14 DAY TRIAL // Zynga has big plans, already being the biggest player, by far, in social gaming, but it’s got its sights set on much more. Project Z, its own, stand-alone gaming social network is a big part of that, but it's going to take games to fill it. Luckily, Zynga has this covered as well.
At its Unleashed event, where it unveiled Project Z, Zynga also showcased some of the games currently being worked on and some of the things that are launching now or soon.
The first thing to notice is that the company is branching out more than what its current games have done so far.
It's still firmly planted in casual game territory, but the games it showcased look a bit more complex.
First up, Zynga unveiled its first sequel, Mafia Wars 2, its 'edgiest' game yet which is already available on Google+. If you've played the first, you'll know what to expect.
Another, less-than-original, offering is Zynga Bingo, which is now part of the Zynga Casino bundle along with Zynga Poker.
The plan seems to be to build more casino-type games around the bundle with the key feature being that you can move your chips from one game to the other.
Hidden Chronicles is another game Zynga revealed, being a classic hidden object type game, but it should be a refreshing option for the *Ville wary fans.
Speaking of the Ville brand, Zynga has big plans for it as well and has unveiled the next game in line for the series, CastleVille, one of the most complex so far.
It has a medieval setting, but more importantly, it has a story, yes a story in a Ville game, characters, what gamers would call NPCs, unique items, crafting, exploring and so on. If this wasn't a Zynga game, you'd even call it RPGish.
Zynga is touting the production values of this game, the art in it is said to be the most detailed and beautiful Zynga has ever created and it's even hired the 75-strong Seattle orchestra and choir for the music in the game.
It's a pretty strong line up so Zynga shouldn't have too much trouble hanging on to its lead. And with it branching out into mobile gaming, it should be able to grow its user numbers even more.