YouRiding Bodyboarding Battle Hopes For Easy Ride On Facebook With Competitive Play, Future Mobile Apps

YouRiding Bodyboarding Battle is a skill-based "action sports" Facebook game from developer Intellysurf. The game represents a rarity both in social gaming and in general video games, as not many surfing/bodyboarding games exist for the current generation of home video game console. So far, the game has all-time high of 18,000 monthly active users and rising, while daily active users peaked at almost 3,000 before dropping down to its present-day 1,500 mark on our data service tracking application, AppData. YouRiding Bodyboarding Battle allows players to take on the role of a professional bodyboarder where the player controls the action via a series of keyboard commands. Success in the game is almost completely dependent on player skill, though results are also partly determined by an "overall skill" statistic, which allows players to accumulate higher scores. "It's more a simulation game than arcade game," says Diane Harivongs, Intellysurf Communication Manager. "We focus on realism and that's why 90% of our users are real bodyboarding fans." The core gameplay is based on one-on-one challenges between two players who compete over the course of five minutes and up to ten attempts to record the best possible score. Points are scored by simply surviving as well as performing tricks. The winning player receives a "star" while the losing player loses one. Acquiring five stars allows a player to increase in rank, whilst losing all stars causes a player to lose a rank. A player has a limit of 10 battles per day, though they can acquire more by posting a story with a link on their Facebook wall, thereby potentially drawing more players in through viral acquisition. The main social feature of the game is friendly competition with other players. While the player cannot interact with their opponent directly, it's possible to see their name and profile picture, so a worthy opponent could be tracked down and added as a Facebook friend relatively easily. There's also a leaderboard, which allows players to compare their win-loss records against both their Facebook friends who are playing the game and the worldwide rankings. The game is monetized primarily through the sale of boosts. These come in two forms: a 20-point boost to the rider's "overall skill" level can be purchased for 15 Facebook Credits, while 10 "doses" of a temporary 10-point boost to skill can be purchased for 10 Facebook Credits. The latter option can also be traded with friends or requested via Facebook Wall posts. Speaking of the game's future, Harivongs says that the team plans "to introduce an update in the next few days with the possibility to play against other players' replays when they are not online. Then we'll add a 'challenge' mode [...] and new sports like surfing, snowboarding and free-skiing. The Facebook game will benefit all our technology improvements [including the adoption of the Unity 3D graphics engine] but it won't have more features than our main website at YouRiding.com. We consider that our players will play on Facebook in a casual way, and go on YouRiding.com for a full gaming experience." Alongside the Facebook game, the team is also working on Android and iOS apps, and a beta test of the new 3D graphical enhancements will launch on YouRiding.com in the summer. You can follow YouRiding Bodyboarding Battle's progress on Facebook with AppData, our traffic tracking application for social games and developers.

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YouRiding Bodyboarding Battle Hopes For Easy Ride On Facebook With Competitive Play, Future Mobile Apps

Pete Davison

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