Clash of Clans: Update(s)

Version 3.25 Released

and a small confession...

Looks like our good friends at Supercell in Finland have released an update for Clash of Clans. I won't take up (not) valuable space to list all the changes, but you can find the particulars here.  New unit upgrades, traps, hero improvements, and leaderboards, to name a few. Again, if you are not playing this game, you are sorely missing out on one of the best Free-To-Play titles out there. Combat, base-building, compelling player vs. player - you name it, it has your flavor of gaming crack.

And now, my confession. I actually broke down and made an IAP (In App Purchase) in Clash of Clans. 500 Crystals, to be exact, which cost me $4.99 USD. But the game made me do it - seriously. I was hovering around Level 30, and needed to upgrade my Town Hall to Level 7. A Level 7 TH unlocks a slew of additional buildings, as well some much needed upgrades. Unfortunately, a Level 7 Town Hall requires 1,200,000 gold. Unfortunately times two, I would amass around 400,000 gold, and someone would attack me, and steal 100,000+, I'd get a 12 hour or 16 hour Shield, regain the 100K gold, be attacked again, and lose said gold. Lather, rinse, repeat, Sisyphus.  And so, I buckled, and got a 7-day Shield. To me, this is was a shocking discovery, as there seemed to be no legitimate way to gather the necessary resources without paying for the additional Shield time protection. And to date, Supercell have made IAP a 'want', not a 'need', in order to progress in the game. Not sure what the solution is - increased Shield time based on your level perhaps?

But in the end, I can't say I felt all that cheated - for a game that's given me more fun than many a  $60 retail console title, $4.99 for some crystals for CoC seems like a bargain.

Farmville 2, By George!

New "Great Britain" Content Added

With all the Fall and Thanksgiving content additions that have been added to Farmville 2 over the past 2-ish weeks, it was a bit surprising to see the pop-up screen to the left appear today. There's nothing particularly British about today's update, at least that I could find. It's not a Bank Holiday, as the Brits have the same good sense to schedule their official days off like we do in the US i.e. on Fridays and Mondays. In any event, there was actually a new limited-time, craft-able plant item introduced, as well as 3  limited time craft-able recipes. Truth be told, Zynga also introduced a limited-time, Farm Bucks-only Elderberry Tree, but I try to ignore Farm Bucks exclusive content in the same way I'd ignore poor manners, bad grammar, or Justin Bieber.

New Plant:

English Rose

•  Good until December 23rd
• 2 Hours to grow
• 42/59 coins to plant/recieve
• 3 XP
• 5 Feed
• Can be crafted to make Rose Jelly:
• Requires: 8 Roses + 3 Sugars
• Rewards: 1510 coins + 9 XP 

New Recipes:

• Elderberry Tea
• Good until Dec. 23rd
• Requires Farm Bucks, so why bother with details? 
• Petit Fours
• Good until Dec. 23rd
• Requires: 2 Blueberry Custards + 3 Batters
• Rewards: 2710 coins + 27 XP

So there you have it - a proper English menu, at least according to a game made in the US of A.

Farmville 2

Level 20 Skidoo!

 

Bottles 'n Bucks Needed

I reached Level 20 in Farmville 2 this morning, and for once was smart enough to plan(t) ahead with a full field of long growing (24 hour) strawberries and sunflowers. However, I was less than happy when I dived into the details of what was required in order to unlock the farmland. It was not pretty:

• 13 Chainsaws (easily fulfilled from Zynga.com)
• 300,000 coins (pricey, but I'd already amassed around 120,000 coins without even trying)
• 1 Adult Brown Swiss Cow (so I have to buy/raise a baby cow - no big deal)

Except, a Baby Brown Swiss Cow costs 65,000 coins (!) and requires 16 Baby Bottles (!!). Suddenly,one trivial item on the unlock checklist became a major resource sink. I bought the baby cow, started feeding it, and ran out of Baby Bottles after about 6. The freebie giveaway on Zynga.com was no luck - there was a huge run of just free Feed and Water available at the exact time I needed anything but.

So here I sit, waiting to raise enough resources to unlock the farm area. Frustrating. Don't make punishment part of the reward, Zynga.

Clash of Clans

It's Clan-tastic

 

Review

A few weeks ago, I posted an entry that examined how some free apps make money hand over fist via in-game purchases for real money. One of the games mentioned in the original Wired story I reposted was Clash of Clans by Supercell out of Finland (Moi Suomi!). Out of curiosity, I downloaded the app a few days later, and discovered that  spending hundreds of dollars on a "free" game suddenly became to not seem so crazy.




