Treasure Isle released two new island expansions for those players who just seem to be continually running out of space. With all the animals, decorations, buildings and items amassed on the travels of a fearless treasure hunter, sometimes there just isn't enough room. We're seen some pretty ridiculous Treasure Isle collections and we can say there are definitely people who have been desperate to secure a bigger island.
Continue reading to find out about pricing.
treasure isle expansions
Bigger is better. Who can argue with that? Trucks, food, and now Treasure Isle islands all embrace the American way.
There are two island expansions. The first, large island, is available for 65,000 coins or 30 Island Cash. Even more gargantuan is the grand island for 80,000 coins or 35 Island Cash. Remember, you can't buy the giant island until you own the large one. So head over to Treasure Isle and expand!
Click here to play Treasure Isle>
Showing posts with label zynga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zynga. Show all posts
Saturday, February 11, 2012
FrontierVille blooms with new colorful flowers
Life in the Wild West is starting to look more civilized every day. Among the thorns, weeds and wildflowers, virtual pioneers can now outfit their property with colorful flowers -- both in pots and the free-growing variety.
frontierville flower pot,
I personally prefer the free-standing flowers over the uber-coloful ones in the pot, but either way, it's nice to get new decor for our newly tamed piece of land.
frontierville flowers
If you have images of any of the new flowers on your property, send them to me at libe@games.com and I'll feature them here.
What do you think of these new flowers?
frontierville flower pot,
I personally prefer the free-standing flowers over the uber-coloful ones in the pot, but either way, it's nice to get new decor for our newly tamed piece of land.
frontierville flowers
If you have images of any of the new flowers on your property, send them to me at libe@games.com and I'll feature them here.
What do you think of these new flowers?
FrontierVille's new garden accoutrements: Stone Border, Thin Cobblestone, Bird House
Along with a series of decorative flowers, the game's Market has also been populated with a Thin Cobblestone and Stone Border and a blue and orange Bird House. No time like the present to turn your frontierville home into a landscaped piece of art.
What do you think of the new garden items?
What do you think of the new garden items?
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Mafia Wars big bang: Less than 100K visits before armored truck goes boom
Update (11 p.m.): Mafia Wars will be blowing up an armored truck on Thursday, August 19th at 6:00 pm PST.
Update: The 10 million mark has been reached (!), but still no announcement as to when the truck will be blown up. Stay tuned.
We'll soon see if the Mafia Wars marketing team makes good on the promise -- that after 10 million players logged into play Mafia Wars Las Vegas -- they would drive an armored truck into the Nevada desert, pack it full of dynamite and blow it up.
Right now, the player count is less than 100K away from 10 million -- and it took a little over two weeks to hit this target. That means we can expect the big kaboom to happen relatively soon, and, you'll be able watch it all go down on mafiawars.com.
Update: The 10 million mark has been reached (!), but still no announcement as to when the truck will be blown up. Stay tuned.
We'll soon see if the Mafia Wars marketing team makes good on the promise -- that after 10 million players logged into play Mafia Wars Las Vegas -- they would drive an armored truck into the Nevada desert, pack it full of dynamite and blow it up.
Right now, the player count is less than 100K away from 10 million -- and it took a little over two weeks to hit this target. That means we can expect the big kaboom to happen relatively soon, and, you'll be able watch it all go down on mafiawars.com.
FishVille Flash Sale offers discounts for today only
FishVille has launched a sale today that offers 20% of Sand Dollars, discounts on premium items in the FishVille store, and also a points system that allows you to unlock exclusive fish by purchasing Sand Dollar items. This sale only lasts for another 4 hours as of this writing, so you'll have to hop aboard quick if you want a chance to partake in the sale.
Here is how the sale works. When you log in to FishVille, there is a button for the Flash Sale on the left side of your screen. If you click this button, you will see a button to gain a 20% discount on Sand Dollars. There is also a Reward Earning Meter that shows your progress towards unlocking the special fish. These fish have been available exclusively in the past, so they are rare but not brand new to the game.
In the Store, the prices have been slashed on plants, decorations, and creatures that cost Sand Dollars. Almost all of these items have received discounts ranging from 10% - 20%. Even the new Bayou themed items are included in the sale!
Log in to FishVille to take part in the Flash sale for the next four hours only.
Here is how the sale works. When you log in to FishVille, there is a button for the Flash Sale on the left side of your screen. If you click this button, you will see a button to gain a 20% discount on Sand Dollars. There is also a Reward Earning Meter that shows your progress towards unlocking the special fish. These fish have been available exclusively in the past, so they are rare but not brand new to the game.
