The Simpsons Springfield

The Simpsons Springfield
Original title	The Simpsons: Tapped Out
Studio	EA Mobile Fox Digital Entertainment Gracie Films
Publisher	EA Mobile
Erstveröffent- lichung	February 29, 2012
platform	Android , iOS , Kindle Fire
genre	Construction simulation
Game mode	Multiplayer
control	Touch screen
medium	Download
language	English, German and other languages
Age rating	USK PEGI

The Simpsons Springfield is a freemium - video game of the US publisher Electronic Arts from 2012. The mobile device with the operating systems Android , Fire OS or iOS suitable game is based on that of Matt Groening created, award-winning, American animated series of the broadcaster Fox The Simpsons . It allows the player to create his own version of Springfield, the fictional hometown of the Simpsons, with the help of known and unknown characters and buildings.

action

Homer is at his workplace at the nuclear power plant , playing an elf-related game on his myPad (parody of iPad). In doing so, he neglects his work and accidentally causes a massive meltdown, which leads to the complete destruction of Springfield. Stranded on the left, he is solely responsible for rebuilding Springfield and has to make sure that well-known residents come back. Homer is desperate to rebuild and to look for residents, because all he really wants to do is play his elf game again. However, with Lisa's help, the rebuilding is taking shape and some key figures are returning.

Game principle and technology

The game can be seen as a free city building game. It offers a variety of buildings (houses, shops, public buildings from the series), which the player buys with the in-game currency "dollars". Premium items can be earned with donuts, which you get by buying real cash. (Donuts are a reference to Homer Simpson's passion for donuts within the series.) Many buildings, as well as residents, come into play with a quest line. Characters can be sent to assignments. The tasks can be used to earn additional dollars to save them for more products. Each building regularly generates a sum in the game, usually called "income tax". Players can also place rivers, roads, pavement and decorations on free land. In 2013 the developers added the Krustyland . With a Krustyland bus you can expand into another area. In 2015, another area behind the mountains followed with Springfield Heights.

The Simpsons: Springfield is available in 18 languages. The game is powered by EA Origin, which acts as a social bridge, allowing players to log in with their Origin accounts and visit friends' cities to "harvest" three buildings once every 24 hours. In addition, such friendship visits are occasionally required at events or facilitate progress in this special level.

Since the level update from May 18, 2016, the level restriction has been virtually lifted by increasing it to level 939. This was previously at level 59. However, players from level 61 are no longer rewarded with new characters, but only with occasional small quests. The implementation of new figures should now take place in the context of "events".

Updates and modifications

The game is regularly updated with new, often season-specific content, for example during the holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween (Treehouse of Horror). Numerous updates and modifications have been released since it was released. In addition, there are temporary events where special buildings, people and decorations can be unlocked. During these events, there are also limited theme-oriented currencies (previously including snake eggs, hearts or gift cards), which can be used to buy or win limited prizes. In addition, at some events there are so-called community prizes , in which the event currencies of all players are added together and, with a certain number, special prizes are distributed to all players.

The following temporary events have occurred over time:

Event	Subject	date
Moonshine River	Episode Promo	September 28, 2012
Treehouse of Horror XXIII	Halloween	October 12, 2012 - November 8, 2012
Thanksgiving 2012	Thanksgiving	November 8, 2012
Goodsimpsons	Episode Promo	November 13, 2012
Cool prospects	Episode Promo	November 30, 2012
Christmas 2012	Christmas	December 5, 2012 - January 10, 2013
Valentine's Day 2013	Valentine's day	January 30, 2013 - February 28, 2013
The glamorous Godfrey	Episode Promo	February 28, 2013 - March 4, 2013
St. Patrick's Day 2013	St. Patrick's Day	March 7, 2013
Burns Begins	Episode Promo	March 14, 2013
What animated women want	Episode Promo	April 28, 2013
Stick Day (based on the episode The Snake's Nest )	Club day	April 10, 2013 - May 16, 2013
Whiskey Businesssons	Episode Promo	May 2, 2013
Season 24 finale	Season finale	May 16, 2013
4th July 2013	Independence Day (United States)	June 28, 2013 - July 8, 2013
Homerland	Episode Promo	September 23, 2013 - October 1, 2013
Treehouse of Horror XXIV	Halloween	October 1, 2013 - November 7, 2013
Thanksgiving 2013	Thanksgiving	November 15, 2013 - December 3, 2013
Global clowning	Episode Promo	4th December 2013
Christmas 2013	Christmas	December 10, 2013 - January 14, 2014
Manga love story	Episode Promo	January 8, 2014
Super bowl	Super Bowl XLVIII Promo	January 29, 2014 - February 2, 2014
Valentine's Day 2014	Valentine's day	February 5, 2014 - February 26, 2014
By Diggs and Skinny / The Lord of Genes	Episode Promo	March 7, 2014
St. Patrick's Day 2014	St. Patrick's Day	March 12, 2014 - March 25, 2014
Painting after paying	Episode Promo	March 19, 2014
Forward to the future	Episode Promo	April 9, 2014
Easter 2014	Easter	April 15, 2014 - May 13, 2014
Cowardice comes before the fall	Episode Promo	May 16, 2014
Stonemasons (based on the episode Homer the Chosen )	Freemasons	June 4th, 2014 - July 2nd, 2014
4th July 2014	Independence Day (United States)	July 2, 2014 - July 15, 2014
Clash of Clones	Clash of Clans parody	August 19, 2014 - October 7, 2014
The sad clown	Episode Promo	September 24, 2014
Treehouse of Horror XXV	Halloween	October 7, 2014 - November 12, 2014
Simpsorama	Episode Promo	5th November 2014
Thanksgiving 2014	Thanksgiving	November 20, 2014 - December 2, 2014
Covercraft	Episode Promo	November 20, 2014 - November 25, 2014
Winter 2014	Christmas / winter	December 3, 2014 - January 14, 2015
Valentine's Day 2015	Valentine's day	February 12, 2015 - February 17, 2015
Superhero	superhero	February 18, 2015 - March 31, 2015
St. Patrick's Day 2015	St. Patrick's Day	March 16, 2015 - March 23, 2015
Easter 2015	Easter	April 3, 2015 - April 7, 2015
Terwilligers	Tingeltangel Bob & Family	April 14, 2015 - May 26, 2015
Pride Month	Gay pride	June 3, 2015 - June 10, 2015
Tip ball	Football Women's World Cup 2015	June 23, 2015 - July 21, 2015
4th July 2015	Independence Day (United States)	June 30, 2015 - July 9, 2015
Monorail (based on the episode Homer gets going )	Monorail	August 11, 2015 - September 15, 2015
Every Man's Dream	Episode Promo	23rd September 2015
Treehouse of Horror XXVI	Halloween	October 6, 2015 - November 17, 2015
Thanksgiving 2015	Thanksgiving	November 19, 2015 - December 1, 2015
Winter 2015	Christmas / winter	December 8, 2015 - January 19, 2016
Much Apu About Something	Episode Promo	January 13, 2016
Homer, the space hero	Space travel	January 21, 2016 - February 3, 2016
Valentine's Day 2016	Valentine's day	February 11, 2016 - February 16, 2016
World's largest sequoia tree (based on the episode Lisa as a tree lover )	environmental Protection	since February 17, 2016
Burns' Casino (based on the episode possessed by the devil )	Gambling	February 24, 2016 - March 29, 2016
The Marge-ian Chronicles	Episode Promo	March 10, 2016
St. Easter	St. Patrick's Day / Easter	March 16, 2016 - March 30, 2016
Fire Department Event (based on the Fire and Loot episode )	fire Department	March 31, 2016 - April 14, 2016
Spring cleaning 2016	Spring cleaning	April 13, 2016 - April 19, 2016
Wild west	wild West	April 19, 2016 - May 30, 2016
Stick Day 2016 (based on the episode Das Schlangennest )	Club day	May 9, 2016
Homer's Chiliade (based on the episode Homer's Weird Chili Trip )	Chilli Festival	June 2, 2016 - June 15, 2016
Superhero 2	superhero	June 15, 2016 - July 26, 2016
4th july 2016	Independence Day (United States)	June 29, 2016 - July 5, 2016
The slightly different games (based on the episode Curling Queen )	Olympic games	August 3, 2016 - August 16, 2016
SCI FI	Science fiction	August 16, 2016 - September 20, 2016
Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus	Episode Promo	September 21, 2016
Treehouse of Horror XXVII	Halloween	October 6, 2016 - November 15, 2016
Thanksgiving 2016	Thanksgiving	November 16, 2016 - November 30, 2016
Winter 2016	Christmas / Winter / New Year	December 6, 2016 - January 4, 2017
Homer the Heretic	religion	January 3, 2017 - January 18, 2017
Travel destination Springfield	to travel	January 31, 2017 - March 6, 2017
22 for 30	Episode Promo	March 9, 2017
Rommelwood Academy	Military school	March 15, 2017 - March 28, 2017
St. Patrick's Day 2017	St. Patrick's Day	March 17, 2017 - March 21, 2017
Secret Agents	Secret agents	March 28, 2017 - May 9, 2017
Pin pals	bowling	May 9, 2017 - May 23, 2017
Time traveling toaster	Time travel	May 30, 2017 - July 5, 2017
4th July 2017	Independence Day (United States)	June 28, 2017 - July 5, 2017
Pride 2017	Gay pride	July 5, 2017 - July 18, 2017
Christmas 2018	Christmas	December 4, 2018 - January 2, 2019