 The Clash Part:

Clash of Clans, at it's a core, harks back to the late '90s, when real time strategy games ruled the gaming landscape. Build a base via harvesting resources, research and upgrade units and buildings, train troops to attack and defend, all the while having a good old time. It's set in a fantasy world of goblins, barbarians, dragons, and the undead, among others, with the player tasked with attacking evil warlords bases wherever they lurk. Pretty standard fare - until you introduce multiplayer into CoC, with other players attacking your base, or you attacking theirs. It introduces the element of tension, anticipation, and low-down scheming that really makes the game shine. Each player's base has a "Shield" last from a few hours to a few days. When the Shield is active, no players can attack you, and you can't attack them. But once that Shield is down, it's every player for themselves. You can raise an army and go out and plunder other player's bases for loot. But they can do the same to yours.  Successfully defend an attack on your base, or win an attack against another player, and you also gain trophies, the quantity of which determines how powerful you are. Lose an attack on your base, and the Shield gets turned back on, protecting your base while you make repairs and re-think your defensive layout.

The Clans Part:

If the idea of constant attacks seems off-putting, there's a solution. Join a Clan. There are dozens of Clans around the globe to join. Clans are essentially your gang - use them to solicit troops for attacks or defense. It's a simple game mechanic - fellow Clan members ask for help when needed, and you can do the same. There's also an in-game chat, which is great for hints, tips, gossip, and generally hanging out. Don't confuse this short description of Clans with it's importance; like may simple things, it's as powerful as you make it.

In closing, Clash of Clans definitely warrants all the love it's been getting lately. It's a perfect mix of good game design, good art, and beyond robust multiplayer. Just be prepared to lose endless hours having a blast. 

Farmville 2: Thanksgivingpalooza!

Fall Content Updates

A ton of new content was dropped within the past week in Farmville 2. I'll examine in greater detail over the next few days the specific pros/cons and quest tasks. In terms of new, limited-time items to purchase in the General Store, there are new plants, animals, trees, and decorations. The vast majority of these new items require real-cash Farm Bucks, so I won't discuss those items in any detail, as this blog is primarily dedicated to the free game experience.



Plants:

• Parsnips 

 Animals:

• 4 Types of Birds (2 Chickens/2 Turkeys). All require Farm Bucks. Blech.

Trees:

• 2 Types (1 only type, the Plum Tree, yields fruit for crafting). Both require Farm Bucks. Blech times two.

 Quests:

• L'il Rebel Turkey: rewards 1 Baby Turkey upon completion.
• Turkey Calls: contains 6 sub-quests. A turkey is required as part of one of the quest tasks, so completion of L'il Rebel Turkey beforehand is vital.
• Feast Table: mostly requires friends to supply building materials/sweat equity for construction to complete, although there is a food crafting sub-quest in the middle that will require strawberries, so start planting now. Once the Table is completed, you then invite four 4 friends to 5 different feasts. The rewards are pretty good for each successful feast you hold, so make this a high priority on your 'To-Do' list. 

And, that's it in a nutshell. Happy Farming to all!

Freemium Price Compare!

a.k.a. ARSE

Abstract Resource Stock indEx

I recently read an old article on Mental Floss about the Toadstool Exchange - it compared the relative prices in-game, and in real-world dollars, the cost of a grenade. This, in turn, reminded me of an annual column The Economist used to run - The Big Mac Index. Both are genius, and well worth a read when it comes to comparing relative values of things that either are digital or seemingly dissimilar i.e. a burger in a Norway vs. a burger in Tuscaloosa.

Anyways....in that vein I was inspired to create the ARSE. Most (90%+) of freemium or free-to-play app games out there, allow you to speed up the game, and thus gain an advantage, by purchasing some sort of of in-game currency. The important part, as it pertains to ARSE, is that in general, 1 in-game resource, be it gems, or gold, or smurfberries, equals 1 hour of game speed-up time. And thus, a comparative real-currency value can be assigned to these seemingly intangible virtual items.