In the Store, the prices have been slashed on plants, decorations, and creatures that cost Sand Dollars. Almost all of these items have received discounts ranging from 10% - 20%. Even the new Bayou themed items are included in the sale!
Log in to FishVille to take part in the Flash sale for the next four hours only.
Treasure Isle heats up with new Volcano Isles maps
Treasure Isle Volcano Isles map
It has been awhile since Treasure Isle released plain old regular maps, so players should be excited to see that a new set of seven volcano-themed maps have been launched today. These new maps are named the following:
Burning Phoenix - 15 Island Cash
Imp Fort
Old Gem Mine - 10 Island Cash
Phoenix Roost
Jeweled Palace
Fairy Castle - 5 Island Cash
Wrong Turn!
Players will be disappointed to see that three of the new maps require Island Cash to unlock, but that is the nature of these types of games. A post on the Treasure Isle Official Forums has explained that the new maps contain Phoenix Gates that need to be unlocked. These gates can be unlocked by digging up Phoenix Feathers in the Fire God Mountain, or buy purchasing them for 5 Island Cash each. It's interesting that gems don't seem like they will be important in these new maps, especially with the new Gem Mine that has been released.
What do you think of the new Volcano Isle maps?
It has been awhile since Treasure Isle released plain old regular maps, so players should be excited to see that a new set of seven volcano-themed maps have been launched today. These new maps are named the following:
Burning Phoenix - 15 Island Cash
Imp Fort
Old Gem Mine - 10 Island Cash
Phoenix Roost
Jeweled Palace
Fairy Castle - 5 Island Cash
Wrong Turn!
Players will be disappointed to see that three of the new maps require Island Cash to unlock, but that is the nature of these types of games. A post on the Treasure Isle Official Forums has explained that the new maps contain Phoenix Gates that need to be unlocked. These gates can be unlocked by digging up Phoenix Feathers in the Fire God Mountain, or buy purchasing them for 5 Island Cash each. It's interesting that gems don't seem like they will be important in these new maps, especially with the new Gem Mine that has been released.
What do you think of the new Volcano Isle maps?
Monday, February 6, 2012
FrontierVille Missions menu makes it easier to keep track of to-dos
One of the reasons I consider FrontierVille my favorite game on Facebook is because there's always a stream of missions that give you things to do. Until now, however, it's been a little difficult to keep track of them all -- especially since you can have numerous missions going at one time. They would appear and disappear from the left-hand side of the screen at random, so I was always thinking things like "Where did that groundhog mission go? Did I complete it or not?"
Now that problem has been solved as Zynga flips the switch on a new Missions menu that helps you keep track of everything you need to do in-game. You can see what missions you have going by clicking on 'My Stuff' and the clicking on 'Missions.' That will pull up a page (see above) that lists all of your missions. Click on each mission to see what else you need to do to finish.
frontierville missions menu
You can alternately click on the mission icon on the left-hand side of the game (see image below) to pop the menu.
frontierville missions menu
If you're so inclined, you can prioritize missions by reordering them, which will be handy if you've got more Missions in the hopper than I do.
Now that problem has been solved as Zynga flips the switch on a new Missions menu that helps you keep track of everything you need to do in-game. You can see what missions you have going by clicking on 'My Stuff' and the clicking on 'Missions.' That will pull up a page (see above) that lists all of your missions. Click on each mission to see what else you need to do to finish.
frontierville missions menu
You can alternately click on the mission icon on the left-hand side of the game (see image below) to pop the menu.
frontierville missions menu
If you're so inclined, you can prioritize missions by reordering them, which will be handy if you've got more Missions in the hopper than I do.
FrontierVille Meal Deal: Sign up to get free meals via email
FrontierVille is presenting an offer we can't refuse -- a free meal delivered to our email inbox daily. This 'meal deal' is a limited time offer and here's how it worked when I signed up.
I went into the game and was notified that I had a letter, which I found sitting in the middle of my property with a giant yellow arrow above it.
I clicked on the letter and received the following pop up, which explains how this deal works. Basically, you'll get a daily email from FrontierVille that will contain a free meal (meals replenish your energy in the game). You have to accept the meals that same day or they will expire.
Not sure how long this meal deal will be around, there's no indication that this will be a long-term or short-term promotion. I also checked my email right after I signed up, and I didn't get an email for today. We'll see how it long it takes for this free meal thing to kick in. After all, I'm a sucker for free food -- real or virtual.
I went into the game and was notified that I had a letter, which I found sitting in the middle of my property with a giant yellow arrow above it.
I clicked on the letter and received the following pop up, which explains how this deal works. Basically, you'll get a daily email from FrontierVille that will contain a free meal (meals replenish your energy in the game). You have to accept the meals that same day or they will expire.
