Camelot: The Game Mixes Swords and Strategy, Strong Despite Show's Renewal Prospects

Camelot: The Game is a medieval-themed Facebook strategy title developed first by Sarbakan and now by Large Animal Games with publisher 6waves as tie-in for the 2011 Starz fantasy television series, Camelot. The game launched in late June and made No. 14 on last week’s list of emerging Facebook games. According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Camelot: The Game currently has 391,570 monthly active users and 15,933 daily active users. Gameplay is comprised of kingdom building and combat. In the building stage, players spend energy, gold and resources on purchasing farms, mines and sawmills to place in areas adjacent to their respective resources, which allows the player to harvest the structures for additional resources. These buildings can be leveled up, increasing their productivity, and players can assign workers to “slots” in order to boost their output even further. The player’s manor can be upgraded as well, which provides more workforce to assign. Barracks must be built in order to train and raise an army of soldiers, archers, pikemen, spearmen and horsemen. Special additions to the barracks allow the player to train certain troop types, like training horsemen through a stable. Troops can be leveled up, increasing their hit points and the amount of damage they deal. The barracks themselves contain several slots for various types of units to occupy, but these must be unlocked by either increasing the player's level -- experience points are awarded for most actions -- or by buying the units with Facebook Credits. Combat comes in the form of missions where players to pit their armies against the computer in turn-based battle. Combat unfolds on plains, in forests and across mountain ranges, with the battlefield surrounded by a fog of war. Each type of unit can move a set number of spaces, shown overlaid on the field of battle, during each turn. Once within range of enemy forces, they can attack, dealing damage based on their stats. Once the player has expended all of their movement and attack opportunities for the round, the enemy plays their moves, and so on until one side is victorious. Winning in battle rewards players with various items, treasures, resources and experience points. Social features currently implemented in the game include the standard invites, Wall posts, and gifting systems (in this case, a portion of the spoils from victory in combat). Players can also add their friends to spots at their Council Table, which allows them to pool special abilities. These table slots must be unlocked, creating more strategic opportunities as players progress through the game. Having more friends playing also increases a player’s action points (i.e. energy). Camelot: The Game is monetized through the sale of slots in the Council Table and barracks, as well standard game boosts, items, resources, and weapons that provide unique abilities/bonuses in battle. The game uses a single soft currency of gold in-game, but certain items in the shop menus are only available via Facebook Credits. The future of the game and TV series are currently in flux. Large Animal Games has taken over development of the social game from Sarbakan, and is currently working on updates and additional content/units. Publisher 6waves is working with the developer to localize the game for international territories, in a strategy similar to what the two did for Starz's Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. Meanwhile, the TV series has concluded its first season and is apparently in the process of changing hands. Going forward, the show will no longer be a Starz property; however, the social game will remain under the network’s brand. You can follow Camelot: The Game’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking application for social games and developers.

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Camelot: The Game Mixes Swords and Strategy, Strong Despite Show's Renewal Prospects

Randy Nelson

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