Game		Resource		Units		Cost		Cost Per Resource
CityVille		Cash		50		$4.99		$0.10
Clash of Clans		Gems		1200		$9.99		$0.01
Dragon Story		Gold		120		$4.99		$0.04
Dragonvale		Gems		130		$4.99		$0.04
Gizmonauts		Crystals		130		$4.99		$0.04
Hay Day		Diamonds		130		$4.99		$0.04
Jurassic Park Builder		Bucks		120		$9.99		$0.08
My Little Pony		Gems		120		$9.99		$0.08
Restaurant Story		Gems		105		$19.99		$0.19
Simpsons: Tapped Out		Donuts		132		$9.99		$0.08
Smurfs' Village		Berries		125		$9.99		$0.08
Tiny Monsters		Diamonds		130		$4.99		$0.04
Tiny Tower		Tower Bux		100		$1.99		$0.02
Tiny Tribe		Diamonds		100		$9.99		$0.10

 Several caveats:

1. I tried to go for similar Resource Units or USD ($) amounts. It's not precise, clearly.

2. Some games, like Clash of Clans or Simpsons, use a different metrics to apply against 1 hour of in-game progress. 'Clash' is pretty easy to decipher; 4 gems = 1 hour. Simpsons has no discernible pattern.

3. Unsurprisingly, the mercenary black souls at Team Lava have the highest comparative ARSE cost via Restaurant Story.

I'll be updating the ARSE as the mood strikes, new games make the list, or a cost moves dramatically.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Over 1 Million Krusty Burgers Served

A Look Under The Hood Of A Freemium Moneymaker

Interesting comparative infographic chart over at Games.com which compares in-game purchases in The Simpsons: Tapped Out to real world fast food consumption statistics. A very interesting peak into actual numbers of structures built, and Donuts spent in the game. Given that Donuts are the in-app-purchase-able resources bought with real money, it gives a clue with regard to how much cold hard cash the game is actually generating for EA. Hint: it looks like a pile of money so huge, you'd need Mr. Plow to move it.

Farmville 2: Power Leveling

Bad Pun Alert!

Plowing Through Levels in FV2

I recently had an odd situation occur in Farmville 2; I hit Level 15, and suddenly ran out of quests. I (correctly) assumed quests were given to player based on certain levels i.e. I'd finished levels that the level designers at Zynga had assumed would take me until at least Level 16 to complete. So with no quests to occupy me in Level 15, I wanted to level up as quickly as possible. In the end, it took me about 36 hours to get to Level 17. Here are some tips to turbocharge your leveling:

• Play at Zynga.com. I cannot emphasize enough how much more efficient it is if you play the game through the Zynga portal.  You can get literally dozens of neighbors in the space of a few hours who can supply you with XP when you visit their farm, or provide you with quest items when you request them. Again, Zynga.com is a godsend when it comes to accelerating the leveling process.

• Crafting. Every step of the crafting process rewards you with some amount of XP. Cumulatively, each step in creating an item gives you a few XP; put them all together and you can get 20 to 30+ XP per item.

• Plant items with quick grow times and higher XP rewards. For example, Radishes, which thankfully unlocked at Level 15, have a grow time of 2 Minutes and reward 3 XP per plant. 

• Fertilize as much as possible. For every prize winning plant you grow, you are rewarded XP equal to the number of pounds (lbs) of the vegetable or fruit. In other words a 12 lbs. Pumpkin will give you 12 XP.

• Prized animals reward higher XP than animals that produce resources, like eggs, milk, or cheese. I usually keep a half dozen Prized livestock stored away in my inventory, and break them out into the barnyard when I need my livestock to produce just XP, not resources.

I am sure there are other strategies other players use to level up quickly, so I'd love to hear any other tips you have. Happy leveling!

Farmville 2

No Quests?!?!?

The Curious Case of the Camouflaged Quests

Perhaps 'camouflaged' isn't exactly the right word, but it had a nice alliterative ring to it. Anyways....here I am at Level 15 in Farmville 2, with nothing to do. All my quests have been completed, and no new ones have appeared in their place. A bit of Google-ing on the topic revealed that other players have experienced this as well, on other levels, so my educated guess is that the quest designers just don't anticipate players completing certain quests before reaching certain levels. Thus, I am now left to my own devices.

"Wake me when we get to Lvl 16"

I expect once I hit Level 16, some new quests will be triggered, but what to do in the meantime? I need 4,492 XP to reach Level 16, but who's counting. Quests are the best way to level up, as they have high XP rewards. But without them, it's just a grind. You get 6 XP per neighbor farm visited, 10 XP for per day for Prized animals, harvests, and the rest is just rewards for prized crops, and that's dependent on the crop size i.e. a 15 Lbs. Tomato = 15 XP, and also appears perhaps once every 10+ fertilized crops. 

This is going to be a long week. Any tips of power-leveling, please send them my way. The alternative is to get a life, otherwise. 

Farmville 2 - Pecan-apalooza!

Strategies for "Bake Sale" and "No Horsing Around" Quests.