Not sure how long this meal deal will be around, there's no indication that this will be a long-term or short-term promotion. I also checked my email right after I signed up, and I didn't get an email for today. We'll see how it long it takes for this free meal thing to kick in. After all, I'm a sucker for free food -- real or virtual.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Mafia Wars Masked Robbery Event: Make the 'Executive Decision' to win
In addition to the HDSA event going on this weekend as well as the Silence Don Romo limited-time job, Zynga wants you to live the dream of donning a president's face and smacking the banking system silly with this weekend's Masked Robbery event in Mafia Wars. Much similar to the surprisingly adorable Prized Pigs event, for five days starting this weekend you'll be able to gift and request each mask for your collection: Dubya, Bubba and Rock.
Check behind the cut for a breakdown of what each mask will get you at each level of Mastery as well as how to nab that nasty Grand Prize weapon.
Bubba Mask
Bronze (3 masks): Electric Ear Armor (33 ATT, 61 DEF)
Silver (5 masks): Electric Ear Armor (37 ATT, 69 DEF)
Gold (10 masks): Electric Ear Armor (39 ATT, 74 DEF)
Dubya Mask
Bronze (3 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (62 ATT 30 DEF)
Silver (5 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (68 ATT, 33 DEF)
Gold (10 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (75 ATT, 41 DEF)
Rock Mask
Bronze (3 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (63 ATT, 31 DEF)
Silver (5 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (70 ATT, 34 DEF)
Gold (10 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (76 ATT, 42 DEF)
Just like before, collecting more of each mask will upgrade the item attached to it all the way to Gold Mastery. Collecting all 30 masks will reward you with the Executive Decision, a massive (and kind of frightening) machine gun with 130 ATT and 102 DEF. The first three days of the Masked Robbery event will introduce a new mask with the last two days meant to give you time to catch up. We're just going to go out on a limb and say that we're all going to be extremely busy this weekend.
Check behind the cut for a breakdown of what each mask will get you at each level of Mastery as well as how to nab that nasty Grand Prize weapon.
Bubba Mask
Bronze (3 masks): Electric Ear Armor (33 ATT, 61 DEF)
Silver (5 masks): Electric Ear Armor (37 ATT, 69 DEF)
Gold (10 masks): Electric Ear Armor (39 ATT, 74 DEF)
Dubya Mask
Bronze (3 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (62 ATT 30 DEF)
Silver (5 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (68 ATT, 33 DEF)
Gold (10 masks): KAO Rockstar Vehicle (75 ATT, 41 DEF)
Rock Mask
Bronze (3 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (63 ATT, 31 DEF)
Silver (5 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (70 ATT, 34 DEF)
Gold (10 masks): Black-Backed Jackal (76 ATT, 42 DEF)
Just like before, collecting more of each mask will upgrade the item attached to it all the way to Gold Mastery. Collecting all 30 masks will reward you with the Executive Decision, a massive (and kind of frightening) machine gun with 130 ATT and 102 DEF. The first three days of the Masked Robbery event will introduce a new mask with the last two days meant to give you time to catch up. We're just going to go out on a limb and say that we're all going to be extremely busy this weekend.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
FrontierVille Giant Rabbit Timed Mission: Everything you need to know
Just as the 'Chicken Roundup' timed mission is coming to a close, FrontierVille releases another one called "Maybe it's for a Giant Rabbit." If you've been playing the game for a while, this will be a pretty simple mission to complete.
In two days, you'll need to collect the following:
500 Wood
21 Nails
10 Metal Bars
frontierville giant rabbit
Wood can be collected while chopping trees. Nails and metal bars can be requested from friends and purchased for Horseshoes. You can also get these materials by responding to friends' requests.
Once the job is done, you receive a Trojan Rabbit for your troubles. This is one big decoration, so make sure you have enough room to place it on your homestead.
In two days, you'll need to collect the following:
500 Wood
21 Nails
10 Metal Bars
frontierville giant rabbit
Wood can be collected while chopping trees. Nails and metal bars can be requested from friends and purchased for Horseshoes. You can also get these materials by responding to friends' requests.
Once the job is done, you receive a Trojan Rabbit for your troubles. This is one big decoration, so make sure you have enough room to place it on your homestead.
Are FrontierVille Babies on the way?
FrontierVille Teaser
Unless the next update to FrontierVille is an homage to Alien, then we'd have to say yes. Zynga cryptically posted a teaser image a very pregnant woman reading, "Big things are arriving," today on the FrontierVille fan page. Now, this is just an educated guess based off of millions of years of human evolution, but we're lead to believe that the woman pictured above is about to deliver a baby.
