Trash-picking is part of the grind of social games, and in Happy Island, each piece of trash you pick up earns you six coins. Such a tiny payoff makes the chore something easy to ignore, especially when players can just build attractions on their island that rake in hundreds and thousands of coins without any further attention.
But for those that want every last coin, Happy Island is selling the Limited Edition Trash Master 3000 for 99 Facebook Credits (or roughly, $10 USD) to collect up to three days' worth of trash on your island.
Right now, there are 11,117 trash cans left. You can purchase the trash can via the window prompt when you open your game, or by heading to the "Featured" section of the in-game shop.
Earn money online
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Cafe World: Latest Decor has Players choosing between Heaven and Hell
Cafe World Good vs Evil
Build a restaurant fit for heaven or hell with the new Good vs Evil decor in Cafe World. Of the 55 new items created for this theme release, 35 are premium goods that require Cafe Cash to buy. The premium prices of this set ranged from 1 Cafe Cash (for things like wall and floor tiles) to 18 Cafe Cash -- for the glittering blue "Weighty World" statue of the titan Atlas bearing the Earth on his shoulders.
The whole heaven and hell schema is used very liberally here. For example, heaven is associated with classical music, while hell has a lot of items associated with rock and metal bands. The rest seem to be a matter of color compatibility where whatever looks classy, white and gold is considered heavenly decor. And whatever's red, orange, and black is all-out hell.
To get a full visual preview, click on the link below to view the rest of this post.
Cafe World Good vs Evil decorations
Build a restaurant fit for heaven or hell with the new Good vs Evil decor in Cafe World. Of the 55 new items created for this theme release, 35 are premium goods that require Cafe Cash to buy. The premium prices of this set ranged from 1 Cafe Cash (for things like wall and floor tiles) to 18 Cafe Cash -- for the glittering blue "Weighty World" statue of the titan Atlas bearing the Earth on his shoulders.
The whole heaven and hell schema is used very liberally here. For example, heaven is associated with classical music, while hell has a lot of items associated with rock and metal bands. The rest seem to be a matter of color compatibility where whatever looks classy, white and gold is considered heavenly decor. And whatever's red, orange, and black is all-out hell.
To get a full visual preview, click on the link below to view the rest of this post.
Cafe World Good vs Evil decorations
Meet the man behind the FarmVille theme song
If you've spent as many hours as we have playing FarmVille, you know how easily the game's folksy theme song gets permanently imprinted on your brain. The man behind that ditty is musician Steve Kirk, who has written songs for video games such as Disney's Princess and the Frog and an unannounced LucasArts game.
In an interview on Social Times, Kirk says that he wanted to create a song that was 'down home' but 'not too country."
The FarmVille Theme was written in June of 2009. We wanted the piece to have as broad an appeal as possible- a "down-home" atmosphere but not too country. So there are no banjos or fiddles, but a simple two guitars, piano and upright bass instrumentation, with the electric guitar carrying the melody. We settled on a style that hints at Chet Atkins and Randy Newman- an older style of American music that is somewhat country-ish and blues-ish in flavor.
Considering the game-play environment was very important, and because the music was to be only 30 seconds long, we wanted it to bear a lot of repetition before people would turn it off. I wanted to have real instruments be the focal point, and chose guitar because I play guitar and there was no budget to hire other musicians. I decided not to use drums or percussion because I felt that might end up being too distracting from the game.
Kirk's favorite game on Facebook, is not Zynga's virtual farming game -- it's PopCap's crack-like match-three game, Bejeweled Blitz. To learn more about Kirk, check out his official Web site.
In an interview on Social Times, Kirk says that he wanted to create a song that was 'down home' but 'not too country."
The FarmVille Theme was written in June of 2009. We wanted the piece to have as broad an appeal as possible- a "down-home" atmosphere but not too country. So there are no banjos or fiddles, but a simple two guitars, piano and upright bass instrumentation, with the electric guitar carrying the melody. We settled on a style that hints at Chet Atkins and Randy Newman- an older style of American music that is somewhat country-ish and blues-ish in flavor.
Considering the game-play environment was very important, and because the music was to be only 30 seconds long, we wanted it to bear a lot of repetition before people would turn it off. I wanted to have real instruments be the focal point, and chose guitar because I play guitar and there was no budget to hire other musicians. I decided not to use drums or percussion because I felt that might end up being too distracting from the game.
Kirk's favorite game on Facebook, is not Zynga's virtual farming game -- it's PopCap's crack-like match-three game, Bejeweled Blitz. To learn more about Kirk, check out his official Web site.
FarmVille playground decor - because virtual farmers need recess too
All work and no play makes farmers a dull lot. That's why we were psyched to discover the crop of new playground items that have just arrived in the FarmVille Market.
farmville tetherball
Now our mini farmers can take a rest from all of that back-breaking work and gaze upon the following playground items:
Lookout Tower
Merry-go-round
Seesaw
Swing set
Slide
Monkey bars
Tetherball
The big winner out of all of these is the Merry-Go-Round, an animated item with a chicken that looks on from the side. Gotta love when regular items get a FarmVille twist.
If you have pictures of your FarmVille playground, please send them to editors@games.com, and we'll post them here.
farmville tetherball
Now our mini farmers can take a rest from all of that back-breaking work and gaze upon the following playground items:
Lookout Tower
Merry-go-round
Seesaw
Swing set
Slide
Monkey bars
Tetherball
The big winner out of all of these is the Merry-Go-Round, an animated item with a chicken that looks on from the side. Gotta love when regular items get a FarmVille twist.
If you have pictures of your FarmVille playground, please send them to editors@games.com, and we'll post them here.
FarmVille Tuscany items multiply with Allegra's Abby and Dante's Ristorante
Gotta give FarmVille credit-- when it latches on to a good theme, it really goes for broke. Of course, thats ultimately to our benefit, and we're happy to see that more Tuscan-themed items have made their way to the in-game Market, including a handsome Tuscan church called Allegra's Abby and a Tuscan Restaurant, aka Dante's Ristorante, complete with outdoor seating. We could really stand to be kicking back on that restaurant patio about now. There are also three new decorations that will give your farm that extra authentic Tuscan-y look.
farmville pot of lavender
Here is the complete list of new items:
Tuscany Lamppost
Tuscany Planter
Tuscany Rocky Red Flower Knoll
Allegra's Abby
Dante's Ristorante
Which Tuscan-themed items have you bought so far?
farmville pot of lavender
Here is the complete list of new items:
Tuscany Lamppost
Tuscany Planter
Tuscany Rocky Red Flower Knoll
Allegra's Abby
Dante's Ristorante
Which Tuscan-themed items have you bought so far?
Monday, February 13, 2012
FarmVille Re-Releases Clover, Amaranth, White Roses, & Forget-Me-Not Seeds
FarmVille Re-Releases Clover, Amaranth, White Roses, & Forget-Me-Not Seeds
Welcome back the Clover, Amaranth, White Roses and Forget-Me-Nots! The Clover will unlock at level 70, Amaranth at level 76, White Roses at level 80 and requires that Pink Roses are mastered, and the Forget-Me-Nots at level 90.
Are you happy to see these crops come back with the ability to master them?
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Bookmark this site!
Welcome back the Clover, Amaranth, White Roses and Forget-Me-Nots! The Clover will unlock at level 70, Amaranth at level 76, White Roses at level 80 and requires that Pink Roses are mastered, and the Forget-Me-Nots at level 90.
Are you happy to see these crops come back with the ability to master them?
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Bookmark this site!
FarmVille Adds New Levels: 90-999
FarmVille has now added new levels! The following levels have been added with the XP needed.
Level 91 = 876,500 XP
Level 92 = 918,500 XP
Level 93 = 963,500 XP
Level 94 = 1,012,000 XP
Level 95 = 1,064,000 XP
Level 96 = 1,120,000 XP
Level 97 = 1,180,000 XP
Level 98 = 1,244,500 XP
Level 99 = 1,313,500 XP
Level 100 = 1,387,500 XP
Level 101 = 1,500,000 XP
Level 102-999 increase in increments of 100,000 XP to achieve next level.
It has been rumored that the levels go up to level 999! We will confirm shortly!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Level 91 = 876,500 XP
Level 92 = 918,500 XP
Level 93 = 963,500 XP
Level 94 = 1,012,000 XP
Level 95 = 1,064,000 XP
Level 96 = 1,120,000 XP
Level 97 = 1,180,000 XP
Level 98 = 1,244,500 XP
Level 99 = 1,313,500 XP
Level 100 = 1,387,500 XP
Level 101 = 1,500,000 XP
Level 102-999 increase in increments of 100,000 XP to achieve next level.
It has been rumored that the levels go up to level 999! We will confirm shortly!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FrontierVille invaded by a new breed of varmint. Hint: they're foxy
UPDATE (6/25): Foxes appear while feeding animals. And they're rabid! Also added pictures of the fox below.
Looks like there's a new varmint on the loose in FrontierVille that will need to be scared, clobbered or worse -- a fox.
I haven't spotted one of these sly canines prowling around my property yet, but it was hard to miss the new Fox Collection that popped up into the game today. A notification at the top of the game also says that there are new "varmints,' so after putting two and two together and, well, I expect a fox to show up at any point now. Me and my spouse be waiting, Mr. Fox.
Frontierville fox larryfrontierville fox from larry
Thanks to Larry for these pics of the fox in action!
Have you seen a fox yet?
Looks like there's a new varmint on the loose in FrontierVille that will need to be scared, clobbered or worse -- a fox.
I haven't spotted one of these sly canines prowling around my property yet, but it was hard to miss the new Fox Collection that popped up into the game today. A notification at the top of the game also says that there are new "varmints,' so after putting two and two together and, well, I expect a fox to show up at any point now. Me and my spouse be waiting, Mr. Fox.
Frontierville fox larryfrontierville fox from larry
Thanks to Larry for these pics of the fox in action!
Have you seen a fox yet?
FarmVille releases the Pheasant for 2 million coins
A new pheasant was released in the FarmVille market. It can be purchased for 2,000,000 coins once you have reached level 85. The pheasant will sell for 92 coins and harvests in 2 days.
Do you think 2,000,000 coins is too much for this Pheasant?
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Do you think 2,000,000 coins is too much for this Pheasant?
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Quote of the Moment: Generosity is its own reward
"It's unintuitive to think that games where you actually do not ever directly interact with another person could have a community, but what social games do is generate an asynchronous cloud of persistent community formed by the constant exchange of gifts, tools, and requests sent by other players. It's generosity-driven, but transactional - if I send you a gift, I'm feeling happy because I helped you out (especially if I'm responding to a request you've put out), but I'm also hoping you'll send me something back. And the more I send and receive, the more I plant, the more I return every day (or more than once a day) - the more hardcore my play becomes. Watch a hardcore FarmVille player. They move fluidly and attentively around the tiniest change in mechanics, and play not for some whimsical dollhouse experience but for tight, fast, controlled optimizations, seeking the fastest path to a clear goal, and putting in as much time as it takes to get there.
"In GoPets we knew that generous players were sticky players - meaning that we kept them for a long time - and so we incentivized generosity in our player base. But because our generosity levers were "manual" - players had the ability to send gifts, and socially benefited from doing so, but there were no specific mechanical achievement or requirement structures around them - our community was more genuinely social and less frenetic than its social game antecedents. The basic concept held true: Encourage players to exchange valuable items and they'll create an atmosphere of positive assistance that will in turn bring them to associate the game with generosity and positive feelings."
-Game designer and writer Erin Hoffman explains how the gifting system is key to the appeal of many social games.
"In GoPets we knew that generous players were sticky players - meaning that we kept them for a long time - and so we incentivized generosity in our player base. But because our generosity levers were "manual" - players had the ability to send gifts, and socially benefited from doing so, but there were no specific mechanical achievement or requirement structures around them - our community was more genuinely social and less frenetic than its social game antecedents. The basic concept held true: Encourage players to exchange valuable items and they'll create an atmosphere of positive assistance that will in turn bring them to associate the game with generosity and positive feelings."
-Game designer and writer Erin Hoffman explains how the gifting system is key to the appeal of many social games.
FarmVille Update includes One-Click Harvesting for Animal Buildings
one click harvesting
Tonight's FarmVille update featured lots of new limited edition New England themed items, new Mystery Game prizes and some other minor and less noticeable updates including the following:
Animal Buildings such as the Chicken Coop,Dairy Farm, Horse Stable and Nursery Barn now have one-click harvesting, just like other animals!
Goji Berry seeds are still available in the FarmVille Market, but have simply moved to another place. Usually the first item you see is Goji Berry seeds, now they can be found with other fruits.
The Email promotion of "Daily Fuel Boost" is now a regular feature.
More farmers should have access to the new Crafting Building feature.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Tonight's FarmVille update featured lots of new limited edition New England themed items, new Mystery Game prizes and some other minor and less noticeable updates including the following:
Animal Buildings such as the Chicken Coop,Dairy Farm, Horse Stable and Nursery Barn now have one-click harvesting, just like other animals!
Goji Berry seeds are still available in the FarmVille Market, but have simply moved to another place. Usually the first item you see is Goji Berry seeds, now they can be found with other fruits.
The Email promotion of "Daily Fuel Boost" is now a regular feature.
More farmers should have access to the new Crafting Building feature.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
YoVille Magic Genie Lamp & Other Moroccan collectibles arrive
Three new Collectibles have arrived in the YoVille furniture store. The Moroccan Genie in a Lamp is on sale for for 21 YoCash, the Moroccan Water Trampoline is available for 26 YoCash and the Moroccan Lion Statue is available for 11,900 coins.
Enjoy the pictures after the jump.
These items are on sale for 13 days only. Get yourselves down to the furniture store to check out these lovely new collectibles!
yoville magic genie lamp
yoville collectibles
yoville moroccan trampoline
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Enjoy the pictures after the jump.
These items are on sale for 13 days only. Get yourselves down to the furniture store to check out these lovely new collectibles!
yoville magic genie lamp
yoville collectibles
yoville moroccan trampoline
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
YoVille New Moroccan Kitchen Items
yoville moroccan kitchen items
The Moroccan items we told you about are out! Head over to the YoVille Furniture Store and grab the latest ovens, sinks, cabinets and more. All items are part of the Moroccan theme.
Zynga has already released the living, bedroom and bathroom sets.
Read more for a full list of items and prices.
yoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen items
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
The Moroccan items we told you about are out! Head over to the YoVille Furniture Store and grab the latest ovens, sinks, cabinets and more. All items are part of the Moroccan theme.
Zynga has already released the living, bedroom and bathroom sets.
Read more for a full list of items and prices.
yoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen itemsyoville moroccan kitchen items
This article originally appeared on YoVille Lounge.
Mafia Wars Las Vegas officially opens to all virtual mobsters
mafia wars las vegas
Mafia Wars Las Vegas is here! The new expansion for Mafia Wars was only open to VIPs last week, but now everyone's invited to enter Sin City. Jobs, fighting, properties and currency have been changed up slightly this go-round -- see the details below.
Energy Lover or Fighter?: You Decide
Jobs follow two different paths: Energy Path or a Fighting Path. Choose either path and complete all of the jobs -- which will lead to a boss battle that will unlock the next District. There are six districts in all -- and, from what I've heard from fellow players, they take a long time to finish.
Test Your Mettle in Fight Club Tournaments
Fighting and robbing have stayed the same, but Fight Club Tournaments have finally been unlocked. Choose a class (based largely on how many Mafia members you have) and then jump into a tournament. There's a betting portion as well, where you can bet chips on who the winner will be (either yourself or someone else).
Build Your Own Casino
Properties have changed in Las Vegas as well. Instead of buying up lots of buildings, your mission is to build the mother of all casinos. You'll have to complete certain jobs to start building out five (5) sections of your mega-casino and then upgrade the parts until you get a 5-star casino. You'll also have to build your own vault to keep your poker chips safe.
Bank Big with Poker Chips
Speaking of poker chips, that's the currency for Las Vegas (kinda like real-life Vegas). Like all of the other Mafia Wars expansions, you'll be starting over from scratch. money-wise. and will start amassing wealth in form of Poker Chips. The good thing is that you don't have to start out from nothing --- all of t those poker chip racks you collected from friends over the past few weeks can be converted into Poker Chips. So, the more diligent you were about stocking up on racks, the more cash you'll have to take on Viva Las Vegas.
Play Mafia Wars Las Vegas Now >
Mafia Wars Las Vegas is here! The new expansion for Mafia Wars was only open to VIPs last week, but now everyone's invited to enter Sin City. Jobs, fighting, properties and currency have been changed up slightly this go-round -- see the details below.
Energy Lover or Fighter?: You Decide
Jobs follow two different paths: Energy Path or a Fighting Path. Choose either path and complete all of the jobs -- which will lead to a boss battle that will unlock the next District. There are six districts in all -- and, from what I've heard from fellow players, they take a long time to finish.
Test Your Mettle in Fight Club Tournaments
Fighting and robbing have stayed the same, but Fight Club Tournaments have finally been unlocked. Choose a class (based largely on how many Mafia members you have) and then jump into a tournament. There's a betting portion as well, where you can bet chips on who the winner will be (either yourself or someone else).
Build Your Own Casino
Properties have changed in Las Vegas as well. Instead of buying up lots of buildings, your mission is to build the mother of all casinos. You'll have to complete certain jobs to start building out five (5) sections of your mega-casino and then upgrade the parts until you get a 5-star casino. You'll also have to build your own vault to keep your poker chips safe.
Bank Big with Poker Chips
Speaking of poker chips, that's the currency for Las Vegas (kinda like real-life Vegas). Like all of the other Mafia Wars expansions, you'll be starting over from scratch. money-wise. and will start amassing wealth in form of Poker Chips. The good thing is that you don't have to start out from nothing --- all of t those poker chip racks you collected from friends over the past few weeks can be converted into Poker Chips. So, the more diligent you were about stocking up on racks, the more cash you'll have to take on Viva Las Vegas.
