jp
Home Talks and Slides My GameLog Research and Projects Publications Resume Teaching
Back  //   GameBreadth Project  //   Game Ontology Project  //   GameLog

My Farm: Around the World (DS)

Status: Stopped playing - Got Bored
I started playing this game on Friday 5 February, 2021  //  I stopped playing this game on: Wednesday 10 February, 2021
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

February 10, 2021 12:11:58 PM
So my curiosity got the best of me and I went back to checking the African farm....and... it's the same game, just different animals. Instead of chickens that lay eggs you have parrots that "lose" feathers. You sell the feathers. The hippos, rhinos, and lions are fattened up to sell on the market! (ok, there might be issues with this market?). Oh, Zebras and Gnu's (I think?) give you milk! So, basically each animal does the same as the American farm ones...

February 9, 2021 07:46:01 PM
I think I now know how to unlock the next farm - I just had to purchase all the stuff that's available (all the upgrades and have all the animals). The way the game frames it is interesting though, you get a message saying that you can go to an African farm - but to do that you need to quit (leave?) your current farm and start a NEW saved game - selecting African farm instead of American (previously only the American farm was available as an option). There are four different farms and only 3 saved game slots, so you'll have to sacrifice something at some point.

The game, at least the American farm, didn't evolve or change significantly - but if we think of it as a "busywork" kind of game where you're zoned out and doing all the little tasks - well, you can basically play forever simply accumulating more money and resources. Personally I don't see the point - but that's like playing Sim City and getting to a balanced city and just letting it run. Except here I guess there's always stuff to do (the animals won't feed themselves!).

I didn't get the sense that the African farm is any different - sure, different (non-farm!) animals, but the same gameplay. Just keep 'em happy and fed and then either sell them or sell their produce (eggs in the case of chickens). Actually, I should probably play that a bit - because WHAT produce do you get from the African animals? (coming from ignorance) and can you sell them at a market? I mean, there are rhinos and lions...so, definitely not for meat? Huh. Now I'm curious.

A few things:

(a) Lots of animals poop a lot - and I'm still surprised at how much poop I had to clean - and that it's part of the game's core loop. That seems gutsy (when it shouldn't, perhaps?) Or perhaps it's "know your target audience" and poop is funny?

(b) Man, those sheep get filthy SO FAST. Cleaning all the animals was neat. And then I got some pigs....it turns out you should NOT clean those. THey're happy when filthy. I scrubbed a few before noticing that the happiness bar had gone down for them!


February 6, 2021 02:25:27 PM
I guess I was expecting a Farmville-like game on the DS? With timers and planting and stuff like that. THis game is not that really. I think it's more focused on livestock - which you feed and fatten and sell and, from there buy more?

So far I have 3 chickens and two ducks. It's mostly busywork really, since the animals get dirty and you have to "scrub them" with the stylus. Feed them. Oh, they also poop all over the place which you need to clean up. That last part is actually kind of cute.

There are 3 other types of farms I can have - the starter one is the American farm. I don't know how to unlock the other 3 though... Do I need to have enough $$$ in the bank?

We'll see.

It's also cute that the animals all have names, but you need to fatten them to sell them at market. Pretty realistic for a kids game. :-)

I also think that the animal tending interface (you see one at a time) will quickly go bonkers...it's already a bit annoying with 5 animals (feed, groom, tap next, etc.)


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria