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Revision as of 21:34, 11 November 2014 by Taospark (talk | contribs) (→Criticism)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 2012 video game| The Simpsons: Tapped Out | |
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 The Simpsons: Tapped Out logo used since its release | |
| Developer(s) | EA Mobile Fox Digital Entertainment Gracie Films |
| Platform(s) | iOS, Android |
| Release | iOS:
Android: |
| Genre(s) | City-building game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer (With Origin friends) |
The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a freemium video game for iOS and Android, based on the American animated series The Simpsons. It allows users to create and maintain their own version of Springfield using familiar characters and buildings. The game is constantly being updated with new, often season-specific content, for example during holidays like Thanksgiving, and Treehouse of Horror episodes-related content for Halloween. Not limited to English-speaking players, the game is available in many languages such as French, Italian, German, Simplified Chinese and Brazilian Portuguese. The game was developed and published by EA Mobile and launched in the EU on February 29, 2012 and in US on March 1, 2012 for iOS and February 6, 2013 for Android. The game was released for Kindle Fire devices in several markets on June 24, 2013. According to its own estimates, EA generated over $130 million in revenue since the game's release.
Story
Too busy playing an elf game on his myPad at work, Homer neglects his workstation and accidentally causes a meltdown at the nuclear power plant, leading to a complete destruction of Springfield. Left stranded, he is solely responsible for rebuilding Springfield and bringing back its town members. Homer is desperate to find other characters so that he can get them to rebuild and he can get back to his elf game. With the help of Lisa, Homer rebuilds Springfield and brings back key sought out characters.
Gameplay
The game may be considered as a city-building game. It offers a variety of buildings (houses, shops, public buildings from the series) that the player buys with an in-game currency of "dollars", while buying premium items with real-world cash via donuts, a reference to Homer Simpson's passion for donuts within the series. Many buildings come with a questline for the player to follow and some add with them a character from the series; players collect characters along with buildings. Characters can be sent on tasks to progress with the quests to advance with the game, and to earn extra money to save up for items. Each building regularly generates a sum of in-game cash to collect, under names such as "Income tax" for houses and the "Collection plate" for the First Church of Springfield. Players can also place rivers, roads, pavement and decorations on the land. Recently, developers have added the "Krustyland" transporter, to get players from Springfield to the infamous Krustyland, where they can expand and build similar to player interactions in the game's Springfield.
The game is supported by EA's Origin, which acts as a social bridge to where players log in to their Origin accounts and visit friends' towns to collect cash once every 24 hours; and occasionally other tasks during an event.
There is a hidden easter egg where, in order to obtain the statue of Jebediah Springfield decoration, the player must tap Homer 10 times in a row whilst he is performing any task. This action also gives the player 10 free donuts, but can only work once.
The maximum number of levels is currently 46 since the October 22, 2014 update.
Themed updates
Several content updates have been released for the game:
| Event/update | Cause | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Moonshine River | Episode promotional | September 28, 2012 |
| Treehouse of Horror XXIII | Halloween | October 12 – November 8, 2012 |
| Thanksgiving | Thanksgiving | November 8, 2012 |
| Penny-Wiseguys | Episode promotional | November 13, 2012 |
| The Day the Earth Stood Cool | Episode promotional | November 30, 2012 |
| Christmas | Christmas/Winter | December 5, 2012 – January 10, 2013 |
| Valentine's Day | Valentine's Day | January 30 – February 28, 2013 |
| Gorgeous Grampa | Episode promotional | February 28 – March 4, 2013 |
| St. Patrick's Day | St. Patrick's Day | March 7, 2013 |
| Dark Knight Court | Episode promotional | March 14, 2013 |
| What Animated Women Want | Episode promotional | April 28, 2013 |
| Whacking Day | Whacking Day | April 10 – May 16, 2013 |
| Whiskey Business | Episode promotional | May 2, 2013 |
| Season 24 finale | Season promotional | May 16, 2013 |
| Squidport Expansion | Expansion | June 12, 2013 – present |