Play Mafia Wars Las Vegas Now >
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Mafia Wars promises 'a better user experience'
Mafia Wars players have been extremely vocal about the game's bugs and general sluggishness. So it seems very brave for Zynga reps to say that a better user experience is on its way in the most recent post on the official Mafia Wars blog:
"Our team has fixed a whole lot of bugs over the past 2 days. Some of these issues include fixing cross-promotional items that players weren't receiving, replacing wonky error messages and stopping players from awarding themselves extra skill points when they complete jobs."
OK, so we're glad that some bugs have been fixed. Some is better than none. Perhaps more telling are the seemingly endless comments after the post, brimming with suggestions on other things that need to be fixed or changed in the game, including "overloaded' servers, complaints about players using 'snag' cheat apps, no more challenge missions and allow clans/all players to share loot... to name a few.
The post ends by saying "Our work is far from over." Seems like a lot of fed-up virtual mobsters will agree with that.
Have you had trouble with bugs and sluggishness in Mafia Wars? What else (if anything) needs to be fixed?
"Our team has fixed a whole lot of bugs over the past 2 days. Some of these issues include fixing cross-promotional items that players weren't receiving, replacing wonky error messages and stopping players from awarding themselves extra skill points when they complete jobs."
OK, so we're glad that some bugs have been fixed. Some is better than none. Perhaps more telling are the seemingly endless comments after the post, brimming with suggestions on other things that need to be fixed or changed in the game, including "overloaded' servers, complaints about players using 'snag' cheat apps, no more challenge missions and allow clans/all players to share loot... to name a few.
The post ends by saying "Our work is far from over." Seems like a lot of fed-up virtual mobsters will agree with that.
Have you had trouble with bugs and sluggishness in Mafia Wars? What else (if anything) needs to be fixed?
FarmVille Limited Edition Wild West Animal: Cottontail Rabbit
farmville cottontail rabbit
Are you ready for a new Rabbit? FarmVille released a Limited Edition Wild West themed Cottontail Rabbit tonight.
The Cottontail Rabbit can be purchased for 12 farm cash in the FarmVille Market during the next 9 days only.
farmville cottontail rabbit
FarmVille LE Wild West Animal (Released August 31, 2010):
Cottontail Rabbit – 12 FV$
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Will you purchase the new Cottontail Rabbit for your animal collection?
Are you ready for a new Rabbit? FarmVille released a Limited Edition Wild West themed Cottontail Rabbit tonight.
The Cottontail Rabbit can be purchased for 12 farm cash in the FarmVille Market during the next 9 days only.
farmville cottontail rabbit
FarmVille LE Wild West Animal (Released August 31, 2010):
Cottontail Rabbit – 12 FV$
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Will you purchase the new Cottontail Rabbit for your animal collection?
FarmVille Unreleased Pinto Bean, Pinto Bean Market Stall, Pinto Bean Mastery Sign, & Pinto Bean Bushel
farmville pinto bean bushel farmville pinto bean market stall farmville pinto bean mastery
Thank you to Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Pinto Bean, Pinto Bean Market Stall, Pinto Bean Mastery Sign, & Pinto Bean Bushel items!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Thank you to Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Pinto Bean, Pinto Bean Market Stall, Pinto Bean Mastery Sign, & Pinto Bean Bushel items!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FarmVille Unreleased Back to School Duck, Dutch Barn, Rectangular Haybale, & Pig Slop
Thank you to Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Back to School Duck, Dutch Barn, Rectangular Haybale, Slop!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
FarmVille Unreleased Blacksmith, Sherriff's Office, Water Well, Wanted Sign, Sage, Wild Turkey v2, Gold Rush Stream
farmville sheriff station farmville gold rush stream farmville wild turkey
Lots of new unreleased FarmVille Wild West items! There is a Blacksmith, Sherriff's Office for the buildings and decorations that include a Water Well, an awesome Wanted Sign, Gold Rush Stream, and Sage plant. Finally a handsome Wild West Wild Turkey rounds out the list. These items would look great with the Wild West theme and we can't wait to see if and when they come out!
farmville wanted poster farmville wild west water well farmville wild west sage bush
Note, unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market and are subject to change without notice.
Thank you to Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Blacksmith, Sherriff's Office, Wild West Water Well, Wild West Wanted Sign, Wild West, Sage, Wild Turkey v2, Gold Rush Stream items!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Lots of new unreleased FarmVille Wild West items! There is a Blacksmith, Sherriff's Office for the buildings and decorations that include a Water Well, an awesome Wanted Sign, Gold Rush Stream, and Sage plant. Finally a handsome Wild West Wild Turkey rounds out the list. These items would look great with the Wild West theme and we can't wait to see if and when they come out!
farmville wanted poster farmville wild west water well farmville wild west sage bush
Note, unreleased items have no official release date or guarantee that they will make it to the FarmVille Market and are subject to change without notice.
Thank you to Teresa for finding these unreleased FarmVille Blacksmith, Sherriff's Office, Wild West Water Well, Wild West Wanted Sign, Wild West, Sage, Wild Turkey v2, Gold Rush Stream items!
This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
RSPCA's Think Pig Facebook game has adorable pigs, not-so adorable sounds
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), a U.K. -based advocacy group for animal rights, has launched a Facebook game to raise awareness about the fair treatment of pigs (no, not these pigs) with Think Pig. This anagram game asks you to line up pigs with letters on their backs to make words, but it's unsure as to how this game raises awareness.
Amongst the unsettling noise of swines grunting and snorting--sans any music at all--it's difficult enough to concentrate on putting words together. If you manage to achieve a score of at least "Weaner" ("Porker" and "Whole Hog" being the highest titles), you'll be sent to the bonus round where you'll have to answer a pig trivia question that will double your score if answered correctly.
Find out more about this snout-nosed game after the break.
Think Pig gameplay
Then you'll be given the option to stick with the herd or move on to a new one for more letter options. You can share your scores with friends, like almost every social game, and there are personal, friend and global leaderboards to stoke that competitive flame.
Think Pig Trivia
According to the Think Pig Facebook page, the goal of the game is "to raise awareness about pig welfare and what labels you should look for when shopping," but we're finding it hard to see that message in Think Pig. While the trivia questions seem to fulfill this claim (all I can still hear are squealing pigs and outdoor ambiance), but trivia questions aren't provocative like immersive gameplay can be.
Play Think Pig on Facebook Now >
Amongst the unsettling noise of swines grunting and snorting--sans any music at all--it's difficult enough to concentrate on putting words together. If you manage to achieve a score of at least "Weaner" ("Porker" and "Whole Hog" being the highest titles), you'll be sent to the bonus round where you'll have to answer a pig trivia question that will double your score if answered correctly.
Find out more about this snout-nosed game after the break.
Think Pig gameplay
Then you'll be given the option to stick with the herd or move on to a new one for more letter options. You can share your scores with friends, like almost every social game, and there are personal, friend and global leaderboards to stoke that competitive flame.
Think Pig Trivia
According to the Think Pig Facebook page, the goal of the game is "to raise awareness about pig welfare and what labels you should look for when shopping," but we're finding it hard to see that message in Think Pig. While the trivia questions seem to fulfill this claim (all I can still hear are squealing pigs and outdoor ambiance), but trivia questions aren't provocative like immersive gameplay can be.
Play Think Pig on Facebook Now >
FarmVille Sneak Peek: Let's Drink to German Hospitality
Between this new unreleased FarmVille German Beer Garden (see the 3rd item from the left in above pic), last week's lederhosen and dirndl dressed gnomes, and the Oktoberfest Tent from the week before that, there might finally be enough items to pull off a beer fest on the farm. Aside from that, you've got the German Hotel and the German Castle Wall Fence, which is a classier way of corralling your revelers than with cheap wooden fences. And while we're at it, nothing completes a party like a Backyard Pool, but this one comes off more like a garden pond than one for cannon-balling. Grab a dose of serenity by checking out the animation of the pool below:
[via FarmVille Freak and FarmVille Latest]
[via FarmVille Freak and FarmVille Latest]
Happy Aquarium One Year Anniversary Event extended by five hours, more time to win an exclusive fish
Happy Aquarium One Year Anniversary
CrowdStar will soon be rewarding its Happy Aquarium fans for their enjoyment of the game for a whole year with the Happy Aquarium One Year Anniversary Event. Extended by five hours, log in between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. PST to get your own exclusive, vibrant One Year Anniversary Fish. The event already has over 843,000 confirmed attendees, so you definitely won't be alone.
It's a bummer that CrowdStar isn't doing more to celebrate this milestone, but if it maintains its Number 2 position under Zynga long enough, maybe next year's event will be even better. This event, unlike Zynga's week-long festivities in Cafe World, will only be around for six hours. So, be sure to log in tomorrow for your exclusive fish and to celebrate playing Happy Aquarium for a whole 365 days.
CrowdStar will soon be rewarding its Happy Aquarium fans for their enjoyment of the game for a whole year with the Happy Aquarium One Year Anniversary Event. Extended by five hours, log in between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. PST to get your own exclusive, vibrant One Year Anniversary Fish. The event already has over 843,000 confirmed attendees, so you definitely won't be alone.
It's a bummer that CrowdStar isn't doing more to celebrate this milestone, but if it maintains its Number 2 position under Zynga long enough, maybe next year's event will be even better. This event, unlike Zynga's week-long festivities in Cafe World, will only be around for six hours. So, be sure to log in tomorrow for your exclusive fish and to celebrate playing Happy Aquarium for a whole 365 days.
Mafia Wars Dublin Challenge Missions Chapter Two: Ireland Hopping with stout in hand
Zynga has finally unlocked Chapter Two of the Dublin Challenge Missions in Mafia Wars. Named "Ireland Hopping," players will escape Ireland with the money from the bank robbery, launder the cash in an "offshore account" and funnel the dough back into the Irish mob. Sounds like my kind of weekend.
These missions will require a lot more stout than before, so you'll have to ask your friends for even more pints. Also, be sure to collect your stout from above the Dublin jobs pane every 24 hours. For mastering each job Chapter 2, you'll receive an Irish mob weapon called Black Irish with 84 Attack and 59 Defense.
Join us behind the cut for a detailed look at the four new jobs in the Dublin Challenge Mission.
Dublin Challenge Mission Chapter 2 jobs
Here is a look at the jobs you'll have to take on to successfully go Ireland Hopping:
Get the Money to a Waiting Jet: Costs 2 Stout and 22 Energy; Rewards 38 XP per attempt
Fly to a Caribbean Island: Costs 2 Stout and 33 Energy; Rewards 60 XP per attempt
Launder the Money to an "Offshore Account": Costs 3 Stout and 49 Energy; Rewards 93 XP per attempt
Pipe the Funds back to Ireland: Costs 4 Stout and 55 Energy, Rewards 104 XP per attempt
Be mindful of the Job Heat Meter, as once that fills after doing too many jobs the amount of Energy and Stout used during these jobs will increase, forcing an eight-hour wait before costs become normal again. Mastering this chapter also unlocks access to the final chapter once it releases in about four days. Happy Ireland Hopping.
These missions will require a lot more stout than before, so you'll have to ask your friends for even more pints. Also, be sure to collect your stout from above the Dublin jobs pane every 24 hours. For mastering each job Chapter 2, you'll receive an Irish mob weapon called Black Irish with 84 Attack and 59 Defense.
Join us behind the cut for a detailed look at the four new jobs in the Dublin Challenge Mission.
Dublin Challenge Mission Chapter 2 jobs
Here is a look at the jobs you'll have to take on to successfully go Ireland Hopping:
Get the Money to a Waiting Jet: Costs 2 Stout and 22 Energy; Rewards 38 XP per attempt
Fly to a Caribbean Island: Costs 2 Stout and 33 Energy; Rewards 60 XP per attempt
Launder the Money to an "Offshore Account": Costs 3 Stout and 49 Energy; Rewards 93 XP per attempt
Pipe the Funds back to Ireland: Costs 4 Stout and 55 Energy, Rewards 104 XP per attempt
Be mindful of the Job Heat Meter, as once that fills after doing too many jobs the amount of Energy and Stout used during these jobs will increase, forcing an eight-hour wait before costs become normal again. Mastering this chapter also unlocks access to the final chapter once it releases in about four days. Happy Ireland Hopping.
FarmVille Sneak Peek: Haiti 'The School of Choice' Hot Air Balloon
Our last look at FarmVille's School of Choice campaign showed that they had hit their 400 million mark, and were now aiming for 1 billion in virtual exchanged gifts. Right now, the counter has passed the 750 million mark with a $72k increase in player donations from Sweet Beets.
Given the momentum of this charity drive, it seems inevitable that Zynga will end up donating their promised total of $200k.
Today, a leaked image of a Haiti Hot Air Balloon imprinted with the "L' Ecole de Choix" banner and sporting the colors of the Haitian flag, made its way around the fan sites. FarmVille will probably cap off the event with a commemorative item and we can only bet that this balloon is it. But as always, the only guarantee when it comes to leaked items is a little insight into what the game creators are pondering.
Given the momentum of this charity drive, it seems inevitable that Zynga will end up donating their promised total of $200k.
Today, a leaked image of a Haiti Hot Air Balloon imprinted with the "L' Ecole de Choix" banner and sporting the colors of the Haitian flag, made its way around the fan sites. FarmVille will probably cap off the event with a commemorative item and we can only bet that this balloon is it. But as always, the only guarantee when it comes to leaked items is a little insight into what the game creators are pondering.
Social City joins the Magic Kingdom with a free Cinderella Castle
Social City Cinderella Castle
Today, players will find a Goofy Statue in the free gifts section of Social City along with the Mickey Mouse collectible from last week. (Note: Players who have an e-mail subscription with Social City received a link to a free Mickey without needing friends to gift them one.) This is all part of Playdom's plan to make use of their merger with Disney to bring famous characters and properties into Social City. Six more statues are expected, and those who collect all eight will get a free Cinderella Castle!
Today, players will find a Goofy Statue in the free gifts section of Social City along with the Mickey Mouse collectible from last week. (Note: Players who have an e-mail subscription with Social City received a link to a free Mickey without needing friends to gift them one.) This is all part of Playdom's plan to make use of their merger with Disney to bring famous characters and properties into Social City. Six more statues are expected, and those who collect all eight will get a free Cinderella Castle!
Zynga expands to new global headquarters in San Francisco: More jobs incoming?
Townsend Center
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced today that social gaming colossus Zynga has signed a 7-year lease on a new location for their imperial stronghold global headquarters. Located at 8th and Townsend Streets in the city by the bay, 270,000 of the 650,000 square foot Townsend Center, a TMG Partners building, will belong to Zynga.
The move in from 365 Vermont Street begins in Spring 2011 to the sprawling Townsend Center, complete with wellness center and company cafe, which hopefully will fit however many of the company's 1,200 employees who will be stationed there. Over the past two years, the creator of FarmVille has grown from 398 employees in September 2009 to its current number in September 2010 with offices worldwide in Sunnyvale, Los Gatos, Los Angeles, Austin, Boston, Baltimore, Bangalore, Beijing, Tokyo and recently Frankfurt.
"As a 15-year San Francisco resident, I value the city's unique ability to attract the combination of top creative and tech talent that enables innovation," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus (wait a tick). "Our new headquarters will capture our culture of collaboration, creativity and fun. I want to thank the Mayor for being an outstanding partner in making our new headquarters become a reality."
While Zynga is obviously excited about the move for financial and creative reasons (and more office space!), Mayor Newsom is just thankful for the company's potential "to flourish, keep and grow jobs in San Francisco." With two office buys in the past week with one having room for some 2,000 employees, according to Venture Beat, somebody might be hiring again.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced today that social gaming colossus Zynga has signed a 7-year lease on a new location for their imperial stronghold global headquarters. Located at 8th and Townsend Streets in the city by the bay, 270,000 of the 650,000 square foot Townsend Center, a TMG Partners building, will belong to Zynga.
The move in from 365 Vermont Street begins in Spring 2011 to the sprawling Townsend Center, complete with wellness center and company cafe, which hopefully will fit however many of the company's 1,200 employees who will be stationed there. Over the past two years, the creator of FarmVille has grown from 398 employees in September 2009 to its current number in September 2010 with offices worldwide in Sunnyvale, Los Gatos, Los Angeles, Austin, Boston, Baltimore, Bangalore, Beijing, Tokyo and recently Frankfurt.
"As a 15-year San Francisco resident, I value the city's unique ability to attract the combination of top creative and tech talent that enables innovation," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus (wait a tick). "Our new headquarters will capture our culture of collaboration, creativity and fun. I want to thank the Mayor for being an outstanding partner in making our new headquarters become a reality."
While Zynga is obviously excited about the move for financial and creative reasons (and more office space!), Mayor Newsom is just thankful for the company's potential "to flourish, keep and grow jobs in San Francisco." With two office buys in the past week with one having room for some 2,000 employees, according to Venture Beat, somebody might be hiring again.
FishVille Glowing Phosphorus Jungle: Electro Fern and Magic Lily illuminate your tank
Pressing on with the Glowing Phosphorus Jungle theme, Zynga has added three new decorations to FishVille to help light up your tank. The Electro Fern asks for 10 Sand Dollars ($2 USD) and rewards 3,000 XP, while the Magic Lily is locked for purchase until Level 80. Considering it's an animated item, we're going to go out on a limb and say that it'll cost you a good amount of Sand Dollars.
The update on FishVille's Facebook page brags about a Teal Lamp (pictured center) item as well, but it is nowhere to be found in the game's store. Unless Zynga is referring to the Hanging Lamp, which costs 150,000 coins and rewards 1,500 XP, this Teal Lamp does not exist. While these items don't have a limited time in FishVille, the Glowing Phosphorus Jungle theme can't stick around forever, so get these items to brighten your tank before a new theme rushes in.
