GoWar, the location-based social strategy game winner of the May 2010 Venice Startup Weekend, has been recently launched in the Apple Store and last 23rd June it already hit the more than 3,000 players . With GoWar users can choose a strategy to conquer real places, manage troops and declare war on their favorite spots to build their personal empire.
Thanks to GoWar's proprietary algorithm, gamers are able to play socially with and against real people while roaming around their cities and interacting with other players. To get started, gamers have just to select a target, choose their armies and attack! Gamers can take their friends on Facebook by inviting them to join the battle by sharing their victories. In GoWar, players are able to use tanks and different special weapons to attack real places. The prestige of the places conquered is proportional to their popularity in the real life thanks to the integration with Facebook's "likes" and "check-ins"!
HOW TO PLAY
1. Territories
Territories in GoWar are linked to Facebook places, which let users to set up battles on all their favorite spots contained in the largest social network in the world. Three main indicators characterize each place in the game: gold, fame points and military power. Places that have not yet been conquered by anyone are defended by cruel armies of the Zombie King.
- Gold is the virtual currency produced each hour by the places users own and can be used in the market to recruit new armies and enforce their possessions.
- Fame points are achieved when one conquers a new territory and they allow users to get badges and climb the leaderboard.
- The military power is proportional to the number of tanks deployed on a territory, up to its maximum capacity. Each place must have at least 10 tanks be defended.
2. Commando
Each time one enters the game one can count on a special army called "Commando". The Commando's troops follow players everywhere they go and let them attack places in a 2km range from their current position. Players can also transfer troops from and to their Commando to reinforce the places they own. Accessing the map players get an instant view of the places around them.
3. Battles
When a target is chosen, the player is asked to select the place he wants to attack from and the amount of tanks he wants to engage in a battle. The result is determined by an algorithm based both on the proportion between the forces used in defense and in attack on a random component.
Once a place is conquered, tanks from the place was attacked are deployed into the new territory with enemy captured troops. Players can post their victories on Facebook to win more badges and tell their friends.
If players loose a battle, they and their enemies will suffer losses. Active push notifications inform when another player has conquered one of the player places.
From these two menus players can check their game achievements and status. There are three badge categories in GoWar: the "strategic" ones are achieved when players conquer a number of places, the "social" ones depend on their social network activity and the "special" ones are given to those who perform some non-conventional actions such as conquering places in more than one country or defeating a large number of Zombie King's troops.
From the leaderboard view players can access the list of enemy territories and check their global ranking or just among their friends. In the profile section they can get a full overview and a quick link to these features. They can also invite their Facebook friends to join the battle and make it more fun.
5. Army dealer
Players can recruit tanks from the army dealer by spending the gold produced by their territories. Gold is produced each hour, the maximum cap limit is based on the number of places in the empire. Players can also recruit special troops to make their strategy stronger. Special troops perform actions such as giving players an extra 30% chance to win a battle in attack or in defense mode, increase a place gold production or power capacity or increase the range of action of players commando from 2 to 20 km.
Players can recruit tanks from the army dealer by spending the gold produced by their territories. Gold is produced each hour, the maximum cap limit is based on the number of places in the empire. Players can also recruit special troops to make their strategy stronger. Special troops perform actions such as giving players an extra 30% chance to win a battle in attack or in defense mode, increase a place gold production or power capacity or increase the range of action of players commando from 2 to 20 km.