Just finished the game last night. :) (In casual mode.)

I love the graphics and even though the time management is stressful and I already have enough of that kind of stress at work, I liked playing this game. Nevertheless, I agree with other reviewers here who'd like to see a relaxed mode added.

I'm not sure about how well the story line fits in. It could just as well say 'Hey, you inherited a farm, now make it a successful one.' - Although with the TV show plot, saying the thieves are hired and not real thieves, it kept me from totally hating them, because I'd always tell myself, they don't really want to harm me, they're just doing their job...^^

About the lasso mini-games: I wouldn't miss them if they weren't there. Maybe because I'm totally bad at them and I'll probably never get that trophy? I guess I'm just too slow.

Some people complained about having problems passing the levels or would like to skip those they couldn't pass.
Of course, I also had to replay some levels, some even several times. But I was happy to be able to start over again and again until I was successful.
Whenever I failed, I learned what I had to take more care of in the next try.
Like, failing because of not having enough eggs -> replay, keep an eye on the goose shed and collect eggs more often, buy eggs from night merchant -> fail again: -> replay and buy a second goose shed (and geese) at the beginning of the level.-> Win!

It's also helpful to rearrange the layout of your farm at some point in the game. When in the shop or 'move object' mode, the clock stops and you have plenty of time to rearrange everything.
For example, I moved my barn from the upper left corner a bit further towards the center of the farm, so it could be reached faster.
And I placed fields with crops close to the machines processing these goods. (Like chocolate machine close to cocoa fields.)
And seed bags always close to the fields with the same crop, so your farmer doesn't have to run across the whole farm to reseed things. (I had the feeling that in higher levels, reseeding had to be done more frequently than in the lower levels.)

Though I must admit, I only did a rearrangement of the whole layout once in the game, so things looked a bit messy in the end, as I got more and more stuff and machines on the farm. Maybe I could have finished a few of the higher levels in expert time if I had taken time for a second layout change?

Just one thing I never figured out: How do I cancel an action? Is it even possible? Left clicking on an object starts the action but a right click will not remove the mark. After all, to earn the trophy, it says you must perform a certain number of actions in a row without cancelling them, well, that's easy when you don't know how cancel them anyways...
But it can cost a lot of time.
For example: I harvest a box full of corn, forget to click on the barn, but also click around to take two buckets, take water, water two plants, take another box, harvest strawberries and put them into the machine, take corn seed, reseed corn, take two buckets, milk two cows, bring milk to barn. Until this move, the character will run to all these places but not perform any action, because she's still holding the box of corn in her hand. Only after she goes to the barn, she's available for actions and I will have redo everything. Of course, it's my own fault, and often I don't notice I forgot to click the barn first, because I'm to busy clicking around for the next actions. And only realize the mistake later, when nothing I clicked has been done...
Fortunately, she moves really fast and this only happens with goods in her hands. A wrong seedbag in her hand can easily be replaced with the right one, or an empty box with a bucket etc.
But making mistakes and not making mistakes is probably the difference between expert and casual player... ;)



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

Thank you for your excellent feedback Ilona.

It would be great if I were allowed to buy a little more land later in the game, albeit for an exorbitant amount of money.
also while playing on pc my left hand is free and it would be nice if there were keyboard shortcuts available specially for frequent revisits to the "crates", "barn", etc - this would be specially useful since the cows tend to cover the grass patches and make it difficult to reseed them, they also cover the "through" that makes it frustrating to refill.
other than the thieves who make me go bunkers! this is the best game in this genre (IMHO) and I love it.


……………………..Moderator Comment……………………..

Thank you for your feedback :)

i play for casual and i didn't pass lvl 12 with 3 attempts. it would be a very nice game if it has a relax mode or maybe if you could set original timer x2, x3 or if the timer automatically increased when you didnt pass lvl with first attempt


..........................Moderator Comment...........................

Thanks for your feedback Nikos

Ok as an amendment to my other comment. I got the game downloaded and installed, by installing on another computer and then transferring the file to this one. Plays fine. And is a great Time Management game :)

I would really like to figure out my problem with installing though (since I don't think it's just related to this game) because I won't be having that extra computer much longer and would like to install right from this computer.

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

I have made some suggestions. Didn't read your second comment until I'd finished. :)

I'm having a problem installing the game :( I just recently got a new computer Win 8.1, and I think that may have something to do with it, since I have downloaded countless games in the past without a problem.

I get the error message when it's extracting: the archive is either in unknown format or damaged

I looked at the forum and couldn't really find anything directly relating that has an answer that works for me. I have tried clearing cache, downloading dx9, downloading from 3 diff browsers, extracting the zip file with both the winzip and 7-zip. nothing seems to work :(
Is there something that I am missing?

And to reply to the pain management/game thoughts. I also have chronic pain and am disabled because of it. I find that games really do help in pain management. Unlike some of the others though I LOVE time management games. I really don't get stressed by the time limits. I think they actually make me focus more on the game, and I think that is what helps in taking the focus off of the pain.
I think it all depends on what types of games an individual likes to play. I do like the match 3 and HOG games also, but time management have always been a favorite of mine (which is why I'd really like to get this one working...and I have a feeling that whatever is wrong isn't just related to this game)

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

Hi Marie, I installed to Win 8.1 and have had no problems. Have you checked the thread I link to in my reviw (the FAQ's thread). Try deleting the game, and clearing the registry of all links to the game (type in regedit, this opens up the registry editor, click on Edit then find from the drop down menu. type in key words i.e My Farm Life (I found 6, but not all can be deleted as some enties are shared with other programs). I'd advise creating aback up of your registry before deleting anything just in case there's aproblem, or if you're not sure how to do that export each entry you delete (before you delete it by right clicking on it (only from the left hand pane) then selecting from the drop down menu export. Name the exported file approriately. (If aproblem does arise all you need to do is click on the exported file and it will re install the deleted entry.

Once you've cleared the computer of all traces download the file again and try unzipping it. If you can't try installing the game directly from the zip file by double clicking on the zip file. that should open up the file and you can access the set up file that way (this doesn't always work).

If none of the above work, try using a different file archiver to the two you mentioned aove. there's loads of free archivers. i've listed several in the FAQ's thread:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647

There's a sharing thread (mentioned it to Rick Frog above) that you may be interested in. Sharing your pain can sometimes be a blessing. you can find that thread called Old Codgers or just medically downgraded! :)


http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3577

Frog Hops into the room and Croaks loudly Hello Everyone

Hello to all Game Designers and Game Staff at Alawar and hello to every one today On Game Give Away Of The Day. Hello to the Mods and Staff who make it possible to bring such great games and software to all of us. Thank you GGAOTD for having such a wonderful free and open forum for us all to be able post our true thoughts about the games and Software.

I have read all the comments and the game review. I have checked out the photos of the Game Play and video tutorials. I to am like a number of other users on here for just like them I to Am a person who lives in and suffers from Chronic Pain

All due to a stupid accident at work. I really wish I had not tried to stop that blasted forklift, but I had to play the hero and stop it.... Well I got aboard it threw the E-brake and promptly got launched of it to then try and fly like Superman...

Instead of flying gracefully I hit the ground and tumbled over and over a few times till I came to a stop a good 7 or 8 feet away from where the Forklift had stopped.

I felt OK afterwards but very stiff and sore but I went to see my Doctor after the accident anyways. The Next morning I was so scared because I could not walk I could not stand up after that morning I spent the next 18 months give or take a month learning to get around using a wheelchair

I was burned by what used to be Worker Compensation Board now called Worksafe. Well the agency had their specialist say that all my back problems where from a genetic disease called Degenerative Disk Disease. My Own Doctor disagreed but hes not an accredited Worksafe Doctor so his word doesn't count at the Tribunal when I fought them in appeals court to get their findings over turned.

So after i lost in court I had 2 choices return to work and take there pain management program or get cut off and get nothing at all I spent 9 months in their pain management program and their gradual return to work program.

I worked an additional 8 years before the Chronic pain I suffered working any job just to difficult to manage. The pain and scar tissue has gradually become so bad I have to once again use a wheelchair for ambulation I have been left with as little as 20% use of my legs on my bad days.

I have about 75-80% use of the functions from my waist down but I still need a wheelchair to get around. Mostly due to the pain being far to much for me to be able to walk more than a few feet at a time. The pain quickly gets to a point that I have to either sit down or I risk a accident where my legs will buckle and I will collapse or fall to the floor .

I have the added wonder of spending the rest of my life in Chronic Pain with a few hours here and there of pain relief found in casual gaming...

I skipped this game because of all the comments on here saying that the time factor can not be turned off. I have no need of more pain and stress in my life.

I am disabled and live in chronic pain like to many others on here so will skip this game because of the timer feature. I hope Alaware and many other game designers take note of this.

I can only hope that many of the Game Designers start to take note of the gamers who would love to play these games but can not duie to the Timer feature causing them more harm than good. If they can add a feature to turn of the timers in their other games why not in the time Management games too?

I know, I know what would be the sense of a time management game with out a timer.. Well I think it would be great for those who just wish to play a game to have fun and who just want to distract themselves from their pain and for many, many, many other reasons as well.

I hope these game company's take the hint and start producing more games with the option to turn off the timer's in more of their games.

Timers are one of the reasons I hate so many of the Flying or Driving or even Boating Race type games too. The few that you can play with out timers I love. Take Helic as an example now that is a great air Helicopter game I get to play I love that I can play it to no timer on it. At least no Timer that I ever saw

I have a wonderful time playing games in a relaxed mode. I just wish there where more racing and combat games that could be played with out a timer on them. I have seen very few games that don't have a timer

I would buy some of these companies games a bit more often if there was a way to turn off the games timers unfortunately many games are designed for that feature in them.

I love billiards and other pool games the only time I don't is when the game has a timer on me.

I loved the graphics and game play that I saw in this game but I wont be able to play it due to it being one of the time management games that does not have a untimed relaxed mode.

Sighs I am on a very heavy dose of opiates today I am having a very bad pain day I wish I could go enjoy the sunshine but my pain medications are barely stopping the pain I am in today. I just hurt far to much and wish I could sleep some to escape the pain im in so I will quit typing here. Besides i am rambling to much due to being so mind zonked with pain pills mucking up my thinking .

Thank you GGAOTD and Thank You Alaware. Thank you for letting me ramble and thank you for the great games sadly I have to pass on this one until Alaware decides to release it in a true untimed mode then I will be only to happy to add it to my collection of games.

Thanks for listening to this Hopping Mad semi Old Toad
Signed
Rick The Flatulent Frog


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

Hi rick, thanks for sharing your pain. There's a thread over in the forums, can't remember th exact titlew, but it sort of goes like 'The old Godgers thread', I started it to explain my problems and others also posted. It was a good thread for sharing, and from it I became really friendly with one of the guys who shared. If I can find the time to find the thread I'll email it to you 9assuming the email you use to post your comments is a real email.

I think its appalling what those doctors did to you. I was lucky as I had a brilliant solicitor and a Queens Council was brought in to argue my case (after they tried to discredit me). The defendants doctors tried the same trick on me i.e. said the back problems were Degenerative Disk Disease.

Thankfully being a keen photographer we had loads of images of myself beofre the accident showing me carrying my children, standing next to my wife and doing lots of physical activity. Photo's were taken post accident of the bruising, and also you could see a significant difference between my height and my wifes compared to pre accident images. when she stood next to me the top of her head used to come to the lower part of my chin, post accident it was just below my nose. The bad bend in my back was also absent pre accident. these and examinations for several specialists (i had to pay for these) supported my case, so I thankfully won.

I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your case. Ids there any way you could appeal?

Edit:

I found the thread, it was called Old codger or just medically downgraded! you can find the thread via the following link:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3577

I want to thank everyone who took the time to respond to me. I will be checking back tomorrow, but comments made then probably won't get past moderation, so I wanted to express thanks while this comment had a chance of being posted. :) And as always, thanks to WhiteRabbit for the feedback and for his excellent moderation.




........................................Moderator Comment.......................
Hi Laurel, I do moderate after the game giveaway has finished, but generally not frequently. It really depends on how busy I am during the week and also how the community have responed to that particular giveaway.

At the moment we are still in flux at home, with building work still continuing. My computer is being shared at the moment as I've still not fixed my wifes laptop and one of the family computers still needs a new operating system installed (I was sold a non genuine copy early last year and now need to replace it). :)

Have a great week.

Not a great fan of TM games, though I do enjoy the farm Frenzy series, but agree with those complaining of not being able to progress until you successfully complete each level. "My farm Life", like another recent offering here - "Spirits of Metropolis", fails miserably in that respect; you hit one level you cannot complete in time and you are permanently stuck there, you never see the rest of the game, being consigned to repeat that one level over and over in hopes of maybe slipping in one second under the timer ...or deleting the game and moving on. (Haven't gotten stuck on this one yet, but will be appropriately irritated if i do.)

Farm Frenzy handled that aspect of the game much better. Don't finish in time? you don't get the gold medal for that level ...but you can keep playing.





........................................Moderator Comment.......................

Thank you for your feedback jgf :)

There are a number of aggravating factors about this game but the most aggravating is not being able to move things around without time being subtracted.
When you buy an animal you shouldn't have to spend time placing it on the screen.
It's nice to be able to move things around but it just not smooth - sometimes stuff gets in the way because each item takes a certain amount of space. You should be able to buy and sell and rearrange things before the time starts.





........................................Moderator Comment.......................

Thank you for your feedback Skybase. :)

https://www.virustotal.com/el/file/a03f6a9216829442b24bdfb41dd664db49a0f99fa2195df7bb3e3f4a28f436b7/analysis/1390759790/



........................................Moderator Comment.......................

Thank you for posting nikos. no one else has reported problems. the giveaway team check all games before they are put up for download to ensure they are free of malware. no game since the inception of the project back in December 2006 (2nd) has been shown to have malware. Only one of the malware suites has picked up a threat. Also we've got the game from a very reputable source, so it's very very likely to be a false positive. :D

Time management games are my favourite as they give a true active challenge to handle a specific task, do it and do it correctly within the time allotted - just like project management. This one in particular isn't always the same repetitive task, and that's what I love from it. Why go through this stress? I like that it manages to really take me out of my work in a challenging way for a little while - there is however no need to complete the whole game in a specific time period. It stimulates your neurons, manages to captivate the player. While some levels are really difficult, nothing prevents us to keep trying, and that's what I do. I just wish there were more of this type of games with variations such as this one offers. Luv it, I want more! Thank you!

.........................Moderator Comment...................

Thank you for your feedback Suzanne :)

#2: " Can a fan of this genre enlighten me on why you love it so much?"

Purely FWIW, & from a more analytical standpoint...

I think all games provide a challenge, with the goal of giving the player a sense of accomplishment once that challenge is met. Many, like Match 3 & TM games, provide distraction by not giving you time to think of anything else, TM more so than Match 3, and that provides many of the same benefits as basic meditation, while at the same time exercising parts of the brain you may not use otherwise, & that's good for you too.

I believe that what types of games a person likes, &/or how they perceive a game or class of games, really depends on what they want to project into the game as much as stuff like whether they find the challenge worthwhile, or whether the challenge may be more than they're looking for, or whether the story or subject of the game turns them on or off etc.

Some people think that with TM games the graphics are poor or too cartoonish, or that the story line is too childish, or that the tasks are too much like work, or that there is no challenge & so on... My wife loves them, but she doesn't really *see* the storyline or the graphics or any of that. She likes the basic game play, & assuming she finds it playable, she'll sit down for a few or however many hours & play something like My Farm Life straight through. To her the time limits & higher speed are a plus -- having to go that fast IS what provides the distraction, & she'll abandon a slower paced TM game because it's too boring.


...........................Moderator Comment...........................

Thanks for your feedback Mike.

#2 Laurel, I'm so happy to hear there have been studies about using games for pain. I've had chronic pain for 7 years now and I find that playing Match 3 games is a good distraction as long as there's a relaxed mode. I also get frustrated with Time Management games, and stress is bad for pain. For some reason, Farm Frenzy is the only one I can tolerate for a few levels, probably because I can beat the clock, so it's good for a change now and then.

I tried this one. Installed and activated fine on Win 7/64.

Like other games it insisted on blasting music as it was starting up and I was forced to enter my name before I could get to the options. I hate that rude intrusion and for the life of me I can't understand the point. If I want to listen to music while playing, I probably have hundreds of options both online and off to listen to music of my own preference. I always turn game music off and set sounds so low I can barely hear them. So I guess I should say that I appreciate the ability to adjust volume or turn it off.