The update on FishVille's Facebook page brags about a Teal Lamp (pictured center) item as well, but it is nowhere to be found in the game's store. Unless Zynga is referring to the Hanging Lamp, which costs 150,000 coins and rewards 1,500 XP, this Teal Lamp does not exist. While these items don't have a limited time in FishVille, the Glowing Phosphorus Jungle theme can't stick around forever, so get these items to brighten your tank before a new theme rushes in.
Facebook Account Banning: How Zynga handles it
A tipster to the Mafia Wars Maniac had a revealing Skype discussion with a Zynga representative involving gaming accounts being banned from Facebook and what Zynga can help with during the appeal process. First things first, what accounts get banned?
Mostly, accounts made purely for gaming, i.e. those that include no personal photos or information but are extremely active within apps on the platform are suspect for inspection by Facebook, according to Mafia Wars Maniac. If you fit this criteria, then it's very likely that you could get banned from Facebook. Here's what to do if this ever happens to you on a real account (accounts proven to be fake will not be reactivated by Facebook):
Submit a CS ticket... "I've been banned from facebook!" or something to that extent. You will get a response with a specific escalation URL for Facebook
Use that URL to appeal your ban to facebook...
If your ban is lifted... Halelua!
If not...
Copy the response you get from facebook and reply back to the CS ticket with the response. We will then be able to take that information and escalate it from our end. So... here is why we need to do it this way...
Apparently Zynga can track this exchange, appeal on your behalf to Facebook and hopefully restore your account. The issue with this is that many players (like myself) have made separate accounts on the platform just for gaming out respect for our friends' news feeds. However, with that issue alleviated recently, it might be a good idea to get back on your normal account for gaming. That is, if all of your gaming information wasn't linked to that account.
So, what can you do to avoid being banned? Just spruce up your account with some more personal information. Just your name, hometown and a photo isn't much to sacrifice for being able to play your favorite game. Is it?
When asked whether improvements will be made to Mafia Wars that would remove the need for a Facebook account, the representative cryptically replied, "Fortunately we have teams of people who are able to work on multiple projects at one time. So while it may seem that we keep launching missions or new cities... that doesn't mean we don't have another team working on other issues/improvements."
We can only hope that some changes to the Mafia Wars infrastructure are under way for those who wish to remain anonymous mobsters. If such a fortunate change does happen, you know where to find it.
Mostly, accounts made purely for gaming, i.e. those that include no personal photos or information but are extremely active within apps on the platform are suspect for inspection by Facebook, according to Mafia Wars Maniac. If you fit this criteria, then it's very likely that you could get banned from Facebook. Here's what to do if this ever happens to you on a real account (accounts proven to be fake will not be reactivated by Facebook):
Submit a CS ticket... "I've been banned from facebook!" or something to that extent. You will get a response with a specific escalation URL for Facebook
Use that URL to appeal your ban to facebook...
If your ban is lifted... Halelua!
If not...
Copy the response you get from facebook and reply back to the CS ticket with the response. We will then be able to take that information and escalate it from our end. So... here is why we need to do it this way...
Apparently Zynga can track this exchange, appeal on your behalf to Facebook and hopefully restore your account. The issue with this is that many players (like myself) have made separate accounts on the platform just for gaming out respect for our friends' news feeds. However, with that issue alleviated recently, it might be a good idea to get back on your normal account for gaming. That is, if all of your gaming information wasn't linked to that account.
So, what can you do to avoid being banned? Just spruce up your account with some more personal information. Just your name, hometown and a photo isn't much to sacrifice for being able to play your favorite game. Is it?
When asked whether improvements will be made to Mafia Wars that would remove the need for a Facebook account, the representative cryptically replied, "Fortunately we have teams of people who are able to work on multiple projects at one time. So while it may seem that we keep launching missions or new cities... that doesn't mean we don't have another team working on other issues/improvements."
We can only hope that some changes to the Mafia Wars infrastructure are under way for those who wish to remain anonymous mobsters. If such a fortunate change does happen, you know where to find it.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Treasure Madness Halloween Maps and Gifts hide terrifying treasure
Ever seen that episode of Scooby Doo where the gang takes a row boat to some nondescript haunted island in order to solve the next mystery? (More like every other episode.) Well, it seems that zSlide has seen their fair share of spooky isles and brought that inspiration to Treasure Madness with a massive 10 new maps to explore. Better yet, they all cost 1500 GP and below. Here is a list of all 10 haunted islands:
Scary Skulls Island: 750 GP, 154 tiles
Spider Island: 1,300 GP, 259 tiles
Scary Pumpkin Bay: 1,250 GP, 247 tiles
Frankenstein Island: 1,000 GP, 192 tiles
Black Cat Island: 1,250 GP, 250 tiles
Devil Island: 1,500 GP, 288 tiles
Werewolf Isle: 1,250 GP, 249 tiles
Angry Ghost Island: 1,150 GP, 230 tiles
Pumpkin Isle: 1,300 GP, 262 tiles
Bat Island: 700 GP, 145 tiles
Unfortunately, every one of these new maps has a very low treasure density and an average amount of gold to loot. But the maps do contain seven mysterious Halloween-themed collections. If you want all 10 maps and their rare collections, you better start saving that GP as these haunted islands will disappear in just 19 days.
Join us after the break for a look at the new free gifts available.
Treasure Madness community manager Jennifer Johnson says that most of these items will help complete the seven Halloween collections that can be finished in the 10 new maps. As for the delicious desserts, expect some free HP gains for the next 19 days. There are also Halloween mystery crates available that will contain some of the collection items as well, so enjoy the plenty of options to celebrate Halloween this year in the tropics.
Scary Skulls Island: 750 GP, 154 tiles
Spider Island: 1,300 GP, 259 tiles
Scary Pumpkin Bay: 1,250 GP, 247 tiles
Frankenstein Island: 1,000 GP, 192 tiles
Black Cat Island: 1,250 GP, 250 tiles
Devil Island: 1,500 GP, 288 tiles
Werewolf Isle: 1,250 GP, 249 tiles
Angry Ghost Island: 1,150 GP, 230 tiles
Pumpkin Isle: 1,300 GP, 262 tiles
Bat Island: 700 GP, 145 tiles
Unfortunately, every one of these new maps has a very low treasure density and an average amount of gold to loot. But the maps do contain seven mysterious Halloween-themed collections. If you want all 10 maps and their rare collections, you better start saving that GP as these haunted islands will disappear in just 19 days.
Join us after the break for a look at the new free gifts available.
Treasure Madness community manager Jennifer Johnson says that most of these items will help complete the seven Halloween collections that can be finished in the 10 new maps. As for the delicious desserts, expect some free HP gains for the next 19 days. There are also Halloween mystery crates available that will contain some of the collection items as well, so enjoy the plenty of options to celebrate Halloween this year in the tropics.
Pet Society's Spooky Furniture: Buy all four pieces for a matching room
Spooky Ghost Fireplace and Spooky Ghost Piano
Now, talk about a furniture deal. In honor of our favorite holiday (at the moment), Playfish has added a collection of Spooky Furniture to Pet Society. There are four beautifully animated pieces in all that each cost Playfish Cash, unfortunately. Here is the set of unlively furniture available:
Spooky Ghost Fireplace: 14 Playfish Cash
Spooky Ghost Piano: 15 Playfish Cash
Haunted Grandfather Clock: 13 Playfish Cash
Spooky Dinner for Two: 17 Playfish Cash
Find the other half of this limited edition furniture set after the break.
Haunted Grandfather Clock and Spooky Dinner for Two
For 59 Playfish Cash, or just over $10, you'll have the entire spine-chilling set. If you're not sold yet, Playfish wants to give you a special room to match all of this spooky stuff for free. While there isn't a preview of the room available, we can just imagine a dining room with deep black walls and a piano that plays on its own into the night with wailing wights trapped in the clock, singing the chorus. If that image doesn't get you excited for Halloween, we don't know what will. It's too bad that Playfish doesn't offer financing or delayed payments, because these items will disappear forever after Oct. 31.
Now, talk about a furniture deal. In honor of our favorite holiday (at the moment), Playfish has added a collection of Spooky Furniture to Pet Society. There are four beautifully animated pieces in all that each cost Playfish Cash, unfortunately. Here is the set of unlively furniture available:
Spooky Ghost Fireplace: 14 Playfish Cash
Spooky Ghost Piano: 15 Playfish Cash
Haunted Grandfather Clock: 13 Playfish Cash
Spooky Dinner for Two: 17 Playfish Cash
Find the other half of this limited edition furniture set after the break.
Haunted Grandfather Clock and Spooky Dinner for Two
For 59 Playfish Cash, or just over $10, you'll have the entire spine-chilling set. If you're not sold yet, Playfish wants to give you a special room to match all of this spooky stuff for free. While there isn't a preview of the room available, we can just imagine a dining room with deep black walls and a piano that plays on its own into the night with wailing wights trapped in the clock, singing the chorus. If that image doesn't get you excited for Halloween, we don't know what will. It's too bad that Playfish doesn't offer financing or delayed payments, because these items will disappear forever after Oct. 31.
Millionaire City's Halloween Week items are frighteningly expensive
Millionaire City Halloween Week
It turns out that in Millionaire City you really do have to be a millionaire to enjoy Halloween, not to mention you might want a small wad of real cash. Digital Chocolate has added six new Halloween-themed buildings and attractions to the game that will turn your real estate empire into a frightening suburbia that looks oddly reminiscent of the set in Edward Scissorhands. The new items you'll find for sale are:
Dracula's Castle: 12 Gold, Wonder (Increases Income Bonus three percent)
Pumpkin House: 1,500,000 Dollars, 500 XP
Cursed Tree: Level 9 required
Shop of Horrors: Level 12 required
Trick or Treat Garden: Level 14 required
Zombie Cemetery: Level 23 required
Haunted House: Level 24 required
Unfortunately, some of the cooler items, of course, cost Gold while those that go for Dollars are asking for millions, which will put a serious dent into anyone's supply of funds. If you're interested in these lofty business opportunities, act quick as they'll only be around for another 13 days--how cute. Hey, at least you're not building a real Halloween-themed town. Now that would be pricey.
It turns out that in Millionaire City you really do have to be a millionaire to enjoy Halloween, not to mention you might want a small wad of real cash. Digital Chocolate has added six new Halloween-themed buildings and attractions to the game that will turn your real estate empire into a frightening suburbia that looks oddly reminiscent of the set in Edward Scissorhands. The new items you'll find for sale are:
Dracula's Castle: 12 Gold, Wonder (Increases Income Bonus three percent)
Pumpkin House: 1,500,000 Dollars, 500 XP
Cursed Tree: Level 9 required
Shop of Horrors: Level 12 required
Trick or Treat Garden: Level 14 required
Zombie Cemetery: Level 23 required
Haunted House: Level 24 required
Unfortunately, some of the cooler items, of course, cost Gold while those that go for Dollars are asking for millions, which will put a serious dent into anyone's supply of funds. If you're interested in these lofty business opportunities, act quick as they'll only be around for another 13 days--how cute. Hey, at least you're not building a real Halloween-themed town. Now that would be pricey.
My Vineyard's Spooky Vineyard: Explore an eerie world of weird wines
Spooky Vineyard
You wouldn't expect a game as calming and serene as My Vineyard to celebrate the most chill-inducing holiday of the year, but here we are in the Spooky Vineyard. Released by Playdom earlier this month, this new location is open to players Level 10 and above or for those willing to shell out 3 Wine Cash.
The Spooky Vineyard tasks you with unfolding the winding love story of Lady Anastasia by searching trees, bushes and crops for love-struck undead (weird, we know) and returning them to their beloveds' graves. Each time you unite an oddly complacent and loyal zombie with its much deader spouse, you'll unlock another clue that will take you closer to finding out just what happened to Lady Anastasia.
But who could forget the most important feature of the Spooky Vineyard: new wines! Find more on just that after the break.
My Vineyard Zombie
While searching the vineyard, players will stumble upon some viable wine ingredients among the amorous undead, rat droppings and cricket legs. Take these back to the wine cauldron to create new, strange wine blends like Blood of the Wolf (pictured below). Some ingredients are rarer than others--like the Wolves Milk--requiring some cunning to find. While you can buy these ingredients outright, that would ruin all the fun, wouldn't it?
Once you find all of the ingredients, you'll be able to blend the wine yourself in a small mini game that will directly effect the quality of your wine. All you need to do is pop as many bubbles as possible while it boils to keep the wine from burning. The more bubbles you pop, the better your wine will be. Better yet, these limited edition wines don't need to age and sell at the maximum price once boiled and blended.
Blood of the Wolf
Unfortunately, you can only search each spot once daily for ingredients and heart-broken cadavers. But there are more areas to the Spooky Vineyard to unlock as you master more recipes and unite more expired lovers. The Spooky Vineyard will close on Nov. 4, so learn Lady Anastasia's story and master the Halloween wines before it's too late.
You wouldn't expect a game as calming and serene as My Vineyard to celebrate the most chill-inducing holiday of the year, but here we are in the Spooky Vineyard. Released by Playdom earlier this month, this new location is open to players Level 10 and above or for those willing to shell out 3 Wine Cash.
The Spooky Vineyard tasks you with unfolding the winding love story of Lady Anastasia by searching trees, bushes and crops for love-struck undead (weird, we know) and returning them to their beloveds' graves. Each time you unite an oddly complacent and loyal zombie with its much deader spouse, you'll unlock another clue that will take you closer to finding out just what happened to Lady Anastasia.
But who could forget the most important feature of the Spooky Vineyard: new wines! Find more on just that after the break.
My Vineyard Zombie
While searching the vineyard, players will stumble upon some viable wine ingredients among the amorous undead, rat droppings and cricket legs. Take these back to the wine cauldron to create new, strange wine blends like Blood of the Wolf (pictured below). Some ingredients are rarer than others--like the Wolves Milk--requiring some cunning to find. While you can buy these ingredients outright, that would ruin all the fun, wouldn't it?
Once you find all of the ingredients, you'll be able to blend the wine yourself in a small mini game that will directly effect the quality of your wine. All you need to do is pop as many bubbles as possible while it boils to keep the wine from burning. The more bubbles you pop, the better your wine will be. Better yet, these limited edition wines don't need to age and sell at the maximum price once boiled and blended.
Blood of the Wolf
Unfortunately, you can only search each spot once daily for ingredients and heart-broken cadavers. But there are more areas to the Spooky Vineyard to unlock as you master more recipes and unite more expired lovers. The Spooky Vineyard will close on Nov. 4, so learn Lady Anastasia's story and master the Halloween wines before it's too late.
Cute Game of the Day: Feed Mr. Peterson
The hits keep coming and they keep on coming with cats in them. Today's Cute Game of the Day comes from friend of Games.com, Alexander Shen. He works at Mochi Media and has helped us put many of the Game of the Day games on Games.com proper.
In Feed Mr. Peterson, your job is to well, feed your cat Mr. Peterson. (The game has been dedicated to Mr. Peterson by Mr. Shen) The game is simple and cute, just like we like our free flash games. Play it, it's a hoot.
Click the link below and start helping Mr. Peterson out.
In Feed Mr. Peterson, your job is to well, feed your cat Mr. Peterson. (The game has been dedicated to Mr. Peterson by Mr. Shen) The game is simple and cute, just like we like our free flash games. Play it, it's a hoot.
Click the link below and start helping Mr. Peterson out.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
FarmVille's Agricultural Alchemy theme debuts in the marketplace
Less than 24 hours after being shown a teaser video for the newest theme in FarmVille, that being Agricultural Alchemy, we have already been given the first round release of items in this new theme in the game's store.
This (presumably first of many) release sees the addition of the full trio of expected items: Animals, Buildings and Decorations. In this case, the newest animal in the game is the Griffin, which is available to purchase for 40 Farm Cash. This mythical creature can be harvested from every 2 days, and remember, as a Farm Cash item, you can send one to a friend as a gift if you feel so inclined.
Meanwhile, the theme's new building is the Wizard's Lab, also a Farm Cash item, available for 36 Farm Cash. Finally, there are two new decorative items to go along with this theme, and they are the Sorcerer Pig (a cute pig flying on a floating broom), and the Magic Books shelf. Unfortunately, both of these items are premium as well, with the Sorcerer Pig setting you back 18 Farm Cash to the Magic Books' 10 Farm Cash price tag.
With the upcoming release of the newest Harry Potter film, it only makes sense that Zynga would attempt to cross-promote (even unofficially) to make the most of the film's success with fans who are apparently willing to spend real money on items that remind them of the franchise.
This (presumably first of many) release sees the addition of the full trio of expected items: Animals, Buildings and Decorations. In this case, the newest animal in the game is the Griffin, which is available to purchase for 40 Farm Cash. This mythical creature can be harvested from every 2 days, and remember, as a Farm Cash item, you can send one to a friend as a gift if you feel so inclined.
Meanwhile, the theme's new building is the Wizard's Lab, also a Farm Cash item, available for 36 Farm Cash. Finally, there are two new decorative items to go along with this theme, and they are the Sorcerer Pig (a cute pig flying on a floating broom), and the Magic Books shelf. Unfortunately, both of these items are premium as well, with the Sorcerer Pig setting you back 18 Farm Cash to the Magic Books' 10 Farm Cash price tag.
With the upcoming release of the newest Harry Potter film, it only makes sense that Zynga would attempt to cross-promote (even unofficially) to make the most of the film's success with fans who are apparently willing to spend real money on items that remind them of the franchise.
FarmVille: New Pilgrim, Turkey, and Wizard costumes
FarmVille Pilgrim and FarmVIlle Turkey
Tonight's massive FarmVille update brought four new adorable costumes, three for Thanksgiving and one for the new Agricultural Alchemy theme. Available for 10 Farm Cash each, these costumes are absolutely cute and are decently priced for the full makeover that they give your avatar.