That being said, we have absolutely no idea what this will mean for FrontierVille, but who doesn't like some good old speculation? Our guess is that this feature will introduce a new protege, if you will. A young guy or gal we can show the ropes so that they can take care of the homestead while we're out at the movies or quite simply want to escape to our fancy new Kinects for a few days hours. Planted some crops that you might miss ripen because the new episode of The Walking Dead is on? Fuhget about it; the little one knows how to harvest a mean tomato. Rampant dreams of loyal servant children aside, stay tuned for when this feature goes live as we'll be all over it.
Unless the next update to FrontierVille is an homage to Alien, then we'd have to say yes. Zynga cryptically posted a teaser image a very pregnant woman reading, "Big things are arriving," today on the FrontierVille fan page. Now, this is just an educated guess based off of millions of years of human evolution, but we're lead to believe that the woman pictured above is about to deliver a baby.
That being said, we have absolutely no idea what this will mean for FrontierVille, but who doesn't like some good old speculation? Our guess is that this feature will introduce a new protege, if you will. A young guy or gal we can show the ropes so that they can take care of the homestead while we're out at the movies or quite simply want to escape to our fancy new Kinects for a few days hours. Planted some crops that you might miss ripen because the new episode of The Walking Dead is on? Fuhget about it; the little one knows how to harvest a mean tomato. Rampant dreams of loyal servant children aside, stay tuned for when this feature goes live as we'll be all over it.
Cafe World: Choose the next diet Mountain Dew flavor for 2 free Cafe Cash
It seems the Morning Glory trailer in Cafe World was just the tip of the iceberg; that survey only netted players 1 free Cafe Cash, but this new one from Mountain Dew is offering 2 free Cafe Cash. All you have to do is vote for the next Diet Dew flavor. There's eight new choices, and your job is to choose two out of the eight for a blackboard showdown.
Cafe World free 2 Cafe Cash from Mountain Dew
Here are the choices (and flavors) listed on the left side of the board:
Flare (berry & citrus)
Ultra Violet (mixed berry)
Typhoon (tropical strawberry pineapple)
Voltage (raspberry-citrus blend and a shot of ginseng)
And to our right, we've got:
White Out (lemongrass & yuzu)
Crave (green apple)
Distortion (a "flowing green river of goodness", which sounds blargh if you ask me, but it's probably just a diet version of the regular flavor)
Supernova (strawberry-melon and a ginseng-powered punch)
After you've clicked and dragged your flavor choices into the two boxes above the "Submit Vote" button, click on the button to get your 2 free Cafe Cash. After that, you've the option to check out the Flavor Leaderboard on the Mountain Dew website. The leaderboard is a collection of votes from online surveys and a tasting tour the company's been doing.
Mountain Dew Flavor Leaderboard
Currently, the top three favorite Diet Dew flavors are Voltage, Supernova, and White Out. There's a little over a week left before voting comes to a close. If you love the Dew, check back in on the board in a week to see if your favorite flavor(s) made the cut.
Cafe World free 2 Cafe Cash from Mountain Dew
Here are the choices (and flavors) listed on the left side of the board:
Flare (berry & citrus)
Ultra Violet (mixed berry)
Typhoon (tropical strawberry pineapple)
Voltage (raspberry-citrus blend and a shot of ginseng)
And to our right, we've got:
White Out (lemongrass & yuzu)
Crave (green apple)
Distortion (a "flowing green river of goodness", which sounds blargh if you ask me, but it's probably just a diet version of the regular flavor)
Supernova (strawberry-melon and a ginseng-powered punch)
After you've clicked and dragged your flavor choices into the two boxes above the "Submit Vote" button, click on the button to get your 2 free Cafe Cash. After that, you've the option to check out the Flavor Leaderboard on the Mountain Dew website. The leaderboard is a collection of votes from online surveys and a tasting tour the company's been doing.
Mountain Dew Flavor Leaderboard
Currently, the top three favorite Diet Dew flavors are Voltage, Supernova, and White Out. There's a little over a week left before voting comes to a close. If you love the Dew, check back in on the board in a week to see if your favorite flavor(s) made the cut.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
FrontierVille 'PlayTime' Timed Mission: Everything you need to know
Playtime!
