Deko-Deko Mail — A New Way To Play With What You Say

Deko-Deko Mail is an animated messaging system that allows the user to choose from nearly 2000 animations to accompany a wall post. The combination app/game from HumaNature Studios launched mid-February, 2011. According to our traffic and growth tracking system, AppData, it has picked up 50,000 MAU as of launch.

The idea behind the game comes from a Japanese concept of animated images called emoji. It’s not uncommon to see Japanese teenagers sitting in a group texting one another so it is no surprise that emoji – the animated images, far more elaborate than emoticons – in text messages originated from the island. It is based upon this idea, that Deko-Deko Mail was developed.

Created by the designer of Toejam & Earl and Orly’s World, Deko-Deko Mail allows users to send messages or embed them in blogs or e-mail. Keywords within a message are tagged to indicate associated images (as in the message above). Categories of images also exist, as does a free search. Some images are free while the majority cost five Keys — the in-app currency — which is where the game element comes in.

Keys are easily earned as purchased. Initially, the standard “liking” the app and providing e-mail earns Keys at every level; ten experience for each post and 50 experience for each new friend. Additional Keys are earned each day simply for logging in; successive days earn more Keys. Friends can also request and send Keys at a rate of one Key per friend per day. A gift option of 30 FB credits worth of Keys (300 Keys) is available.

Using a premium animation costs five Keys but does not unlock the animation permanently; it’s a usage fee paid each time a user adds it to a message. The exception to this rule is avatars and pets. Users can choose an avatar and pet to represent themselves in their friend bar. Each level unlocks more options, but early unlocks are available by paying five Keys.

Greg Johnson, Captain and Designer-guy (it’s on his business card) at HumaNature Studio conceived of the idea after his wife visited her home in Japan, where she purchased the latest cell-phone to keep up with her friends and their emoji craze. Before she’d purchased the phone, some of her friends accused her of being angry with them for not sending the appropriate emoji with her messages. At that time, Johnson had assets in his possession from a canceled Nintendo DS game. After hearing his wife’s story, he adapted his game concept to a messaging system and named it Deko-Deko Mail based on the Japanese term deko-mail (decorated mail).

Demographically, Deko-Deko Mail appeals to a younger female audience. But Johnson has been experimenting with advertising sales for this this very viral app and is seeing some appeal to both younger males and older females. For example, the animations lend themselves to cute and amusing messages aimed at younger children — perhaps an animated “hug” by a parent or grandparent. However, the app tags words and acronyms like “suicide” or “FML,” so an older audience can express a more mature message (see above). Johnson’s goal doesn’t seem to be targeting one audience over another, but rather building an animation set that reflects the way people talk in general.

You can find Deko-Deko Mail here and review its progress in AppData here.

LOLApps Expands Ravenwood Fair, Plans New Title, Shutters Other Games

Having shifted from simple quiz-style apps to branded games to its own in-house games, Lolapps has found its place on social platforms. Now, it’s killing off its other titles to focus on Ravenwood Fair, a social simulation created with the help of veteran game designers John Romero and Brenda Braithwaite, that has users ”clear a scary forest and build a fun fair.”

While the two designers have gone on to start their own company, Loot Drop, Lolapps is pushing forward. It has brought in another gaming veteran, Dave “Dr. Cat” Shapiro, of Ultima and Furcadia renown, and plans to introduce a major Ravenwood expansion, Ravenstone Mine, as well as a new game. A far cry from its early apps, Lolapps’ introduction of “designers from the traditional game space who have a bias towards more proscriptive answers” has helped position to capitalize on the increasing sophistication of social games.

Ravenwood Fair, its hit game, now reaches more than 25 million monthly active users across five networks, the company says — not only on Facebook but on IMVU, Japan’s Mixi, Germany’s StudiVZ, and Orkut. Expansions have been a slow but growing trend for app developers, with Zynga adding them for Mafia Wars in 2009, and now for FarmVille with English Countryside. The overall goal is to extend what has traditionally been the short life of the social game.

A Preview of Ravenstone Mine

One of the charms of Ravenwood Fair has been its oft-appreciated non-level restricted design. After level 15 — about the time the player retention is ensured –any restriction on items is removed. It is at this point that the level curve starts its stratospheric climb, players start are saturated with currency, and buy multiples of darned near anything they please.

But for all of the six months of its existence, the six US holidays, multiple themes, three seasons, there has been no extra space for players’ accumulations of virtual goods. Every new feature means packing everything ever tighter into a confined space or creating a new fair. This will change, sort of, with the upcoming expansion Ravenstone Mine.