For Thanksgiving, there are two Pilgrim costumes, a Pilgrim Girl and a Pilgrim Boy. Even if you are a female avatar, you can still wear the other gender's clothing option, so you're not stuck to buying the gender that your avatar happens to be. There is also a new Turkey costume, which has big cute eyes.
For the new Agricultural Alchemy theme, there is a new Wizard costume that will give you the perfect outfit to celebrate the new Harry Potter movie this weekend.
Which costume do you like best? Will you be celebrating Thanksgiving in FarmVille, or is Harry Potter more your style?
Find more stories on our 2010 Thanksgiving Guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars & more.
Check out the rest of our Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows coverage.
Tonight's massive FarmVille update brought four new adorable costumes, three for Thanksgiving and one for the new Agricultural Alchemy theme. Available for 10 Farm Cash each, these costumes are absolutely cute and are decently priced for the full makeover that they give your avatar.
For Thanksgiving, there are two Pilgrim costumes, a Pilgrim Girl and a Pilgrim Boy. Even if you are a female avatar, you can still wear the other gender's clothing option, so you're not stuck to buying the gender that your avatar happens to be. There is also a new Turkey costume, which has big cute eyes.
For the new Agricultural Alchemy theme, there is a new Wizard costume that will give you the perfect outfit to celebrate the new Harry Potter movie this weekend.
Which costume do you like best? Will you be celebrating Thanksgiving in FarmVille, or is Harry Potter more your style?
Find more stories on our 2010 Thanksgiving Guide for FarmVille, Mafia Wars & more.
Check out the rest of our Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows coverage.
New FarmVille Animals: Harvest Horse & Silver Turkey
It's that time folks - Zynga has officially kicked off the Thanksgiving celebration in FarmVille, and they've started with this set of two two, limited edition animals.
The first is a Harvest Horse, available to purchase for 26 Farm Cash. It is decorated with a lovely wreath of sorts, and is one of the prettiest horses we've seen released in the game to date. It can be harvested from every 3 days.
The Silver Turkey costs a bit less, at 18 Farm Cash, and takes one less day to harvest, allowing you to collect from it at a rate of every two days. While this is a lovely new turkey, that would look great in its own special reserved spot on your farm, we're sure the other Turkeys in your Turkey Roost would love the company of this new fella as well.
As of this writing, the Harvest Horse has a time limit of 16 days, while the Silver Turkey will be around for 19. You've still got plenty of time to save up the Farm Cash necessary to purchase either animal, but keep those dates in mind when you go to shop.
The first is a Harvest Horse, available to purchase for 26 Farm Cash. It is decorated with a lovely wreath of sorts, and is one of the prettiest horses we've seen released in the game to date. It can be harvested from every 3 days.
The Silver Turkey costs a bit less, at 18 Farm Cash, and takes one less day to harvest, allowing you to collect from it at a rate of every two days. While this is a lovely new turkey, that would look great in its own special reserved spot on your farm, we're sure the other Turkeys in your Turkey Roost would love the company of this new fella as well.
As of this writing, the Harvest Horse has a time limit of 16 days, while the Silver Turkey will be around for 19. You've still got plenty of time to save up the Farm Cash necessary to purchase either animal, but keep those dates in mind when you go to shop.
Zoo Paradise: New breedable dragons create exclusive offspring
Zoo Paradise dragons
Zoo Paradise has been getting rather wacky with their creations as of late, and this new one is no exception. There are now Dragons available in the store, and you can breed them together in order to make new colors of dragons. The available dragons in the store are the Golden Dragon for 70 Facebook Credits, and the Dragon (which is green) for 60 Credits. The Golden Dragon is a premium dragon, and if you breed your regular dragon to it you have a higher chance of getting exclusive colored offspring.
So far, we don't know too much about these dragons because they're a bit too expensive for us to try them out. It would appear that having two dragons will allow you to breed them together and make additional dragons. The color possibilities are unknown, but we do know that there are definitely blue, pink, purple, lime green, red, and white dragons because the promotional image for the dragons showed them. We're a bit sad that we can't try out the new dragons without spending Facebook Credits, but we've seen them in our neighbor's zoos and we're loving what we see.
Zoo Paradise has been getting rather wacky with their creations as of late, and this new one is no exception. There are now Dragons available in the store, and you can breed them together in order to make new colors of dragons. The available dragons in the store are the Golden Dragon for 70 Facebook Credits, and the Dragon (which is green) for 60 Credits. The Golden Dragon is a premium dragon, and if you breed your regular dragon to it you have a higher chance of getting exclusive colored offspring.
So far, we don't know too much about these dragons because they're a bit too expensive for us to try them out. It would appear that having two dragons will allow you to breed them together and make additional dragons. The color possibilities are unknown, but we do know that there are definitely blue, pink, purple, lime green, red, and white dragons because the promotional image for the dragons showed them. We're a bit sad that we can't try out the new dragons without spending Facebook Credits, but we've seen them in our neighbor's zoos and we're loving what we see.
FarmVille: Thanksgiving Buildings/Decorations now available
Not only has Zynga released a new set of Agricultural Alchemy items in tonight's FarmVille update, but they've also unveiled a large portion of this year's Thanksgiving theme of items, including a new building and a whole slew of new decorations.
The new building is the Fall Home, a country home covered in fallen leaves, that is available to purchase for 15 Farm Cash. While this building is quite lovely, it's in the decorative portion of the store that we start to find the items that are really interesting.
There, you'll find two of the three Thanksgiving Balloons we spoke of over the weekend. Those being the Horse and Cow Balloons (as of this writing, the Duck Balloon is strangely MIA). In addition to these balloons (which go for 5 Farm Cash each), you'll find Autumn Gourds for 2 Farm Cash, a set of regular Gourds for 1 Farm Cash, an individual section of Wreath Fencing for 5,000 coins, and two kinds of decorative pumpkins: a Black Pumpkin and a White Pumpkin, each of which costs 1,500 coins.
Currently, these items are listed at between 14-16 days remaining in the game's store, depending on the item. The Balloons, Fencing, Pumpkins and even Fall Home will leave the store after two weeks, but the two Gourds items will last the full 16 day time limit.
As we've seen more unreleased images leak pertaining to Thanksgiving, we can only assume that this is but the first round of Thanksgiving themed buildings / decorations we'll see released in FarmVille this month. Be sure to check back with us as (if) new items release, so you're always on top of the game.
Check out the rest of our Thanksgiving 2010 coverage right here
The new building is the Fall Home, a country home covered in fallen leaves, that is available to purchase for 15 Farm Cash. While this building is quite lovely, it's in the decorative portion of the store that we start to find the items that are really interesting.
There, you'll find two of the three Thanksgiving Balloons we spoke of over the weekend. Those being the Horse and Cow Balloons (as of this writing, the Duck Balloon is strangely MIA). In addition to these balloons (which go for 5 Farm Cash each), you'll find Autumn Gourds for 2 Farm Cash, a set of regular Gourds for 1 Farm Cash, an individual section of Wreath Fencing for 5,000 coins, and two kinds of decorative pumpkins: a Black Pumpkin and a White Pumpkin, each of which costs 1,500 coins.
Currently, these items are listed at between 14-16 days remaining in the game's store, depending on the item. The Balloons, Fencing, Pumpkins and even Fall Home will leave the store after two weeks, but the two Gourds items will last the full 16 day time limit.
As we've seen more unreleased images leak pertaining to Thanksgiving, we can only assume that this is but the first round of Thanksgiving themed buildings / decorations we'll see released in FarmVille this month. Be sure to check back with us as (if) new items release, so you're always on top of the game.
Check out the rest of our Thanksgiving 2010 coverage right here
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
FrontierVille Winter Holiday Decorations: Wintry Crate, Snow Launcher, Menorah & more
If you thought Zynga was done releasing Winter Holiday themed items in FrontierVille, then think again, as tonight's FrontierVille update brought with it a series of new decorative items that will make anyone want to suit up for a fun time playing out in the snow... Ok, so maybe only I would want to do that, but the items are pretty cool nonetheless - I promise!
You can now pick up a wide variety of decorative items, like flowers, and even larger nature-inspired items. Meet us behind the break for a full look at all of the available items, including their prices.
As with all item releases in FrontierVille, it becomes complicated to talk about them due to the fact that many users (but certainly not all) have completed the "Rithmatic" class in School House, which offers a permanent discount on coin-items in the shop. That being the case, these prices are those discounted prices, so if you've yet to complete that School House lesson, keep in mind that you prices will be just slightly higher in your own store.
Here's the list of newly released items:
Wintry Crate - 30 Horseshoes
Snow Launcher - 35 Horseshoes
Packed Sleigh - 22 Horseshoes
Menorah - 3,515 coins
White Poinsettias - 8 Horseshoes
Red Poinsettias - 10 Horseshoes
The North Pole - 7,125 coins & 10 Wood
Parol - 8,075 coins & 20 Wood
Heart Shape Pond - 39 Horseshoes
Icy Fishing Pond - 37 Horseshoes
The Wintry Crate is kind of like a Mystery Crate, except the items that it could possible contain are also available as general purchase items in the store. If you purchase one, you'll have a chance to getting either a Snow Launcher, a Heart Shape Pond, or an Icy Fishing Pond. As you can see from the pricing list above, you would be getting a discount on whichever item you randomly ended up with, but if you wanted to get all three at a discounted price, you'll need to remember that you could very well end up with duplicates in the other crates that you purchase.
Regardless of the item you choose, each and every one of these will only be available for a limited time - the next 22 days, to be exact, or until the end of the month / year. If you're like me, and might have a wild urge to celebrate the holidays in FrontierVille during random months next year, keep that time limit in mind and stock up to make sure you have all of the holiday goodies necessary when your creative mood strikes.
As a special note, these items haven't been pushed out to all users as of this writing, so if you don't see them in your store, make sure to keep checking back to see if they have gone live for you. In the meantime, feel free to make a shopping list so you don't forget to buy that extra special item for yourself.
You can now pick up a wide variety of decorative items, like flowers, and even larger nature-inspired items. Meet us behind the break for a full look at all of the available items, including their prices.
As with all item releases in FrontierVille, it becomes complicated to talk about them due to the fact that many users (but certainly not all) have completed the "Rithmatic" class in School House, which offers a permanent discount on coin-items in the shop. That being the case, these prices are those discounted prices, so if you've yet to complete that School House lesson, keep in mind that you prices will be just slightly higher in your own store.
Here's the list of newly released items:
Wintry Crate - 30 Horseshoes
Snow Launcher - 35 Horseshoes
Packed Sleigh - 22 Horseshoes
Menorah - 3,515 coins
White Poinsettias - 8 Horseshoes
Red Poinsettias - 10 Horseshoes
The North Pole - 7,125 coins & 10 Wood
Parol - 8,075 coins & 20 Wood
Heart Shape Pond - 39 Horseshoes
Icy Fishing Pond - 37 Horseshoes
The Wintry Crate is kind of like a Mystery Crate, except the items that it could possible contain are also available as general purchase items in the store. If you purchase one, you'll have a chance to getting either a Snow Launcher, a Heart Shape Pond, or an Icy Fishing Pond. As you can see from the pricing list above, you would be getting a discount on whichever item you randomly ended up with, but if you wanted to get all three at a discounted price, you'll need to remember that you could very well end up with duplicates in the other crates that you purchase.
Regardless of the item you choose, each and every one of these will only be available for a limited time - the next 22 days, to be exact, or until the end of the month / year. If you're like me, and might have a wild urge to celebrate the holidays in FrontierVille during random months next year, keep that time limit in mind and stock up to make sure you have all of the holiday goodies necessary when your creative mood strikes.
As a special note, these items haven't been pushed out to all users as of this writing, so if you don't see them in your store, make sure to keep checking back to see if they have gone live for you. In the meantime, feel free to make a shopping list so you don't forget to buy that extra special item for yourself.
FarmVille: Ornament Trees return, but at a very high cost
If you're one of the many FarmVille players that started playing the game sometime this year, and didn't have a chance to celebrate the winter holidays in the game in 2009, you'll be happy to know that Zynga has continued the process of re-releasing some of the best items from last year's theme, so that you can have a chance to "catch up."
Two such items were released in tonight's FarmVille update - those being the Ornament Tree I and Ornament Tree II. As their names suggest, these trees are standard evergreen trees, that grow ornaments and bows, rather than any kind of food. Both of the trees can be harvested every two days, returning the tree to an "ornament-less" state, and you'll gain 150 coins for each harvest. The only real difference between these trees, at least functionally, is in the color of ornaments that grow on them. Ornament Tree I grows orange and red ornaments, presents, and bows, while Ornament Tree II grows blue and silver presents, ornaments, and bows.
However, upon this year's re-release of the trees, the price has been increased... how do I say this politely... drastically. Last year, each tree cost just 1,500 coins (visual proof is below). Now, the price is 20 Farm Cash for Ornament Tree I and 15 Farm Cash for Ornament Tree II. Not only are the trees no longer available for coins, but, adding insult to injury, the price is equal to that of many limited edition decorations.
One could argue that these trees are just like any other limited edition decoration, as they will only be available for 23 days, but the simple fact that the price has been increased so much in just a year's time is more than a bit insulting to those players that have been with the game this entire time - even more so to those newer players who were looking to catch up with those veterans.
Either way, whether you purchased these trees last year, or if you're just picking them up this year, they are available to master, with both trees reaching a One-Star level of mastery after 113 harvests. It's the decision in whether or not to actually splurge on these trees that will be the issue at hand.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
Were you playing FarmVille last year? What do you think of this dramatic price increase from last year's holiday theme? If you're a new player, would you be willing to spend this much Farm Cash on a single tree?
Two such items were released in tonight's FarmVille update - those being the Ornament Tree I and Ornament Tree II. As their names suggest, these trees are standard evergreen trees, that grow ornaments and bows, rather than any kind of food. Both of the trees can be harvested every two days, returning the tree to an "ornament-less" state, and you'll gain 150 coins for each harvest. The only real difference between these trees, at least functionally, is in the color of ornaments that grow on them. Ornament Tree I grows orange and red ornaments, presents, and bows, while Ornament Tree II grows blue and silver presents, ornaments, and bows.
However, upon this year's re-release of the trees, the price has been increased... how do I say this politely... drastically. Last year, each tree cost just 1,500 coins (visual proof is below). Now, the price is 20 Farm Cash for Ornament Tree I and 15 Farm Cash for Ornament Tree II. Not only are the trees no longer available for coins, but, adding insult to injury, the price is equal to that of many limited edition decorations.
One could argue that these trees are just like any other limited edition decoration, as they will only be available for 23 days, but the simple fact that the price has been increased so much in just a year's time is more than a bit insulting to those players that have been with the game this entire time - even more so to those newer players who were looking to catch up with those veterans.
Either way, whether you purchased these trees last year, or if you're just picking them up this year, they are available to master, with both trees reaching a One-Star level of mastery after 113 harvests. It's the decision in whether or not to actually splurge on these trees that will be the issue at hand.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
Were you playing FarmVille last year? What do you think of this dramatic price increase from last year's holiday theme? If you're a new player, would you be willing to spend this much Farm Cash on a single tree?
FarmVille: CityVille Sam asks "Won't you be my neighbor?"
In an attempt to get FarmVille players to try out their new city-building game CityVille, Zynga has released a two-part cross-promotion in FarmVille, adding a new "neighbor" to players' friends bars at the bottom of the gameplay area, in addition to adding a large billboard to one side of users' farms.
If you attempt to "visit" Sam by clicking on her picture in the neighbor bar, as though she were any other friend, you won't be taken to a new farm; instead, you're shown a large ad asking you if you'd like to check out CityVille. If you agree, CityVille simply loads in a new window. If you decline, the window will disappear and you can go back to farming as usual.
However, where Sam's presence in your friends list really doesn't affect gameplay, the billboard truly can, as it is so massive that is actually blocks the better part of three or four plots' worth of land from your view (for perspective, the picture at the top of this post is the billboard's size after zooming out three times). Since it's placed outside of your farm's limits, it doesn't technically stop you from using this portion of your land, but you won't be able to see what's behind it.
This can be rectified, however, as Zynga has added another function to clicking on Sam's picture - that being to click on a check box that will allow you to "Remove sign from farm." Make sure that you're certain about removing the sign, though, as it doesn't appear that there's any way to get it back once you do.
With most Zynga games now offering some sort of pop-up advertising CityVille, it doesn't surprise me that they've added such a large cross-promotion to FarmVille. We're just glad that you can remove it once you're done looking at it.
What do you think of the addition of the CityVille billboard to FarmVille? Did you remove it from your farm, or are you happen to see the sign when you login to your game?
If you attempt to "visit" Sam by clicking on her picture in the neighbor bar, as though she were any other friend, you won't be taken to a new farm; instead, you're shown a large ad asking you if you'd like to check out CityVille. If you agree, CityVille simply loads in a new window. If you decline, the window will disappear and you can go back to farming as usual.
However, where Sam's presence in your friends list really doesn't affect gameplay, the billboard truly can, as it is so massive that is actually blocks the better part of three or four plots' worth of land from your view (for perspective, the picture at the top of this post is the billboard's size after zooming out three times). Since it's placed outside of your farm's limits, it doesn't technically stop you from using this portion of your land, but you won't be able to see what's behind it.
This can be rectified, however, as Zynga has added another function to clicking on Sam's picture - that being to click on a check box that will allow you to "Remove sign from farm." Make sure that you're certain about removing the sign, though, as it doesn't appear that there's any way to get it back once you do.
With most Zynga games now offering some sort of pop-up advertising CityVille, it doesn't surprise me that they've added such a large cross-promotion to FarmVille. We're just glad that you can remove it once you're done looking at it.