Hint: It Involves A Lot Of Pecans

Around Level 14, you will encounter the aforementioned quests in Farmville 2. Like most quests in FV2, they aren't difficult, but rather time-consuming, if you are not prepared. Both quests revolve around Pecans, which unlock at Level 13, so you in all likelihood, you might not have planted any Pecan Trees yet, which will put you behind the curve when it comes to completing these quests. In a nutshell (ha!), you'll need to craft/make 5 Pecan Muffins for the "Ho No Horsing Around" quest, and sell 10 Pecan Muffins for the "Bake Sale" quest. Luckily, this means the effort you put into 1 quest will apply to the other quest, which makes things a bit easier.  If you do the Crafting math, that means you'll need 50 Pecans to complete the pecan portion of both quests. The logistics of getting 50 Pecans are as follows:

1 Pecan Tree Harvest  =      2.5 Pecans Nuts (on average)

Pecan Tree Harvest Time =  12 Hours

Therefore, 1 Pecan Tree will = 5 Pecan Nuts per Day. 

So, it will take 10 days to get enough Pecan Nuts from 1 tree to complete the crafting for these quests. Or 5 days with 2 Pecan trees. And so on...So plant ahead, and save some time.

 

My Singing Monsters

Feed Me!

Overview of total food required to grow a Level 15 monster

I've been a bit curious to find what the maximum level was is My Singing Monsters. After literally 2 weeks of just baking food to feed one T-Rox constantly, it turns out it's level 15. I currently have all 4 Islands and 2 Green Crystal Mines, so I'm not lacking for monsters to generate cash, or bakeries to create food, or crystals to speed along the process, but even so, it took what seemed like an eternity to reach the max monster level. And it's costly process. Below is the required food ( and in-game money) required to reach that goal:

Level		Amt (Food)		SubTotal (Gold)
1		5		20
2		10		40
3		20		80
4		40		160
5		80		320
6		160		640
7		320		1,280
8		640		2,560
9		1,280		5,120
10		2,560		10,240
11		5,120		20,480
12		10,240		40,960
13		20,480		81,920
14		40,960		163,840
15		81,920		327,680
Total		163,835		655,340

"It's wafer thin!"

In other words, it would require a Turkey (1,000,000 gold), a Pie (500,000 gold), and 2 Pizzas (75,000 gold per Pie) to get enough food to reach Level 15, for a grand total of 1,650,000 gold to get just ONE Monster to Level 15. This is why I usually stop around Level 9 for monster upgrading. I'm stuffed.  

Jurassic Park Builder

Get Ready For The Dino Doldrums

Review

Jurassic Park Builder is not necessarily a bad game. It's got really sweet graphics, lots of dinosaur species to care for in your zoo, and tons of missions. On the flip side, it's pretty damn boring. There is nothing to do. Find amber, play a gene sequencer minigame that essentially just makes you spend in-game money, feed dinosaurs, build some support structures (hotels, infirmaries  guard towers, etc) that have no bearing on the game, except to make more money, and import meat and veggies from a port for your dino denizens. 

You missions essentially are variations on the same theme - collect money from dinosaurs, move around dinosaur pens, build roads, delete roads, wash, rinse, repeat. Considering it's supposed to be a simulation of a visitor-driven business enterprise i.e. a zoo, there's no mechanic whatsoever that recognizes player actions that would have more/less visitors coming to your park, or providing amenities to them that would aid attendance. It's a sterile experience, with the lone visitor being the player. The most entertaining part is the "Code Red" minigame, which is essentially a game of chicken. But alas, it only happens perhaps 2 times a day, and then for at most 90 seconds each time. So if you wanted to be entertained for no more than 3 minutes a day, then this game is for you.   

Home Sweet Home

Maximixe Your 'Bot Home Zone Cash in Gizmonauts

"Time for my money bath!"

Without a doubt, making money in Gizmonauts is one of the easiest jobs in the galaxy. Aside from the Large and Small Builder Zones, every other Zone is a cash cow. However, if you want to make a pile of cash quickly, the best way is to get the maximum number of high level 'bots in either Performance (Small & Large) or Nature (Large) Zones (see below). At the moment I have more money than I know what to do with - I am literally waiting for various breeding combos to produce new 'bots, while the money keeps rolling in. I'm about ready to start stuffing money under the mattress of a robo Sleep Number® bed at this point.

Zone		Size		Max # of Bots		Max Coins
Builder		Small		2		250
Mining		Small		1		10,000
Performance		Small		2		7,500
Nature		Small		1		15,000
Builder		Large		4		750
Performance		Large		3		50,000
Nature		Large		3		50,000
Astro		N/A		1		1,000,000

Free Ain't Easy

Warning: Actual Learning About Games Ahead. 

