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Increase FarmVille Gift To Coin Conversion with new Gift Box Feature!

FarmVilleDate 145 (Thursday, November 12, 2009) no comments

image173 Increase FarmVille Gift To Coin Conversion with new Gift Box Feature!

Today we saw also a new improvement in the Gift Box.

Normally you would receive a gift (up to 30 at one time) and then place them on your land, try to sell it (and more than often get an out-of-sync error while trying to sell a horse) (so no longer selling gifts). But…

Now… we have…. rapapa…. "SELL ALL". This is way cool. I have often hundreds of gifts in my waiting queue and now this feature (if things gets stable around my account again) will allow me to get a lot of revenue from it.

So let me calculate this for you if it is worth your while (this is where you come for to this blog I think). Let's suppose that 30 clicks will take you 2 minutes clicking. What objects are then worth your while doing this?

For that I have updated the "all Gifts Farmers Almanac Page" : http://almanac.farmvillechicken.com/all-gifts-by-selling-price

As you can see, IF the gravestone were still in the game you could get 6000 coins per 2 minutes clicking. I think that is really worth it since that is about the same as selling two large ponds.

Personally I think the first 20 in the list are really worth it collecting via gifts, the rest I would "ignore" while doing it (unless you only have a few gifts then you would take anything available).

Another new feature in the giftbox is that you now can see who gave you the gifts, which is another nice addition to making this a social game. You will get reminded again who these nice neighbors are who gave you the gifts:

image202 Increase FarmVille Gift To Coin Conversion with new Gift Box Feature!

Unfortunately I still can not logon to really play with this.

The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated)

FarmVilleDate 144 (Wednesday, November 11, 2009) 4 comments

image169 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated) image191 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated) The first time we saw the mystery box was on the 21st of october, let's call it "Grey" Mystery Box I, the cost of this was 15 Farm Cash and could get you different decorations or a building: the Striped Rest Tent. It was not really received well since the new items weren't perceived as being worth the 15 Farm Cash. Today this is different though..

Then, at image192 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated) 6 November there was a sudden "mystery" mystery box which appeared to be out there. But… it seemed to be the case that if someone had kept a mystery item in her gift box that it would be retained although the mystery box itself was already gone.

image170 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated)

Today however, a real new "blue" mystery box appeared. This time the new Mystery box costs 16 Farm Cash. And contains not new items but already existing items. And these ARE really worth the FV since the otherwise market FV is in about half the cases double the price you pay for the mystery box. In other words "always a prize" (although you miss the added XP when you would actually buy the item from the marketplace).

Stuff you Get	Normal Cost in Market	Sell value	My Comments
White Owl +700 XP(uncommon) *the highest selling FV decoration out there*	30 Farm Cash	4000 coins	Really cool because this one is no longer available on the market. This is your chance to still get one though you will not get the 800 XP on it).
White Manor + 1000 XP(uncommon) *The highest FV building*	56 Farm Cash	158 coins	This is really the big prize here. (normally you would get an additional 2000 in XP)
20 Fuel Refills + 500 XP(common)	40 Farm Cash	none	#3 best thing to get and it seems to be common
30 GAS Refills + 800 XP (common)	55 Farm Cash	none	#2 best thing and it seems to be common
Gazebo +500 XP (common) *The lowest FV building*	18 Farm Cash	2500 coins	Still 2 FV cheaper than on the market.
Acai Tree + 500 XP(uncommon) *the only FV tree*	27 Farm Cash	158 coins	Saves you 11 Farm Cash! So a much cheaper way to obtain that unique tree.
Large Pond + 600 XP(common) *the lowest selling FV decoration out there*	33 Farm Cash	3000 coins	You even get the 600 XP when buying it !

image193 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated)

It's interesting what they did here:

1. they took the two highest selling decorations in the game (ROS-1947 was only available for a limited time):the white owl and the large pond.
2. they took the building with the lowest FV cost and the building with the highest FV cost. (the Haunted house was higher but was only available for a limited time): the gazebo and the manor
3. they took the highest (only) FV tree: the acai tree
4. they took the 2 large FV based fuel sets

So this is really cool. The best decoration and the best building and the best tree of the game are in there!!

The mystery items are not "exclusive" meaning: you have a chance of getting multiple times the same gift. The mystery box also gets you another 5 XP when you "buy it".

