Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Robot Builder
(continuing my review of Facebook games)
I previously mentioned a group that made several good games. The best of these is Robot Builder.
Robot Builder originally suffered from the same Add Me effect that most games have. Then some sort of bug caused them to remove it (this was before I started). They never did re-enable it, which turned out to be a great decision.
Game play is pretty simple. You have several resources to manage: energy, money, and robot tokens (RT, this is how they raise money, you can buy RT - although you can also find them in the game).
Energy is refilled at 10 per 15 minutes (as opposed to the typical 1/4 or 1/5). This is somewhat irritating early in the game, when you only have 10 or 11 max.
Your goal is to build robots. There are many different areas to salvage through (which take energy and money, sometimes RT). You can also do different "fights" in the arena - but these are basically different areas which can only be explored once per hour (or four hours, I forget).
You mainly raise money by selling parts, energy refills automatically, and you find RT. Different robots allow access to different arena fights, new areas, or give you additional energy storage.
Not a lot to see.
The hidden gem in this game is the market system.
The market allows players to trade items for RT. You can sell your rare parts (any parts really) for RT, and buy the parts you need. Or buy parts to sell for cash (giving RT a value in cash).
Being a market, there are tidal effects (as players sign off for the night, or sign on in the morning). This creates timing opportunities. You can buy parts when there are many players online as an investment, then sell them off when the market is short. You can also try to corner the market (by buying all the parts others supply, and holding out for higher prices).
This gives the game a lot of playability - even when there is no new content. It does require a large number of players to support the market. Sadly, total abandonment by the developers has pretty much killed this game.
I previously mentioned a group that made several good games. The best of these is Robot Builder.
Robot Builder originally suffered from the same Add Me effect that most games have. Then some sort of bug caused them to remove it (this was before I started). They never did re-enable it, which turned out to be a great decision.
Game play is pretty simple. You have several resources to manage: energy, money, and robot tokens (RT, this is how they raise money, you can buy RT - although you can also find them in the game).
Energy is refilled at 10 per 15 minutes (as opposed to the typical 1/4 or 1/5). This is somewhat irritating early in the game, when you only have 10 or 11 max.
Your goal is to build robots. There are many different areas to salvage through (which take energy and money, sometimes RT). You can also do different "fights" in the arena - but these are basically different areas which can only be explored once per hour (or four hours, I forget).
You mainly raise money by selling parts, energy refills automatically, and you find RT. Different robots allow access to different arena fights, new areas, or give you additional energy storage.
Not a lot to see.
The hidden gem in this game is the market system.
The market allows players to trade items for RT. You can sell your rare parts (any parts really) for RT, and buy the parts you need. Or buy parts to sell for cash (giving RT a value in cash).
Being a market, there are tidal effects (as players sign off for the night, or sign on in the morning). This creates timing opportunities. You can buy parts when there are many players online as an investment, then sell them off when the market is short. You can also try to corner the market (by buying all the parts others supply, and holding out for higher prices).
This gives the game a lot of playability - even when there is no new content. It does require a large number of players to support the market. Sadly, total abandonment by the developers has pretty much killed this game.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Stuff I've read lately
R is for Ricochet (Sue Grafton)(audio) - It's interesting to bounce back and forth in the series (as library availability allows). The last book was from the 80's (or early 90's) and was 6 CD's. This book is from 2004 and is 10. There is not >50% more story...
I was especially disappointed that there was no ricochet. It is funny to hear a story about old time computers (carried in rolling luggage) and handfuls of floppy disks.
I was especially disappointed that there was no ricochet. It is funny to hear a story about old time computers (carried in rolling luggage) and handfuls of floppy disks.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Frontierville
(continuing my review of Facebook games)
A quick word of warning about Zynga games (Mafia Wars, Farmville, Frontierville, among others). They are pretty public about how evil they are. They will sell you email to spammers, and do anything to spread to your friends and install toolbars on your browser. If you play their games (and I can't recommend any of them), make sure to use NoScript, Adblock, etc. and don't give them your email, make sure you block them from your wall and friends, etc...
So, continuing on the massive failure that is Farmville, there is now Frontierville.
