Mr.Farmville

It has been long known that the largest group of Facebook app users is middle-aged women. However, younger women are also an increasingly important group. The latest Facebook title tailored specifically to this youthful female demographic has emerged in the form of Fashion Addict, from Kerb, which recently appeared on our top emerging Facebook games list with over 200,000 monthly active users.

Unlike the most recent female-targeted game, It Girl, Fashion Addict returns to the concept of building out and running a fashion boutique. That said, the means of doing so is different from other games, doing away with the traditional business-sim style and focusing more on collection and mini-game concepts.

Players are granted a premade clothing store, complete with two mannequins to dress. After a tutorial with an over-the-top, cliché, yet amusing fashionista, players begin the game by purchasing digital magazines. Each issue is divided up into multiple pages, represented by tiles on its cover. Selecting a tile will consume a small amount of “MoJo Points” (energy) and will trigger a random page.

Each page will generate a random result. Thus far, it has consisted of advertisements that boost MoJo or in-game gold, player “ads,” and mini-games. The last, however, is the most important as this is the game’s core: collecting outfits.

Each magazine has a “collection” of clothes associated with it, and players must complete each mini-game for a piece of that collection. So far, the games have all been very basic puzzle games that consist of puzzles (which aren’t too hard since the game tells you when a piece is placed in the wrong spot) and a sort of slider puzzle that asks users to catch puzzle pieces, in the right order, as they fall to the ground. All the mini-games are timed, but they still are quite simple.

Once a mini-game is won, a piece of clothing is rewarded to the player. They can then take this clothing and place it onto one of their two mannequins, which contain multiple items such as jackets, tops, dresses, accessories, and so on. As more and more clothing is collected, the user can then mix and match the items they’ve won to create an ensemble of their desire, and increasing the fiscal value of the outfit on display. This is where things become a bit more appealing for the target audience.

Along with the mini-games, once players finish a magazine, they will see a player “advertisement.” This allows them to visit another users’ store and actually purchase the outfits on the mannequins, with the cost going to the owner of the outfit (money is also earned by completing a clothing set or finishing a magazine). This becomes useful on multiple fronts as all the magazines, which grant different clothing and styles of clothing, are gated by level, allowing the player to purchase items they would otherwise have to wait to acquire. As users level up, more and more magazines, per level, become available.

Unfortunately, the ability to visit another random player’s store only comes at the end of a magazine. The only way to reliably visit another store is to invite someone as a friend. Once this is done, players will not only be able to purchase clothing from one another, but also the ability to “tidy up” stores if they are dirty, rate their displays, unlock extra magazines, and earn points for a “Loyalty Card” that takes 10 daily visits to fill.

Fashion Addict’s DAU is only around 40,000, and has been fluctuating quite a bit. That’s likely because the game is still riddled with unfinished features. Currently, there are only two mini-games to really play, and these get old very quickly. Furthermore, with only two mannequins to display, there is a very limited amount of creativity to be had when putting together multiple ensembles. That said, the game’s creators note that customizable avatars and the boutique itself is on its way (as well as other smaller features such as photos and, what appears to be, achievements).

As for the core element of designing outfits, it’s certainly clear how this would be appealing to the noted demographic, but it’s significantly limited with only two mannequins available. And with only two major mini-games, the means of earning clothing is a bit boring and the ability to actually purchase clothing from other users is random and weak — limiting itself to stumbling across a player ad by happenstance or having a number of friends play.

Despite the problems with Fashion Addict, it deserves credit for attempting to take a different route in targeting women, and with a number of new features and improvements on the way, many of these issues will likely be remedied. So long as future updates enhance these mechanics with greater variety and control, then Fashion Addict, at the very least, has potential.

Source: Inside Social Games