Yet another Timed Mission will soon arrive promptly (we hope) in FrontierVille. Titled "PlayTime," this Goal requires quite a lot of begging. And, again, it should be here for a long while. Though, you'll only have two days to complete it once accepted, which makes for an intense challenge. Here's what you need to do:
Have 20 Planks
Get 10 Bags of Playground Sand
Get 10 Scrap Metal Pieces
While that sounds easy enough, it's a challenge to complete in 48 hours--especially when more than half of it relies on the attentiveness of your friends. Both the Playground Sand and Scrap Metal Pieces are gifts from friends like in other Goals. Though, make sure you have enough Wood to cover crafting 20 Planks before accepting the Mission. (For you math whizzes, that's 140 pieces of Wood.) However, you should be rewarded one for gifting to friends via their News Feeds, which could help compensate for the lack of friends that even notice the News Feed.
Completing this mission within the time limit will reward you with one Dinner, 500 XP and Monkey Bars. Those should come in handy for the six kids you should have by now. Oh, the things we do for them in Facebook games.
Yet another Timed Mission will soon arrive promptly (we hope) in FrontierVille. Titled "PlayTime," this Goal requires quite a lot of begging. And, again, it should be here for a long while. Though, you'll only have two days to complete it once accepted, which makes for an intense challenge. Here's what you need to do:
Have 20 Planks
Get 10 Bags of Playground Sand
Get 10 Scrap Metal Pieces
While that sounds easy enough, it's a challenge to complete in 48 hours--especially when more than half of it relies on the attentiveness of your friends. Both the Playground Sand and Scrap Metal Pieces are gifts from friends like in other Goals. Though, make sure you have enough Wood to cover crafting 20 Planks before accepting the Mission. (For you math whizzes, that's 140 pieces of Wood.) However, you should be rewarded one for gifting to friends via their News Feeds, which could help compensate for the lack of friends that even notice the News Feed.
Completing this mission within the time limit will reward you with one Dinner, 500 XP and Monkey Bars. Those should come in handy for the six kids you should have by now. Oh, the things we do for them in Facebook games.
New Thanksgiving FarmVille Animals: Black Turkey, Paint Horse
Thanksgiving may have come and gone in the real world, but Zynga just can't seem to let the theme go in FarmVille, as they have released a new duo of Thanksgiving-themed animals into the game's store.
The two animals are the Black Turkey and the Paint Horse. While the Black Turkey obviously screams "Thanksgiving," the Paint Horse is more reserved, and is simply a lovely brown and white painted horse. It will cost your 26 Farm Cash to purchase, while the Black Turkey costs less, at 18 Farm Cash.
Both of these items will be available in the game for the next two weeks, which is actually a fairly generous time limit, considering the fact that the holiday they represent is now officially over. That being said, if you want to stock up on animals that you can pull out for Thanksgiving 2011 in FarmVille, this isn't a bad way to go.
The two animals are the Black Turkey and the Paint Horse. While the Black Turkey obviously screams "Thanksgiving," the Paint Horse is more reserved, and is simply a lovely brown and white painted horse. It will cost your 26 Farm Cash to purchase, while the Black Turkey costs less, at 18 Farm Cash.
Both of these items will be available in the game for the next two weeks, which is actually a fairly generous time limit, considering the fact that the holiday they represent is now officially over. That being said, if you want to stock up on animals that you can pull out for Thanksgiving 2011 in FarmVille, this isn't a bad way to go.
New FarmVille Thanksgiving Buildings: Harvest Store & Fall Nursery
If you were beginning to think that the Thanksgiving theme in FarmVille was finished, and would simply be allowed to expire from the store with no further additions (we won't blame you if you were, as we were too), you may be happy to learn that additional Thanksgiving items have been released in the store. As we try to imagine that Thanksgiving hasn't already passed, let's take a look at two new buildings that are now available in the game.
The first is the Harvest Store, which we brought you a sneak peek of more than a week ago. It costs 300,000 coins, and will reward you with 3,000 experience points as a bonus for purchasing it. Meanwhile, the other item is the Fall Nursery, or greenhouse, which is a premium item. It costs 15 Farm Cash - a cheap price considering the normal prices of buildings in FarmVille.
These two buildings will be available for the next two weeks, so you'll have plenty of time to stock up for decorating next Thanksgiving!
The first is the Harvest Store, which we brought you a sneak peek of more than a week ago. It costs 300,000 coins, and will reward you with 3,000 experience points as a bonus for purchasing it. Meanwhile, the other item is the Fall Nursery, or greenhouse, which is a premium item. It costs 15 Farm Cash - a cheap price considering the normal prices of buildings in FarmVille.
These two buildings will be available for the next two weeks, so you'll have plenty of time to stock up for decorating next Thanksgiving!
Friday, January 13, 2012
FarmVille Sneak Peek: Brown Lamb, Brown Sheep, & Golden Lion Monkey
Welcome to another edition of the FarmVille Sneak Peek, where we give you lucky farmers a chance to get a sneak peek of items that we believe will be coming to FarmVille in the near future. This edition is animal-themed, with three new animals available to take a look at, all of which come in the form of unreleased images.
