MouseHunt
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| MouseHunt | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | HitGrab, Inc. |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | 7 March 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Multiplayer Browser Game |
MouseHunt is a popular Facebook application in which players, referred to as hunters, catch mice with a variety of traps in order to earn experience points and virtual gold through passive gameplay. From time to time the developers add new locations and mice as well as sponsor periodic giveaways and tournaments. MouseHunt was developed by HitGrab, Inc. under the direction of Bryan Freeman and Joel Augé and released to a select group of participants for beta testing in early 2008. On 7 March 2008, MouseHunt was officially released to the general public. Just nine months later, MouseHunt earned its creators a $250,000 development grant from Facebook.[1] Though MouseHunt was originally catered for the US population, specifically those who live in GMT-8 to GMT-4, Mousehunt is hugely popular in msny Asian Countries.
Story
The game of MouseHunt is set in the fantasy kingdom of Gnawnia. The player is a hunter, hired by the King of Gnawnia to catch mice that infest the kingdom by using virtual traps, bases and cheese.
Gameplay
MouseHunt is a passive game. The player, which acts as a hunter, arms his or her trap and baits it with cheese and can then sound the "Hunter's Horn" as often as once every 15 minutes. Every time the player sounds the horn, he is taken on a hunt and has a possibility of catching a mouse. For each mouse the player catches, he gets a unique reward, which is a certain amount of points and gold, dependent on the breed of mouse captured. Automatic "Trap Checks" conducted at the top of each hour allow for a total of five opportunities to catch mice every hour.
Rank
As the player progresses through the game, he or she will increase in rank, in the order of Novice, Recruit, Apprentice, Initiate, Journeyman, Master, Grandmaster, Legendary, Hero, Knight, Lord/Lady, Baron/Baroness and Count/Countess.
Locations
When the player first starts out, there is only 1 area available to them. When they level up, more locations are unlocked for them. Additionally, they will need to collect map pieces in order to get access to other locations. There are a total of 28 locations in the game, grouped into eight regions.
Traps
A trap setup consists of a trap, a base and a piece of cheese. They range from the simple to the many wacky ones on offer. Most of them have a certain point or rank (if crafted) requirement, restricting people with lesser points from being able to buy the trap component even if he/she has lots of gold. For example, if the points requirement of a certain trap is 3 million points, and the player has 2 million points, he would be unable to buy the item, despite having sufficient gold. This is to prevent players from "buying their way" through the game. Traps are either bought, or crafted. For traps that can be bought, they can be found at certain stores, called Trapsmiths, and they can be refunded too (for 18% of the original cost). Traps also have power types, and it would influence the effectiveness of the trap against certain types of mice.
Cheese
There is a very large cheese variety on offer, which can be bought or crafted. Certain cheese can also be made by imbuing potions into a certain type of cheese. At present there are 5 (not including SUPER|brie+) standard cheeses that can be bought with gold at the various Cheese Shoppes in the game, namely Cheddar, Marble, Swiss, Brie and Gouda. There are 28 special cheeses that can be crafted, created with potions, or picked up as loot. There are also 2 types of cheese which were used also in special events.
Crafting
Crafting is an important element into the game, especially when people ascend ranks. A wide variety of things can be crafted, such as traps, bases and cheese. Crafting is only available to players who are Apprentice (the third rank) and above. As a person goes up in rank, he will get more "crafting slots", meaning that he can combine more items at a time. Players initially have 2 slots, increasing to a (current) maximum of 10 slots. Within the crafting section , there is also the Hunter's Hammer, which is essentially a tool to "smash" certain items, such as cheese or trap components, which usually are used to craft another item, generally other kinds of cheese or upgraded traps.
Loot
Some mice may drop loot, which includes map pieces, potions and crafting items, cheese, etc. These can usually be used in the game to accelerate progress, and is sometimes even necessary for it.
Potions
Potions are used to imbue a certain type of cheese into another type of cheese. For example, imbuing brie cheese with a Radioactive Blue Cheese curd potion would convert the brie cheese into Radioactive Blue cheese. The Developers have mentioned that in the future, potions may be used to upgrade trap components.
Catching mice
Mice are divided into different "Groups" (there are 17 as of the MouseHunt v3.0 update: Indigenous Mice, Gauntlet Gladiators, Forest Guild, The Shadow Clan, Digby Dirt Dwellers, Followers of Furoma, The Forgotten Mice, Aquatic Order, The Elub Tribe, The Nerg Tribe, The Derr Tribe, The Dreaded Horde, Draconic Brood, Balack's Banished, Seasonal Soldiers, Wizard's Pieces, and Event Mice). Members of the group share common weaknesses with the exception of the "Gauntlet Gladiators" group. There are eight power types in the game: Physical, Shadow, Tactical, Forgotten, Arcane, Hydro, Draconic and Parental, and using certain trap power types would influence the effectiveness of the trap against a mouse. Also using different kinds of cheese gives you a higher chance of attracting different varieties of mice.
Breeds of Mice
From its birth in March 2008 until now, MouseHunt has 165 breeds of mice, which increased to 242 breeds in the recent MouseHunt v3.0 update excluding the rare breeds. Some of them, when caught, will drop loot, which will be essential as players progress through the game. Along with this, there are 24 special Event/Rare Mice, some of which are released for a short period during occasional events. These mice might drop cheese and cash prizes (Amy White, a Mousehunter won $1000 CAD for being the first in catching a mouse known as the Master Burglar mouse. This mouse is now no longer a rare mouse). You are also able to catch the Leprechaun mouse, worth $25–500 (which currently has slightly less than 1000 catches and is also currently unavailable in the game) , and many other in-game prizes. The mice in this game are loosely based on real life. For example, the White, Grey and Brown mouse can be found in the Meadow and other places suitable for starters, its normal habitat. And as a further example, some of the mice which belong to the group "Followers of Furoma" practice martial arts.
Ronza's Travelling Shoppe
Ronza is a traveling merchant who travels from country to country, selling various wares such as cheese, limited edition traps or crafting materials. Occasionally, players can visit Ronza's shop, a special location in which limited edition items can be purchased. Ronza is a fictional character the game does not provide excessive information on. Her visits generally accompany special events and releases. Length of visits, available items, and location vary greatly. It is unknown if her location will be reintroduced, if ever.
Updates to MouseHunt
MouseHunt 1.0
Mousehunt 1.0 was the initial release of the game. Many of the current gameplay elements, like crafting, were still not present. Shortly after release, MouseHunt 2.0 was already in the works.
MouseHunt 2.0
Mousehunt 2.0 was the second version of the game. It boasted many more User Interface changes, along with major gameplay elements, like Crafting. It was released on 6 October 2008. This version consists of a handy toolbar with a heading at the top of the page. On the Camp page, the layout has the banner, many buttons, and the traps, journal, and a short summary by "Larry", who is a fictional knight that starts players off and gives hunting tips based on locations. It has been upgraded to version 3.0.
MouseHunt 3.0
MouseHunt 3.0 is the current Mousehunt version, nicknamed "Longtail", and has been officially released on 9 June 2010. A Longtail mouse was also released to celebrate the new version. Initially in a closed beta, the game was brought down on 8 June 2010 to upgrade to this version and it was back up by 9 June 2010 . In this version, there were major interface and gameplay changes made to the game.[2]
Developers
MouseHunt was developed by HitGrab Inc., a company based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.[3]
Donations
Players can donate to the developers of Mousehunt by buying credits in the game, which give them a certain type of cheese, called Super|Brie+. This cheese is superior to all other types of cheese in most(but not all) situations, giving the player an added advantage to catching mice. Credits can be bought using Paypal, Offerwall, Offerpal, Cherry Credits, Social Gold, SuperRewards and Facebook credits.
See also
References
External links
- MouseHunt guide
- Application (on Facebook)
- HitGrab Inc.
- MouseHunt Wiki
- Pooflinger's MouseHunt Tools
- Mousehunt Funbar
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