Playdom & Atakama Labs Launch New Terraforming Title on Facebook

Playdom has published its latest Facebook title built by an outside developer: Terranova, by Atakama Labs. Atakama is an advocate of “meaningful games,” and this eco-friendly application -- complete with environmental factoids -- is about using a virtual space to terraform a desolate desert world. Terranova doesn't innovate much within the virtual space genre, but it does have an off-beat premise that offers the user a satisfying visual sense of progression. Nevertheless, this the the kind of game we’ve come to expect from Playdom: technically perfect, but repetitive and dull after a while. Players play the role of a crashed spaceman (or spacegirl) who must transform a wasteland planet into a thriving, livable, environment. To do this, players plant various forms of flora ranging from simple cacti to tropical palms. The idea is to slowly build up the planet’s “bio health”, as indicated by a gauge at the top of the screen. Different plants will improve bio health rating by different amounts. Each plant must also be watered periodically, costing both energy and water. The challenge is that there is not a lot of fertile ground in the beginning. As players level up, more and more of the ground becomes green and lush -- this is the visually satisfying part. Decorating a world is nice, but watching the world transform is gratifying. However, changing the whole world is going to take a while. It is a big world with a lot of space, compared to most virtual space games. At the lowest levels, there are six sizeable areas to explore and decorate. Many areas have special items that can be placed there. Items are introduced through a quests, which act as a secondary tutorial in the beginning. For example, the first quest is to find a glacier. Once discovered, players can use the virtual currency Terracash to purchase a machine called a water drill. Like most games that require players to spend energy to advance, both energy and water generate slowly. However, machines like the water drill will produce water more quickly. Other machines grant similar bonuses such as refilling energy, increasing water capacity, and so on. But every machine the player builds takes away from the bio health of the planet, so a balance must be kept. Every couple of hours, the user can perform a “Bio Audit.” With this mechanic, a monetary reward is granted based on factors such as bio health, biodiversity (the variety of plants one has), daily bonuses, and how many friends play too. But money can be earned other ways. Every plant, and some of the decorations, produce collection bonuses. Plants produce a small amount of coin, while items like a beehive produce sellable honey. Like Zynga’s FrontierVille, trash, toxic geysers, and toxic waste from machines fill up the land and must be cleaned up. With the proper equipment, these can be collected and disposed of for coin as well. The social features of Terranova feel a bit drab. They are basic, standardized elements: leaderboards, visiting friends' virtual spaces, and gifting. But the occasional social quests stand out. One involves finding and unlocking a hidden treasure chest and requires friends to send specific gifts (e.g. a key) to help users accomplish it. Terranova does a pretty good job at bringing the world to life with a number of details that add flair to the world, e.g. insects are attracted to certain items. There is always a gratifying sense of progression, but most of the game is unoriginal. The concept is still plant, water, harvest. The bio health stat helps to mitigate these time-worn mechanics, but it just doesn’t make a big difference. It’s still farming game -- only in space.

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Playdom & Atakama Labs Launch New Terraforming Title on Facebook

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack