Zynga is best known for social games such as FarmVille and CityVille in which players interact with one another on Facebook as they build virtual farms or cities. But how do you bring that social layer to hidden object games, which for the most part are played solo?
That was the challenge confronting Cara Ely, a Seattle casual gaming whiz who now works at Zynga. Ely, the creative director of Hidden Chronicles, the first hidden object game from Zynga, explains how the company got around those challenges in the video below.
“What I think is really the secret sauce is that you can actually play with friends and you can visit your friends in the game,” said Ely. “You can leave a secret package for them to find, so you can actually hide something for them. You can gift them things in the game, like hints or energy or things that they can use to play hidden object scenes.”
One of the leaders in the category is Big Fish Games, the Seattle developer of the Mystery Case Files series. Last November, Big Fish said that the franchise has been played by over 100 million people on the PC. (It is not available on Facebook).
Zynga appears to be targeting that title with the release of Hidden Chronicles. I’ve been playing the game a bit this morning, and while hidden object games aren’t really my thing, the game is easy to learn and play.
It is set around Ramsey Manor, with game players moving between scenes as they attempt to solve puzzles and collect coins in an effort to solve a mystery related to one Geoffrey Ramsey.
Here’s more from Ely:
