Baby & Me from publisher 6waves Lolapps is a simulation game in which players care for a baby and its mother. Developed by Grab, the title launched in late July and turned up on our list of fastest-growing games by monthly active users just this week.
According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Baby & Me currently has 935,719 monthly active users and 142,005 daily active users.
In Baby & Me, players assume the role of a mother who must care for her baby. The gameplay is divided into two components: baby care and mother care, the latter requiring players to interact with the mother and keep her happiness as high as possible. When interacting with the baby, players engage in mini-games themed around diaper changing, bathing and feeding, all three of which require specific items to perform (e.g. crafting homemade soap and then moving a sponge across the baby's face with the mouse to simulate scrubbing). Progressively better items become available through crafting or purchase that increase the amount of time that can pass between the baby needing changing, cleaning and feeding. There are additional mini-games for play activities with the baby.
The mother, meanwhile, can be given gifts (jewelry, food, etc.) to boost her mood and can visit a cafe, bar, movie theater, the beach and other locations (some requiring a certain experience level and number of friends playing the game) in order to dine out, host events, see films and participate in mom-centric mini-games (e.g. a simple hidden object game at the beach). The better the player does at it, the more rewards they receive to put toward both Mom and Baby’s happiness.
Most actions performed in-game reward the player with Mom Happiness, Baby Happiness, experience points, coins and cash. Actions require energy, which recharges over time or can be refilled via items. An interesting way to gain rewards during the Mom-care portion of the game involves watching real-life videos in-game, including workout and beauty segments, from ModernMom. Players can also purchase a variety of deco items for the mother's home in order to spruce it up, and can clean the house every once in a while in order to gain more coins and XP.
Players can make use of social features including sharing accomplishments to their Wall, inviting friends to the game and visiting friends to help them clean their homes. There is also a "spot the differences" mini-game that can be played upon visiting a friend's home.
Baby & Me is monetized through the use of Facebook Credits to purchase coins, the game's soft currency, and cash, its premium currency. Both currencies can be used to purchase items from the game's shop, but most of the best items can only be purchased using the premium currency. This game also integrates TrialPay video ads as a means of monetization.
During the game's beta phase, Grab has added a number of items to its shop and has been polling players via the game's Wall on features they'd like to see implemented. These include more activities for moms to participate in outside of the house, which the developer is taking feedback on regarding the types of things players would like to do.
You can follow Baby & Me's progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.
Source: Inside Social Games
Tuesday, August 30, 2011