The following permanent enhancements have been made over time:

Event	Subject	date
Octopus port	extension	since June 12, 2013
Krustyland	extension	since July 31, 2013
Friendship points	extension	since March 2, 2014
Springfield Heights	extension	since July 22, 2015

Production notes

The game was developed by EA Mobile and released in Europe on February 29, 2012, and in the United States on March 1, 2012 for iOS and February 6, 2013 for Android. On June 24, 2013, the game was released for all Kindle Fire devices. According to longtime Simpsons writer J. Stewart Burns, the game was born out of a "love of work" and he didn't expect so much to happen after it was released. Although not paid for it, 10 writers are working on the game. Matt Selman, Brian Kelley, Jeff Westbrook, Jon Kern, Carolyn Omine, Diana Wright, and himself, among others. According to its own estimates, Electronic Arts made over 130 million US dollars in sales through 2014 with the game.

In-game problems

Shortly after launching on iOS, the game was removed from the iOS App Store again as the EA servers were unable to cope with the demand and the multitude of serious errors reported by users. After a month, EA set up a forum. Here users could report bugs and problems, but no solutions were offered. Some users who had made in-app purchases discovered that their purchases were gone. After contacting EA, these users received a refund directly from Apple. A few months later, the app returned to the app store.

reception

The Simpsons Springfield has like almost every Freemium - Video game live with the criticism that freemium is not for free. It can be downloaded for free, but in the course of the game you may need a premium currency for certain content, which can usually only be obtained promptly and on a larger scale with real money.

Web links

• Electronic Arts product website
• The Simpsons: Tapped Out at MobyGames (English)
• Tappedout.de , German-speaking community

Individual evidence

1. ^ Whack Attack - The Unofficial Simpsons: Tapped Out Blog . tappedoutunofficial.wordpress.com. July 1, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
2. ↑ The countdown to the final community prize is on! - Tapped Out Daily . tappedoutdaily.wordpress.com. November 1, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
3. ↑ "Life Ruiningly Fun" Comes to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch with the launch of The Simpsons: Tapped Out . Electronic Arts . January 3, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
4. ↑ The Simpsons: Tapped Out . Google . February 6, 2013. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
5. ↑ Tapped Out Kindle Edition at Amazon . June 24, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
6. ↑ ^{a b} How the Mobile Game Tapped Out Brought Old Simpsons Fans Back Into the Fold . Vulture.com. September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
7. ↑ Electronic Arts Management Discusses Q3 2014 Results - Earnings Call Transcript . Seeking Alpha. January 28, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
8. ↑ Ben Parfitt: EA pulls The Simpsons iOS from the App Store . In: MCV . March 5, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
9. ↑ South Park Trashes "Freemium" Games Like The Simpsons: Tapped Out . CraveOnline . November 6, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
10. ↑ Dorkly.com: The Simpsons Tapped Out Is Surprisingly Honest About Freemium Games ( April 3, 2015 memento in the Internet Archive )