When last we viewed it, rather than the standard building out of land, Ravenwood Fair will be building down, allowing players to work an optional fully-fleshed Ravenstone Mine underneath the fair. Though the general mechanics of the mine are similar to the fair, the two are different and unique areas. Flowers won’t grow underground and ore carts and track won’t be laid above ground.

One of the ongoing frustrations of Ravenwood Fair has been obtaining resources from nodes that don’t respawn and were consumed at lower levels, with crystals being a prime example. With the ability to mine for mineral resources in your own as well as neighboring mines, this is solved.

But Ravenstone Mine is not simply a mine-themed extension of the fair above. The same pool of energy is shared between them requiring the player to choose between the experience-heavy mine and the food-heavy fair. One will level the player faster; the other allows the player to refill his energy more frequently. Though some resources will be needed up top from down below and vice versa, the majority will be used where found and with limited-edition items, players must choose wisely or spend Facebook credits to complete construction. It is a subtle but effective mechanic.

With more than a few weeks still before launch, LOLApps has been trying new approaches to monetization by introducing sales on items in-game. With the game spread across so many diverse platforms, it is difficult to accurately say just how well it is performing overall. It is one of the largest games on Facebook, with 11.5 million monthly active users and 1.12 million daily active users as of today, according to our tracking service for top apps, AppData.

All in all, with its focus squarely on the franchise, LOLApps appears to have matters well in hand.

 

IMVU Games Taking Advantage of Strong Growth

IMVU (pronounced I-M-V-U or im-view) has long been known as a web-based avatar chat system. Founded on the premise of creating an emotional connection through the use of avatars, in 2004 five co-founders from There put together the idea of fashion and chat; but it suffered, quite frankly from a lack of any There there.

With the rise of multiple chat clients and the social networks as the decade proceeded, the virtual chat client found itself needing a bit of reinvention in order to survive it what had become a competitive environment. To accomplish this IMVU first placed music for sale à la iTunes in 2008. Six months ago with partners OMGPOP and Viximo, more than 20 games were brought to what had become a platform of its own.

Long before titles such as Ravenwood Fair, Fishdom, and Backyard Monsters landed on IMVU, the gamification of its elaborate fashion system had become a monetizing staple and a stickiness factor that allowed the platform to expand to the Mac, iOS, and 13 different languages. With more than 50 million registered users, around 10 million of whom visit each month, there are more than enough interactions to create a fashion extravaganza. Adding games put a very thick icing on the cake: 10% of outstanding credits in the ecosystem were sunk into the first three games.

“Players” of IMVU are of two flavors: creators and users. Creators use programs such as 3D Studio Max to create the “items” that make up an avatar; users and creators review each item for appropriateness; once the process is complete more than 7000 new items are uploaded per day to a catalog that boats more than six-million virtual items.

I asked Senior Vice President of Product Management Lee Clancy how it was possible for so many new items to be found it such an enormous catalog. He explained that they have an exceptionally long tail: the top 20 selling items account for only .20 percent of total revenue.

This is achieved through a daily outfit challenge in which more than 150,000 users vote and participate. A theme is presented each day from “toxic” to “Elizabethan attire.” Players then create the most unique outfit possible while voting up or down other unique outfits. This keeps the players viewing and purchasing new content on a daily basis.

Other methods of direct monetization include over seven thousand user-designed game rooms and 28-thousand RPG rooms. Using a 3D game designer, players have added a Flash overlay for simple games such as chess or poker. The RPG rooms are nothing more than MUDs without any tools. Users sell the 3D designs and IMVU takes a portion of the sales.

It’s a robust system that includes sales tracking tools for creators, an internal Twitter-style system called Pulse to notify Users of new items or sales, and badges and awards for winning daily contests.

With a demographic that is 70-percent female, 65-percent over the age of 18, and only 50-percent US-based, IMVU reaches the holy grail of casual game users. The addition and success of social games makes IMVU a viable alternative to other networks and one to watch.

With GunShine, SuperCell Looks to Create a More Social MMOG Off the Facebook Canvas

As Facebook becomes crowded with successful titles, developers are looking for other ways to publish their games. Some are looking at alternative platforms. Still others are using the Facebook platform as a method to create a community. Supercell of Finland is one such developer.

