App Watch: FarmVille Creators Go Hunting for Treasure
The makers of popular Facebook games FarmVille and Mafia Wars have a new time waster that has users digging for buried treasure–and the game already has had 7.5 million players after about a week.
Treasure Isle, which was created by social-gaming company Zynga, puts users on tropical islands where they dig for treasure such as jewels, gold coins and Tiki statues. Players can use the loot to buy items like hammocks and huts to personalize their home island. In a nod to the agriculture-themed FarmVille, these home islands have little plots where players can plant fruit–which players eat to get energy to go out and dig for more treasure.
“The idea is that you want to mix up fun and accomplishment–‘Look, I’m digging!’–with decoration and self-expression–‘Look at my home island!,’” said Jeremy Verba, Zynga’s general manager for Treasure Isle.