| 4th July 2013 | Fourth of July | June 28 – July 8, 2013 |
| Krustyland Expansion | Expansion | July 31, 2013 – present |
| Homerland | Episode promotional | September 23, 2013 – October 1, 2013 |
| Treehouse of Horror XXIV | Halloween | October 1, 2013 – November 7, 2013 |
| Thanksgiving | Thanksgiving | November 15, 2013 – December 3, 2013 |
| Yellow Subterfuge | Episode promotional | December 4, 2013 |
| Christmas | Christmas/Winter | December 10, 2013 – January 14, 2014 |
| Married to the Blob | Episode promotional | January 8, 2014 |
| Super Bowl XLVIII | Episode promotional | January 29, 2014 – February 2, 2014 |
| Valentine's Day | Valentine's Day | February 5, 2014 – February 26, 2014 |
| Social Currency Event | Expansion | March 2, 2014 – present |
| Diggs/The Man Who Grew Too Much | Episode promotional | March 7, 2014 |
| St. Patrick's Day 2014 | St. Patrick's Day | March 12, 2014 – March 25, 2014 |
| The War of Art | Episode promotional | March 19, 2014 |
| Days of Future Future | Episode promotional | April 9, 2014 |
| Easter | Easter | April 15, 2014 – May 13, 2014 |
| The Yellow Badge of Cowardge | Episode promotional | May 16, 2014 |
| Stonecutters | Stonecutters | June 4, 2014 - July 2, 2014 |
| July 4, 2014 | Fourth of July | July 2, 2014 - July 15, 2014 |
| Clash of Clones | Clash of Clans parody | August 19, 2014 - October 7, 2014 |
| Clown in the Dumps | Episode promotional | September 24, 2014 |
| Treehouse of Horror XXV | Halloween | October 7, 2014 - November 12, 2014 |
| Simpsorama | Episode promotional | November 5, 2014 |
Usually, these events also include a temporary currency, which can be used to buy – or win – limited edition prizes. More recently, in some events every user's winnings contributed to a community fund, which includes prizes for certain levels of the currency.
Development
According to game runner and longtime Simpsons writer J. Stewart Burns, the game originally started as a "labor of love" and he didn't expect much to happen after the game's release. Although they do not get credited, there are about ten writers who currently work on the game, including Simpsons writers Burns, Matt Selman, Brian Kelley, Jeff Westbrook, Jon Kern, Carolyn Omine and Diana Wright.
In-game problems
Shortly after the iOS launch, the game was pulled from the iOS App Store due to EA's servers being unable to cope with the demand and a plethora of serious bugs reported by users. After a month had passed, EA set up a forum whereby users could report bug issues, but failed to offer solutions to issues or temporary updates. Some users who had made in-app purchases discovered that their purchases had disappeared. After contacting EA, users were able to collect refunds directly from Apple. Several months later, the app finally returned to the App Store.
In April 2013 many Android users had trouble connecting to the servers.
Criticism
Due to its connection to criticism of the larger trend of freemium games' revenue structure, it was recently satirized by South Park as exploitative and lacking in gameplay. The game itself also earlier lampooned this point about itself during an in-game conversation between two characters.
See also
References
- ""Life-Ruiningly Fun" Comes to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch with the Launch of The Simpsons: Tapped Out". Electronic Arts. 2012-01-03. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
- "The Simpsons:Tapped Out". Google. 2013-02-06. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
- "Tapped Out Kindle Edition at Amazon". 2013-06-24. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
- http://seekingalpha.com/article/1974861-electronic-arts-management-discusses-q3-2014-results-earnings-call-transcript
- "Whack Attack – The Unofficial Simpsons: Tapped Out Blog". tappedoutunofficial.wordpress.com. 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
- "The countdown to the final community prize is on! – Tapped Out Daily". tappedoutdaily.wordpress.com. 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
- ^ ""How the Mobile Game Tapped Out Brought Old Simpsons Fans Back Into the Fold". New York (magazine)#Digital expansion and blogs. 2014-09-25. Retrieved 2012-09-26.
- Parfitt, Ben (2012-03-05). "EA pulls The Simpsons iOS from App Store". MCV. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
- http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Simpsons-Tapped-Out/Cannot-Connect-To-Server-on-Android/m-p/1047628#U1047628
- ""South Park Trashes "Freemium" Games Like The Simpsons: Tapped Out". CraveOnline. 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2014-11-10.
- ""The Simpsons Tapped Out Is Surprisingly Honest About Freemium Games". Dorkly. 2014-08-31. Retrieved 2014-11-10.