GunShine, a semi-traditional MMOG we previewed in February, has no plans to run inside the Facebook canvas, yet it will use players’ feeds and friends list for virality. Eschewing the dogma of asking the player to post for help to complete a mission, Gunshine will instead ask the player to post only “brag” posts.

While this may sound appealing on a personal level, at first blush it appears as virtual suicide in game design. At this year’s Game Developer’s Conference Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen, COO Janne Snellman, and Creative Director Mikko Kodisoja clarified their strategy and explained their plans for launching a successful MMOG using Facebook.

“We believe that if the game is good enough,“ commented Paananen, “it will sell itself through word of mouth. People will talk about it and that should increase our community. But this doesn’t mean we don’t have ideas on how best to use Facebook to our advantage.”

Upon entry, a user will be able to see which of their Facebook friends are currently active in the game. A message can then be sent to that player, allowing for synchronous play. If no friends are available and the user chooses not to play with strangers, Facebook friends can be hired like henchman in an asynchronous atmosphere.

While this works to bring together groups or find friends already playing, it does little to encourage a user to post to the wall. After several false starts at finding the answer due to language differences, I found the question that would elicit the answer I was looking for.

“You are depending upon people talking about your game to get them to start playing it. Brag posts are how they will know it even exists. Why would I even want to brag?”

“Credibility,” they told me in unison.

Credibility is a player stat that can either be purchased for significant Diamonds (the in-game microcurrency) or increased by posting brag posts to a user’s wall. The key to Credibility is in what it gives you — additional content. If Supercell makes this content compelling enough, they may have struck just the right balance to have created a mechanism that is both viral and monetizable.

Another mechanic that has been anathema to traditional MMOG designers but Supercell seems willing to embrace whole-heartedly is having durability on purchaseable items. Those these items can be repaired creating a never-ending money sink, they do eventually wear out and require replacement. Puzzle Pirates has existed successfully on this model for five of its seven years but it is a mechanic other North American designers have been unwilling to attempt.

Durability not only places a dependence between players (those who repair and those who need it), but it allows for a dependable revenue model as gameplay and monetization become one and the same.

With GunShine still in the first two weeks of closed beta it is difficult to make a determination as to whether the players find it a compelling game. Beta is invite-only and much can change before launch. But Supercell seems to be willing to the risks necessary to be successful by using Facebook without being part of Facebook.

Playdom’s Deep Realms Brings Classic RPG Play to Facebook

Though recent months have seen a flood of traditional MMORPGs inside the Facebook canvas, a true role-playing game has yet to break through. Social RPGs such as Frontierville, Ravenwood Fair and the like do include an avatar but the progression, stats, and choices that define an RPG are attached to the simulation not the character. Playdom’s upcoming Deep Realms looks to be the first to meet the textbook definition with the quality needed to succeed.

Described by Raph Koster and Alex Ou as having a “somewhat normal ‘something bad has happened in the world and it’s partly your fault and you just don’t know it…’” storyline, the title follows many standard jRPG tropes: it is isometric; exploration is tile based (visibly so); there is a collection system to create better items than can be purchased; areas are both replayable and scale; and there is character progression. The list goes on.

Character progression is achieved through five classes – warrior, thief, ranger, sorcerer, and priest – their attendant skill trees, and unique items.  Players are not locked into decisions; re-specialization is available. And after level 37 multi-classing comes into play.

Of special note is the elixir system. Along the skill tree is a class-specific bonus that appears as an elixir beginning with a 5% bonus. It is a permanent bonus to the player (I played a thief and received a bonus to my dodge ranged attacks skill). These same elixirs can be sent to friends who then receive the same bonus for 25 hours. If said friends receive one of elixir from all five classes, the effect is increased. Elixirs are not only particularly functional, but they also serve as a positive social incentive.

Unique among Facebook titles today, Deep Realms is built on a height map. Rather than build the world with an overabundance of obstacles to force the player to take the path “suggested,” the angle of inclination/declination is just made impassable. It also makes the world rather pleasing to look at.

With a complete inventory system, crafting/collecting system, store, allies (friends), maps, and personal statistics, the UI could quickly become cluttered. But this has been solved by placing most information inside only a few panels including a personal information view reminiscent of a collectable trading card.

The social aspect of Deep Realms is particularly important as the player’s allies serve a critical function beyond gifting both useful items and daily elixirs. Due to the exceptionally high health of boss monsters, allies are critical not just to winning, but to winning in a reasonable amount of time.