The game mechanics (and engine) are basically the same - you have a set of land, on which you place buildings, crops, trees, and animals.
There are a number of changes, most of them bad: energy, wilderness, varmints.
Energy
In Farmville, you could plant your whole board in a 4 hour crop, come back in 4 hours and harvest it all (assuming you had the money). In Frontierville, every action takes 1 energy (like the energy in Mafia Wars). Of course, in Mafia Wars I have 1900 energy (at 1 energy per 5 minutes, that is 8 days). In Frontierville, I have 15 energy.
This does introduce some interesting strategy changes.
Now, you must pipeline out some crops in order to maximize experience. You can't just look at xp/hr, you must include energy as well (since all actions are 1 energy, this amounts to xp/crop). So, 3 day crops are the best, but you can't just fill the board with them. You have to stage them out, say 1 hour apart, 9 at a time (not 12, more later). This creates some interesting effects, when you start with a blank board, and want to scale up to a big harvest in 2 or 3 days (say over a long weekend). You lay down 9 of the 3 day jobs, and 9 one hour jobs (for when you come back). Then, in an hour, harvest and lay down 9 more of the 3-days. Rinse and repeat.
Wilderness
The wilderness is a huge pain. Your board is not open like in Farmville. It starts covered with all sorts of junk, which you have to expend energy to clear. Worse, the stuff grows back.
Varmints
This is probably the worst feature of all (especially when compounded with the other two). Every action has a chance to spawn a varmint (different ones for different actions). The varmint will block the 8 adjacent squares, forcing you to deal with it or pay 2 energy for actions. It takes 3 or 4 energy to remove a varmint (hence the 9 crops for a 12 energy period). If you luck out with no varmints, you need the energy for maintaining the wilderness anyway.
The game's isometric view is especially painful here. One time, I was clearing some trees, and a bear appeared. It was hidden behind a big tree, so I had to pay 2 energy times 12 to clear that tree!
Co-op Play
There is one nice new feature. In Farmville, you could visit your friends' farms. There you could get some extra xp and money by "helping out" (which actually did not help them at all). In Frontierville, you can actually help. This makes things a little better, but is not usually reliable enough to impact planning. You usually have more things than you have energy for, and friends can help there.
The game has just started, so it might get better - but probably not.
A quick word of warning about Zynga games (Mafia Wars, Farmville, Frontierville, among others). They are pretty public about how evil they are. They will sell you email to spammers, and do anything to spread to your friends and install toolbars on your browser. If you play their games (and I can't recommend any of them), make sure to use NoScript, Adblock, etc. and don't give them your email, make sure you block them from your wall and friends, etc...
So, continuing on the massive failure that is Farmville, there is now Frontierville.
The game mechanics (and engine) are basically the same - you have a set of land, on which you place buildings, crops, trees, and animals.
There are a number of changes, most of them bad: energy, wilderness, varmints.
Energy
In Farmville, you could plant your whole board in a 4 hour crop, come back in 4 hours and harvest it all (assuming you had the money). In Frontierville, every action takes 1 energy (like the energy in Mafia Wars). Of course, in Mafia Wars I have 1900 energy (at 1 energy per 5 minutes, that is 8 days). In Frontierville, I have 15 energy.
This does introduce some interesting strategy changes.
Now, you must pipeline out some crops in order to maximize experience. You can't just look at xp/hr, you must include energy as well (since all actions are 1 energy, this amounts to xp/crop). So, 3 day crops are the best, but you can't just fill the board with them. You have to stage them out, say 1 hour apart, 9 at a time (not 12, more later). This creates some interesting effects, when you start with a blank board, and want to scale up to a big harvest in 2 or 3 days (say over a long weekend). You lay down 9 of the 3 day jobs, and 9 one hour jobs (for when you come back). Then, in an hour, harvest and lay down 9 more of the 3-days. Rinse and repeat.
Wilderness
The wilderness is a huge pain. Your board is not open like in Farmville. It starts covered with all sorts of junk, which you have to expend energy to clear. Worse, the stuff grows back.
