The white label application builder and social gaming company LOLapps has been relatively quiet during an onslaught of game launches on Facebook from veteran and indie developers. Having achieved profitability last year, LOLapps has provided a suite of tools over the past 18 months that allow users to create quiz and gift-based apps. LOLapps is also a strong player in the social RPG space, partnering with IP companies such as EA and Modelina, which we covered here, to launch and maintain branded games. The latest to come from LOLapps is a virtual gardening game called Garden Life, their first of next generation, isometric flash games. Read more after the jump.
Garden Life is essentially about, well, gardening. Players are provided a serene setting comprised of a tiny house, some acres of land and a backyard with defined dimensions in which to plant crops. The crop planting mechanic is similar to farming games in general so some players may be aversive to diving into the game if they are searching for innovative play. But with a strong team in place, I expect the game play to evolve and cater to its already strong user base.
The game does not seem to be using FB credits though so LOLapps might have to make changes once and if the policy making FB credits mandatory is implemented. Regardless, players have a variety of choices when it comes to virtual goods, some of which can be purchased by the in-game currency called coins and some that can be purchased using the premium currency called gems. Players have an array of vegetables and flowers to choose from, ranging from soybeans and tomatoes to coral lilies and green peppers as they level up.
In addition to crops, players can plant trees and purchase an animal shelter base to build using parts that can be acquired through friends or searches within their gardens. No game would be complete without decor and Garden Life provides plenty of ornaments, flooring, constructions, furniture and even fences to maximize customization. Players also have access to functional virtual goods such as boosts that can accelerate crop growth and such.
An interesting observation to the game is the use of the word ‘ZenGarden’ that’s explicitly labeled next to in-store categories such as Plants and Decor. Clicking decor also revealed another label on one of the subcategories called ‘WorldCup’, which could indicate a possible brand integration play as the Fifa World Cup nears. The sociability seems to be balanced well, allowing players to ‘prepare’ their friends soil and flower crops in return for XP.
The effects and visuals are the strongest part of the game. From the soothing chirping of song birds to a progressive cloud shadow, this game should attract a solid audience of women, as well as men of course. With a solid presentation and distribution power of LOLapps, Garden Life is well on its way to seeing decent growth. According to Appdata, the game is currently at 1.3 MMAUs, growing from 1.18 MMAUs over the past month and also indicates that the game must have been live for some time now. DAUs are currently around 300,000 making the stickiness factor (DAU/MAU) roughly 23%, very strong by industry standards.
“Garden Life was our first foray into making isometric flash games and we’ve hired talented game design experts and married that with our social web services expertise. We’re confident that we can continue to socialize our games even further than what other game companies have done in the space,” stated Arjun Sethi, CEO of LOLapps. “Look out for more games that we will be releasing in the next coming weeks and months. We’ve invested a lot of time in technology and game uniqueness in our upcoming products that we believe will create an overall better “social” gaming experience.”
