FishVille is a Facebook casual game that allows anyone to make their own virtual aquarium. While this concept isn't new (take a peek at successful Happy Aquarium), FishVille is quickly becoming a favorite among Facebook users.
FishVille launched on November 5, 2009 to an excited group of fans. The game is spreading throughout Facebook friends rapidly, and is quickly rising in ranks in the application leaderboard for unique users.
Getting Started with FishVille
After installing FishVille, the first thing a player encounters is a brief tutorial that walks new players through the game. This teaches players the basic concepts of breeding and selling fish, adding neighbors, decorating the aquarium, and feeding fish.
When the game first starts, a player has only a small fish tank with a few fish in it. They are then instructed to buy and raise more fish, and share their successes with friends. The game allows players to decorate their tanks however they would like, using purchased items from the store or gifts from their friends.
The Objective of FishVille
The main goal of FishVille is to level up aquarium and fishkeeping skills. Every player starts out at level 1, and gains levels quickly by performing basic tasks and interacting with the game. The objective is to raise and sell fish to others, which in turn provides coins and experience points needed to gain additional levels.
Each fish breed in FishVille takes a varying amount of time to reach maturity, cannot be sold until mature, and sells for a difference price. Players increase their level and coin balance by interacting with the game more frequently to sell their fish at the optimum time before they grow too old and die. This mechanic is very similar to the popular farming Facebook game, FarmVille.
FishVille spreads around Facebook virally by asking players to share their accomplishments with others by posting them on their Facebook walls. The game also builds mechanics into FishVille that encourage adding "neighbors" to the player's aquarium. Adding neighbors will send invites to friends to ask them to play the game with you. The game also features gifting which has proven to be popular in other online Facebook applications.
Who Makes FishVille?
FishVille was created by Zynga, one of the leading Facebook application developers. Zynga are responsible for other top Facebook games such as Mafia Wars, Cafe World, YoVille, and FarmVille. In 2009, Zynga have boasted that they have 50 million daily active users spread out throughout their Facebook games.
How Does FishVille Make Money?
FishVille makes money through the sale of a virtual currency, and encouraging players to participate in third-party offers. Zynga also uses cross-advertising with their other large Facebook games to bring traffic and revenue to all of their online offerings.
FishVille is just a newcomer to the world of Facebook games, however with Zynga's track record of producing popular games it is sure to become a fast competitor. The game is fun for all ages with it's whimsical art style, quirky gameplay, and the ability to share accomplishments with your online friends. There are plenty of resources on the web that can teach you how to play FishVille, or how to earn coins or experience points.
