..................................Moderator comment.....................................

Moderation will be sporadic today and possibly tomorrow as I and my family have come down with something and I'm in no fit state to be doing anything at the moment. I've tried to post some information below, but it is not a full review of the game. I've only played the game for several minutes so only got a very brief impression of the game. I have included several videos of game play, which will give you a much better idea of what to expect from this game. Initial impressions from me have been included in the conclusion below.

Crafting Story

In Brief

A world crafting game

Installation:

Crafting Story downloads to a 131 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set-up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives can save games on any drive they wish. The newly installed game is 733 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Crafting Story

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop. three of which can be safely deleted (Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game which vary each week). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window)

Introduction:

Crafting Story is a wonderful adventure that follows the story of a young boy named Albert who finds a chest in his grandfather's attic. It contains an old magical globe that can simulate things on Earth. Curious as Albert is, he decides to rearrange things to make the world a better place. Help him out on this amazing adventure and enjoy Crafting Story!

• Unique 3D Earth simulation and visual scenes to interact with
• Fun, unique and addictive gameplay for all ages
• Build with different elements on 7 continents

Edited reference accessed HERE. 19th Oct 2018

The Game:

Unfortunately I’m too ill to play today’s game so won’t be posting a full review, just what I’d prepared last night plus a few thoughts from several minutes of game play this morning. To progress you combine various elements that are available to you which then create new objects or effects.

To start the game click on the earth and drag the Nature area to the front, then click on it. All other areas are locked until you’ve completed the first area. Clicking on Nature opens the location and gives you a hint of where to start, i.e. combine water and earth together. You do this by clicking on each distinct area. On doing this an icon representing each area will appear, clicking on those icons will craft them into a new item, which in this case is grass. Clicking on earth and grass creates bush, bush and earth create trees, water and grass create swamps, earth and sun create deserts , desert and water gives oasis, sun and water create clouds, clouds and water create rain, stars and sun create meteorites, meteorites and earth create earthquakes and meteorites and water create stones, You continue to combine items together until the bar at the top is full. You can open an information book that appears on the right-hand side immediately after you’ve created a new item. This gives you information about that item that is factual, for example the following information is given about grass:

Grass conserves water and cleans the air. Grass traps water and reduces soil erosion. The average grass yard can absorb more than 6000 gallons of rainwater. Grass areas trap about 12 million tons of dust and dirt from the air each year. I acre of grass can absorb hundreds of pounds of sulphur dioxide in a single year.

As you create new items or effects they are added to the journal, which can be opened at any time by clicking on the down pointing arrow to the top left of the playing area. This also opens up the main menu, which has four other buttons, a home, a hint of what to create next, for example when I clicked on it I was told to create bamboo and given a specific time to create it in. The next button I’ve not figured out yet and also has a countdown timer, below the book icon is a shopping basket icon that allows you access to the games shop where you to buy various hints such as show, reaction and packages with the points you’ve scored, however, I think you have to complete a level before you earn any points. Unfortunately, as mentioned above I was too ill to progress.

You can reset the game by opening the options menu and clicking on the globe next to the information button.

Whiterabbit 20th Oct 2018

Other Reviews and Videos of Crafting Story:

You can see other short reviews of Crafting Story HERE and HERE.

You can see several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Conclusion:

I cannot give a fair and unbiased comment about this game; however, from the reviews and comments I’ve read so far via Big fish games, the game wasn’t well received. I would say it would be an excellent educational game for young children from preschool to primary school age (i.e. 4 to 10 years old) as there is a useful journal that gives factual information about each of the items or effects created. I’ve quoted one in my very short review above in the game section.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it HERE via Big Fish Games.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Crafting Story to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e. the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try whitelisting the setup.gcd file. In the almost 11 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or the comments from the community don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Crafting Story and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Crafting Story doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).