Former Madden Developers Branch Off To Create Social Network Games

When you think of Tiburon and EA Games, you think of Madden and other popular sports franchise games. What you don’t think of are woodland creatures like raccoons and bears fighting one another on Facebook. It’s an odd direction to go for a developer who is used to worrying about the virtual physics of footballs flying through the air, but it’s one that young developer Row Sham Bow hopes that Facebook gamers will appreciate with its first game, Woodland Heroes.

Six months ago, Phillip Holt and a number of other EA developers decided to branch off and create Row Sham Bow games.  Holt, the CEO and President of the 23 person development studio said, “I love sports games. They bring their own set of challenges that I think are really interesting, and I think there are still lots of problems to go solve in that space, but I want to do more than just one thing in my life. Coming and starting Row Sham Bow was a big part of that with trying to do something different.”

The game is set up a little like the board game Battleship. You play as the peace loving raccoons as they try to eliminate the bear menace that has moved into their land. This is done by collecting materials and money to build assorted catapults and weapons that can be used as offensive deterrents on a grid-based battlefield. You take turns firing your weapons into the bear’s territory selecting grid spaces in hopes that you will find where their weapons are hidden. More expensive weapons mean a larger grid area to attack, and a higher possibility of hitting your enemy.

In regard to the art of Woodland Heroes, Row Sham Bow turned to Jeremy VanHoozer for character designs. VanHoozer has experience working with both Disney and Cartoon Network. For level design Woodland Heroes had the help of former Guild Wars developers.

Woodland Heroes is very different from the sports titles most of the team has worked on, but Holt hopes that it will also be different from other Facebook games, as well.  Holt, when speaking of other social network games said, “They're hugely successful in certain areas, but there's kind of this soullessness about these games. They've lost the art inherent in making games and making something that's fun that engages and entertains an audience. They're scientifically put together and calculated. The science behind social games is fascinating, but it's just a little lifeless.”

Row Sham Bow has plenty of experience working with consoles, but it wanted to create games that could be delivered directly to the consumer. With its massive built in user base, and an entry into development that was a little more closed off than what is currently available on the mobile market, Holt said Facebook seemed like the right bet to take.

Holt hopes that Row Sham Bow’s personal interest in hardcore games will influence the ultimate outcome of Woodland Heroes, and avoid things like spoilage that runs rampant in other Facebook games. Spoilage is a way of encouraging players to return to a game by offering additional in-game assets based purely on time and frequency of player interaction. Holt wants players to return to Woodland Heroes because it is fun, not because you get extra money by waiting 24 hours.

To check out Woodland Heroes yourself, you won’t have to wait long. The game opens up to all users tomorrow, October 18 on Facebook.