What do you think of the addition of the CityVille billboard to FarmVille? Did you remove it from your farm, or are you happen to see the sign when you login to your game?
New FarmVille Animals: Mistletoe Donkey & Winter Goat
Looking to add a bit of a festive touch to your animal pens in FarmVille this holiday season? Then why not add one of the game's two newest themed animals to your herd?
The two new animals come in the form of a Mistletoe Donkey (what appears to be a regular donkey, outfitted with a red and white scarf and a sprig of mistletoe hanging from his head) and a Winter Goat (a regular brown goat with a green scarf and earmuffs). You might recognize this Winter Goat from the FarmVille Holiday Limited Edition Showcase 2 video (what a mouthful!) that was released on Monday.
Both of these animals cost Farm Cash, with the Mistletoe being the more expensive of the two, at 18 Farm Cash. The Winter Goat, then, costs 14 Farm Cash. The Donkey can be harvested from everyday, while the Winter Goat is a two-day harvest animal. The Donkey's higher price tag is further explained by the fact that you'll earn 100 coins from harvesting it, while the Goat only offers 54 coins at each harvest.
Sure, neither of these animals are going to help you quickly earn a mountain of in-game riches, but we all know that you're not spending 18 (or even 14) Farm Cash on an animal because of its possibility for profitability.
Both of these animals will be available in the game for the next 16 days, and remember, you can easily send these items to friends as an in-game gift by just clicking on the "Send" button and choosing a friend, instead of clicking on "Buy" to add these animals to your own farm.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
What do you think of these two new animals? Which other animal do you want Zynga to give a holiday spin to this year?
The two new animals come in the form of a Mistletoe Donkey (what appears to be a regular donkey, outfitted with a red and white scarf and a sprig of mistletoe hanging from his head) and a Winter Goat (a regular brown goat with a green scarf and earmuffs). You might recognize this Winter Goat from the FarmVille Holiday Limited Edition Showcase 2 video (what a mouthful!) that was released on Monday.
Both of these animals cost Farm Cash, with the Mistletoe being the more expensive of the two, at 18 Farm Cash. The Winter Goat, then, costs 14 Farm Cash. The Donkey can be harvested from everyday, while the Winter Goat is a two-day harvest animal. The Donkey's higher price tag is further explained by the fact that you'll earn 100 coins from harvesting it, while the Goat only offers 54 coins at each harvest.
Sure, neither of these animals are going to help you quickly earn a mountain of in-game riches, but we all know that you're not spending 18 (or even 14) Farm Cash on an animal because of its possibility for profitability.
Both of these animals will be available in the game for the next 16 days, and remember, you can easily send these items to friends as an in-game gift by just clicking on the "Send" button and choosing a friend, instead of clicking on "Buy" to add these animals to your own farm.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
What do you think of these two new animals? Which other animal do you want Zynga to give a holiday spin to this year?
FarmVille Winter Holiday Decorations: Winter Manor, Ornaments, Lighted Fence & More
In tonight's FarmVille update, we see the release of seven new items in the Winter Holiday theme of items. Some of these items were revealed in the Holiday Limited Edition Showcase 2 video that Zynga released earlier this week, with the new selection of items including both new buildings and new decorative items, like ornaments.
Meet us behind the break for a full look at these new items, including their prices.
To start, there are two new buildings available to add to your farm that are sure to give it the "Holiday Village" look you might be going for. The first is the Winter Cottage, available for 350,000 coins. You'll receive a 3500 experience point boost for making the splurge, and if you'd like to sell the item at the end of the season, you can do so for 17,500 coin - not a great return, but a return nonetheless.
The only building is the Winter Manor, which we first saw in the Holiday Showcase video I mentioned earlier. This building costs Farm Cash - 42 to be exact. You'll receive 4,000 experience points if you purchase the manor, and you can then sell it at the end of the season (or whenever you'd like, really) for 20,000 coins.
As for the decorations, there are five to choose from, with three of these being available for nothing but regular coins. First though, let's take a look at the two premium Farm Cash items. The first is the Bunny Slope, an animated sledding slope that has a bunny literally sledding down a snowy hill. There are red and green flags that blow in the wind, and the bunny will hop back up to the top of the slope after it has slid down. It costs 28 Farm Cash to add to your farm, and rewards you with 2,800 experience points for your purchase.
The other premium item is the Polar Bear Globe, which is available for 25 Farm Cash. Another animated item, this one was also seen in the Holiday Showcase vide from this week, and it has what appears to be a mother and baby polar bear walking alongside an igloo inside a snow globe. The Polar Bears themselves do not move; rather, the snow inside the ball moves around as though you had just picked the globe up and given it a good shake.
The three coin items are less extravagant, but are still very cool in their own way. The Lighted Fence is available to purchase for 5,000 coins per one section of fencing. This fencing stays true to its name, as its yellow lights offer a permanent glow once it has been placed on your land.
The other two items are large singular ornaments that come in two shapes, and are each about the size of your in-game avatar (meaning that they're pretty large). They are the Heart Ornament and the Pointed Ornament, and both come with the exact same in-game stats, so your only choice will be between shapes, if you choose to only purchase one. Both ornaments cost 10,000 coins to add to your farm, and will grant you with 100 experience points as a bonus. You can sell either for 500 coins.
All told, these items will be available to purchase in the store for the next 16 days, giving you plenty of time to do some rearranging, if you're having trouble fitting all of these new items on your farm (or is that just me?).
Meet us behind the break for a full look at these new items, including their prices.
To start, there are two new buildings available to add to your farm that are sure to give it the "Holiday Village" look you might be going for. The first is the Winter Cottage, available for 350,000 coins. You'll receive a 3500 experience point boost for making the splurge, and if you'd like to sell the item at the end of the season, you can do so for 17,500 coin - not a great return, but a return nonetheless.
The only building is the Winter Manor, which we first saw in the Holiday Showcase video I mentioned earlier. This building costs Farm Cash - 42 to be exact. You'll receive 4,000 experience points if you purchase the manor, and you can then sell it at the end of the season (or whenever you'd like, really) for 20,000 coins.
As for the decorations, there are five to choose from, with three of these being available for nothing but regular coins. First though, let's take a look at the two premium Farm Cash items. The first is the Bunny Slope, an animated sledding slope that has a bunny literally sledding down a snowy hill. There are red and green flags that blow in the wind, and the bunny will hop back up to the top of the slope after it has slid down. It costs 28 Farm Cash to add to your farm, and rewards you with 2,800 experience points for your purchase.
The other premium item is the Polar Bear Globe, which is available for 25 Farm Cash. Another animated item, this one was also seen in the Holiday Showcase vide from this week, and it has what appears to be a mother and baby polar bear walking alongside an igloo inside a snow globe. The Polar Bears themselves do not move; rather, the snow inside the ball moves around as though you had just picked the globe up and given it a good shake.
The three coin items are less extravagant, but are still very cool in their own way. The Lighted Fence is available to purchase for 5,000 coins per one section of fencing. This fencing stays true to its name, as its yellow lights offer a permanent glow once it has been placed on your land.
The other two items are large singular ornaments that come in two shapes, and are each about the size of your in-game avatar (meaning that they're pretty large). They are the Heart Ornament and the Pointed Ornament, and both come with the exact same in-game stats, so your only choice will be between shapes, if you choose to only purchase one. Both ornaments cost 10,000 coins to add to your farm, and will grant you with 100 experience points as a bonus. You can sell either for 500 coins.
All told, these items will be available to purchase in the store for the next 16 days, giving you plenty of time to do some rearranging, if you're having trouble fitting all of these new items on your farm (or is that just me?).
Friday, January 13, 2012
FrontierVille 12 Days of Christmas Missions: Everything you need to know for Day 5
If you've been completing FrontierVille's 12 Days of Christmas Missions, you probably already know that today is Day 5. The Fifth Day requires a good deal of work to be done for your neighbors, so be careful not to do any unnecessary neighbor work. Unfortunately, unlike normal energy, your neighbor energy doesn't recharge. You won't get more energy to help your neighbors until tomorrow. So use it wisely if you want to complete FrontierVille 12 Days of Christmas Missions: Day Five.
Otherwise, FrontierVille Christmas Mission Day 5 is pretty straightforward. Here's what you have to do:
Tend Five Neighbor Cows
Tend Five Neighbor Oxen
Collect Five Friends to Go Caroling!
Tending five cows and five oxen is as simple as it sounds. But like I said earlier, help your neighbors carefully. Especially if you don't have a lot of neighbors (like me), scout out which friends have cows and oxen first. It would be tragic to discover you tended five oxen for the only neighbor with cows. Make a mistake and completing FrontierVille Christmas Mission Day 5 will be an impossible feat.
frontierville christmas missions day 5
As for collecting five friends to go caroling, this should also be straightforward assuming you have five friends that play FrontierVille consistently. All you have to do is click the "Ask Friends" button (pictured at the top) and post the notice to your wall. After five friends help you out by clicking "I Want In" on your wall, FrontierVille 12 Days of Christmas Missions: Day 5 will be a thing of the past. Well done folks.
frontierville christmas missions day 5
Note: FrontierVille has reported some issues on Facebook. If you're having trouble finishing FrontierVille Christmas Mission Day 5, just be patient and it will be working fine before long.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
Otherwise, FrontierVille Christmas Mission Day 5 is pretty straightforward. Here's what you have to do:
Tend Five Neighbor Cows
Tend Five Neighbor Oxen
Collect Five Friends to Go Caroling!
Tending five cows and five oxen is as simple as it sounds. But like I said earlier, help your neighbors carefully. Especially if you don't have a lot of neighbors (like me), scout out which friends have cows and oxen first. It would be tragic to discover you tended five oxen for the only neighbor with cows. Make a mistake and completing FrontierVille Christmas Mission Day 5 will be an impossible feat.
frontierville christmas missions day 5
As for collecting five friends to go caroling, this should also be straightforward assuming you have five friends that play FrontierVille consistently. All you have to do is click the "Ask Friends" button (pictured at the top) and post the notice to your wall. After five friends help you out by clicking "I Want In" on your wall, FrontierVille 12 Days of Christmas Missions: Day 5 will be a thing of the past. Well done folks.
frontierville christmas missions day 5
Note: FrontierVille has reported some issues on Facebook. If you're having trouble finishing FrontierVille Christmas Mission Day 5, just be patient and it will be working fine before long.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
Game of the Day: Quote Slide
Today's game is Quote Slide. It's another in our new line of newspaper inspired online daily games. Everyday you will get a new puzzle to play in Quote Slide. After you've finished today's puzzle, you'll have to come back for a new one, and a new game of the day!
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.
Play Quote Slide now -->
Important side note: Just by playing The Game of the Day you will be entered into a monthly drawing to win a FlipCam HD. You don't need to do anything else, just play! The more you play, the more chances you have to win. For more information on the Game of Day check out the official New Game of the Day hub.
Play Quote Slide now -->
FarmVille Winter Countdown items revealed - here's what to expect over the next 11 days
Last last night / early this morning, we brought you the news of the new FarmVille Winter Countdown, a new event that will have you and your friends sending each other a series of 12 items, over the next 12 days, with these items falling into the Winter Holiday theme, or just a general winter theme. While only one item will be revealed each day, we've come across the complete list of the as-of-now unreleased items. Here are the items we'll be able to send and receive throughout the rest of this event:
Day 2 - Snowflake I
Day 3 - Snowflake II
Day 4 - Blue Soldier
Day 5 - Silver Ornament
Day 6 - Gold Ornament
Day 7 - Gold Soldier
Day 8 - Dark Brown Teddy Bear
Day 9 - Snow Pile I
Day 10 - Snow Pile II
Day 11 - White / Gold Nutcracker
Day 12 - White Teddy Bear
At the end of this event, if you've managed to receive all 12 of these items, you'll be eligible to receive a Mystery Animal Crate at the end, and rumor has it, this Mystery Animal Crate will contain the Disco Cow we told you about a few days ago in a FarmVille Sneak Peek.
As a reminder, since most of these items are re-releases from last year, even if you already have most of these items from last year, you must receive a new one in order for your participation to count for that day.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
Day 2 - Snowflake I
Day 3 - Snowflake II
Day 4 - Blue Soldier
Day 5 - Silver Ornament
Day 6 - Gold Ornament
Day 7 - Gold Soldier
Day 8 - Dark Brown Teddy Bear
Day 9 - Snow Pile I
Day 10 - Snow Pile II
Day 11 - White / Gold Nutcracker
Day 12 - White Teddy Bear
At the end of this event, if you've managed to receive all 12 of these items, you'll be eligible to receive a Mystery Animal Crate at the end, and rumor has it, this Mystery Animal Crate will contain the Disco Cow we told you about a few days ago in a FarmVille Sneak Peek.
As a reminder, since most of these items are re-releases from last year, even if you already have most of these items from last year, you must receive a new one in order for your participation to count for that day.
Check out the rest of our Holiday 2010 coverage right here.
Magic Islands on Facebook - Build a town, create an army, take over the world!
While there are plenty of city-building games available on Facebook, and even quite a few games that allow you to build up an army or head into battle against others, MegaZebra is hoping to combine the best of both of these worlds with their newest Facebook game - Magic Islands.
Magic Islands seems to be especially worthwhile for those players on a slower internet connection, as it is played through mostly static images. That isn't to say there isn't a lot going on here, however, as you'll be able to build a resource-heavy or arms-heavy society and then take your resources (or military powers) and spread your domination to the far reaches of the Earth.
Meet us behind the break for more details about Magic Islands on Facebook.
You'll start building your Magic Islands by creating a town hall - securing a Home Island that will be your safe haven as you start to build up an army capable of conquering the entire world. Your Town Hall serves as the central hub of your Home Island. AS you upgrade the Town Hall, you'll unlock access to purchasing and building other kinds of structures, all of which will help you in your quest for world domination.
Each building that you'd like to construct requires varying amounts of resources, which come in the form of Gold, Stone, and Wood. You'll complete quests to start the game, allowing you to complete the construction on some basic buildings, with these quests rewarding you with mass amounts of these resources. Otherwise, you can use your constructed buildings, like Stone Pits, Gold Mines and the like to generate more of these resources, that can be collected over time. You can upgrade these structures to produce more Gold, Stone, etc. per hour, and therefore more resources overall in a 24 hour period.
In order to upgrade your town more quickly at the start of your journey, you can spend Diamonds, the game's premium currency to instantly complete the construction on any building. Your town can only hold so many different buildings at the start, and you'll be able to upgrade this capacity as you go along.
In addition to gathering resources, you'll be able to perform research into various technologies, the first of which is Architecture. The items that you research will have a real impact on your gameplay experience. In this Architecture example, for instance, you'll be able to speed up the construction time for buildings once you've learned it. You can either wait for the required amount of time to pass so that you'll learn these new technologies, or you can ask your friends for instant help.
Magic Islands doesn't really become a game about social activity until you've finished the first few quests in the game, and have upgraded your Island to the point of having a Shipyard, capable of creating ships that can travel to other settlements and perform various actions. As for battles themselves, this too will require some upgrading on your Home Island, as you'll need to unlock and build the Barracks, where troops can be produced just as buildings like the Stone Pit produce Stone, as an example.
In this way, the gameplay does seem to be rather slow to start, but can easily be quickened by spending Diamonds to instantly complete tasks. Once you have unlocked the ability to form armies, you'll have different kinds of units (Soldiers, Guards, and so on), and will be able to send your troops out to battle. You'll also be able to visit the lands of your friends to see how their progress has gone in comparison to your own.
Magic Islands has already gathered a few thousand players in the very short time that it's been available. We're not sure if it has enough staying power to really make a mark in the Facebook gaming world, but we're glad to see a game that combines more than one genre in a way that technically works.
Magic Islands seems to be especially worthwhile for those players on a slower internet connection, as it is played through mostly static images. That isn't to say there isn't a lot going on here, however, as you'll be able to build a resource-heavy or arms-heavy society and then take your resources (or military powers) and spread your domination to the far reaches of the Earth.
Meet us behind the break for more details about Magic Islands on Facebook.
You'll start building your Magic Islands by creating a town hall - securing a Home Island that will be your safe haven as you start to build up an army capable of conquering the entire world. Your Town Hall serves as the central hub of your Home Island. AS you upgrade the Town Hall, you'll unlock access to purchasing and building other kinds of structures, all of which will help you in your quest for world domination.
Each building that you'd like to construct requires varying amounts of resources, which come in the form of Gold, Stone, and Wood. You'll complete quests to start the game, allowing you to complete the construction on some basic buildings, with these quests rewarding you with mass amounts of these resources. Otherwise, you can use your constructed buildings, like Stone Pits, Gold Mines and the like to generate more of these resources, that can be collected over time. You can upgrade these structures to produce more Gold, Stone, etc. per hour, and therefore more resources overall in a 24 hour period.
In order to upgrade your town more quickly at the start of your journey, you can spend Diamonds, the game's premium currency to instantly complete the construction on any building. Your town can only hold so many different buildings at the start, and you'll be able to upgrade this capacity as you go along.
In addition to gathering resources, you'll be able to perform research into various technologies, the first of which is Architecture. The items that you research will have a real impact on your gameplay experience. In this Architecture example, for instance, you'll be able to speed up the construction time for buildings once you've learned it. You can either wait for the required amount of time to pass so that you'll learn these new technologies, or you can ask your friends for instant help.
Magic Islands doesn't really become a game about social activity until you've finished the first few quests in the game, and have upgraded your Island to the point of having a Shipyard, capable of creating ships that can travel to other settlements and perform various actions. As for battles themselves, this too will require some upgrading on your Home Island, as you'll need to unlock and build the Barracks, where troops can be produced just as buildings like the Stone Pit produce Stone, as an example.
