Frontierville, from social gaming start-up Zynga, launched in June, 2010. In a June 9, 2010, Games.com blog post by Libe Goad, game designer Brian Reynolds describes Frontierville as “Oregon Trail meets Little House on the Prairie meets Farmville,” the latest social game relies more on interaction with neighbors (other game players) than any of Zynga’s previous games.
The Premise of Frontierville
When starting out in Frontierville, each player is given a piece of land and a wagon. When playing Frontierville for the first time, a computerized guide, named Jack, walks the user through the various steps. As the game goes on, players earn experience points for planting crops and feeding livestock, participating in select actions and missions, and growing their small plot of land into a bustling frontier town.
How Frontierville is Different to Farmville
While many of the actions in Frontierville are similar to the popular Farmville game, Frontierville boasts many additional features that take social gaming to the next level. In addition to earning set experience points, players also need to pay attention to other key areas of the game to move on to higher levels:
- Frontierville properties, if left unattended, can become overrun with weeds
- If a player doesn’t return to Frontierville and tend their space, wolves, bears and other creatures can take over the property
- Neighbors (friends) can be hired to help maintain others’ Frontierville property, for which the land owner will pay them a set fee for service
- Frontierville game players can control multiple avatars, instead of only their character
- A major part of the game play is acquiring a spouse and raising children, unlike Farmville, which only allows for a single character
- The weather can interrupt game play, providing new challenges and obstacles for Frontierville players to overcome
- A daily reward is issued when the player visit his/her Frontierville homestead
- Tips that show up during game play can have a significant impact on the character's performance for that day
- Different missions appear throughout Frontierville that not only advance the game, but help players move through the Frontierville storyline
- Players must defend their properties from snakes, or risk losing energy
Understanding the Frontierville Toolbar
In creating Frontierville, Zynga combined features from their collection of successful social games, including Mafia Wars, Treasure Isle, and Farmville. In doing so, Frontierville game players have more elements that need their attention:
- Energy: Each action in Frontierville is assigned a certain amount of energy. To get more energy, players must eat food, or wait a predetermined amount of time for their energy level to increase
- Food: In Frontierville, players can acquire more food to eat by tending crops and gathering fruit from trees.
- Wood: Wood is used to build objects. The size of the tree determines how many “chops” are needed to harvest all of the wood.
- Coins: Like other social games, there are items in Frontierville which require players to acquire and spend money.
- Experience Points: As players progress through Frontierville, they earn experience points. The toolbar shows how many experience points a player has, and how many are needed to make it to the next level.
- Horseshoes: Similar to Farmville cash, Frontierville Horseshoes can be traded in for premium items and features.
Frontierville Tricks and Tips
Like all games, there are ways to advance more quickly through Frontierville. Tips for faster success include:
- Get hired by neighbors to complete tasks and earn more Frontierville coins
- Hire people with higher experience levels. Players with a better reputation will earn more money for the landowner
- Earn bonuses by defending land against snakes
- Find snakes by looking under skulls, where they are likely to hide
- Complete the missions and goals that are promoted within the Frontierville game. They come with bonuses attached for each mission completed
- Hunting for snakes will help Frontierville players earn bonus items more quickly
- Every action will use energy except for when planting crops
- Get an energy boost by visiting neighbors
- Plant trees often to ensure a constant supply of fruit for food or wood for building
Unlike the previously released Zynga games like Farmville and Mafia Wars, success in Frontierville requires players to take part in a brad range of activities. Players must interact with one another to achieve results, unlock crops and actions, or move ahead.
Further, Frontierville players are encouraged to check-in on their land at least daily, so that their property is not taken over by wild animals and plants. However, all these new features have some believing that Frontierville is just one more way to annoy Facebook friends.
Annalise Kaylor - Annalise Kaylor is a freelance writer, editor, and consultant specializing in search engine optimized content for the web. As a writer, ...
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