Technology Science - P.E.I. gamers hope for Facebook hit

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Stuart Duncan has high hopes for the Facebook version of Trade Nations. CBC

A Charlottetown video game company that's captured millions of players with an iPhone game is trying to repeat the success on Facebook.

Bight Games had a major hit with a game called Trade Nations, which allows iPhone gamers to build medieval villages. They can buy, sell and trade commodities while putting villagers to work.

"It's been consistently ranked as one of the top grossing apps since its launch in November. It has to date over 300 million game sessions and over three million users," said CEO Stuart Duncan.

The game is free to play, but users pay money to gain an advantage over rivals.

"You can do everything in the game for free, but if you want it to go faster, if you want to progress faster than your friends, then you can spend some money," said Duncan.

"A house might take you half an hour to build, but if you want to build your house instantly, you can pay a small amount of money to do that."

Those little bits of money have added up to millions of dollars for Bight Games, though Duncan wouldn't say exactly how much.

Fierce Facebook push

In May, it launched the game on Facebook. Since then the designers, programmers and artists at Bight Games have been working flat out to make people like the game.

"I think it's easier to ask how many hours I've not been on it," said game designer Martyn Cooke.

"I may go home in the evenings, but I'm usually on the computer playing, and checking, and making sure everything's going smoothly."

Producer Daryl Bibby said Facebook was the obvious next step.

"With the success of the iPhone version, it made sense to bring it to a new platform. It obviously captures a new market that doesn't use iPhones or iPads. So Facebook's a huge demographic," he said.

"The one advantage of games on Facebook is that we can change it every day," said Duncan. "If users tell us there's something they don't like, or it's something that's broken, we can respond immediately."

Just 7,000 people have downloaded the Facebook version, but Bight Games is optimistic it will take off and prove a profitable venture.