In this way, the gameplay does seem to be rather slow to start, but can easily be quickened by spending Diamonds to instantly complete tasks. Once you have unlocked the ability to form armies, you'll have different kinds of units (Soldiers, Guards, and so on), and will be able to send your troops out to battle. You'll also be able to visit the lands of your friends to see how their progress has gone in comparison to your own.
Magic Islands has already gathered a few thousand players in the very short time that it's been available. We're not sure if it has enough staying power to really make a mark in the Facebook gaming world, but we're glad to see a game that combines more than one genre in a way that technically works.
Wishful Features: Fullscreen mode in Cafe World
Zynga seems to have realized that most players like being able to play their Facebook games in fullscreen on their monitors, as most every Zynga game currently comes equipped with such a mode. FarmVille, FrontierVille, CityVille, etc. - they all allow you to play the game using a full-screen mode, reducing the need to scroll around the environment by clicking and dragging on the screen. After all, what better way to engage your users in a longer playing experience than to give them the ability to cover up every other window / detail pertaining to the outside world, including a clock?
Why, then, hasn't Cafe World, one of Zynga's older games, been given the same treatment. With most of my friends' cafes, and my own cafe being expanded to the maximum current size, the amount of scrolling we have to do to see all of our stoves, and especially all of our tables can be more than a bit annoying at times, especially when a pop-up appears every few seconds, but that's something we've already discussed.
Not only would adding a fullscreen mode in Cafe World allow multi-tasking to be that much easier (that is, it would make the cooking of meals a lot easier, as you could more easily queue tasks in your avatar's task queue without having to scroll around first), but it would also improve the Drink Bar and Coffee Machine systems significantly. No longer would you have to drag your mouse all around your cafe to find computer controlled guests that want coffee or drinks, as they would all be visible in one shot, while in a fullscreen gameplay mode.
In a bit of two-sided news, Zynga has acknowledged the fact that many users want fullscreen gameplay in Cafe World, but the addition of such a mode doesn't seem very promising as of this writing. Zynga writes:
With high-speed internet, a high-end computer with plenty of RAM, recent updates and the right browser, Café World runs great! But, we want everyone to be able to play the game. We work, everyday (even on weekends), to find ways to improve performance, loading, memory issues and lag. We want to make sure the game is accessible to people with computers from 5 months to 5 years old.
Back to full screen: when you make some thing bigger, you increase issues with lag, loading, memory and performance.
If you'd like to see the complete explanation, head over to the Zynga forums.
While this seems like a pretty justifiable explanation for why a fullscreen mode doesn't exist in Cafe World, user have been waiting for the feature, which has been touted as a "coming soon" addition to the game, for over a year. Hopefully the change will come sooner, rather than later, so we can move this one off of the Wishful Features list, and onto the "Fulfilled" list.
Why, then, hasn't Cafe World, one of Zynga's older games, been given the same treatment. With most of my friends' cafes, and my own cafe being expanded to the maximum current size, the amount of scrolling we have to do to see all of our stoves, and especially all of our tables can be more than a bit annoying at times, especially when a pop-up appears every few seconds, but that's something we've already discussed.
Not only would adding a fullscreen mode in Cafe World allow multi-tasking to be that much easier (that is, it would make the cooking of meals a lot easier, as you could more easily queue tasks in your avatar's task queue without having to scroll around first), but it would also improve the Drink Bar and Coffee Machine systems significantly. No longer would you have to drag your mouse all around your cafe to find computer controlled guests that want coffee or drinks, as they would all be visible in one shot, while in a fullscreen gameplay mode.
In a bit of two-sided news, Zynga has acknowledged the fact that many users want fullscreen gameplay in Cafe World, but the addition of such a mode doesn't seem very promising as of this writing. Zynga writes:
With high-speed internet, a high-end computer with plenty of RAM, recent updates and the right browser, Café World runs great! But, we want everyone to be able to play the game. We work, everyday (even on weekends), to find ways to improve performance, loading, memory issues and lag. We want to make sure the game is accessible to people with computers from 5 months to 5 years old.
Back to full screen: when you make some thing bigger, you increase issues with lag, loading, memory and performance.
If you'd like to see the complete explanation, head over to the Zynga forums.
While this seems like a pretty justifiable explanation for why a fullscreen mode doesn't exist in Cafe World, user have been waiting for the feature, which has been touted as a "coming soon" addition to the game, for over a year. Hopefully the change will come sooner, rather than later, so we can move this one off of the Wishful Features list, and onto the "Fulfilled" list.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Angry Birds Seasons Halloween update means a new bird is in town
Oh, and let's not forget about the 30 "bone-chilling" new levels and the bunch of new Game Center achievements to earn. Rovio unleashed a new update to Angry Birds Seasons today, and confirmed our suspicions that a new bird was in the works.
We're not sure of the new avian's name, but at least we know what it does. This orange little bugger isn't much of anything when first launched, but tap the screen while it's in midair and the bird will balloon several times its size.
Of course, this means it'll gain an enormous amount of weight, so the bird might be ideally used once inside a pig structure. The list of Game Center achivements to earn includes defeating 300 skeletons, finishing all 30 new stages, earning three stars on every level and more. And, like all Angry Birds updates, this one is absolutely free.
Angry Birds Seasons update
Well, given that you've already purchased Angry Birds Seasons for the buck. Look, we may be sick of Angry Birds around here, but not even we can help getting just a little giddy over a newly announced bird. This must be the power Rovio has over everyone else--must ... fight it ... but, I need that bird. And I just bought it. Now we have a better idea as to how Angry Birds might be worth more than $1 billion.
We're not sure of the new avian's name, but at least we know what it does. This orange little bugger isn't much of anything when first launched, but tap the screen while it's in midair and the bird will balloon several times its size.
Of course, this means it'll gain an enormous amount of weight, so the bird might be ideally used once inside a pig structure. The list of Game Center achivements to earn includes defeating 300 skeletons, finishing all 30 new stages, earning three stars on every level and more. And, like all Angry Birds updates, this one is absolutely free.
Angry Birds Seasons update
Well, given that you've already purchased Angry Birds Seasons for the buck. Look, we may be sick of Angry Birds around here, but not even we can help getting just a little giddy over a newly announced bird. This must be the power Rovio has over everyone else--must ... fight it ... but, I need that bird. And I just bought it. Now we have a better idea as to how Angry Birds might be worth more than $1 billion.
Capcom veteran Inafune doesn't rely on social game metrics 'slavishly'
Since his 23-year stint with Capcom abruptly ended nearly a year ago, Japanese game designer Keiji Inafune (pictured) is already at work making new games, namely social games. With two games in the works for both DeNA and Gree--J.J. Rockets and Island of Dr. Momo, respectively--Inafune looks to do things a little differently in the mobile social games space, according to a talk with Gamasutra.
"So I don't rely on metrics slavishly; I give them quick looks, absorbing them and reflecting them against my own thoughts to analyze what they mean," Inafune told Gamasutra." Game creators have to be really good at that internal sort of analysis; otherwise you're just looking toward marketing data for your game ideas, and a computer can do that."
Inafune went on to say, "If you rely on those, then basically what you've got is a set of numbers that don't necessarily tell you anything. Just because you know what someone's favorite food doesn't mean you really know the person." Compelling, huh? The creator of storied franchises like Mega Man thinks social games might herald of the future of video games. Period.
"I think that eventually, we're see a new kind of game which is neither console nor social, one that overcomes the obstacles that both current game styles have to deal with," Inafune said to Gamasutra. "I don't know what that's going to be yet, though, so that's why I'm trying to learn more about this market."
The designer went on to say that the persistent "me-too" trend in social game creation needs to stop if we're to see this happen. And Keiji, we couldn't agree more. In pursuit of this fresh new form of social game, Inafune recently opened his own studio, Comcept. Now, how do we make such games profitable enough for more designers to bite?
"So I don't rely on metrics slavishly; I give them quick looks, absorbing them and reflecting them against my own thoughts to analyze what they mean," Inafune told Gamasutra." Game creators have to be really good at that internal sort of analysis; otherwise you're just looking toward marketing data for your game ideas, and a computer can do that."
Inafune went on to say, "If you rely on those, then basically what you've got is a set of numbers that don't necessarily tell you anything. Just because you know what someone's favorite food doesn't mean you really know the person." Compelling, huh? The creator of storied franchises like Mega Man thinks social games might herald of the future of video games. Period.
"I think that eventually, we're see a new kind of game which is neither console nor social, one that overcomes the obstacles that both current game styles have to deal with," Inafune said to Gamasutra. "I don't know what that's going to be yet, though, so that's why I'm trying to learn more about this market."
The designer went on to say that the persistent "me-too" trend in social game creation needs to stop if we're to see this happen. And Keiji, we couldn't agree more. In pursuit of this fresh new form of social game, Inafune recently opened his own studio, Comcept. Now, how do we make such games profitable enough for more designers to bite?
Google: Games platform 'is not ready to handle' opening up to creators
There's a reason that Google+ Games has been a slow burn since its launch this summer: It can't handle much more. Speaking exclusively with Gamasutra, Google+ game developer advocate Todd Kerpelman said, "And that is our larger goal, to bring in more developers, and eventually open it up to anybody that wants to develop on Google+. Just right now the system is not ready to handle that."
Google has been quite exclusive with which developers it allows to bring their games onto Google+ Games, working with only the biggest names in casual and social games like Rovio, Zynga, PopCap and Kabam to name a few. (Well, there aren't many more than that, really.) While this is partially due to the fact that Google+ would likely be crushed if the gates were opened to everyone at once, the company is still working out how exactly it wants to handle developers.
"I'm not sure what our plans are - to be completely open versus something like an Apple-style, curated business - that's still to be determined, and we're still working it out," Kerpelman said to Gamasutra. "...The platform has only been out a couple of months, so we've got a way to go."
Gamasutra notes that, if Google opted to open up Google+ Games like it has the Android Market--which is essentially a wild west of games and apps--it would almost certainly have to handle counterfeit games. And that's something, according to Kerpelman, Google simply doesn't want in its online marketplaces anymore. (Who else just screamed hallelujah?)
This news comes just as a Google engineer name-dropped the Google+ Games platform specifically in a rant, implying that the initiative was an afterthought for Google. We're impressed by the platform's pristine presentation (and we're sure game makers love that tiny 5 percent price tag), but Kerpelman's right: Google's got a way to go, and updates like this are certainly steps.
Google has been quite exclusive with which developers it allows to bring their games onto Google+ Games, working with only the biggest names in casual and social games like Rovio, Zynga, PopCap and Kabam to name a few. (Well, there aren't many more than that, really.) While this is partially due to the fact that Google+ would likely be crushed if the gates were opened to everyone at once, the company is still working out how exactly it wants to handle developers.
"I'm not sure what our plans are - to be completely open versus something like an Apple-style, curated business - that's still to be determined, and we're still working it out," Kerpelman said to Gamasutra. "...The platform has only been out a couple of months, so we've got a way to go."
Gamasutra notes that, if Google opted to open up Google+ Games like it has the Android Market--which is essentially a wild west of games and apps--it would almost certainly have to handle counterfeit games. And that's something, according to Kerpelman, Google simply doesn't want in its online marketplaces anymore. (Who else just screamed hallelujah?)
This news comes just as a Google engineer name-dropped the Google+ Games platform specifically in a rant, implying that the initiative was an afterthought for Google. We're impressed by the platform's pristine presentation (and we're sure game makers love that tiny 5 percent price tag), but Kerpelman's right: Google's got a way to go, and updates like this are certainly steps.
Sky Pirates of Neo Terra soars through Facebook and iOS this fall
Your straddling pod racer territory rather closely there, Day 21--we're keeping an eye on you. The Vancouver, B.C.-based social game developer announced Sky Pirates of Neo Terra, a futuristic racing game based on a graphic novel of the same name, set to hit Facebook and iOS this fall.
The game is displayed in full 3D, though players will need to download Unity in order to join the fun. Sky Pirates hands players the reins of sky-bound racing vehicles and pits them against the online competition in real time.
According to Day 21, this is a first for Facebook. (At least the "racing" part is.) Designed for players aged 10 and up--we all know kids are on Facebook already--the characters and artwork in Sky Pirates is by comic and pop surrealism artist, Camilla d'Errico. In the magic-meets-machine world of Neo Terra, Glidewing racing is the most popular sport, but this year the evil Pirate King just might and get the chance to name the next leader of the tribes ... did we get that about right?
Sky Pirates in Action
Players get to choose between a number of racers and vehicles, and compete with five of their friends in races on over a dozen different tracks. Once they get the hang of piloting a Glidewing, players can customize their very own and take flight against the ruthless Pirate King. And if you happen to win one of the Great Races, you will get the chance to be immortalized in the accompanying web comic. A full 3D racing game on Facebook that's attached to an ongoing web comic? We're intrigued.
The game is displayed in full 3D, though players will need to download Unity in order to join the fun. Sky Pirates hands players the reins of sky-bound racing vehicles and pits them against the online competition in real time.
According to Day 21, this is a first for Facebook. (At least the "racing" part is.) Designed for players aged 10 and up--we all know kids are on Facebook already--the characters and artwork in Sky Pirates is by comic and pop surrealism artist, Camilla d'Errico. In the magic-meets-machine world of Neo Terra, Glidewing racing is the most popular sport, but this year the evil Pirate King just might and get the chance to name the next leader of the tribes ... did we get that about right?
Sky Pirates in Action
Players get to choose between a number of racers and vehicles, and compete with five of their friends in races on over a dozen different tracks. Once they get the hang of piloting a Glidewing, players can customize their very own and take flight against the ruthless Pirate King. And if you happen to win one of the Great Races, you will get the chance to be immortalized in the accompanying web comic. A full 3D racing game on Facebook that's attached to an ongoing web comic? We're intrigued.
Row Sham Bow CEO: 'This isn't just a profession' [Interview]
For Phil Holt (pictured), CEO of Orlando-Fla.-based social game start-up Row Sham Bow, social games have been a part of his professional life for far longer than the nearly seven months since he co-founded the studio. During his second, 5-year stint with EA at its Tiburon studio, also in Orlando, Holt has seen the company adapt to social gaming's effects on the industry at large.
Only little more than six months before Row Sham Bow released its first game, Woodland Heroes, Holt realized that social games are the future of the industry. We sat down with Holt recently to find out what specifically drove him to co-found his own studio, what he hopes Row Sham Bow will change about these games and where Woodland Heroes goes from here.
On the company website it seems that the team disappointed with the state of social games. If that's the case, what is it about the space that has drawn you in?
I think it's a fascinating space. I was trying to describe this to somebody the other day: You have zero barrier to entry on an open platform-anybody can develop for it. You don't have to become a licensed developer, nobody is reviewing your content--approving or not approving it. Literally, if you've got the wherewithal to deploy on the platform you can.
It's measured in hundreds of millions of people, and the technology everyone uses is off-the-shelf. It's widely available. That I think is unique in the history of technology: That a marketplace that is that big, is that wide open and has such a low barrier to entry has never happened before. To me it's like, "Holy crap, that's a massive audience." The innovation in the social space is more focused around how data can drive design decisions.
Woodland Heroes concept art
What is it about social games industry specifically that you hope to change with Row Sham Bow?
We hope that we're going to go into this space and learn very rapidly, and use the trail blazed as way of not repeating a lot of the mistakes. With that said, we feel like the games are more--if you talk to people that play a lot of social games, you listen to the way they describe their experience. They're like, 'Yeah, I'm still playing Game X.' They sort of sheepishly admit the fact that they're playing.
You start digging deeper and it's like, 'Well, I can't really tell you why I'm playing.' And they never use the words like, 'I'm having a blast.' It's more like, 'I just can't stand leaving whatever I'm building alone.' It's a compulsive experience. It's more akin to the people you see in a casino late at night still dropping nickels in the slot machine--it's the psychological compulsion that drives people to play these things rather than, 'I'm playing it, because I'm having a blast.' That pure entertainment and pure fun I think is really lacking in the space, and that's the kind of thing we're trying to bring. At the same, we want to learn from the people who came before us.
Do you think that the Facebook platform is capable of merging compulsion and joy of play?
Absolutely. I can't think of anything that would prevent it. I'm a child of the '70s, and I spent a lot of my youth in the arcades. Those games, from a technology standpoint, are so primitive by comparison to any of the games out there today. Yet they got a few simple things right: The games are instantly learnable--you learn how to play and arcade game with one quarter. [They're] instantly accessible and impossible to master. Brilliant game design.
That's a very rewarding experience. Now, arcade games are based on dexterity. The Facebook platform I don't think is going to reward that type of play mechanic, at least I'm not going to do it. The thing that we try to do is that you need to make decisions in the game, and things need to have consequences. At its base terms, I think is the foundation of creating strategy. And that I think creates a compelling experience.
I think that what you do, as a designer, is create an emotional attachment to the experience--you've got some level of commitment to the game. I think that one of the ultimate challenges in the free-to-play space is there is no financial commitment. So, the design has to create the commitment, and one of the ways to do that is you become emotionally invested in the characters or your progress or the purchases you've made. And if you feel like, if the stakes are high enough, that you're going to lose something like that, then you're going to care.
Gallery: Woodland Heroes on Facebook
What are Row Sham Bow's goals as a studio? Do you hope to take the fight to Zynga and EA, so to speak, or carve out a niche for yourself in the space, and what's your battle plan?
Well, you can never out-Zynga Zynga and out-EA EA. That is a losing strategy. No matter how big you are, I think you have the define your way into the world. We certainly feel like there are some under-served parts of the market. I think it has to do with blending more traditional game mechanics with the data-driven design that's prevalent on the platform. What I think the existing players have done so well is ease-of-use, a good first-time user experience and really ramping people up.
The thing I haven't talked about is that the art in our game--I would put it up against any game on the platform. I think it's stellar, and that used to be a huge motivation for people playing. The reason I loved games like Diablo 2 is because you wanted to see the next character, the next level. That sense of discovery through art is a major play motivation, and again most people have glossed over that.
