep growing. So be sure to go full screen every few days to harvest your shiny. Save your shiny for damage protection. Or expand your construction zone – if no one is raiding your village.

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Backyard Monsters

As I mentioned in my previous post on Backyard Monsters here, the apparent genius of The Casual Collective’s most popular game, Desktop Tower Defense, is that there’s a million ways to get it wrong.

Or almost right.

It’s about making choices – thoughtful or otherwise. It’s just like real life. <grin> And Backyard Monsters doesn’t accomplish that. But it could, Dave.

And Dave could be rich and carouse with Russian expat hotties and various uberly cool digerati from Silicon Valley.

I’m not saying Backyard Monsters sucks. It’s not bad considering all the thinness out there in terms of Facebook games. I’m just saying that Backyard Monsters could be better – better as in more popular and receipt ringing than Desktop Tower Defense and Desktop Defender. And that would be an accomplishment worthy of admiration and kudos.

Of course, Backyard Monsters has some things going that support mass consumption. It’s cutesy, it’s easy to play, and it doesn’t demand the same kind of dedicated madness required of advancing a bid to win a server on Travian.

Backyard Monsters: Game Theory 1.2

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Backyard Monsters: Game Theory

by Stan Faryna

Below, David Scott shares his peculiar sense of humor:

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You stuck Gold!

Backyard Monsters

In case you missed it, you can read my previous blog post on Backyard Monsters here.

In my previous blog post, I give a little background on the Facebook game, Backyard Monsters. It’s a tower defense game from The Casual Collective – a start up founded by Paul Preece and David Scott. The website features over a dozen, flash-based games and it is considered by some to be one of the top gaming websites out there. As I mentioned elsewhere, Backyard Monsters, The Casual Collective, Paul Preece and David Scott are all interesting to me because I having been dreaming about making a MMORPG for over fifteen years. After gleening some of their story from here and there, I’m rooting for Paul and Dave to succeed.

Because if they can do it, maybe, just maybe…

If you want a walk through of Backyard Monsters, there are reviews out there: IGN, Gamezebo, and others. Google it. Don’t be lazy. The point being I’m not interested in giving a walk through Backyard Monsters. What I’m  interested in is what makes a game, good. And, in the case of Backyard Monsters, I’m interested in how to make this game good enough to take Paul and Dave to the top.

Backyard Monsters: Cheats 1.1

Looking for CastleVille cheats, a Castleville guide, Car Town cheats, Go Fishing cheats or Marvel Avenger Alliance walk throughs click the orange text links.

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Backyard Monsters: Cheats 1.1

by Stan Faryna

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Below, what an attack looked like in Backyard Monsters:

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All your base are belong to us.

Backyard Monsters

Backyard Monsters is almost ok as an extended tower defense game. Check out the Youtube video (above) to get a glimpse of the action. Build your base. Harass other bases. Isn’t that what base games are about?!

But what makes a great base game?

What makes a great game and why should you care?

If you are a gamer and you dream of making games, you should check out Backyard Monsters. Myself, I continue to wait for that day when I can realize my game vision. It’s going to happen. Someday.

Oh. There’s no cheats here.

Are you really looking for cheats for Backyard Monsters? You don’t need them to rule your map in Backyard Monsters. If you do need cheats for Backyard Monsters, just take your meds and think about things that matter like love, life, and money.

The Casual Collective

Backyard Monsters is produced by The Casual Collective (CC for short). CC is a start up with a focus on developing Flash-based browser games. Two years ago, Paul and David got a million dollars in seed money from Lightspeed Venture Partners. Long before they got the seed money (2008), they’ve been tinkering around with flash games for 5+ years.

Paul and David who?

Founded by Paul Preece and David Scott, The Casual Collective is a great story about two ordinary guys that might make it. Jason Kincaid of Techcrunch writes a vignette/ode to Paul and Dave here. If they can get to a five million dollar round of investment, life should be good for Paul and Dave.

Facebook may (or may not) be their ticket. And since The Casual Collective is all about Flash-based games, there’s no iPhone glory waiting for Paul and Dave. At least, not in the foreseeable future.

Currently, The Casual Collective has two games on Facebook: Desktop Defender and Backyard Monsters.