Total Eclipse CEO and game designer Argiris Bendilas takes us behind the scenes of The Clockwork Man and its sequel, The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World, explaining the inspiration behind the steampunk setting, how the company developed the unique new scrollable and zoomable scenes, and why they decided to release the games DRM-free in this developer diary post mortem.

In the board game world, there are a few big names when it comes to designers, but nowhere near as many as of the big names behind movies or video games. Of the few that do stand out, one could argue Reiner Knizia stands above them all. His name has graced the covers of many classic board games, and as time goes on more and more of his games have come to the App Store like High Society. Next up on that list is the classic strategy game Samurai.

I admit it. I was late to the game. I never really started watching the Criminal Minds TV series until about a year ago when I caught a marathon of episodes late at night. I couldn’t tear myself away! Each episode was captivatingly creepy and refreshingly different from the vast majority of the other “cop” shows on television. Little did I know that six months later I’d be tapped as the designer and producer for a light adventure/casual game version of the Criminal Minds license.

A lot of social game genres begin with a game that takes an old formula and changes it up a little, with a new motif or a few twists to the rules. Market Street is a department store sim that, at heart, is following the formula of fashion games like Mall World and Retail Therapy. You can even sell clothing if you want. What's different about Market Street is that it's a much more masculine game.

If you take a closer look at the casual games market you’ll find a lot of diversity. Some games offer more than 30 hours of playtime, some just over six hours. Some games have an old fashion art style, while some are made with 3D graphics that have Pixar quality written all over them. Some genres are relatively easy to develop and other genres are harder for developers to master.

When you think of PopSugar, you think of celebrity gossip, trendy styles, and now, Facebook games?

Sugar Inc, has quietly released Retail Therapy, a new social game on Facebook where you run your own stylish fashion boutique.

Fashion World is a Facebook game developed by MetroGames that brings players to the boutique business. Open a store to sell a variety of clothes and accessories to customers and work towards a profitable and popular business. This quick start guide will provide you with tips to get started playing Fashion World.

Social games are maturing rapidly, now at the point where game designers are starting to play around with game designs that blend elements from different genres. Treetopia seems to be about fusing the sense of progression text RPGs can offer with the creativity of a city-builder. The gameplay doesn't completely work, but it's an interesting idea that could develop into something extraordinary given enough time. There's a sense in Treetopia that you're interacting with a more substantial world than you usually see in Facebook games.

Many who approach Slingo Quest Egypt as just a game of luck are missing many of the cool new features that have been added that the player can indeed control. And learning about these controllable features can be the key difference between just being a novice player and becoming the Slingo expert you know are.

This guide was written by Slingo Designers and will let you in on their many secrets, so you take control of your powerups, use your friends effectively, maximize any minigame the devil throws at you, and even make your own luck!

Superstar City is a new Facebook game application developed by Hangout Industry. If you want to get fame, be famous and unleash your fashion style, then this is the right game for you! This guide will help you out in playing Superstar City.

Game designer Jon Radoff has created a wonderful flow chart that traces the "brief" history of social games all the way back to 3100BC. The chart begins with ancient pastimes like Senet, Go and Backgammon and connects them to everything from football and billiards to poker and Magic the Gathering, eventually culminating in four distinct branches of social games: Social strategy (such as the infamous Evony), social sims (Farmtown), social experiences (Music Pets), and social role-playing games (Mafia Wars).

Vampires are hot these days, whether it’s Twilight, True Blood, or Vampire Diaries, the bloody list goes on into the endless night. It was only a matter of time before vampires began to suck their teeth into the hidden object adventure genre for casual games as demonstrated in PlayFirst’s recent foray, Love and Death: Bitten!

We spoke with lead producer Solveig Pederson Zarubin and lead designer Helen Chang to find out why vampires are so hot, the details of developing a deeper hidden object game, and all that wild and crazy funny stuff that happens in the PlayFirst offices when they are late at night coding and designing games for us to play.

Mall World is a Facebook game developed by 50 Cubes and published by 6 Waves where players can start their own boutique, be creative by decorating it, offer fashionable items to earn a profit, play mini games by assisting customers and shop at other malls to show off their taste for fashion. This quick start guide will provide you with tips to get started playing Mall World.