Developing Games
Unlike other parts of Facebook, creating games requires some programming knowledge. The skill set isn’t too different from what you’d need to make a game on a website or even for a mobile phone. But if you don’t already have the programming knowledge, you’re far better off hiring an outside developer.
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Game developers, producers, and programmers dedicate their lives to understanding the craft. You don’t want to end up devoting too many of your resources (time, energy, money) to the project.
Remember that your game is supposed to be supporting your main business, not the other way around.
Creating Your Own Games
If you do go at it on your own, you will definitely be leaning on the Facebook Development blog at https://developers.facebook.com/docs/ (see Figure 13.4).
Figure 13.4: The Facebook Development blog has lots of gaming resources.
The Facebook Development blog is one of the most popular Facebook-related websites, and has lots of documentation related to …
• Facebook websites
• Facebook apps
• Facebook Mobile apps
Games fall into the app category on the Facebook Development blog. Flip through the different tutorials on the website to gauge your comfort level. For instance, if you or your staff are uncomfortable with the basic gaming terminology, creating a game from scratch isn’t the most realistic route. However, if you know games and are familiar with which ones work on Facebook, then the biggest hurdle is figuring out how to create the best game for your company.
If you have a clothing company, your game could test people’s skill in matching the right hat, blouse, skirt, and heels. Once they put together an outfit, they can see the real-life version of the ensemble offered at your store via pictures or video. You could even offer them a discount on the outfit, like free shipping or no sales tax, if they order it right now.
In other words, make sure you understand the basics first, and then decide if creating a game is smart, or if it’s even realistic for your company’s brand.
Hiring an Outside Company
Facebook game creation requires some serious programming skills. From deep HTML to CSS, learning any of the programming languages could take months, if not years.
We highly recommend hiring an outside firm or, at least, a good programmer to help you get set up.
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A student at a local college or even an intern may be able to do a Facebook game for you in her sleep. Consider the local, low-cost approach before shelling out thousands of dollars to a boutique firm.
You know your needs better than anyone, so here are some recommendations for finding a good outside firm:
• Explore Facebook, find the most intriguing branded games, and find out who developed them.
• Plan your ideal outcome for the game as much as you can beforehand, even if it’s just an outline.
• Chat with small companies. At this point in Facebook development, everyone is an upstart.
• Find out what games your audience likes to play. Use that to figure out which company could help you the most.
The Least You Need to Know
• More than half of all Facebook users play games, and 50 percent get on Facebook only to play games.
• Gamification is the process of applying features related to video games to nongame environments such as your business site.
• Games give your customer an excuse to come onto your Facebook page regularly.
• Facebook games are free, but they can make money by selling in-game purchases and advertising.
• Creating a Facebook game requires lots of programming knowledge, so we recommend outsourcing your gaming concept.