Recently picked up by 6waves Lolapps, Zombie Island from Vizor Interactive is a Facebook farm simulation that simulates the deceased. Well, actually, the re-animated deceased. Yes: it’s about zombies. Zombies that live on an island and have jobs to do, just like anyone else. It’s a formula that’s proving quite popular, at least in this game’s case.
According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Zombie Island currently has 120,000 monthly active users and 20,000 daily active users.
Zombie Island is set on — wait for it — an island. This one is of limited land size, however, and there are distinct sections of it (“backyard,” “mountains”) that can be unlocked, for a price. Players shamble around as their zombie avatar, which can be dressed up and given a makeover using a small selection of free items, along with a more sizable for-pay assortment. The goal is, as with nearly all simulations of this ilk, to complete various quests and tasks. Doing so often requires resources, such as those needs to build a tomb early on. In this example, the player needs wood and stone. In order to get them, they must “wake up” zombie woodsmen and stone workers from their graves and put them on the job. This takes brains.
The number of brains the player has at their disposal dictates how many tasks their workers can be handling at any given time. There’s a maximum number of brains available, which is set by “renting” brains for a price, using “zombiebucks.” Rented brains come in different quantities and durations, such as two for two days, one for three days, and so on. Although the amount of work being done is limited by available brains, players can still spend coins — earned from completing even small tasks — to hire more zombies, so they can be at the ready.
As is expected from the genre, the game also lets players spend their earnings on decorations to personalize their islands. There are also a variety of recipes to find (like more items in the game, they unlock as players level up) and make. This is how players can obtain some of the game’s more rare items. Collections are also here, with the game bestowing ample rewards of coins, bucks and XP on players who complete them.
In addition to renting brains, players are able to “plant” their friends’ brains in the ground (up to two per day). This is one of the game’s more clever social features. It’s also possible for players to visit the islands of friends they’ve invited, once per week, to claim rewards. Like most titles of this type, there’s a persistent display of the player’s rank along with their friends’ at the bottom of the play area. Sending free gifts and sharing stories about the player’s successes via viral channels rounds out the social side of the title.
Zombie Island is monetized in a traditional fashion, with players buying zombiebucks and coins using Facebook Credits. Bucks are generally used to unlock items early before their usual level requirements are met, buy premium deco, speed up tasks, rent brains, and obtain power-ups, such as automated resource harvesting for up to 12 hours. Coins, the soft currency, can be used to buy all the staples of Zombie Island life.
According to posts made on the game’s Wall, developer Vizor Interactive is finished on a “Halloween Campaign” that will roll out by month’s end and transform the look of the game, making it even more Halloween-y, and adding new quests.
You can follow Zombie Island's progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.
Source: Inside Social Games
Thursday, October 20, 2011