Where did the team come up with the idea for Woodland Heroes?
When we started the company, many of us had experience in the space, and quite a few of us didn't. We wanted to create an environment that would get us up to speed quickly. So literally the first thing we did was release a game. And if you searched for it, you're not going to find it--it was a rock, paper, scissors game. We just wanted to go through the exercise of start-to-finish. And we learned a lot.
The other thing we did was play like literally everything out there in a very guided way. We sort of broke down the competitive titles. We also had a number of concepts that we had come to the company with. I didn't want us to be the kind of company that sat around and talked about ideas, but I wanted us to react to stuff that we could actually play with. So, we prototyped.
We spent about three week wherein anyone in the company could work on any idea and every few days we would get together and review what we had done. We slowly kind of whittled down to two ideas: Woodland Heroes was one of them, but it was called some different at the time. Woodland Heroes initially started as a space conquest type game. Somebody in the studio said, 'If we want this to be a little more broadly accepted, why not animals instead of space?'
The thing that we liked about it was the battle mechanic. We thought it was a great mechanic that we could build from. We started at the center of the game with what was going to be a fun, core loop that players would be involved in, and we built outward from there.
Woodland Heroes characterI haven't seen many social features in the game, so is there anything particularly compelling about them, as opposed to most social games?
Probably not yet, but today is actually our six-month anniversary. I'm just damn proud of the fact that in six months we were able to start a company, and hire a team. We opened our code editors and literally the first line of code was written six months ago. From zero to game launch in six months I think is pretty cool. So, we've got lots of ideas about what we want to do with social features, visitation and interactions with friends.
Again, we think there's more than just 'go visit your buddy's farm.' We want meaningful interactions that take place between friends, and whether that's cooperative or head-to-head, we've got plenty of ideas. We're going to try some stuff and see how the audience reacts. This is the fun part: Now really a key partner at the table is the audience, so we're going to build a game that the audience is reacting to. Ultimately, the audience is going to determine what the game becomes.
Does the game's strategy gameplay and setting set a precedent for Row Sham Bow, or will the studio pursue different genres and themes in the future?
I think one of the things that really is appealing to all of us is just how much creative freedom we have. Being a start-up, being in a space where you can build a game in six months you can just take a lot more creative risks. I don't think we're going to be bound by any set of genres, settings, character styles or art types. So, we're just going to use the same process that we used to create this game.
Woodland Heroes environment
Can you talk about any future plans for Woodland Heroes, or future Row Sham Bow games?
Right now, we're on a weekly cadence of major content updates. We're trying to push new things to the game every Tuesday. So, we're going to be on that cadence for awhile, continuing to add to the game and responding to the major issues that we see. There's some stuff we want to do around the world map where I think that usability is a little on the low side.
Ultimately, it's going to be where the audience is playing, what the data tells us about the audience and how we think we can best engage them. From the get-go, our focus has been on, 'How do we build a game that we've always wanted to play ourselves?' It's not that we've sat for years thinking, 'Man, it would be great to be a raccoon and fight some bears,' but just make a really fun experience. We're gamers ourselves--this isn't just a profession.
Only little more than six months before Row Sham Bow released its first game, Woodland Heroes, Holt realized that social games are the future of the industry. We sat down with Holt recently to find out what specifically drove him to co-found his own studio, what he hopes Row Sham Bow will change about these games and where Woodland Heroes goes from here.
On the company website it seems that the team disappointed with the state of social games. If that's the case, what is it about the space that has drawn you in?
I think it's a fascinating space. I was trying to describe this to somebody the other day: You have zero barrier to entry on an open platform-anybody can develop for it. You don't have to become a licensed developer, nobody is reviewing your content--approving or not approving it. Literally, if you've got the wherewithal to deploy on the platform you can.
It's measured in hundreds of millions of people, and the technology everyone uses is off-the-shelf. It's widely available. That I think is unique in the history of technology: That a marketplace that is that big, is that wide open and has such a low barrier to entry has never happened before. To me it's like, "Holy crap, that's a massive audience." The innovation in the social space is more focused around how data can drive design decisions.
Woodland Heroes concept art
What is it about social games industry specifically that you hope to change with Row Sham Bow?
We hope that we're going to go into this space and learn very rapidly, and use the trail blazed as way of not repeating a lot of the mistakes. With that said, we feel like the games are more--if you talk to people that play a lot of social games, you listen to the way they describe their experience. They're like, 'Yeah, I'm still playing Game X.' They sort of sheepishly admit the fact that they're playing.
You start digging deeper and it's like, 'Well, I can't really tell you why I'm playing.' And they never use the words like, 'I'm having a blast.' It's more like, 'I just can't stand leaving whatever I'm building alone.' It's a compulsive experience. It's more akin to the people you see in a casino late at night still dropping nickels in the slot machine--it's the psychological compulsion that drives people to play these things rather than, 'I'm playing it, because I'm having a blast.' That pure entertainment and pure fun I think is really lacking in the space, and that's the kind of thing we're trying to bring. At the same, we want to learn from the people who came before us.
Do you think that the Facebook platform is capable of merging compulsion and joy of play?
Absolutely. I can't think of anything that would prevent it. I'm a child of the '70s, and I spent a lot of my youth in the arcades. Those games, from a technology standpoint, are so primitive by comparison to any of the games out there today. Yet they got a few simple things right: The games are instantly learnable--you learn how to play and arcade game with one quarter. [They're] instantly accessible and impossible to master. Brilliant game design.
That's a very rewarding experience. Now, arcade games are based on dexterity. The Facebook platform I don't think is going to reward that type of play mechanic, at least I'm not going to do it. The thing that we try to do is that you need to make decisions in the game, and things need to have consequences. At its base terms, I think is the foundation of creating strategy. And that I think creates a compelling experience.
I think that what you do, as a designer, is create an emotional attachment to the experience--you've got some level of commitment to the game. I think that one of the ultimate challenges in the free-to-play space is there is no financial commitment. So, the design has to create the commitment, and one of the ways to do that is you become emotionally invested in the characters or your progress or the purchases you've made. And if you feel like, if the stakes are high enough, that you're going to lose something like that, then you're going to care.
Gallery: Woodland Heroes on Facebook
What are Row Sham Bow's goals as a studio? Do you hope to take the fight to Zynga and EA, so to speak, or carve out a niche for yourself in the space, and what's your battle plan?
Well, you can never out-Zynga Zynga and out-EA EA. That is a losing strategy. No matter how big you are, I think you have the define your way into the world. We certainly feel like there are some under-served parts of the market. I think it has to do with blending more traditional game mechanics with the data-driven design that's prevalent on the platform. What I think the existing players have done so well is ease-of-use, a good first-time user experience and really ramping people up.
The thing I haven't talked about is that the art in our game--I would put it up against any game on the platform. I think it's stellar, and that used to be a huge motivation for people playing. The reason I loved games like Diablo 2 is because you wanted to see the next character, the next level. That sense of discovery through art is a major play motivation, and again most people have glossed over that.
Where did the team come up with the idea for Woodland Heroes?
When we started the company, many of us had experience in the space, and quite a few of us didn't. We wanted to create an environment that would get us up to speed quickly. So literally the first thing we did was release a game. And if you searched for it, you're not going to find it--it was a rock, paper, scissors game. We just wanted to go through the exercise of start-to-finish. And we learned a lot.
The other thing we did was play like literally everything out there in a very guided way. We sort of broke down the competitive titles. We also had a number of concepts that we had come to the company with. I didn't want us to be the kind of company that sat around and talked about ideas, but I wanted us to react to stuff that we could actually play with. So, we prototyped.
We spent about three week wherein anyone in the company could work on any idea and every few days we would get together and review what we had done. We slowly kind of whittled down to two ideas: Woodland Heroes was one of them, but it was called some different at the time. Woodland Heroes initially started as a space conquest type game. Somebody in the studio said, 'If we want this to be a little more broadly accepted, why not animals instead of space?'
The thing that we liked about it was the battle mechanic. We thought it was a great mechanic that we could build from. We started at the center of the game with what was going to be a fun, core loop that players would be involved in, and we built outward from there.
Woodland Heroes characterI haven't seen many social features in the game, so is there anything particularly compelling about them, as opposed to most social games?
Probably not yet, but today is actually our six-month anniversary. I'm just damn proud of the fact that in six months we were able to start a company, and hire a team. We opened our code editors and literally the first line of code was written six months ago. From zero to game launch in six months I think is pretty cool. So, we've got lots of ideas about what we want to do with social features, visitation and interactions with friends.
Again, we think there's more than just 'go visit your buddy's farm.' We want meaningful interactions that take place between friends, and whether that's cooperative or head-to-head, we've got plenty of ideas. We're going to try some stuff and see how the audience reacts. This is the fun part: Now really a key partner at the table is the audience, so we're going to build a game that the audience is reacting to. Ultimately, the audience is going to determine what the game becomes.
Does the game's strategy gameplay and setting set a precedent for Row Sham Bow, or will the studio pursue different genres and themes in the future?
I think one of the things that really is appealing to all of us is just how much creative freedom we have. Being a start-up, being in a space where you can build a game in six months you can just take a lot more creative risks. I don't think we're going to be bound by any set of genres, settings, character styles or art types. So, we're just going to use the same process that we used to create this game.
Woodland Heroes environment
Can you talk about any future plans for Woodland Heroes, or future Row Sham Bow games?
Right now, we're on a weekly cadence of major content updates. We're trying to push new things to the game every Tuesday. So, we're going to be on that cadence for awhile, continuing to add to the game and responding to the major issues that we see. There's some stuff we want to do around the world map where I think that usability is a little on the low side.
Ultimately, it's going to be where the audience is playing, what the data tells us about the audience and how we think we can best engage them. From the get-go, our focus has been on, 'How do we build a game that we've always wanted to play ourselves?' It's not that we've sat for years thinking, 'Man, it would be great to be a raccoon and fight some bears,' but just make a really fun experience. We're gamers ourselves--this isn't just a profession.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
FarmVille Duck Pond and Ducklings suffering list of issues
Having trouble getting those Ducklings to just grow up already in FarmVille? As it turns out, you're not alone. FarmVille Freak reports that several readers have mentioned issues regarding their Ducklings in the brand new Duck Pond feature. The above image implies that players simply aren't seeing any options to choose what type of Duck for their little guys to grow into. But the site has compiled a list of issues that players are experiencing:
Not being able to choose which Duck to grow their Duckling into
Not being able to choose Duck even after 7 neighbors have helped
Not being able to see all the neighbors who helped raise Duckling
Not being able to exit the Raise Duckling Menu at all
Collectively, these issues render the Duck Pond useless for all intents and purposes. According to a forum post by Voltai, Zynga is currently looking into the issues, so sit tight.
Not being able to choose which Duck to grow their Duckling into
Not being able to choose Duck even after 7 neighbors have helped
Not being able to see all the neighbors who helped raise Duckling
Not being able to exit the Raise Duckling Menu at all
Collectively, these issues render the Duck Pond useless for all intents and purposes. According to a forum post by Voltai, Zynga is currently looking into the issues, so sit tight.
CityVille: Item storage coming soon, thanks to new Warehouses
Over on the official CityVille forums, Zynga has announced that they will soon be bringing storage to CityVille via the introduction of new "Warehouses." These Warhouses will allow you to store an as-of-now undisclosed number of items, like winter holiday decorations (as an example), that may be outdated now that the holiday season has finally past.
The details concerning the Warehouses are incredibly slim. All we know at this point is that you'll be able to use Warehouses to "keep your decorations safe and sound as the year goes round!" The accompanying picture [pictured here] shows Samantha pulling a strand of lights out of a chest - perhaps this means that we'll be able to keep access to the snow and light coverings for homes and businesses even after the game heads back into the world of warmth this Spring.
Only time will tell at this point as to exactly how these Warehouses will function (we assume they will be actual "buildable" items that will take up space in your town, just as barns and the like offer Storage of Goods), but we'll make sure to bring you all of the details about them as we know more.
The details concerning the Warehouses are incredibly slim. All we know at this point is that you'll be able to use Warehouses to "keep your decorations safe and sound as the year goes round!" The accompanying picture [pictured here] shows Samantha pulling a strand of lights out of a chest - perhaps this means that we'll be able to keep access to the snow and light coverings for homes and businesses even after the game heads back into the world of warmth this Spring.
Only time will tell at this point as to exactly how these Warehouses will function (we assume they will be actual "buildable" items that will take up space in your town, just as barns and the like offer Storage of Goods), but we'll make sure to bring you all of the details about them as we know more.
Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash through One Born Every Minute promotion
If you were too late to snap up the Groupon and Bath and Body works FarmVille Farm Cash promotion that ran today, fear not, as a new free Farm Cash promotion is now making the rounds to players. This promotion is from the new Lifetime television series "One Born Every Minute," which deals with pregnancy.
By clicking on the Sponsored Link window as seen at right, you'll launch a new window, where you'll be asked to watch a trailer for the new show, and then answer a simple question. As the show is about pregnancy, so too is the question you're asked: "What did your husband do to make you smile while you were in labor?" Of course, this is a hilarious question for those male FarmVille players, or even players who don't have children, but as always, you can answer the question in any way you'd like in order to receive your two free Farm Cash.
Once the trailer is over and you've answered the survey question, you can close this window and you should see your Farm Cash total automatically rise by two. If not, a simple refresh of the game should do the trick of forcing the Farm Cash into your account.
By clicking on the Sponsored Link window as seen at right, you'll launch a new window, where you'll be asked to watch a trailer for the new show, and then answer a simple question. As the show is about pregnancy, so too is the question you're asked: "What did your husband do to make you smile while you were in labor?" Of course, this is a hilarious question for those male FarmVille players, or even players who don't have children, but as always, you can answer the question in any way you'd like in order to receive your two free Farm Cash.
Once the trailer is over and you've answered the survey question, you can close this window and you should see your Farm Cash total automatically rise by two. If not, a simple refresh of the game should do the trick of forcing the Farm Cash into your account.
FrontierVille Sneak Peek: Ski Rack & Snow Fort
While FarmVille may have already jumped full force into the Valentine's Day celebration, FrontierVille will apparently be sticking with winter-themed decorations, if two new images spotted by FrontierVille Legend come to fruition in the game.
The two items are a small Ski Rack decorative item, and a downright huge Snow Fort - that's right, a fort, complete with draw bridge - made entirely out of snow blocks. As of right now, it looks as though both items won't need construction (even though the Snow Fort is so large), and you should be able to purchase them right from the store (of course, prices right now are unknown).
These items might also be spotted as free gifts, or even as prizes from a new Mystery Crate - we won't know until they are actually released how you'll go about adding them to your Homestead. Also, it should be noted that Snow Fort does have a bit of a Christmas appearance to it, with the green garland and red flags. Could this be an item that Zynga skipped on releasing during the Winter Holiday season that we're just discovering now?
As usual, we'll make sure you're the first to know when and if these items launch in the game, so keep checking back.
The two items are a small Ski Rack decorative item, and a downright huge Snow Fort - that's right, a fort, complete with draw bridge - made entirely out of snow blocks. As of right now, it looks as though both items won't need construction (even though the Snow Fort is so large), and you should be able to purchase them right from the store (of course, prices right now are unknown).
These items might also be spotted as free gifts, or even as prizes from a new Mystery Crate - we won't know until they are actually released how you'll go about adding them to your Homestead. Also, it should be noted that Snow Fort does have a bit of a Christmas appearance to it, with the green garland and red flags. Could this be an item that Zynga skipped on releasing during the Winter Holiday season that we're just discovering now?
As usual, we'll make sure you're the first to know when and if these items launch in the game, so keep checking back.
Cafe World Salad Bar: Everything you need to know
It looks as though your restaurant in Cafe World will be able to receive a bit of an "all you can eat" flair in the future, as Zynga has officially released a Salad Bar buildable item in the game. This Salad Bar will require you to collect three (technically four) different kinds of items in order to complete its construction, but luckily, this seems like an incredibly easy item to build overall.
All told, you'll need to collect 2 Sneeze Guards, 4 Salad Boxes, and 2 Salad Tongs. You'll also need to technically collect a Display Case, but the simple action of moving the base of the Salad Bar from the Special item section of the store will be enough to complete that step for you.
As usual, collecting the other 8 items is a process that must be done with friends. You'll be able to click on the "Ask for More" button next to any particular ingredient to send out individual gift requests to those Cafe World neighbors that you think would be most likely to help you out. Note: There is currently an issue with asking your friends for items - keep trying and you should be able to get it to work, or simply wait until Zynga fixes the problem (they have acknowledged it) to start asking for items. You can also purchase each item individually, at a rate of 10 Cafe Cash per item.
To find out what your Salad Bar does once you build it, meet us behind the break. Once you build the Salad Bar, you will actually be able to serve salads to your customers, so you'll want to place it in a location that a lot of your customers walk by. The best place for this would of course be in a square right next to the entrance. Of course, to serve your customers though, you'll first have to stock your Salad Bar with supplies. This is done either with coins or with Cafe Cash. You can add varying amounts of "ingredients" to the Salad Bar for different amounts of coins. 10 supplies cost 27 coins, 50 supplies costs 176 coins, and 100 supplies costs 474 coins.
This basic setup of the Salad Bar gets you Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Ranch Dressing, but you'll be able to upgrade the Salad Bar to hold other ingredients (just like you can upgrade the Drink Bar or the Coffee Machine to serve different kinds of drinks). The more ingredients you unlock, the more profits you make from each salad sold, where the amount of "ingredients" you purchase for your salad equates to the number of servings you can sell (100 ingredients = 100 salads sold, and so on).