I chose to play in relaxed mode, but after it got past the first few tutorial sessions, it switched to timed mode. I exited and tried again, and no matter how often I chose relaxed, it gave me a timer. I couldn't get done in time after several tries, and that was one of the early levels, so I don't see me playing this further. It would be much better if I could continue playing until the level was completed, with a points penalty for taking too long. I don't need the stress that comes from having to start over and over without being allowed to finish, even when it's game play.

I like the graphics and the basic idea. I enjoyed it for a bit. Even though I don't usually play time management games, this one would be a keeper if there was a true relaxed mode with no time limit.

..............................Moderator Comment...........................

Thanks fir your feedback Dani. I found games helped with pain management shortly after my accident over 8 years ago. I already payed quite a lot of games. when I returned to gaming about 3 months after my accident, I discovered while playing my games I didn't notice the pain. This was a blessing as I was and still am suffering from chronic pain. My doctor said my brain will one day become accustomed to the pain and will filter it out, but apparently that can take 20 years.

This game installed easily in my win7/64 system and works fine. IMO it's not as good as Farm Frenzy that was GGOTD recently, but many thanks anyway to Alawar and GGOTD for the chance to check it out. As others have said, this game needs to give more time in levels before forcing you to retry, or do like Farm Frenzy and just don't award a trophy if you go past the time but still let you finish the level and advance. **A note to Alawar, after playing the giveaway version of Farm Frenzy I purchased three of the sequels and am looking for the rest of them to buy. They're just FUN! Thank you.

..........................Moderator Comment...................................

I rarely play time Managmentgames, but loved the Farm Frenzy series. Got the first few free as I beta tested them for alawar; bought a couple more, then decided all Alawar were doing is re skinning the games, so stopped after Pizza Party.

I was about to download this game,when I noticed the feedback about lack of the relaxed mode... yeah no need for another stressful game... back to relaxing games on Facebook :D

Time management games are my favorite! I like this game, enjoying the format. Thanks for a cute time management game (harder to find lately.)



................................Moderator.....................................


:)

Look at the cute lil ducks! Look at the cute lil sheep! Look at the cute lil cow!!! I LOV LOV LOV THEM ALL each and every one (said tiny tim to mr. scrooge) Moo! Quack!

but BAH (like a sheep) for another game with a STRESSFUL make me twitchy twitchy time limit! I wanna milk the sheep and sheer the cows (WAIT switch that) at my own slow slower s--l--o--w--e--s--t pace.


................................Moderator.....................................


:)

This is a really cute game! Great graphics, color palette and animations. Music is nice but a little more up-beat than I like but is in keeping with the time management concept. I did get through 7 levels in expert time but failed on the 8th because I didn't see the water trough for the goose so will have to replay that level. And although I have gotten this far in the game in expert, the game will probably be too fast for me to finish. One reason why I would not buy this game.

As cute as it is, there are a couple of things I would like to see changed or at least considered for any more games from this developer.

o The mouse is hard-coded for right-handed people which makes it very difficult to play with a mouse set for lefties.

o As already mentioned, a RELAXED mode would be much appreciated. Could still be timed but with the times much more generous. I think developers do themselves a disservice by making games so time-restrictive. Some people (like me) enjoy playing games like this one but are reluctant to pay money for them.

o Failed levels must be replayed in order to proceed. Would be more to my liking if the failed levels could be skipped and then replayed later. There is nothing I hate more than starting a good game and being unable to finish because of not being able to pass a level.

Even though I probably will not be able to finish, I am still giving it a thumbs up for those who can!

Thanks GGOTD & Alawar Entertainment for giving us the opportunity to play this game!


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

Thank you for your excellent feedback TopazMystigue

I completely agree with that assessment. I also only play games that allow relaxed mode. I know I miss out on some pretty good games because of that, but I don't play games to get stressed. I play them to calm myself. I like mindless games like match three but prefer hidden object games. There doesn't seem to be too many of those out there these days. I wish I knew how to create them myself so I could create some new ones. This game has beautiful graphics, and I'd love to try playing it, but just thinking of the "time management" part of it, makes me anxious so I'll be skipping this one as well. Thanks for everyone who does contribute to this site though. See ya again soon! :-)



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

Thank you for your feedback

Hi Stephen and Laurel.