The three animals are the Brown Lamb, the Brown Sheep, and the Golden Lion Monkey (from left to right in the picture above). As none of these three items scream "Winter Holiday" to us, it's unlikely that they will be released as part of the Winter Holiday theme of items, so that leaves us to wonder whether or not we'll have to wait until after the new year to see these items (when the Winter Holiday celebration has ended), or whether they may be included in an upcoming Mystery Game or the like (if this is the case, our earlier chance to see them will be in tomorrow's updated Mystery Game). These items could even end up as Free Gifts - nothing is certain at this point other than the fact that we want these animals to place on our farm!
If these items are released a general purchase items in the store, it makes sense that they would be released for Farm Cash, as Zynga rarely releases a limited edition animal for coins. If they are Free Gifts, however, it would give the FarmVille free gifts page a much needed makeover from the current items that have been available for weeks, or even months.
What ever the case may be, remember that there is no guarantee that these animals will finally be released in the game, so keep that in mind. All we can do is speculate, but you're welcome to join in on the fun!
The three animals are the Brown Lamb, the Brown Sheep, and the Golden Lion Monkey (from left to right in the picture above). As none of these three items scream "Winter Holiday" to us, it's unlikely that they will be released as part of the Winter Holiday theme of items, so that leaves us to wonder whether or not we'll have to wait until after the new year to see these items (when the Winter Holiday celebration has ended), or whether they may be included in an upcoming Mystery Game or the like (if this is the case, our earlier chance to see them will be in tomorrow's updated Mystery Game). These items could even end up as Free Gifts - nothing is certain at this point other than the fact that we want these animals to place on our farm!
If these items are released a general purchase items in the store, it makes sense that they would be released for Farm Cash, as Zynga rarely releases a limited edition animal for coins. If they are Free Gifts, however, it would give the FarmVille free gifts page a much needed makeover from the current items that have been available for weeks, or even months.
What ever the case may be, remember that there is no guarantee that these animals will finally be released in the game, so keep that in mind. All we can do is speculate, but you're welcome to join in on the fun!
Wishful Features: Adding pop-ups to the newsletter in Cafe World
As a level 63 Cafe World player, I find myself sitting in the middle of all users - I'm not a newbie, but I'm certainly not a level 150+ player. However, my cafe is at its largest (currently available) expansion size, and I have plenty of stoves and serving stations active at any one point in time. My buzz rating is at its maximum, and I have plenty of decorations to boot. Needless to say, when I try to load Cafe World, it takes quite a while.
By the time my cafe does load, I'm normally more than ready to start cooking, but can't. Why? Because I am instantly bombarded with more than my fair share of in-game pop-ups, detailing my progress on my current quests, my active Catering Mission, how many coins I've earned since I've been away, whether or not I've received gifts, whether there is a new in-game promotion (the current being one with Maxwell House), whether there is a sale on in-game items... you get the idea.
Once gameplay actually does start, the pop-ups just don't stop, as I'm told that I could be mastering dishes faster in one pop-up, and told about earning big tips in another, after almost every dish that I've cooked and/or served. All of this complaining aside, it's not that I don't like receiving all of this information, keeping me up-to-date with what's going in my own game, and in the Cafe World universe as a whole, it's just that I wish there was some streamlined, or at least condensed way in which to view it all.
Why not add these pop-ups to the in-game newsletter that has already been released in the game? As it stands, the newsletter is available to view by clicking on the small newspaper icon in the left-side game menu, but it is entirely useless, as of this writing, containing information about "new" items that were added to the game weeks ago. This newsletter doesn't appear as an in-game pop-up, interestingly enough, as you have to click on it manually to view it, so why even have it there at all?
Why not add some of this information - how many coins you've earned since you last visited, how much time you have left in your catering mission, and so on and so forth - to this newsletter, to actually give it some purpose? I'm pretty sure users would accept and even appreciate the newsletter appearing when they logged in, so long as it didn't mean 10 other windows would appear after it.
While Cafe World could do with more additions than this to streamline the experience, a simple reduction in the number of pop-ups one receives when loading the game would do wonders to help player morale, as numerous threads are created in the "Cafe World Suggestions & Ideas" sub-forum on the official Cafe World forums on a weekly or even daily basis, begging for a fix to the number of pop-ups.
