DragonVale
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Daily App: DragonVale lets you breed Dragons and build elaborate parks
DragonVale from BackFlip Studios debuted in 2011 and has continued to improve over time. The games lets you raise a farm of dragons, with Farmville-style rules. DragonVale is all about dragons letting you hatch new dragons, breed dragons to get different breeds and acquire seasonal dragons that only are available for a short period of time. You are given two dragons at the start and new dragons do cost in-game currency, which you can earn or purchase in-app. As you hatch you more dragons, you can buy new habitats for them, expanding beyond the one island that you are granted at the beginning. DragonVale is filled with a variety items for your dragon. You can buy breeding caves to make new dragons, decorations to makes your island unique, add new islands to expand your habitat into a full-fledged park and acquire other structures like a mini coliseum to race your dragons. Like Backflip's other titles, DragonVale is very well done. The pace is perfect -- fast enough to keep your interests, but not frantic and stress-inducing. The game builds up nicely, with colorful and fun art. There's a social aspect to the game that allows you to add friends via Facebook or GameCenter and send them in-game gifts. You can even share your Dragon parks and visit other random parks to see what other DragonVale players are building. DragonVale is free in the iOS App Store. It is compatible with the iPhone and iPad. There are no ads, but the app does include in-app purchases.
WoW in the Wild: Blizzard dragon
We don't feature every little appearance of WoW out there in the world, but it's a Sunday and a bit of frivolity is a nice way to finish off the weekend. The Blizzard dragon you see above is from the mobile gaming phenom Dragonvale. The point of that game is to breed all the different dragons and raise them up to level 20 by feeding them. It's a nice little casual game, so I loved this friendly shout out to our beloved Blizzard. Obviously, the lost Ice Kings are a shout out to the Lost Vikings, though the Berrywhite Mountains are more likely a reference to a certain velvet-voiced singer.
New games and updates on the App Store: Hunger Games, Dragonvale, more
Angry Birds Space wasn't the only big new release to hit the App Store last night. Here are some other noteworthy apps and updates that are now available (all prices are USD). Canabalt creator Adam Saltzman's new game, which is based on the upcoming Hunger Games movie, is now available as a free promotional app. It looks excellent, and features Saltzman's game design prowess as well as music from composer Danny B. Hunters 2 is a sequel to the great turn-based strategy title that looks awesome. It's $4.99. Chillingo has dropped an endless runner game in which you control a roller coaster called MadCoaster, as well as a good-looking physics puzzler called Light the Flower. Both are 99 cents. Swordigo is a 2D hack-and-slash RPG with impressive graphics. It's launching at $1.99. BattleLoot Adventure is a Final Fantasy-style RPG that looks excellent. It costs $0.99 Smule has released a brand new title called Beatstream that turns your own music into a playable game for $0.99. Pocket Gems has released a new freemium title called Tap Paradise Cove. 99 Games' Nightclub Mayhem has arrived on the iPad for $0.99. Big updates include the beautiful Zen Bound 2 ($0.99) which is now ready for the new iPad. DragonVale (free) got a nice update with a new dragon to seek out, and new buildings to put up. And Scribblenauts Remix ($0.99) has some new spring break content to download and play with. Man, that's a lot of new games and content to play with. Stay tuned, as we'll be covering a few of these more closely in the days to come.
Daily iPhone App: DragonVale
DragonVale is the newest game from Backflip Studios, a company we've covered in detail here on the site before. It represents kind of a new direction for the company, too -- so far, CEO Julian Farrior and his team have gone after mostly ad views, selling cheap or even free apps to lots and lots of people, and then using ads to monetize them. And Farrior has always said that he's open to monetizing apps in all kinds of ways, so here's another: DragonVale is Backflip's take on the popular freemium model going around lately. The idea is that you're raising a farm of dragons, more or less, and all of the standard "Farmville" style rules apply: hatch dragons into habitats which earn you money, enabling you to build more dragons and habitats all the way up the chain. And DragonVale isn't a bad example of this game -- it builds up nicely, the art is colorful and fun (Backflip actually hired a former Insomniac Games artist who previously worked on the Ratchet and Clank series), and everything runs quite smoothly. If you're a fan of the genre (or want an easy and comfortable way to see what it's all about), DragonVale is worth checking out. It'll be interesting to see how this goes for Backflip as well -- as I said, generally the company has depended on larger audiences to support its games, and a title like this definitely could use a big audience, but even moreso requires that dedicated group of players willing to commit a few bucks (or more) to buying the in-game currency. If this all goes well for Backflip, we might see lots more of this from them in the future.