Update in database / FarmVille Farmers Almanac:

1. the second mystery box has been added as a new item in the "all items list" with a cost of 16 FV: http://almanac.farmvillechicken.com/all-farmville-game-objects

image171 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated)

image195 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated) 2. the ways to retrieve stuff has been adjusted by providing a "first mystery box" and "second mystery box" entry:

The ways to obtain trees section now contains the reference to the Acai Tree in gift Box round 2: http://almanac.farmvillechicken.com/all-ways-to-get-trees
The way to obtain the buildings has been updated with option Mystery Box 2: http://almanac.farmvillechicken.com/all-buildings-by-retrieval-method-cost-and-level
The way to obtain decorations has been updated: http://almanac.farmvillechicken.com/all-ways-of-retrieving-decorations
Fuel and Tractor etc… had to be added anyway as a separate section (TODO)
.

3. The sometimes different XP has been added but is not reflected in the pages yet. This is the relation between the way of retrieval and the amount of XP associated with it. It's probably the handiest to create a specific page for each mystery box and each way of retrieval of the objects. (TODO)

4. The second date run for the White Owl has been added but is not reflected in the GUI yet (there can be endless appearing and disappearing of objects so its probably handier for the gui to display it in another way. todo, maybe the first appearance can be marked as special and the rest in smaller letters). (TODO)

Links:

Twitter Dev Announcement: http://twitter.com/zfarmville/statuses/5612352758
Forums announcement by Lexilicious: http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?t=257222
Darren McCall gives us images and posted first on his blog: http://darrenmccall.com/blog/?p=1048
Discussion on the Forum: http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?t=257546
The Mystery Box 2 at FarmFreak: http://farmvillefreak.com/?p=996#comments
The Mystery Box 2 at FarmVilleMania.de: http://www.farmvillemania.de/2009/11/11/die-neue-mystery-box-16-fv-dollar-die-sich-wirklich-lohnen/
The Mystery Box 2 at FarmVille Fanatic: http://farmvillefanatic.com/index.php/2009/11/10/fall-items-and-mystery-box
Lightchan on the new mystery box: http://www.lightchan.com/2009/11/10/farmville-mystery-box-new/

Just to Note

image196 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated)

The Gifts you receive come from "FarmVille". So instead of the name of the sender this name is used, which is rather logical :)

image197 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated) And as a difference with the first Gift Box, this Gift Box does not publish on the wall what you got. So the thought behind it is probably to make more people curious and encourage people to ask "what did you get" and increase social interation.

In the meanwhile on my own account

I still have the dreadful out of sync 2 error….I managed to get in 1 time after some reloads, so updating this blog and the database will go at a much much slower rate.

p.s. thank you Mia Fakie Chronicle for your support on this really annoying thing:

image211 The NEW Blue Mystery Box: 2 (Farmers Almanac updated)

From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

FarmVilleDate 144 (Wednesday, November 11, 2009) 4 comments

I wrote this comparison to show you (and to link to) the differences between the most played game on earth and the new addition to this type of Zynga Community Games. I hope that you can see that the games are quit alike and it will cost you very little effort to understand the gameplay of FishVille if you already play FarmVille. I assume that you already know the game FarmVille (why on earth would you otherwise come to this FarmVille weblog).

Furthermore I hope to show you that FishVille actually is an improvement on some aspects of the gameplay of Farmville and that you can have quite some fun there.

Please leave me your comments and suggestions for this comparison (so I can edit this post with your comments).

image137 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

image138 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

1. FarmVille Land versus FishVille Tanks

In FarmVille you have land to put things on. In FishVille you have a "Tank" to place things in. The difference is that in FishVille you can get multiple tanks while in FarmVille the land is extendable (20x20) etc…

- In FishVille you get more abilities within a tank the more you level up. The higher the level, the more fish you can grow in a tank.

- In FishVille the tank is really 3d, you see the objects grow or shrink when put further away (though can size them) which is pretty cool.

- Just like in FarmVille you can buy these extra tanks for either coins or FV and it depends on the amount of neighbors you have.

- you neighbors can walk though these tanks when they visit you and they see a little indicator with the status ( e.g. needs feeding).

image140 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

image141 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

2. Decorations (FishVille) and Decorations & Buildings (FarmVille)

- Just like in FarmVille there are decorations in FishVille, the difference is that buildings as well as decorations are combined as "decoration"

- Just like in FarmVille you can buy them in the market (store) and they have a cost, you can only by them at a certain level and they provide XP when you buy them.

- Just like the Villa in FarmVille there is one object many users will head to and this is called the Ruined Castle (also available for about 1 million coins). though only available at level 43.

- Unlike FarmVille, for now, everything is available for coins (though this probably will change)

- Just like in Farmville you can also gift certain decorations.

image142 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

image143 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

image144 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

3. Fish versus Seeds

In FarmVille you choose seeds from the market and let them grow. In FishVille you choose eggs from the market and let them grow to fish

For both you need an initial step: either plow land (FarmVille) or grow an egg (FishVille).

Contrary to FarmVille it gets a bit more complicated:

- the XP gained from the eggs depends on the type of fish as within FarmVille but with some more variation.

- Growing your fish takes (at least) 4 stages. You can choose to sell your fish in each of these stages and depending on the maturity of the fish: you get more XP, more Coins and you will have to calculate the best XP/minute to find the best options. In FarmVille there are ALSO different graphics for different stages but up until now you can only harvest your land at the end stage.

- Helpfully in FishVille some Fish are already marked as Fast Fish, so you know which fish to choose if you have some time to spare and which fish to choose if you really want to logon only after a day.

- Just like FarmVille your fish can die comparable to withering of crops in FarmVille. The main difference is that you still get 1 XP if you get your dead fish out of the water. That is nice.

- Just like in FarmVille people are creating calculating spreadsheets and so on :) But the main difference is, that the community is still small which is nice.

image145 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

4. Animals (like in FarmVille)

Just like in FarmVille, FishVille also knows a category of animals. The differences are:

- they don't produce anything (just like in FarmVille this could be introduced later)

- you can only gift them or receive them via gifts. (like the majority of the animals in FarmVille)

- there are no "lost Animals"

- where in FarmVille you choose "rotate" in here there is something called "flip" which flips the animals to the other direction

- animals are non pettable but….

image147 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

5. Plants (versus Trees in FarmVille)

Just like in FarmVille, there is some green stuff. In FarmVille there are Trees and in FishVille there are Plants. The differences are:

- in FishVille the collection for sale is bigger than in FarmVille

- The plants produce nothing (for now)

- Just like in FarmVille some plants, like the Frogskin Acropora or the Red Grape Algae can only be gifted

- In FishVille there is perspective. It means that you crow make your plants smaller and bigger and make a way cool perspective view from the front from the screen to the back of the "aquarium".

- In FishVille you can also "flip" you plants to rotate them in another direction. This is not possible with trees in FarmVille (and no use).

image148 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

6. PET / Give Love

You can give your fish some "LOVE". When you do this (random event I think) then you get an amount of coins. I don't know yet the relation between the amount of coins and the fish in the tank but undoubtly there is some.

image149 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

image150 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

7. Send gifts to friends

Just like in FarmVille you can send gifts to friends via the Free Gifts Tab. The higher the level the more expensive gifts you can send (with a limit of 30 at one time).

In the example you see Mark sending me a Anarchis (plant) which costs 290 when you buy it from the shop and has a resell value of 14 coins.

8. GIFTS LIMIT

They have both the limit of 30 gifts to be accepted at once.

image152 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

9. GIFT BOX

They both have the same giftbox principle. But the one from FishVille is better because it contains tabs with categories AND it does not shift the items you have choosen to the back of the queue. In other words: more intelligent and less clicking which is nicer.

image153 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

10. Placing Gifts

Placing these gifts (or any other objects) is cooler: it takes perspective into account. Where in FarmVille there is only 1 size no matter where you place the object. The objects in FishVille get "smaller" when they are put further away and are pretty free form to be placed. This is very cool.

11. Selling Gifts

Furthermore… selling your gifts in FishVille will not cause any of the well known out of sync etc… problems so it is actually possible to get all your gifts and convert them to coins. This is a refreshing feeling.

image154 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

12. Rightmouse versus Option box

The objects themselves have not the popup menu with options but all the selections each time appear in the bottom right. This is much handier because it gives the user one place to make all the selections.

image155 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

13. Levels

- Exactly the same as in FarmVille you gain levels, the more XP you have. Depending on the amount of XP you gain a new level.

- each level carries a name like in FarmVille e.g. "aquarium ally" (level4, 1070 XP) or "Pearl Farmer" (level9, 10570 XP)

- like in FarmVille with each level you can send new gifts, buy more advanced stuff in the shop and shift further in the neighbor list.