By the time my cafe does load, I'm normally more than ready to start cooking, but can't. Why? Because I am instantly bombarded with more than my fair share of in-game pop-ups, detailing my progress on my current quests, my active Catering Mission, how many coins I've earned since I've been away, whether or not I've received gifts, whether there is a new in-game promotion (the current being one with Maxwell House), whether there is a sale on in-game items... you get the idea.
Once gameplay actually does start, the pop-ups just don't stop, as I'm told that I could be mastering dishes faster in one pop-up, and told about earning big tips in another, after almost every dish that I've cooked and/or served. All of this complaining aside, it's not that I don't like receiving all of this information, keeping me up-to-date with what's going in my own game, and in the Cafe World universe as a whole, it's just that I wish there was some streamlined, or at least condensed way in which to view it all.
Why not add these pop-ups to the in-game newsletter that has already been released in the game? As it stands, the newsletter is available to view by clicking on the small newspaper icon in the left-side game menu, but it is entirely useless, as of this writing, containing information about "new" items that were added to the game weeks ago. This newsletter doesn't appear as an in-game pop-up, interestingly enough, as you have to click on it manually to view it, so why even have it there at all?
Why not add some of this information - how many coins you've earned since you last visited, how much time you have left in your catering mission, and so on and so forth - to this newsletter, to actually give it some purpose? I'm pretty sure users would accept and even appreciate the newsletter appearing when they logged in, so long as it didn't mean 10 other windows would appear after it.
While Cafe World could do with more additions than this to streamline the experience, a simple reduction in the number of pop-ups one receives when loading the game would do wonders to help player morale, as numerous threads are created in the "Cafe World Suggestions & Ideas" sub-forum on the official Cafe World forums on a weekly or even daily basis, begging for a fix to the number of pop-ups.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Pioneer Trail survey reveals possible storylines involving... pirates?
Yes, you read that correctly - pirates. They may be coming to the Pioneer Trail in the future, if a recent fan survey (released by the big Z itself on the Pioneer Trail fan page) comes true. We've been given quite a few options to toss around in this new survey, but unfortunately, we're not told if these are story ideas that would pertain to Pioneer Trail itself (either the Homestead or actual Pioneer Trail portion of the game), or if this is just a general survey about future game ideas that Zynga is exploring. As it stands, no other fan page, as of this writing, has linked to the survey, which does give some weight to the former idea above.
As for this pirate story itself, we're told that we could "set sail for Booty Island," and play pirates with a full crew. We'll plunder ships and neighbors' islands, and can match up friends with others (this portion is lacking in fine details) for either love or "pirate mischief." If that isn't a wild enough storyline, then how about heading into space? In this storyline, we'd find ourselves crash-landing on an "uncharted planet," where we're forced to build a farm using alien plants or creatures (that is, instead of Cows or other traditional farm animals).
When it comes to this space storyline, I'm reminded of Astro Ranch on iPhone, which is a space-themed farming game allowing you to grow crops and livestock with the help of aliens. As we all know Zynga likes to cop---err, draw inspiration from other titles, could this be a definite game in Zynga's development cycle?
As with all things, we're left to speculate about which of these storylines/game ideas (or lack thereof) will actually come to light, but if you see something in the survey that you're more excited about than others, make sure to give it your vote. Who knows? Your vote could be the deciding factor between playing pirates and launching off into outer space, whether we do so with our Pioneer Trail characters, or in a whole new game.
As for this pirate story itself, we're told that we could "set sail for Booty Island," and play pirates with a full crew. We'll plunder ships and neighbors' islands, and can match up friends with others (this portion is lacking in fine details) for either love or "pirate mischief." If that isn't a wild enough storyline, then how about heading into space? In this storyline, we'd find ourselves crash-landing on an "uncharted planet," where we're forced to build a farm using alien plants or creatures (that is, instead of Cows or other traditional farm animals).
When it comes to this space storyline, I'm reminded of Astro Ranch on iPhone, which is a space-themed farming game allowing you to grow crops and livestock with the help of aliens. As we all know Zynga likes to cop---err, draw inspiration from other titles, could this be a definite game in Zynga's development cycle?
As with all things, we're left to speculate about which of these storylines/game ideas (or lack thereof) will actually come to light, but if you see something in the survey that you're more excited about than others, make sure to give it your vote. Who knows? Your vote could be the deciding factor between playing pirates and launching off into outer space, whether we do so with our Pioneer Trail characters, or in a whole new game.
Zynga hits Warstorm, three other games with the firey axe Sept. 30
A fiery axe laced with sadness and destruction, at that. Mafia Wars Maniac reports that Zynga, the creator of some of the most popular games on Facebook, will close Warstorm for good come Sept. 30 along with Scramble, Pathwords and Word Twist. In fact, Warstorm isn't even accepting new players anymore during its final breaths on Facebook. The news broke in a post by Warstorm forum moderator Cerulean Master, asking players to ring out Warstorm with a bang by sharing their memories.