I am also a chronic pain sufferer and never understood the attraction of, or had much interest in, TMG's like this. They tend to give me a bit of stress instead of relaxation; give me nearly any game in relaxed mode, without a timer, any day! I enjoy many different kinds of games, so it isn't as much the type but the ability of the game to involve me totally -without stress or tension- that takes my mind off the pain.

Couldn't agree more with both of you. Pass on this one.
John


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

Thank you for your feed back John

I ussualy enjoy these kinda games, but mostly they aren't with a timer. The girl runs way too fast, and the screen flickers a lot with white boxes in the explanation phase, maybe just my laptop? So I think I will remove it, pity, ussualy I like this genre.


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

Thank you for your feedback

I guess this is one genre of games I just don't get. Time Management games always seem too much like work to me! I play games to escape from chores. I've tried a couple (mostly through here,) but I probably haven't played any past the first few levels before feeling it's too much like work. Can a fan of this genre enlighten me on why you love it so much?

Let me add, they've actually done studies proving that CERTAIN casual games are great as part of a pain management regimen. They recommend a specific genre of casual games: Match 3. Supposedly, it's the perfect mix of needing attention/focus, but not being at all stressful. As someone with chronic pain, I've actually found that match 3 games are the best when I'm in too much pain to concentrate on anything, but only those I can play in "relaxed mode." Add in the timer, and it's a pain increaser, instead of a pain reliever. Maybe that's my problem with TMG--the genre name IS managing time, so a relaxed mode would defeat the purpose.

...........................Moderator Comment.................................

Hi Laurel,

I agree with you on both Time Management games and the use of games to help distract from the pain. It's one of the reasons I purchase and play so many games.

My Farm Life v1.0:



Installation:


My Farm Life downloads to a 56.6MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup activation file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus there's a setup file with security (setup.gcd) that's protected from being hacked. This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it will be a false positive. The game giveaway team check all game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006.

The installed game is 53.3MB and installs to the following path:


C:\Games\MyFarmLife_game




There is no shortcut installed to the start menu/programs or the desktop, so you will need to follow the default installation path (unless you direct the installation to another path) so that you can create a shortcut. Once installed you can delete the giveaway setup files.

I've only tested the game on Win 7 and Win 8.1 , and My Farm Life works okay. My other operating systems are not available at this time due to updating my older computers, but, according to the developer this game also works on XP and Vista

Introduction:

This game has never been given away here before.





If you miss My Farm Life today you can get it from MyPlayCity (MPC) and Jenkat Games 24/7 but do remember the toolbars/home page changes and browser changes via MPC that you get if you don't unceck the check boxes during installation. MyPlayCity games are particularily aggressive, and, at the mopment i've been told that they force you to follow one of the negatives befgore you can install the game (i.e. allow a toolbar or home page change).




Developers Introduction:

Help Lisa win the Show of the Year and the Farmer of the Year awards! Plant and harvest crops, milk cows and shear sheep, and purchase equipment to produce the goods her customers want, all while smiling for the cameras!
One minute, Lisa is signing a contract to be the star of a new show; the next, she's knee-deep in chores as she starts taping the first episode of My Farm Life! Plant and harvest crops, milk cows and shear sheep, and purchase equipment to produce the goods Lisa's customers want, all while smiling for the cameras. With the help of a local merchant and three super-powered assistants, Lisa should have no trouble meeting her goals. Just remember to hire a dog to chase off thieves! Can you win the Show of the Year and the Farmer of the Year awards?

Reference accessed HERE Jan 26th 2014

The Game:

My Farm Life is another faming time management game with some nice twists
When naive Lisa signs a contract to star in a new TV show, she is completely unaware that this is not for a sophisticated soap opera, but rather a farming reality show. This is the premise of My Farm Life, a game that is very similar to the Ranch Rush series, albeit with some interesting twists.

My Farm Life features 50 levels and two modes, namely casual and expert mode. Depending on how quickly you finish any level you will get an expert rating, which means more money and a better starting position for the next level. The game offers a lot of playing time and can easily compete with similar titles in this respect. For variation there is also a lasso mini-game thrown in on a regular basis where the player can earn additional money by encircling identical animals. Moreover, you can earn up to 35 achievements.