"[P]layers should be rewarded even if they don't pay to play, as we know their influence far surpasses their direct income generated and high value players are, of course, rewarded for their loyalty and commitment. Games that are able to respond to real-time player behavior will become the norm in the next few years and players will come to expect a level of support and interaction with the games they play, allowing them to progress further and take greater enjoyment from the experience."

- Games Analytics Whitepaper "The Science of Listening"

Although this whitepaper is focused on the free-to-play game experience, much of the analysis can, and should, be applied to boxed retail titles as well.

Link via Gamasutra

Ever Wonder How Free Games Make Money?

Then Meet These Guys...

Anyone who plays free-to-play games on a regular basis will wonder, on occasion, how companies that charge nothing stay in business. Well, wonder no more. Wired has a great article on the sugar daddies who will spend hundreds and thousands of cold, hard, real money to be the best in their game(s) of choice. Some of them even justify it by saying they are actually saving money. Regardless of the motivation or rationale, it's a fascinating peek into the economies of F2P gaming, and why games like them keep getting made.

Update

Interesting counter-point article over on The Verge about PunchQuest, a game that has received critical acclaim, but apparently isn't making much money at all.

Proper Breeding in My Singing Monsters

No Need To Send Your Monsters To Etiquette School.

We are talking about breeding monsters found on the Cold Island in My Singing Monsters. Each island in MSM features some new monsters only found on specific islands, just to keep you on your toes.  The following chart just contains monsters not found on the original starting island, Plant. So without further ado, here ya go:

Monster		Island		Breeding/Combo		Level		Coins/Min		Max Coins
Tweedle		Cold		Air		9		14		288
Dandidoo		Cold		Tweedle+Potbelly		9		29		2,160
Quibble		Cold		Tweedle+ToeJam		9		22		1,620
Pango		Cold		Tweedle+Mammott		9		29		1,728
Spunge		Cold		Dandidoo+ToeJam		9		43		20,736
Thumpies		Cold		Tweedle+Furcorn		9		50		20,563
Congle		Cold		Pango+ToeJam		9		43		25,920
Deedge		Cold		Multiple		?		?		?

Once again, the correct breeding of the four element monster, in this case, Deedge, eludes me. In general, I stop feeding my monsters after Level 9 as the cost is so prohibitive, and for some monsters, like the Tweedle, the return in investment i.e. Max Coins, is minimal and just not worth it.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween Hi-Jinks from My Singing Monsters

It's great to see developers, particularly those that make free-to-play games, release holiday content that doesn't require the player to jump through a million hoops, or even worse, pay money for. Such is the case in My Singing Monsters. Every day for the past week-ish, Big Blue Bubble has been giving one of the monsters in MSM a Halloween costume makeover, pictured here. It's a nice touch, and once again speaks to the quality of the developer and the game. 

Zynga Cares!

Leads Charge With Hurricane Sandy Charity Aid

Really Zynga? Temporarily disabled "wither" in Farmville 2? What generosity. How about matching player harvesting with in-kind monetary donations to an aid organizations like the Red Cross? 

Freebie Alert: Draw Race 2!

Start Your Engines...

Just a quick heads-up that Draw Race 2 is free at the moment. The original Draw Race was a heckuva lot of fun, particularly multiplayer, so it's stands to reason that DR2 will be at least 2 times as good. Intuitive user interface, and really well executed. The iPad version looks phenomenal.

Gizmonauts

You'll Go Nuts For These Buckets of 'Bots Made of Bolts

You may have a heard of a little 'ole iPhone game called Dragonvale aka free-to-play app crack. Well, Backflip Studios, the team behind that game, are back with a new title - Gizmonauts. And much like Dragonvale, Gizmonauts contains every bit of the same addictive fun, except this time around, it's all about robots. You are tasked with raising (upgrading?), feeding (fueling?) and breeding (building? constructing? assembling?) various 'bots, but this time around, you can also upgrade individual robots with specialized tools to increase specific stats, as well as take them into combat.

I've already started to put together some numbers on optimal robot Snax to farm, so here's some initial stats for production amounts vs. time:

Food		Farm		Cost		Time (in Mins)		Amt Made		Amt Made/Hour
Micro Chips		Small		50		0.5		5		120
Spring Salad		Small		250		5		20		240
Bolt Burger		Small		1,000		30		75		150
Carbon Cola		Large		5,000		180		425		141.7
Battery Bites		Large		15,000		540		1,200		133.3
Coolant Cone		Large		75,000		1,440		3,000		125.0

As you can see, Spring Salad is your most efficient choice. So go nuts (no pun intended - this time).