The actual unlocking of the different ingredients comes by completing a series of quests in the game, similar to any other goal set. These quests can be found by clicking on the "Unlock" button next to a particular ingredient. You'll then be able to follow the steps necessary to unlock each ingredient. For Cucumbers, as an example, you'll need to finish three steps:
Cook French Onion Soup 10 Times
Clean 10 Stoves
Spice 5 Friend Stoves
You'll be able to complete all of these tasks to unlock Cucumbers, and you can then move onto other ingredients, which require similar tasks to be completed (serve different kinds of drinks, collect items from friends, visit friends and so on). Unfortunately, if you wish to make any real money from your Salad Bar, you'll have to go through these new side-quests, but there's no timer for when you need to complete them, so feel free to take care of other goals first if you so choose.
Once you complete the first set of basic ingredients, you'll move onto "Basic Ingredient 2" and eventually "Basic Ingredient 3." With all of these new missions to complete, you're likely to always have something to do in Cafe World for quite some time - whether or not all of the "asking of friends" is worth it however, will be up to you.
All told, you'll need to collect 2 Sneeze Guards, 4 Salad Boxes, and 2 Salad Tongs. You'll also need to technically collect a Display Case, but the simple action of moving the base of the Salad Bar from the Special item section of the store will be enough to complete that step for you.
As usual, collecting the other 8 items is a process that must be done with friends. You'll be able to click on the "Ask for More" button next to any particular ingredient to send out individual gift requests to those Cafe World neighbors that you think would be most likely to help you out. Note: There is currently an issue with asking your friends for items - keep trying and you should be able to get it to work, or simply wait until Zynga fixes the problem (they have acknowledged it) to start asking for items. You can also purchase each item individually, at a rate of 10 Cafe Cash per item.
To find out what your Salad Bar does once you build it, meet us behind the break. Once you build the Salad Bar, you will actually be able to serve salads to your customers, so you'll want to place it in a location that a lot of your customers walk by. The best place for this would of course be in a square right next to the entrance. Of course, to serve your customers though, you'll first have to stock your Salad Bar with supplies. This is done either with coins or with Cafe Cash. You can add varying amounts of "ingredients" to the Salad Bar for different amounts of coins. 10 supplies cost 27 coins, 50 supplies costs 176 coins, and 100 supplies costs 474 coins.
This basic setup of the Salad Bar gets you Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Ranch Dressing, but you'll be able to upgrade the Salad Bar to hold other ingredients (just like you can upgrade the Drink Bar or the Coffee Machine to serve different kinds of drinks). The more ingredients you unlock, the more profits you make from each salad sold, where the amount of "ingredients" you purchase for your salad equates to the number of servings you can sell (100 ingredients = 100 salads sold, and so on).
The actual unlocking of the different ingredients comes by completing a series of quests in the game, similar to any other goal set. These quests can be found by clicking on the "Unlock" button next to a particular ingredient. You'll then be able to follow the steps necessary to unlock each ingredient. For Cucumbers, as an example, you'll need to finish three steps:
Cook French Onion Soup 10 Times
Clean 10 Stoves
Spice 5 Friend Stoves
You'll be able to complete all of these tasks to unlock Cucumbers, and you can then move onto other ingredients, which require similar tasks to be completed (serve different kinds of drinks, collect items from friends, visit friends and so on). Unfortunately, if you wish to make any real money from your Salad Bar, you'll have to go through these new side-quests, but there's no timer for when you need to complete them, so feel free to take care of other goals first if you so choose.
Once you complete the first set of basic ingredients, you'll move onto "Basic Ingredient 2" and eventually "Basic Ingredient 3." With all of these new missions to complete, you're likely to always have something to do in Cafe World for quite some time - whether or not all of the "asking of friends" is worth it however, will be up to you.
Friday, January 6, 2012
FarmVille Fairy Tale Animals: Black Beauty Horse & Invisible Cat
Tonight's FarmVille update brought with it two new animals in the current Fairy Tale limited edition item theme, with one of these items being a re-release from a previous theme from around this time last year. The first animal is the Black Beauty Horse, which is new to the game. We gave you a sneak peek of this horse last week, but you can now purchase one for your farm for 26 Farm Cash - it's a hefty price for a "beautiful" horse (see what I did there?), but we're sure it will stand out as a nice new member of your horse collection.
Of course, the Black Beauty Horse will also spawn the Black Beauty Foal, if you place this horse in a Horse Stable with a stallion and are lucky enough to have it breed. To get a Black Beauty Foal on your own farm, you'd need to look out for a wall post from a friend in a such a situation and claim the free foal that they post on their wall.
Meanwhile, the second animals is the Invisible Cat, which was first released as part of the Alice in Wonderland theme way back in March of 2010. The price then was 22 Farm Cash, and luckily that's the price now. The harvesting stat remains the same as well, as you'll be able to harvest from this cat once every three days.
Both of these animals will be available in the game for the next two weeks.
Of course, the Black Beauty Horse will also spawn the Black Beauty Foal, if you place this horse in a Horse Stable with a stallion and are lucky enough to have it breed. To get a Black Beauty Foal on your own farm, you'd need to look out for a wall post from a friend in a such a situation and claim the free foal that they post on their wall.
Meanwhile, the second animals is the Invisible Cat, which was first released as part of the Alice in Wonderland theme way back in March of 2010. The price then was 22 Farm Cash, and luckily that's the price now. The harvesting stat remains the same as well, as you'll be able to harvest from this cat once every three days.
Both of these animals will be available in the game for the next two weeks.
FarmVille Fairy Tale Building: Fairy Cottage
In the latest FarmVille Fairy Tale Theme Showcase video (the second in the series) we were given a sneak peek at a new building that we thought would be called a Fairy Tale Cottage. It turns out that this building was part of tonight's FarmVille update, but with its release comes a "name change," as the building is actually just called the Fairy Cottage.
The Fairy Cottage can now be purchased from the store for 15 Farm Cash, which is a downright bargain price when compared to many of the other Farm Cash buildings released in the game previously. This building is a compact one, holding a lot of decorations in a relatively small space (not much taller than your in-game avatar), but if you go through with purchasing it, you'll receive 1,500 experience points as a reward. Should you choose to sell the building later on, you'll only receive 7,500 coins in return.
This building doesn't appear to animate, but it is rather cute, so if you're interested, you have the next two weeks to pick one up for your farm before it expires from the store.
What do you think of this new Fairy Tale building? What other buildings are you hoping Zynga adds to the theme?
The Fairy Cottage can now be purchased from the store for 15 Farm Cash, which is a downright bargain price when compared to many of the other Farm Cash buildings released in the game previously. This building is a compact one, holding a lot of decorations in a relatively small space (not much taller than your in-game avatar), but if you go through with purchasing it, you'll receive 1,500 experience points as a reward. Should you choose to sell the building later on, you'll only receive 7,500 coins in return.
This building doesn't appear to animate, but it is rather cute, so if you're interested, you have the next two weeks to pick one up for your farm before it expires from the store.
What do you think of this new Fairy Tale building? What other buildings are you hoping Zynga adds to the theme?
FarmVille Fairy Tale Decorations: Knight Gnome, Green Willow Tree, & More
As part of tonight's FarmVille update, we see the release of four new decorative items in the Fairy Tale limited edition item theme. These items are some of those that we saw in the latest Fairy Tale Theme Showcase video last week, and are split evenly between those that cost Farm Cash, and those that go for coins.
The premium items are the Knight Gnome (an accompaniment to the previously released Princess Gnome), and the Green Willow Tree. The Green Willow Tree is a fairly inexpensive item, as far as Farm Cash prices go, costing 6 Farm Cash and rewarding you with 600 experience points for purchasing it. The Knight Gnome, meanwhile, comes with the high price that we expect of gnomes, at 15 Farm Cash. You'll receive 1500 experience points for adding one to your farm.
Meanwhile, the two coin-only items are the Gumdrop Sprinkle and the Mermaid Fountain, which cost 8,000 and 240,000 coins, respectively. While it's not technically set up as one, the Gumdrop Sprinkle seems like it would be a perfect fencing for your other Fairy Tale items, as it is a skinny, rectangular object. Whether or not Zynga released them with that as the intentional design usage isn't clear, but it's an idea to keep in mind all the same.
These decorations will be available in the store for the next 14 days, so shop fast to ensure you don't miss them as they will expire from the store after that time.
The premium items are the Knight Gnome (an accompaniment to the previously released Princess Gnome), and the Green Willow Tree. The Green Willow Tree is a fairly inexpensive item, as far as Farm Cash prices go, costing 6 Farm Cash and rewarding you with 600 experience points for purchasing it. The Knight Gnome, meanwhile, comes with the high price that we expect of gnomes, at 15 Farm Cash. You'll receive 1500 experience points for adding one to your farm.
Meanwhile, the two coin-only items are the Gumdrop Sprinkle and the Mermaid Fountain, which cost 8,000 and 240,000 coins, respectively. While it's not technically set up as one, the Gumdrop Sprinkle seems like it would be a perfect fencing for your other Fairy Tale items, as it is a skinny, rectangular object. Whether or not Zynga released them with that as the intentional design usage isn't clear, but it's an idea to keep in mind all the same.
These decorations will be available in the store for the next 14 days, so shop fast to ensure you don't miss them as they will expire from the store after that time.
FrontierVille Find Rango Goal: Everything you need to know
Zynga has introduced its first promotional Goal to FrontierVille, according to FrontierVille Info. It revolves around the upcoming animated film, Rango, and couldn't be more fitting. (Remember when Megamind invaded FarmVille?) The Goal is titled "Find the Sheriff of Dirt," and it's up to us to find Rango all around the homestead. Join us after the break to learn how.
While I've yet to see the Goal appear in my game, it's rare that FrontierVille Info is terribly off. First, players will need to find Rango on their homestead nine times. Similar to critters, Rango is said randomly appear when performing basic tasks like feeding animals, clearing debris and chopping trees. All you need to do is click on him when he does and repeat this another eight times to complete this portion of the Goal.
Then, you will need to ask your friends for 10 Buckets of Water, which should be standard fare at this point. However, it has yet to be explained how the third requirement, watching the Rango trailer, will be accomplished. We imagine either a link to the video or the video itself will be embedded into the Goal's pop-up window. Either way, watching a two-minute video shouldn't be tough, and it shows in the reward: a measly 30 coins and three Tools. However, we highly doubt the reward is so low for a Goal like this considering Zynga and Nickelodeon, the studio behind the movie, would like to make sure you complete it. This is an advertising effort, after all.
[Image Credit: FrontierVille Info]
Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.
While I've yet to see the Goal appear in my game, it's rare that FrontierVille Info is terribly off. First, players will need to find Rango on their homestead nine times. Similar to critters, Rango is said randomly appear when performing basic tasks like feeding animals, clearing debris and chopping trees. All you need to do is click on him when he does and repeat this another eight times to complete this portion of the Goal.
Then, you will need to ask your friends for 10 Buckets of Water, which should be standard fare at this point. However, it has yet to be explained how the third requirement, watching the Rango trailer, will be accomplished. We imagine either a link to the video or the video itself will be embedded into the Goal's pop-up window. Either way, watching a two-minute video shouldn't be tough, and it shows in the reward: a measly 30 coins and three Tools. However, we highly doubt the reward is so low for a Goal like this considering Zynga and Nickelodeon, the studio behind the movie, would like to make sure you complete it. This is an advertising effort, after all.
[Image Credit: FrontierVille Info]
Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.
FrontierVille Find Rango Badges revealed with new decorations
Rango Statue
FrontierVille Info is at it again, and has found the details and rewards for a new set of FrontierVille Badges surrounding the upcoming Rango Goal. As it stands, players will have to find Rango nine times to complete the Goal, but for every third time he's found you will receive a Badge and a reward. Find him three times and receive 300 coins and a Fast Hands Boost. Find him six times to get another 300 coins and a Rango Clothesline. Finally, finding the elusive chameleon nine times will net you another 300 coins and a Rango Statue. More importantly, this gives us a good idea of what the little lizard might look like when he appears, so be on the lookout.
[Image Credit: FrontierVille Info]
Have you found Rango yet on your homestead? What do you think of these rewards?
FrontierVille Info is at it again, and has found the details and rewards for a new set of FrontierVille Badges surrounding the upcoming Rango Goal. As it stands, players will have to find Rango nine times to complete the Goal, but for every third time he's found you will receive a Badge and a reward. Find him three times and receive 300 coins and a Fast Hands Boost. Find him six times to get another 300 coins and a Rango Clothesline. Finally, finding the elusive chameleon nine times will net you another 300 coins and a Rango Statue. More importantly, this gives us a good idea of what the little lizard might look like when he appears, so be on the lookout.
[Image Credit: FrontierVille Info]
Have you found Rango yet on your homestead? What do you think of these rewards?
Thursday, January 5, 2012
FarmVille English Countryside: Using the Pub
While most FarmVille farmers may be used to having a choice in their crafting buildings, between Bakeries, Wineries, and Spas, in the English Countryside, you have but one choice - the Pub. Luckily, this building is readily available to purchase for farmers when they arrive in the English Countryside, and it costs you just 100,000 coins to do so.
The Pub takes up a fairly large footprint, if you're concerned about saving space, and functions as other Crafting Buildings have in the past. That is, it starts as a 1-Star Pub, with only two recipes available to craft, but can be expanded all the way up to a 5-Star Pub by leveling up the recipes that you currently have access to with Bushels.
To get you started, we've made a list of the recipes you can expect to create and master for the first two levels of the Pub, as Levels 3-5 are unknown as of this writing. Meet us behind the break to see what's in store for you once you purchase a Pub for your second farm.
As we said, the Pub starts at level 1, and functions just as you'd expect. While planting and harvesting the 15 new English Countryside crops (check out our full guide for details on each crop), you'll receive Bushels, with those bushels going to create various goods. For Level 1, you'll have just two recipes available to you:
Oliviaberry Beer: 3 Hops Bushels and 5 Red Currant Bushels
Duke's Stout: 4 Hops Bushels and 4 Barley Bushels
These recipes will level up through "experience points" as you continually craft them, or as your friends purchase the units that you craft. You'll have just two crafting tables to work with at the start, but you'll only need to level up recipes six times (either one recipe six times, or a combination of the two) in order to be eligible to upgrade your Pub to the next level, unlocking another table and more recipes to craft.
For Level 2, you'll unlock two additional recipes, bringing your Pub cookbook to four recipes total. You'll receive the following:
Barley Crumpets: 3 English Rose Bushels, 2 English Pea Bushels, 2 Barley Bushels
Floral Scones: 2 Bluebell Bushels, 3 English Rose Bushels, 2 Cornflower Bushels
As you sell Goods to friends, you'll earn 80% of the purchase price as your profit. This is the quickest way to level up recipes (that is, actually selling the Goods you produce), so if you're looking to quickly earn those exclusive mastery signs for mastering these Goods, make sure to remind your friends to buy everything you're selling.
All English-specific features aside, you'll be able to use the Pub just as you would the Crafting Building back on your own farm. You can use the building to purchase Goods, even if those Goods are from the Home Farm's crops, and you can use the building to turn in those Goods for fuel. As you have one overall Fuel level for both Farms, it doesn't really matter where you turn in these Goods, as you'll receive the same amount of Fuel either way.
While this sounds good and all, remember, if you want to create these Crafting Recipes, you'll need to accept the fact that all activity will be suspended in your Home Farm while you work in England due to the current "Pause" feature. If you're ok with that, then craft away!
Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.
Will you work on mastering these Crafting Recipes, or are you still trying to master all of the recipes from your original farm?
The Pub takes up a fairly large footprint, if you're concerned about saving space, and functions as other Crafting Buildings have in the past. That is, it starts as a 1-Star Pub, with only two recipes available to craft, but can be expanded all the way up to a 5-Star Pub by leveling up the recipes that you currently have access to with Bushels.
To get you started, we've made a list of the recipes you can expect to create and master for the first two levels of the Pub, as Levels 3-5 are unknown as of this writing. Meet us behind the break to see what's in store for you once you purchase a Pub for your second farm.
As we said, the Pub starts at level 1, and functions just as you'd expect. While planting and harvesting the 15 new English Countryside crops (check out our full guide for details on each crop), you'll receive Bushels, with those bushels going to create various goods. For Level 1, you'll have just two recipes available to you:
Oliviaberry Beer: 3 Hops Bushels and 5 Red Currant Bushels
Duke's Stout: 4 Hops Bushels and 4 Barley Bushels
These recipes will level up through "experience points" as you continually craft them, or as your friends purchase the units that you craft. You'll have just two crafting tables to work with at the start, but you'll only need to level up recipes six times (either one recipe six times, or a combination of the two) in order to be eligible to upgrade your Pub to the next level, unlocking another table and more recipes to craft.
For Level 2, you'll unlock two additional recipes, bringing your Pub cookbook to four recipes total. You'll receive the following:
Barley Crumpets: 3 English Rose Bushels, 2 English Pea Bushels, 2 Barley Bushels
Floral Scones: 2 Bluebell Bushels, 3 English Rose Bushels, 2 Cornflower Bushels
As you sell Goods to friends, you'll earn 80% of the purchase price as your profit. This is the quickest way to level up recipes (that is, actually selling the Goods you produce), so if you're looking to quickly earn those exclusive mastery signs for mastering these Goods, make sure to remind your friends to buy everything you're selling.
All English-specific features aside, you'll be able to use the Pub just as you would the Crafting Building back on your own farm. You can use the building to purchase Goods, even if those Goods are from the Home Farm's crops, and you can use the building to turn in those Goods for fuel. As you have one overall Fuel level for both Farms, it doesn't really matter where you turn in these Goods, as you'll receive the same amount of Fuel either way.
While this sounds good and all, remember, if you want to create these Crafting Recipes, you'll need to accept the fact that all activity will be suspended in your Home Farm while you work in England due to the current "Pause" feature. If you're ok with that, then craft away!
Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.
Will you work on mastering these Crafting Recipes, or are you still trying to master all of the recipes from your original farm?
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