As a player explores each tile on a landmass, that tile becomes “used” or no longer explorable until the player reaches a certain level and the game begins to scale. Boss fights are the exception. Fought in rounds of seven attacks, if the boss isn’t defeated it retreats a few squares away. Energy is needed to activate each tile but in this case the tiles reset. What’s more, a third vital – courage – determines just how often you can fight the boss. Run out of courage and you will have to wait for it to recharge (or pay a fee for a potion).

This is where allies come into play. Through asking for help or via visual cues when a player logs on, allies are made aware of friends in need. Allies can aid in the attack of a boss by simply joining the fray. The attacks may be made concurrently or not, but if allies are fighting during the same round they can send messages to one another. Once the fray is completed the loot will even be split according to damage.

A final component is the arena. Intended as a player-versus-player option, it contains up to six opponents: two from three increasing levels of experience (determined by successive wins which give bonuses thereby making the player stronger). Choose an opponent and the player will compete in a turn-based combat. Win and the player will receive bonuses to help continue the climb to the next tier.

Like every RPG, Western or Eastern, Deep Realms has a story – or rather it claims to. It does a fantastic job at ensuring that upon first play there is at least an hour’s worth of gameplay if not more. Potions drop at a steady rate allowing the player to experience a full tutorial over an expanded time rather than a very short and inefficient instruction session.

But key to the jRPG genre is engagement in why the player should follow the journey. This is not the story of the player but a linear path to be followed. Story elements in that first hour are few and very far between. Deep Realms does many things right and just may be the first true RPG title to become successful on Facebook. Hopefully, by launch Playdom will have added a bit more of the RP into the RPG.

Nexon Enters Social Games Market With Classics MapleStory and KartRider

The consumer media’s obsession with World of Warcraft’s subscription numbers often makes it difficult to hear above the din. Nexon’s MapleStory was eight times larger than Blizzard’s behemoth before it ever left American shores; KartRider dwarfs them both combined. Yet Nexon, for all its success in creating massively multiplayer online games, has been conspicuously absent in the social games scene. This is particularly notable for a company that was a pioneer in the dual-currency model.

Later this year, MapleStory Adventures and Kart Rider will come to Facebook correcting what Vice President of Social Games Operations Soo Min Park feels has been a long-standing missing piece to the Nexon portfolio. By re-imagining MapleStory as a less complex title authored in Flash, and building KartRider in Unity with a front-facing playable element during download, Park feels this barrier can be overcome.

“We wanted to expand our web presence to other platforms,” explained Park. “We have expertise in micro-transactions that no one else does and we want to bring that to the social networks. Once our existing IP is launched, original titles will be created to further our efforts.”

Players of the original MapleStory will find MapleStory Adventure familiar but simplified. There will be fewer classes, items, monsters… fewer of everything. And the game will be asynchronous. Due to the use of Unity, players of KartRider should feel more at home with its racing mechanics.

Later this month, KartRider Rush iOS  (and this summer for Android) will launch beginning the campaign to enter the social platform market. Rush features short, Mario Kart-like play against multiple synchronous opponents in a speed or item mode.

 

King.com Launch Follows a Strong 2010, With a Maturing Stable of Games on Facebook

Casual gaming company King.com announced a new version of its site designed for Facebook, an application called MyGames portal. While the app has been on Facebook for years, the version launched last week includes new games and an attention currency mechanic that had been previously tested and proven on King’s growing match-3 title, Miner Speed.

And that’s not all. The company has also had another app portal on Facebook for more than a year, called FunFlow, which has a decent following at 1.14 million monthly active users, according to AppData, even though it has had higher traffic in the past.

In addition to the portals, two standalone games – the aforementioned match-3 title Miner Speed (currently at 670,000 MAU), and the other is Puzzle Saga, which we covered in November, which has a current MAU count of 504,000 – have been showing appreciable numbers. King.com cross-promotes these games and its portals,  feed directly into the portals.

Added all together, the company has a solid 262,000 DAU and 3.06 million MAU on Facebook, following a strong second half of 2010. Check out our AppData tracking service for top developers and applications t0 get more detail.

Here’s how the apps work.

Looking at the similarities between the two destination sites, each has a similar layout, pool of coins, and daily bonus. MyGame’s layout links to FunFlow and the two standalone titles at the top of the page, calling them “our other games”; FunFlow has “promotions” at the bottom of the page which link to MyGames, the standalones, and an additional rotating title. MyGames is of a muted color scheme in a more traditional layout; FunFlow is bright, bold and modern.

