Fleck brings social gaming (and zombies) to Google Maps and Facebook

Ever wonder what it would be like to grow trees, build houses, plant flowers and interact with other real world players all on top of Google Maps? No, I hadn't really thought of that either, but the people at Self Aware Games sure have. They've brought their idea to life via Fleck, a new browser-based game that's currently in beta at Fleck.com. Fleck can be signed up for independently, or you can connect to the game via Facebook to easily start playing in less than 10 seconds. It should be noted that Fleck is technically available to play as a game on Facebook by installing the App, but I found the experience to be much more enjoyable when not confined to the small play area on Facebook. You can also play the game on your iPad.

Fleck's gameplay can be most easily thought of as a combination of MMO and the established Facebook social game. You'll enter into a real-time environment populated by dozens or even hundreds of other real-world players, depending on your geographical location, and can then interact with both those players, and the surrounding environment through a variety of activities. The novelty behind Fleck is the game's world - the real world, as seen through Google Maps. That is, each environment in the game represents a real world place, but rather than seeing a completely animated background, filled with static buildings or plant life, you'll see the white lines of streets, green shaded areas representing parks or forested areas and so on - just as though you were looking up a general location via the Google Maps service.