Greetings, Farmers!
A few weeks ago, we asked our players to share their FarmVille 2 questions with us for the Design Team to answer. We were blown away by how many of you participated, and we did our best to provide answers to the ones that we saw most frequently.
Without further ado, here are the Design Team's responses to some of your most burning questions.
Q1.
Will you be designing a cute little bunny hutch? (Cathy Worall)
Answer: Absolutely! We're currently working on a storage building for Prized Rabbits and Bunnies, so keep your eyes peeled for something in the near future.
Q2.
Hi Team! I would like to know when we are going to get a little something to put our cows and horses in? (Chantal Pominville)
Answer: We’re definitely planning to give you a nice place for your Prized Cows and Horses to relax in! We can't tell you exactly when it's coming, of course, but it's in our plans.
Q3.
Why is there an animal cap of 45 and when will it change? (Cyndi Samuels)
Answer: We have an Animal Population Cap to ensure our players have the best possible experience when playing FarmVille 2. Having too many animals on your farm at one time can seriously reduce performance, which is no fun at all! While some computers might be able to handle more than 45 animals on-screen at a time, this isn't the case for all of our players. We are always making little technical optimizations that allow us to increase it slightly, but we are very careful to not make the game harder to play for anyone.
Q4.
Why can't there be more animals, plants, homes, etc. that we could purchase with coins instead of farm bucks? (Melissa Darnell)
Answer: We understand that our players appreciate Coin items. Because of this feedback, we have made it a priority to release new things for Coins on a regular basis. We also understand that many of our players want everything in the game to be exclusively for Coins. While we can empathize with this (who doesn't like free things?), it is important to understand that it takes quite a bit of money to keep a game like FarmVille 2 up and running. Because our game is free to everyone (you don't have to pay to access the application), we have to charge Farm Bucks for our premium items to generate the income we need. While our premium items may enhance the game for some of our players, none of these things are required for you to have a great gaming experience. You can have a fantastic farm without spending a dime!
Q5.
I was wondering if you could tell me if there are things we can do that increase our chances of receiving 'special' items (like blue eggs, purple yogurt, or yellow yarn). My husband and I have been playing almost the same amount of time and he has never received a blue egg, and I've received almost a dozen of them. What am I doing differently? (Halfofrbsquared)
Answer: Your chances of getting rare items goes up dramatically depending on how many animals you have on the farm related to the building you are using. To get more gourmet yogurt for example, you need to have a lot of cows on your farm. To find more Exotic Eggs, you need more Chickens. Each building will specify what animals will boost your chances when you open them up.
Q6.
How do you decide what to do for the next quest? How hard is that process? I know with the one we did, players seemed to get random things. Like mine would give me things to do that I was leveled up to plant (The Grocery Man) but my neighbor said he had to plant something to sell that was totally different. How does that work? (Angela Priddy)
Answer: Cornelius (the grocer) is tailored to everyones' game and changes how he plays based on how YOU play the game, unlike our normal quests. He'll order groceries based on your play-style.
Q7.
As a former graphic designer, how do you come up with ideas? I would love to see your planning design/storyboards. (Makatski)
Answer: We recently released a discussion on how we built the Crafting Kiln feature, which included concept art and the actual storyboard for the animations and interactions with the Kiln. Our blog also has a great walk-through on how we built our awesome "Furry Moo" cow. Check them out here: Exclusive Look: Crafting Kiln and Exclusive Look: The making of the "Furry-Moo"
Q8.
How do you remove trees from a grove? I have mixed groves and I want them to be all the same type of trees in a grove? (Cooper Wiley)
Answer: You use the "Move Tool," which is the one that looks like four arrows. You can only use the move tool when the trees are unwatered after a harvest. Use the move tool to move individual unwatered and unfertilized trees out of a grove (see image below). Check out the official Grove Guide for tips & tricks to get the most out of this feature here: Grove Guide
Q9.
What do you take into consideration when you make the decision to release more land/levels? (Sugar Gosh)
Answer: We take a couple things into consideration when thinking about releasing new expansions: 1) Performance - We want to make sure that we're able to release expansions without creating bugs or gameplay issues that negatively impact the play experience. 2) Are our players ready for more expansions and is this what they want? We spend a lot of time talking with our players, directly and through surveys, to see what they want to see in FarmVille 2 to help us schedule our features, so when these things align and we finish creating them, we release.
Q10.
How long does it normally take to make a feature? (Tyler)
Answer: It depends. Some features may only take a few days while others can take as long as two months, depending on the complexity of the feature. It's fun, but hard work to take an idea and turn it into something fun that our players can enjoy.
Who ever knew that Cornelius was so clever? Well, it sure is great that we help him out with fulfilling his orders; he sometimes seems a little disorganized!
We hope you have enjoyed discovering a little bit more about FarmVille 2 and our Design Team! Thank you again for sharing your questions with us. Come back often for more special events like this one. If you wish to view all of the questions players had asked the Design Team.
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