Daily bonuses on MyGames are in the form of a spin-the-wheel for coins to spend. On FunFlow, you earn a 10 percent bonus increase to your score each successive day you play. The coins are important on MyGames as each game is timed and to play additional games the player must spend coins to play versus other players. On FunFlow, coins are earned by reaching goals and the bonuses earn further points. Players can spend Facebook Credits to spin again on MyGames or to buy bonus items on FunFlow. Miner Speed (which has demographics similar to MyGames) uses the same daily bonus mechanic; Puzzle Saga follows FunFlow in both as well.

The defining difference between the two portals and their sister games is the stable of titles each carries and the way each is scored. MyGames titles depend heavily on a dizzying array of match-3 mechanics. Though some are polished clones of existing titles, more than a few are original; but all are tied to the aforementioned time mechanic. With a much older demographic, the shorter play times that don’t depend upon a reaching a goal that requires concentration or time an extended commitment that and older demographic may not be able to commit to.

FunFlow has its share of match-3 titles but the mechanic is used in novel ways as in CiviBattle – an RTS that requires building structures to produce military units to fight in battles, but all resources are gained using match-3. A post-apocalyptic top-down FPS can be found in GibFest; and an oddly satisfying pattern-matching game in NUMB3R5. Few of the games have time limits unless the time limit is needed to complete the game. Most have definitive win conditions. The player must reach this condition – spending the time to do so – in order to win coin.

At first blush, King’s single portal seems to be no different than many other attempts on Facebook. But the entire picture paints a different story. Combined they create a diverse portfolio of games that covers a broad spectrum of the market, a cornucopia of more than 47 titles to choose from.

Supercell Announces Closed Beta of New MMOG, Gunshine

Supercell came out of stealth-mode today with the announcement of Gunshine, an isometric MMORPG/FPS that runs not so much in Facebook as through Facebook. With a AAA-list of company developers and execs, the bar is raised rather high for the title but initial impressions don’t fail to meet expectations.

Gunshine is most accurately described as a traditional point and click MMOG. The player picks one of three classes – bodyguard, hunter or doctor – and an avatar before entering an instanced area which leads the player through the opening of the game. Here the player learns that the world is not what it seems.

Reminiscent of the Matrix and Running Man films, all members of society have begun a pilgrimage to Dawn City (under the care of Labycore) for a better life. To enter Dawn City, each must don a permanent bracelet.  Through a series of unclear reasons – there is a lot of exposition and quest but it is not yet fleshed out – the player becomes one of the few who enters Dawn City unadorned. And so begins the story.

All of the familiar MMOG tropes are extant: a mini-map; NPCs with ?s and !s above their heads; main and optional quest lines; and in an interesting turn, the ability to choose henchmen based upon varying skills and price (both currencies) when friends are not available.

Allowing for synchronous play with friends, it also allows one to play asynchronously with Facebook friends by calling on them as psedo-henchmen. The characters will then play as they would were they actually there, according to their stats, abilities, and equipment.

Still in closed beta, the movement through the instanced world is seamless from room to room. The visuals are stunning. The reaction time impressive. The game feels like a lightweight MMOG. The writing needs work as the quests are still quite vanilla and though I had little time to interact with players most seemed to have a handle on the mechanics presented.

It is a dystopian world but one that gives a hint of intrigue and perhaps… perhaps the ability for the players to move the story. Look for an interview with the developers in the next several weeks.

Blue Fang Brings Iconic The Oregon Trail Title to Facebook

After a successful port to the iOS last year by Gameloft, the eponymously named The Oregon Trail of edutainment fame has made the move to Facebook. Blue Fang Games, in conjunction with Houghton Mifflin, has created a version that is astonishingly faithful to the beloved PC title — which, as we’ll explore below, is not necessarily for the best.

Beloved or not, the move to Facebook should require some change in accordance with the needs of the platform; this was achieved quite successfully with the mobile version. As a PC title, the game required that the player watch the screen for long periods of time waiting for tragedy to befall the party as it traveled along dusty trails. The majority of decisions were made during these moments. Sitting and watching has not changed with the port to Facebook. No travel occurs when the player is not watching the game. What’s more, watching is important, as the player earns the majority of in-game currency by clicking on gold piles at regular intervals.

Players still purchase increasingly expensive and rare supplies during the journey. Decisions as to which direction to take must be made, though many of these are blocked until reaching higher levels unless the player wishes to spend a significant amount of paid currency. Most items are restricted by level but can be unlocked with the paid currency; the items then require purchase with in-game gold. Were it not for the sheer impossibility of traveling the trail at lower levels, this might not frustrate.

Friends serve little purpose at this point in development. There are a few unlock options that require the player to post to the wall and receive friends to “help” unlock. But if the player is waiting to play, the lack of immediate feedback will result in spending yet more paid currency or closing the game to wait.

Rather than batter the design further, we’ll simply state that a faithful PC translation does nottranslate well to a social network. But then, it shouldn’t. The PC version never had the requirements of monetization or social networking. No matter the memories associated with the IP, it should have been built with the platform in mind first.

Incrediland Encourages Friends to Breed New Animals, Using Lessons from Real-World Genetics

Going by the tag line — “IncrediLand: Breed with your friends” — players might not pick up on the depth of the real-world genetics rules that underscore the core design of this exceptional game. In Incrediland**, you attempt to breed, hatch, and raise your own “Incredimals” to compete in contests of sport (and to use as further breeding stock).

Players begin with the giraffe-like gambi. A thorough tutorial leads the player through incubating eggs, training hatchlings in the nursery, the care of adults, and how to pick and choose traits for breeding. The process for further species – the flea-like zorg and mammoth-like boon – is the same. Mastering one masters all. But each Incredimal is different and this is where real-world genetics comes into play.

Each Incredimal’s genotype and phenotype (as well as basic strength, speed and intelligence) are visible from any screen that shows the Incredimal or a paper-doll of said creature. As the most important information in the game this is never more than a click away. There are five coat colors, in order of dominance: green, yellow, blue, red and black. This remains consistent regardless of species. Three different types of fur exist for each species with three levels of dominance; the final characteristic varies – horn length for gambi, number of eyes for zorg, and the presence (or not) of a nasal horn for boon. This results in 30 different sub-species of each, not taking into account breeding for gender or basic stats. The only way to achieve all 90 sub-species is to breed the Incredimals, using real-world genetic principles. Edutainment developers, please take note.

Information for a breeder (and later a competitor in sport) is everything. With a trace system (ability to search for any Incredimal across the entire player set), care and feeding mechanic for Incredimals at all stages of growth, auction and sales ability, tournaments, ladders, and tribes (friends), the movement between different menus and UI could have been arduous at best; a game-killer at worst. But, like the genetic information on each Incredimal that is available from anywhere, the differing systems are tied together seamlessly. A player can be feeding an Incredimal from island mode and decide to place the Incredimal for sale. These are not simple links to different systems within the game, but full integration of the various systems with menus and UIs characteristic to the play space.

Monetization is achieved using a novel approach, new for this space. Players can choose a gold subscription account that opens more breeding rooms, allows unlimited viewing of tribe members’ breeding stock, and the purchase of rare eggs. Additional subscriptions rates include microcurrency.

Players who choose not to subscribe begin with 100 Incredicoins, and adult gambit, and an egg. Only two Incredimals can be bred at a time and the ability to see the genotype of tribe members’ Incredimals is limited to three times a day. Breeding is done purely based upon phenotypical presentation. The most important restriction, particularly in concert with the limited phenotypical views, disallows the purchase of rare eggs. The creatures must be bred.

Currency is earned once the egg matures into a hatchling. In the nursery, the Incredimal can be trained to do a series of tricks. The cost to train a trick varies significantly – and more than one trick can be trained – but the monies can be recouped as each creature can do up to three known tricks per day. Players also earn currency for feeding their Incredimals.

Until tournaments are implemented, training an Incredimal is the single largest expense in the game. The second is purchasing eggs. Breeding is a fickle process. There is no guarantee two Incredimals will breed and it takes time before one knows if the nesting process has even started. Purchasing eggs is a great way to jumpstart this process.

It is difficult to impart just how polished Incrediland is just a few days out of launch: the aforementioned multiple pathways to information; tooltips that server to extend the tutorial; a complete FAQ that is both useful and concise; and active attended support forums. Every Incredimal has its own theme song, unique idle animations, unique tricks, different foods (some slurp, some burp), the music for courting is different than that for mating… I could go on.

IncrediLand is a rare title. It is funny, thoughtful, balanced, and well-executed. It will not topple a Cityville or Pet Society as the audience it will attract will be far too discerning and too niche. The rewards that come with breeding Incredimals are often two-three breeding cycles away before the desired results are even possible. This is the game for those who derive enjoyment from a more delayed gratification, intellectual skill, and interaction with like-minded individuals.

**This link offers an additional 200 Incredicoins for a total of 300.

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