| Not because of the delay, mind you, but because around 6 P.M. I downloaded Jewel Quest 2, and now I didn’t want to stop playing. Surely he could have worked another hour or so, right? Well, okay, maybe not, but I was really amused at my own reaction. I’d gotten all the way to the fourth set of boards, the story was getting really good (yes, there’s a whole story this time, complete with romance, heartbreak, and hungry lions), I’d managed to build up a whole stash of special move tokens, and the notion of just shutting it down for the night seemed… well, practically anathema.
I contented myself by rambling on at him about it the whole way home. It’s rare that a sequel game really improves on a good original to the point where it’s even more fun, but the folks at IWin did everything right with this one. It’s funny: the original Jewel Quest was the first game I ever wrote about here at MSN Games, and now I find myself cheerfully obsessed with it all over again. I already can’t wait for lunch today, so that I can grab a sandwich or something else that only takes one hand to eat, and spend a bit more quality time solving jewel boards.
Pumpin’ up the “Wow”
Needless to say, the big news around here this week is the launch of Windows Vista. The whole company has been celebrating for two days! (Bill Gates even appeared on the Daily Show to talk about Vista… of course, the Daily Show being the Daily Show, things turned out rather silly. Check out Jon Stewart taking the opportunity to ask a question that has obviously bothered him for a while: what the heck does the F12 key do, anyway?) And on our side of things, the “new hotness” is a group of eight casual games enhanced for Windows Vista. Some of ‘em are exclusive to MSN Games, and the rest have content exclusive to the Vista-enhanced version, so we’re feeling pretty darn proud about that. Here’s the rundown:
Currently available
Darwinia for Windows Vista – exclusive content for this version
Jewel Quest 2 – MSN Games exclusive!
Luxor 2 for Windows Vista – exclusive content for this version
Spinword for Windows Vista – MSN Games exclusive!
Coming soon
7 Wonders of the Ancient World for Windows Vista – exclusive content for this version
Bliss Island for Windows Vista – exclusive content for this version
Crystal Quest for Windows Vista – MSN Games exclusive!
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved – MSN Games exclusive!
For the whole scoop, and to download free trial versions, check out this article!
Badges, redux
I was rambling on about badges in last week’s Coffee Break (ironic, since I completely neglected to win last week’s badge… d’oh!), and became curious as to whether anyone out there might have all of our special achievement badges. Well, I still don’t have an answer to that question, but a couple of folks wrote in to share badge stories and forum links… check out this thread on MSN, where some very skilled and dedicated players are sharing their badge totals. Big, big kudos to all the unofficial members of the “1000 Badges Club”!
As for special achievement badges, the highest reported total so far is 89. Does anyone out there have more? If so, let me know!
Tech time
Well, it’s not so much a technical issue, but it seems that some folks have been having trouble getting their Virtual Villagers to the point where their little island paradise is self-sufficient. As I mentioned last week, I managed to neglect my first village into extinction, so I had to start over with a new group of villagers. And fortunately, I learned from my mistakes.
In the beginning of the game, your villagers will subsist solely on what they can harvest from the nearby berry bush. Trouble is, although there are plenty of berries on the bush, it’s not enough to support even your starting population forever, let alone any offspring. So the best bet, as soon as you start out, is to check the Details screen to see which of your villagers might have talent as a Builder. Move him or her immediately over to the well, to get started on uncovering it (this is critical). Teach two villagers how to forage from the berry bush, and then teach all others to start researching. As soon as your builder has uncovered the well, add him to the research crew. Keep a good eye on all these characters for a while, to make sure they don’t slack off or switch jobs!
If you’ll look at the Tech menu, you’ll see that several areas of research are available. The only really important one right now is Farming. Don’t squander your accumulated points on anything else until you can buy the first improvement in farming. In fact, once you’ve accumulated a decent store of berries in your shed, you can take one of your farmers and teach him or her to research as well.
Once you buy the first level of Farming, you can finally start settling your village properly. Drag your two farmers to the tilled soil near the research table, and they’ll start planting crops (if you’re worried about food in the short term, you can tell one to farm the field while letting the other one forage from the berry bush). Move your builder over to the unfinished hut, so he or she can build new housing for your villagers. You might even want to train one of your scientists to be a healer – by letting her study the medicinal cactus at the north end of the island – so they can take care of any illnesses.
Once your crops are growing and your new hut is finished, it’ll be time to start thinking about expanding the population… but for now, just enjoy the fact that your villagers have enough to eat.
See you next week! | |