14. Coins, Cash and XP and Level and Sand Dollars

Exactly as in FarmVille your indicators show the amount of money you have (at the same place), the XP indicator and the amount of XP you need to get, the Level you have with the somewhat rounded yellow level star but….
The "SAND DOLLARS" (Farm Cash) is only visible from the store and not from the main display.
The "Sand Dollars" is now indicated with a green coin instead of bills.

image158 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

image159 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

image160 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

15. Helping neigbours

Just like in FarmVille you can help neighbors with little chores. Either cooling or warming their Tank, helping them with scum etc… You get 20 coins and 5 XP for doing it just like in FarmVille. And just like FarmVille only for the first set of users where after the income is lower.

Just like in FarmVille you send you neighbor a message when you helped them and after a couple of neighbors you can place a message on the wall.

One of the extra cool things is that you can thereafter clean the tank of some of your neigbors from algae (as if in 3d) and for each cleaning action you earn another +5 coins. This is nice.

One of the "breeze" things here is that it only takes a snap to load the tank of your neighbor contrary to FarmVille where you have to wait for some time. This is really an advantage of the game and makes you quickly run through your neighbors (though probably it will slow down as the amount of users will increase).

You can however not yet leave any "message signs" for begging your neighbors for a "Candy Cane Coral" (the highest giftable gift comparable to the Buffalo Topiary at level 40 in FarmVille)

image162 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

16. Neighbors

Just like in FarmVille you have your neighbors at the bottom using exactly the same controls. Using the same pictures, and when you move over them no avatar appears but their own avatar jumps up and down.

Just like in FarmVille your neighbors are sorted from lowest rank to highest rank.

You can then "visit" them or "send a gift" to them. But the option "switch neighbors" is not present (nobody understood this anyway).

image163 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

17. Control Box

The control box is about the same as in FarmVille but with some different functions:

- A general indicator
- A "food" icon to feed your fish (there are no automated tools like harvesters etc…)
- A tool to get your fish and sell them (a sort of harvesting tool)
- A "achievements" section (not activated yet)
- A store exactly as in FarmVille
- a Giftbox exactly as in Farmville

18. Menu Bar and bottom bar

Also the menu bar and the bottom bar are exactly as in Farmville:

- send gifts to your friends
- jump to the game
- your list of neighbors
- invite friends
- Help on the game
- And buy extra Coins or Sand Dollars

and on the bottom the links to:

- support
- forums
- terms of service
- fan page

image166 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

19. Design

Just like in FarmVille players can make nice designs of their tanks. It will probably take a while before combinations like "stacking" and comparable "pyramids", "waterfalls", "roads" etc.. are made but this will undoubtly follow.

Notice that on the first part of the tank ("the floor") objects are placed in front of each other depending on the "depth of view / depth" and on the back of the aquarium a different rules applies: whichever object is clicked last is the one on top so many different creations can be made here.

image167 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

image168 From FarmVille to FishVille: a complete comparison in 20 parts!

20. Goals

Comparable to FarmVille the goals of the game are alike:

- either make a nice tank and dont care about anything else
- make friends and neigbors and socialize around the game
- or head to XP and level as fastest as possible with all kinds of spreadsheets and databases (grin) to the top of the XP class
- or focus on income and gain as much as money and expensive objects as possible

The achievements/ribbons are not yet up yet but undoubtly this will come soon.

So… I hope that if you have not looked at FishVille yet that this little comparison shows you that you easily can jump from FarmVille to FishVille and it won't take you much time to adopt to that game.

One of the nice things is also that the community is still small and the highest achievable objects have not yet been gained which is a nice exploration.

Add me as a neighbor so I can come take a look!

And finally… will I add a new weblog / database especially for FishVille? … who knows… what this weekend will bring us.

FarmVille Weblog Out of Sync – Code 2

FarmVilleDate 142 (Monday, November 9, 2009) 5 comments

There will be no more updates on this weblog until the out of sync error Code 2 is resolved (since I can not login)

image134 FarmVille Weblog Out of Sync – Code 2

Old and New Level Pictures part 2

FarmVilleDate 141 (Sunday, November 8, 2009) 2 comments

These old and new level achievement pictures have got me confused. First I thought that the difference would be that the ones without the trees would show you only the name and the ones with the trees would show you the full information: level number and new possibilities as in this example of level 29:

image62 Old and New Level Pictures part 2

image123 Old and New Level Pictures part 2

But in this example of level 19, the one without the tree (but with a goat) shows all the information and the one without the tree (with a pig) does not:

image113 Old and New Level Pictures part 2

image114 Old and New Level Pictures part 2

So after seeing two identical pictures (one with the info and one without)

image131 Old and New Level Pictures part 2

image132 Old and New Level Pictures part 2

It is probably random (as far as I can judge) if it shows the information or if it does not OR the information is not dependent on the picture but on something else.