Soren Johnson joins Zynga to work on a secret project

[Broken Hawk]

Zynga's logo has a dog on it. Is that because they produce games that are dogs?

[The_J]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zynga

Zynga was named after an American bulldog named Zinga once owned by Mark Pincus. They use an image of a bulldog as their logo.

Nope .

[TriviAl]

I'd certainly check out anything Soren did out of sheer curiousity. I like that he was involved in some games I've thorougly enjoyed... Checking out his 'free to try' game is no skin off my nose and might open another gate to addictive awesomeness! If it's badfun or expensive then I can delete it at no cost... unlike preordered full price games which fail to deliver on the hype and/or dreams.


Quite like these freebie 'social' games (in addition to 'proper' games - they're particularly great whilst commuting). Play a bunch of them on my phone.... however, there's quite a slightly fundamental flaw for me in the cash extraction model:

Sometimes they require me to pay cash to be able to progress further - i.e. cash is the only way to procure fuel and the game is basically unplayable without fuel at my level of unskilledness. As soon as I realise this they get deleted.

Others don't require money, but normally allow you to pay to shortcut a 'grind'... which feels like 'cheating' to me so I don't pay... and so I keep playing them until I'm bored and the cash stays in my wallet, which can't be most developers point.

Some offer pay upfront/full verision/extra content, and I have done all these things when the game was good.... but that is a kind of 'advertise', 'demo' or 'expansion pack' model, just done cheap and small scale rather than social.

Have had a lot of fun with some games, but feel I'm not really paying a 'fair share' in many cases. Although must get some level of ad revenue from me.

[hewhocaves]

Has anyone looked closely at Soren's photograph? Look at the games right behind him - "Conspiracy" and "The Farming Game". The answer is obvious! It's a Farmville Conspiracy! He's trying to warn us! Run! Farmilization is coming!! lol

[The_J]

but that image is older, so a relation is unlikely .

[Camikaze]

Good on him for branching out, IMO. Even if it's just because that's where the money is. I guess it's easier to be dismissive of any games that I don't play, but people seem to find enjoyment in them.

[vincentz]

Originally Posted by Camikaze

Good on him for branching out, IMO. Even if it's just because that's where the money is. I guess it's easier to be dismissive of any games that I don't play, but people seem to find enjoyment in them.

I, respectfully, disagree.

Imagine if Mozart had composed childrensongs, Edison had made a new type of candy with glitter in the wax and Da Vinci had invented the Hula hoop and stayed with it.

If you have a talent for something advanced, complex. Something that intelligent people (I see most civ'ers as above average intelligent people) can "worship" then its a complete waste of talent making 'ville games (IMHO)

[Camikaze]

link to video.

[vincentz]

Originally Posted by vincentz

I, respectfully, disagree.

Imagine if Mozart had stayed with composing childrensongs,

Originally Posted by Camikaze

link to video.

corrected

[GoodGame]

Originally Posted by Maniacal

Yes, and the majority of it was vague PR BS and numerous out-right lies. Zynga does not make fun and innovative games, they make addicting time wasters that milk people with addictive personalities or zero common sense for their money. They care about one thing and one thing only, money. The people who play their "games" but either spend very little or no money are worthless to them.

As Le Sage said, if Soren wanted to make an actual game he would join a real game developer.

I mostly agree, and I've tried most of their games. The only keeper is the Poker game, which is just presentation not game design.

But if they hire a real game designer then it's possible they want to try a new strategy themselves. Their stock has been doing disappointing: IPO at $10 and today at around $6.60. Might make someone want to try a new strategy to raise up.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertho...what-happened/

[Maniacal]

The thing is they have hired a number of talented game designers before, like Brian Reynolds. Do you know what he apparently worked on? FrontierVille.

[MajKira]

zynga and its games... lol both just horrible I wanna forget
I forgot zynga already until seein THIS here