Varmints
This is probably the worst feature of all (especially when compounded with the other two). Every action has a chance to spawn a varmint (different ones for different actions). The varmint will block the 8 adjacent squares, forcing you to deal with it or pay 2 energy for actions. It takes 3 or 4 energy to remove a varmint (hence the 9 crops for a 12 energy period). If you luck out with no varmints, you need the energy for maintaining the wilderness anyway.
The game's isometric view is especially painful here. One time, I was clearing some trees, and a bear appeared. It was hidden behind a big tree, so I had to pay 2 energy times 12 to clear that tree!
Co-op Play
There is one nice new feature. In Farmville, you could visit your friends' farms. There you could get some extra xp and money by "helping out" (which actually did not help them at all). In Frontierville, you can actually help. This makes things a little better, but is not usually reliable enough to impact planning. You usually have more things than you have energy for, and friends can help there.
The game has just started, so it might get better - but probably not.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Farmville
(continuing my review of Facebook games)
Farmville is a really bad game. Shockingly bad - especially considering how many people play it (Wikipedia claims 80 million installs).
The game mechanics are very simple, you have a set of land (which gets bigger as you progress) which you can fill with crops, trees, animals, and buildings. Buildings serve no point, except to give you experience points (and look pretty).
There is an interesting trade-off between crops and trees/animals.
Every unit of production has some cost, and produces some experience points and money. Trees and animals produce repeatedly, while crops are one-shot. Also, crops will expire (wither) if they are not gathered after reaching term - while trees and animals will keep indefinitely.
The optimal strategy is to maximize your return in money and experience (money can buy experience) for the land you have, and the time you have. If you can dedicate lots of time, you can make a lot of money and experience very quickly.
Higher levels give access to new crops, etc. but this is of limited effect. You have your spreadsheet of $/hr and xp/hr, grouped into time groups (4 hours, 8 hours, 1 day, etc.). Based on your schedule, you put down some crops. If you aren't sure when you will be back, you can invest more in trees or animals.
At some point they added vehicles, which reduces the tedium of plow/plant/harvest some (a vehicle can do 4 at a time). Not really worth the time, though.
Farmville is a really bad game. Shockingly bad - especially considering how many people play it (Wikipedia claims 80 million installs).
The game mechanics are very simple, you have a set of land (which gets bigger as you progress) which you can fill with crops, trees, animals, and buildings. Buildings serve no point, except to give you experience points (and look pretty).
There is an interesting trade-off between crops and trees/animals.
Every unit of production has some cost, and produces some experience points and money. Trees and animals produce repeatedly, while crops are one-shot. Also, crops will expire (wither) if they are not gathered after reaching term - while trees and animals will keep indefinitely.
The optimal strategy is to maximize your return in money and experience (money can buy experience) for the land you have, and the time you have. If you can dedicate lots of time, you can make a lot of money and experience very quickly.
Higher levels give access to new crops, etc. but this is of limited effect. You have your spreadsheet of $/hr and xp/hr, grouped into time groups (4 hours, 8 hours, 1 day, etc.). Based on your schedule, you put down some crops. If you aren't sure when you will be back, you can invest more in trees or animals.
At some point they added vehicles, which reduces the tedium of plow/plant/harvest some (a vehicle can do 4 at a time). Not really worth the time, though.
Friday, July 02, 2010
I'm a Wiener
(continuing my review of Facebook games)
I got style, I got grace.
Perhaps the saddest part of Facebook games is the lack of winning.
For some reason, game designers think that if they don't have an ending, and don't declare a winner, people will just play forever.
Of course, this requires a steady rollout of new content. So really, you're just playing new games with a steady increase in gear - which leads to massive inflation (old gear becomes useless).
Usually, the developers can't keep up with the rate of consumption, and the game dies anyway.
So, ironically, the very attempt at creating a unending game ends the game (there's a sermon in there).
I got style, I got grace.
Perhaps the saddest part of Facebook games is the lack of winning.
For some reason, game designers think that if they don't have an ending, and don't declare a winner, people will just play forever.
Of course, this requires a steady rollout of new content. So really, you're just playing new games with a steady increase in gear - which leads to massive inflation (old gear becomes useless).
Usually, the developers can't keep up with the rate of consumption, and the game dies anyway.
So, ironically, the very attempt at creating a unending game ends the game (there's a sermon in there).
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