With regards to the gameplay, My Farm Life is relatively tame when it comes to innovation and originality. Crops can be planted on soil and must be watered, animals have to be fed with grass and water to produce eggs, milk, or wool, and machines will process those products into different goods. On each level you will have to fulfill different orders, but they always consist of delivering a specific number of certain products to the barn. In what is by now a standard feature of these types of games, you’re able to reorganize the farm at any time by repositioning machines, buildings, crops and other stuff wherever you want to in order to make the work a little easier and more effective for Lisa.

The interesting features introduced by My Farm Life reminded us of Farm Craft, including the ability to call helpers, the alternation of day and night as well as the aforementioned mini game. Of course the number of new features is rather limited, but they are really fun and add a lot to the game. Calling helpers is tied to your show’s rating, and the rating is increased by performing the same action multiple times in a row, for example planting or watering crops and delivering products to the barn. The higher your rating, the more skilled the helper is that you may call. Unfortunately those helpers can be too helpful, especially if they collect and deliver crops or raw products from animals to the barn which you actually need for a machine.

The alternation of day and night, on the other hand, works extremely well. Thieves (who are hired by the show’s producers!) will try to steal crops and products, and have to be chased away by your flashlight or dogs. Animals will go to sleep and stop producing during the night, and a night trader will offer various products to help you reach your goal. This adds another level of complexity to the game, and despite the lack of true innovation, the mixture of entertaining elements from other farming games works very well.

What also works incredibly well is the constant addition of new upgrades, crops, animals, and other features that will surprise you in nearly every level. Thus My Farm Life never seems to get repetitive or boring and it’s certainly an aspect that will please a lot of time management fans. The graphics of the game are charming too, and the animations of the animals are funny to watch.

In the end, My Farm Life is a solid and rewarding time management game without any outstanding features or aspects. If you are tired of farming games or never really liked this niche of the time management genre, you will probably want to pass on this game. If this does not apply to you then My Farm Life will certainly charm you with gorgeous graphics, a quirky storyline and a huge number of products, achievements, and features to keep you motivated.



Reference accessed HERE 25th January 2014


Features:


☆ Fast Paced

☆ Aim to become Farmer of the Year

☆ Two modes Casual and Expert




System Requirements:


Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8
CPU: 1.0 GHz
System RAM: 512 MB
DirectX: 9.0
Hard Drive Space: 56 MB

















Video & Images



You can see a slideshow of about 25 images showing the introduction to the game with story board HEREYou’ll find videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.



Conclusion:

A typical farm based time management game with a casual and expert mode
Pros:
Cute storyline. Very decent playing time. Casual and Expert modes. Achievements. Engaging pace. Interesting use of day and night.
Cons:
Unoriginal theme. Helpers are a nice idea, but the execution is flawed.



Scoring

Gameplay – 7
Graphics – 7
Audio – 6 (okay but gets annoying after a while)
Re-playability – 7
Originality – 6

Total = 33 which equates to 6.6 out of 10





Problems:

If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game discussion section. If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed. It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them as is Fropsty Splash from Gametop, MyPlayCity and FreeGamePick.

If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go HERE for help.

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Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problemsl>:






If you're looking for something other than today's game check the didimatic site via THIS link for some brilliant deals.

There are loads of l other deals available from Steam as well as many more from Gamersgate, Gamestop, GameFly Greenman Gaming and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above (apart from Greenman gaming and Gamefly).

If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles or the four day sales at IndieGameStand. There's at least 14 + game bundles live at the moment (most are from Bundle Stars) and all of which are amazing deals. Finally, check out (at the moment an interesting game called Derrick Deathfin)

My favorite client Steam have some decent sales with up to 90% off at least one gasme (Defenders Quest), 85% off Sanctum 1 & 2 and all dlc, 75% off The Bureau: XCom Declassified, 80% off Retro City Rampage, 80% off electronic Super Joy, 75% off syder Arcade, 75% off Bionic Dues, 75% off Jack Keane 2 - The Fire within, 75% off syberia I & II as well as loads of other great deals (63 items on sale at the moment). There's also a few hours left to play Sanctum 2 for free (ends at 6pm GMT)

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A Request for helpl>:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you’ve checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

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