Luckily, Cerulean also provided a FAQ to help us understand just what's up. The existing 11,126 (yikes!) daily Warstorm players can access the game right until it closes forever on Sept. 30, while new players simply won't be allowed. And for players who paid good money to enjoy their fantasy card battles, Zynga will transfer any virtual currency purchases made within the last 90 days to a game of their choice, and the company will add another 10 percent to that number.
Warstorm refugees will also be offered bonus packages for joining Zynga's better more popular games like CityVille, FarmVille and Empires & Allies. While this information pertains specifically to Warstorm, we imagine that players of Scramble, Word Twist and Pathwords will be offered the same treatment. (Zynga's forums are under maintenance as of this writing.)
Honestly, and no offense to you super fans out there, we can see why Zynga would close games that are dwarfed by its hits. (Not to mention that Words With Friends has become the defacto word game on Facebook.) This will be the second closure in just over a month. Near the end of August, Zynga closed the digital doors to Fashion Wars and two other games that were performing poorly. And not just poorly for a Zynga game--any Facebook game.
If anything, these closures will allow Zynga to focus more resources on making sure its flagship games continue to succeed and to make more money machines popular games. It's a shame to see these games go (I thought Warstorm was quite impressive, personally), but at least the company is providing players with options to stick around. Perhaps as Zynga trims the fat, we'll see even better games come from the international studio, like Adventure World.
Luckily, Cerulean also provided a FAQ to help us understand just what's up. The existing 11,126 (yikes!) daily Warstorm players can access the game right until it closes forever on Sept. 30, while new players simply won't be allowed. And for players who paid good money to enjoy their fantasy card battles, Zynga will transfer any virtual currency purchases made within the last 90 days to a game of their choice, and the company will add another 10 percent to that number.
Warstorm refugees will also be offered bonus packages for joining Zynga's better more popular games like CityVille, FarmVille and Empires & Allies. While this information pertains specifically to Warstorm, we imagine that players of Scramble, Word Twist and Pathwords will be offered the same treatment. (Zynga's forums are under maintenance as of this writing.)
Honestly, and no offense to you super fans out there, we can see why Zynga would close games that are dwarfed by its hits. (Not to mention that Words With Friends has become the defacto word game on Facebook.) This will be the second closure in just over a month. Near the end of August, Zynga closed the digital doors to Fashion Wars and two other games that were performing poorly. And not just poorly for a Zynga game--any Facebook game.
If anything, these closures will allow Zynga to focus more resources on making sure its flagship games continue to succeed and to make more money machines popular games. It's a shame to see these games go (I thought Warstorm was quite impressive, personally), but at least the company is providing players with options to stick around. Perhaps as Zynga trims the fat, we'll see even better games come from the international studio, like Adventure World.
Monday, January 9, 2012
FarmVille Sneak Peek: Ice Cat, Ice Donkey and Ice Pig, oh my!
Ice Elephant Ice Goat Ice Horse
Now, we know that the Winter Wonderland theme in FarmVille has been pretty extreme with Ski Slopes and giant Rock Waterfalls, but to literally freeze the animals? That's just wrong, Zynga! Alright, so they're not really frozen animals--they are just sculptures. (But that would be pretty cool, eh?) FarmVille Freak has found another collection of unreleased Ice Sculptures in the game that we can only guess will find their way to the farm.
Ice Owl Ice Pig Ice Cat
The icy animal sculptures include an Ice Cat, Ice Donkey, Ice Elephant, Ice Goat, Ice Horse, Ice Owl and Ice Pig. Since the game already has introduced a few ice sculptures just recently, these are more than likely to make it into the game. But, again, no guarantees. Stay tuned for when it might get even chillier in FarmVille.
Now, we know that the Winter Wonderland theme in FarmVille has been pretty extreme with Ski Slopes and giant Rock Waterfalls, but to literally freeze the animals? That's just wrong, Zynga! Alright, so they're not really frozen animals--they are just sculptures. (But that would be pretty cool, eh?) FarmVille Freak has found another collection of unreleased Ice Sculptures in the game that we can only guess will find their way to the farm.
Ice Owl Ice Pig Ice Cat
The icy animal sculptures include an Ice Cat, Ice Donkey, Ice Elephant, Ice Goat, Ice Horse, Ice Owl and Ice Pig. Since the game already has introduced a few ice sculptures just recently, these are more than likely to make it into the game. But, again, no guarantees. Stay tuned for when it might get even chillier in FarmVille.
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