Giveaway of the Day - My Farm

My Farm:

Introduction and Installation:

This received a positive 89% of 298 votes with 49 comments when it was given away back in July 07; which you can read by following the link below:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/my-farm/#comments

The following excerpt taken from Boonty games will give you a good idea about what the game entails

Quote:

At first My Farm was supposed to be just a screensaver… And then it became a farm breeding simulation game ! My Farm allows you to breed livestock in real time with a maximum of twenty animals – hens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, sheep and cows… Farm buildings nestled at the foot of the hills, meadows, country sounds; everything has been thought of to plunge you into the heart of rural life from sunrise to sunset! At first you only possess one hen … But this hen lays eggs which you can sell to buy seed and other hens… Then some ducks you can fatten up to sell for a good price…But, be careful, take care of your animals and clean your farm regularly otherwise your livestock will leave to get fed elsewhere! Like all simulation games, worthy of the name, My Farm offers a multitude of actions : buying animals, moving them, feeding them, cleaning them, selling them, checking the stock, buying food and equipment, etc. Without mentioning Old Jack and his precious advice!

Taken from: http://www.boonty.com/us/casual/products/my-farm.html March 8th 2008

The Game:

The zip file is 63.7Mb in size and once installed is 68.9Mb in size. Most of that is sound and graphics files. From the options menu you can turn off the music and sound effects or just adjust their volume using the sliders provided. There’s also a slider for adjusting the level of detail as well as switching off the textures in the ground renders. It’s recommended that you tick this box if you have any problems with the graphics. You’ll also find toggles for the tool tips that give you contextual help whenever you hover the mouse over a button or object. There’s a toggle to turn on the screensaver as well – this screensaver reflects the stage you are at in the game, so as you progress through the game the screensaver becomes busier and busier.

If you leave the game idle for long enough the screensaver will kick in; which can be deactivated by pressing the space bar. You can reassign this key binding to whichever key you prefer. The game is controlled by the mouse or the keyboard. You will find a list of shortcuts in the players manual that you can use instead of clicking on the tool are at the bottom of the playing area, or you can use a combination of both if you wish. The player’s manual can be found in the games folder and contains all the information you will require to get you started as well as game tips to help you accomplished the goal of the game which is to build a successful farm. During the game you can earn bonus items such as a dog or other items that I’ll let you discover for yourself. These bonus items generally improve your farms productivity. If you have the tool tips toggled on, you will occasionally be prompted to carry out a particular task such as feeding or cleaning, or even to be told that you are doing something wrong. The in game screen has all the information you need with respect to the time of day, which is shown by a day and night clock at the top of the screen as well as your cash balance, stock levels, animal satisfaction and a time accelerator that allows you to speed up the game when appropriate (see section 5 of the players guide ‘Game techniques’ for details).

You can stop playing at any point in the game and resume at your leisure as the game automatically saves your progress.

Images – All on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/My%20Farm/

Images – As a Slideshow:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/My%20Farm/?albumview=slideshow

System Requirements:

Minimum
Processor 1 GHz or faster
512 Mb RAM
64 Mb graphics card compatible DirectX 9
Sound card compatible DirectX 9
60 Mb free hard disk space
Windows XP or more recent
Recommended
Processor 2.8 GHz
1024 Mb RAM
128 Mb 3D graphics card

Conclusion

This is an excellent family game that can become quite engrossing once you’ve built up your farm stock and started to improve the farm by adding fences and new farm buildings. It’s not as easy as you think either. The in game menu looks a little daunting at first glance, but once you’ve read the players manual, which includes details of the installations, how to play, keyboard shortcuts, Game techniques and details of the screensaver that comes packaged with the game. Everything should become clear once you’ve read it. The only downside is that you can only access the game manual from the game file unless you create a shortcut which could be added to a start menu folder to make it easier to find (I’ve posted a short tutorial in the forums on how to do this several weeks ago in the games discussion section)

It’s a very simple take on ‘Zoo Tycoon’, which you can buy for about the same as this game now; however that particular game although far superior (IMO) is much too complex for children to play. This game is relatively easy and will teach a child the basics of caring for an animal, as well as some basic management skills, lol.

Overall I think this is well worth a good 7 out of 10 for playability and family fun.

Other Information

Some people previously received an error saying that they required an Indeo codec and were directed to a specific site which was asking for money. Ignore that and follow the link below which has the same codec for free. The information was originally posted by JanW (thanks Jan):

Indeo video codec:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Indeo_Codec.htm

Installed easily and plays nice with Vista Home Premium. Game controls take a little getting used to and the farm starts out slow until you build up your livestock and it gets more interesting. The game has to arrow buttons in the upper right corner that will speed up or slow down time button so you don’t lose interest during the slow time. Very nice game over all. Thanks GAOTD!