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Zynga sows Farmville sequel

Follow-up to Facebook behemoth takes root.

A sequel to monstrously successful Facebook game Farmville is on its way, developer Zynga has announced.

Mark Pincus, CEO of the social gaming ogre, took the wraps off the title at the company's Zynga Unleashed event in San Francisco earlier today.

Concrete details on exactly what it has planed for the follow-up were scarce, but it will be making the shift to full 3D.

"One of the things that people will notice right away is that it's our first 3D game," chief tech officer Cadir Lee told the BBC.

"All the buildings, crops and animals are shown in 3D. You can see them from multiple directions, they can rotate, you can see them more richly - so it provides a certain pop in the game itself.

"The game also has more social elements and a lot more crafting: the crops that you harvest are what you use in the game to make things which you then use to make other things, like on a natural farm."

A planned launch date wasn't disclosed.

Zynga's break-out smash pulled in over 80 million monthly users at its March 2010 peak, and still boasts around 20 million players.

A handful of other titles were also unveiled at the event - Sims-esque time-waster The Ville, restaurant-themed effort ChefVille and gambling title Zynga Elite Slots.