[SOCIAL POWER: Mr Leonard Lim sees a bright future for online social games.]

By Dawn Tay

THE start-up company he co-founded draws more than US$40,000 (S$61,275) a month and the online game it created on Facebook has about 250,000 registered players.

But game developer Leonard Lim sees himself more as a "traditional Chinese businessman" and eschews comparisons between him and an entrepreneur.

In a recent interview, the 27-year-old told my paper: "My bottom line is money, not passion like most entrepreneurs.

I wanted to be a big-shot investment banker, but I realised I would make more money with this."

Not bad for someone who had initially harboured dreams of being in the financial industry.

Mr Lim is one of the three co-founders of Tyler Projects, which is behind Battle Stations, a multi-player Facebook game involving battleships.

Launched in late 2007, Battle Stations has gathered international fans, with players from countries as far as the United States, Canada and Australia.

Five months after the game started selling virtual goods last August, it already pulled in more than $250,000.

Mr Lim, who holds a double degree in info-systems and finance, and his partners pumped in $12,000 of their own savings to start the company.

Their money-making secret?

Convincing gamers to pay money for virtual goods such as weapons and action points to get ahead in the game. Advertising makes up less than 1 per cent of their revenue.

While other "gold rush" developers were more concerned about how many people play their games, Tyler was more concerned with improving Battle Stations' gameplay, Mr Lim said.

"Some developers try and get as many users as possible for an application and then swop it for a new one, or just end it once it's reached its maximum lifespan.

We don't resort to dirty tricks - we don't want to anger our players," he said.

Still, it was not all smooth sailing for Tyler Projects. The first casual game it developed in 2006 was a spectacular failure and the company almost went bust.

Then in 2007, the Facebook platform boomed and Mr Lim jumped at the chance to develop another game.

With the rise of social games on social-networking platforms, he is convinced that it spells the demise of casual video games.

Mr Lim said: "Eventually, social games will destroy the casual- game market. The latter isn't growing, whereas the fastest- growing demographics on Facebook are older women who are also first-time gamers. "And you can always develop a more social version of a casual game."

He claimed that it was not easy to develop a successful Facebook application although "anyone can make a Facebook application". He said: "It's not so easy to make money - you need knowledge of game mechanics, social dynamics and a business model.

"Anyone can make an application that draws one or two users, but to make one that actually pays the bills - that's something different."

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