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Growtopia

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Growtopia
Developer(s)Ubisoft Abu Dhabi[a]
Ubisoft Pune
Publisher(s)Ubisoft[b]
Designer(s)
Artist(s)Mike Hommel (2013-2017)
Composer(s)Cory Mollenhour
Platform(s)Android
iOS
Microsoft Windows
OS X
Release
November 30, 2012
  • Android
    November 30, 2012
    iOS
    January 11, 2013
    Microsoft Windows
    July 9, 2013
    OS X
    July 27, 2013
    Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
    July 18, 2019
Genre(s)Sandbox, adventure
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Growtopia is a massively multiplayer online sandbox video game where players can chat, farm, add friends, trade, build worlds, and engage in player versus player combat.[1] The game was initially released on Android in November 2012, and has been released for iOS, Microsoft Windows, and OS X since then. In 2019, it was released on Nintendo Switch,[2] PlayStation 4[3] and Xbox One.[4] The servers for the console versions were shut down on July 30, 2020.[5]

On February 28, 2017, a Ubisoft acquirement of Growtopia was announced and was completed during Ubisoft's 2016-17 fourth quarter, with the original developers being design and general advisors to the game's continued development.[6] Growtopia utilizes the freemium model.[7]

Gameplay

Growtopia is a 2D massively multiplayer online sandbox video game based around the idea that most of the in-game items can be grown from seeds of trees.[8] The game has no end goals or 100% completion, however, there is an achievement system and quests to complete from non-player characters.

When a new player joins, they are sent to a private world called Tutorial, which teaches them the basics of the game by giving them quests through an item called the Growpedia. The player starts out with two basic tools: a fist for punching and breaking blocks and a wrench for editing block properties. Once they have finished the tutorial, they are sent to a world called Start so that they can learn more about the game.

Players can visit other people's worlds or create their own. When a player creates a new world, the world will be procedurally generated. Worlds in Growtopia have the same size, with the exception of some worlds created by the original developers (such as the world Tiny). Players can break and build blocks, get seeds or gems from blocks, plant seeds, and harvest trees. Players cannot interact with the world if it is locked by someone else.

Players can lock areas by using different sizes of locks: Small Lock, Big Lock, Huge Lock, and World Lock (there are also other types of locks such as Diamond Locks, which have the same function as World Locks). The game also contains types of locks that change certain aspects of how the world functions. When a player has locked an area, they can allow other people to interact with the area by giving them access through the lock. Locks also act as the main form of tradable currency.[8]

Development

Production of Growtopia started in 2012, when designer Seth Robinson made six mockup screenshots outlining the premise of the game of which he originally called Buildo, and sent it to Mike Hommel to entice him into helping with the project. The game's user interface started to take shape with Hommel's mockups.[7] On October 22, 2012, Hommel uploaded a video to his YouTube channel showing the development of the game before its release.[9]

During initial development, Robinson and Hommel brought in the help of composer Cory Mollenhour to produce Growtopia's soundtrack.[10]

After three months of development, the game was released on Android as a free beta on November 30, 2012, under the name Growtopia. They moved the game out of beta and released the full version on January 9, 2013.[7] The game has been updated ever since. On February 28, 2017, Ubisoft announced an acquisition of Growtopia. The transaction was completed during Ubisoft's 2016-17 fourth quarter, under the terms that the original developers would continue being both design and general advisors to the game's continued development.[6] A North American community management and moderation team was set up after Ubisoft's acquisition. They handed responsibility of the game's future development over to their Ubisoft Abu Dhabi team.[11] The team has been working continuously on Growtopia ever since.

Release

The game can be played on multiple operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android. The iOS version was released on January 11, 2013, after the initial release for Android on November 30, 2012. Following these mobile releases, the game was brought to computers; a Windows beta version was released on July 9, 2013, and a OS X version was released on July 27, 2013.

Growtopia was available for a period of time on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One from July 18, 2019, to July 30, 2020, before being discontinued in order to "allocate all resources back to support the Mobile and PC version".[5] The decision to discontinue all console support was declared on April 27, 2020, and had followed from a previous announcement on January 19, 2020, which had notified the community that there would no longer be any major updates or annual events for the consoles platforms, as their team only had "limited resources available". An Ubisoft Abu Dhabi team member stated that since there were "many, many more players playing on Android, iOS, and PC", they were going to focus their resources back towards those platforms.[12]

Reception

Growtopia received "mixed or average" reviews from critics according to review aggregator GameRankings.[13]

Jay Is Games described the game as "simple and easy enough to work on the mobile platform (and be fun for kids), but with enough room for customization and socialization".[16] 148Apps gave the game a 4/5, saying "the crafting mechanic is unique".[14] Pocket Gamer's Peter Willington scored the game 6 out of 10, said he dislikes the crude menus, the UI is bland and cramped and hates the character design.[15] TouchArcade wrote "With online games like this that take place in persistent worlds where everyone can interact, you’ll no doubt get some people trying to destroy things and generally make life tough for everyone else".[17]

Notes

  1. ^ Developed by Robinson Technologies and Hamumu Software until 2017.
  2. ^ Published by Robinson Technologies until 2017.

References

  1. ^ "Growtopia". Growtopia. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  2. ^ "Growtopia for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details". Nintendo.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  3. ^ Massongill, Justin (July 12, 2019). "The Drop: New PlayStation Games for July 16, 2019". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  4. ^ "Growtopia on Microsoft Store". Microsoft. Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Suddi, Aran (June 16, 2020). "Growtopia will be shutting down on consoles at the end of July". TheSixthAxis. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Kerr, Chris (March 1, 2017). "Ubisoft acquires massively multiplayer social game, Growtopia". Gamasutra. UBM Technology Group. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c Robinson, Seth (June 19, 2013). "Two guys made an MMO: The Growtopia Postmortem". IndieGames.com. UBM Technology Group. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Polson, John (January 12, 2013). "Free Mobile Pick: Growtopia (Robinson, Hommel)". IndieGames.com. UBM Technology Group. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  9. ^ Hommel, Mike (October 22, 2012). "Hamumu Develog!!! #9". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 22, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  10. ^ Mollenhour, Cory (2013). "Growtopia - Title Theme" (PDF). cory.mollenhour.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  11. ^ "Growing into Growtopia". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  12. ^ "An Update About the State of Consoles". Growtopia Forums. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Growtopia for iOS (iPhone/iPad) - Game Rankings". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  14. ^ a b LeFebvre, Rob (January 22, 2013). "Growtopia (iOS) Review on 148Apps". 148Apps. Steel Media Limited. Archived from the original on March 4, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  15. ^ a b Willington, Peter (January 28, 2013). "Growtopia (iOS/Android) Review on Pocket Gamer". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Limited. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  16. ^ "Growtopia - Walkthrough, Tips, Review". Jay Is Games. January 12, 2013. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  17. ^ Nelson, Jared (January 11, 2013). "'Growtopia' is a Free 2D Sandbox MMO that You Should Try". TouchArcade. MacRumors.com, LLC. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
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