Facebook has become a successful outlet for game developers, and one of the innovators on the platform is Zynga, the studio responsible for breakthrough hits Farmville and Cityville. Building on their success, the company has recently launched Adventure World, a new social action-adventure game where players can partner with friends to explore a massive online environment.
In addition to the expanded gameplay possibilities, the title also represents a welcome graphical leap for Facebook gaming, with stylized animation that was created under the eye of Full Sail Computer Animation graduate Sterling Reames, senior animator at Zynga’s Cambridge, Massachusetts studio.
“We’ve heard a ton of feedback from people who just love the way it looks, and that’s not usually what you hear from a Facebook game,” he says. “These games are growing up really fast in terms of visual fidelity and complexity. I’m pretty proud to say this is the best game that I’ve worked on so far, hands down.”
Sterling began his career in online games after graduating from Full Sail in 2008, taking a job at Conduit Labs, where he worked on titles like Loudcrowd, Superdance, and Music Pets. The company was later acquired by Zynga in 2010, where he was given new creative freedom to develop the models, textures, and animations for Adventure World. The resulting game is a massive technical achievement, featuring more than 200 quests across 30 different maps.
“Basically what we were going for was Legend of Zelda meets Facebook,
he says. “You go out and explore and experience this world and play with your friends – it’s like the first social adventure. Being a part of something that could potentially be a game changer in the medium is nothing short of awesome.”
Games like Adventure World are showcasing the versatility of Facebook as an outlet for creative design, and it’s going to be interesting to see how developers continue to push the technology of the platform. As one of the artists contributing to that evolution, Sterling is excited about the continued opportunities he has to develop new experiences for online gamers at Zynga.
“People want to be able to share an experience with their friends and family, and I think Zynga was the first company to really capitalize on that,” he says. “It feels great to be apart of a team that pushes each other to learn so much so quickly, it honestly feels just like Full Sail. Facebook as a game platform is just starting to take off, and I can’t wait until some more of the traditional companies start getting on it and releasing great games.”
