Hey there all you Clammers. Having fun in your lil Comic Con Event for Quahog? I know I am. Well, it is bout time to step away from that Con and go back a lil bit to the San Diego Comic Con. Where I had the Amazing chance to sit down and pick the brains of two Amazing guys. Matt and Mike of TinyCo. Here is the overall Q&A that we had. Hope you enjoy.
First up, some questions from YOU, our amazing readers.
Eric Wong
1. The framework for the game is fantastic – it runs really smoothly, but wondering if there is a bug on iOS where sometimes, the screen just flings when you tap. Sometimes, I’m tapping on something and the screen shifts to another area.
2. Is there any chance we might see some American Dad characters cross-over? Wished the nerds were Toshi, Barry and Steve (I thought they looked a like from afar). Would DEFINITELY spend clams if I could have Roger and his disguises wandering around my town.
3. Are there certain elements in the game which are not intended for freemium players to get? i.e. is it realistic to be able to get the 80K+ blam prizes if you’re not going to spend clams? I’m totally ok if that’s the case, I’d just like to know ahead of time so I can temper my expectations.
TinyCo
1. Thank you for the kind words! I’ll pass them along to the Griffin team – they’re the ones working on the backbone of our games and making sure they can ship on iOS and Android as close together as possible. The game client team also works incredibly hard to make sure it runs smoothly. You’d be amazed at how much they obsess over doobers, zoom levels and loading times.As for the issue, we have that listed in our system as “screen freaks out when you tap it.” The thing is, we can’t reliably reproduce it. The key to fixing a bug is finding a “repro case,” which is when you can reproduce an error internally. Think of it like in a movie when you finally isolate the antibody to an infectious disease, letting you begin work on a cure. The thing is, we haven’t been able to reproduce the flinging screen in a reliable manner. Since it’s a minor usability issue, more nuisance than frustration, it gets bumped.
That said, if you are able to do it on command, we’d be very interested in your magic trick.
2. Maybe 🙂 Would you like them?
3. We do have content that is only accessible by clams, which we believe plays an important role on the whole system. The onus is on us to provide ample free content to delight all players, as well as premium content for those who enjoy it. They’re both important sides of the game that appeal to many different types of players.
We are learning more about how to present an event so that it feels satisfying and fun even if some rewards are very difficult for free players. I’d love to hear more of y’all’s thoughts on this. How does Comic Con feel compared to Adventure?
bfelczer : My question for Matt and Co: Has there been any thought into posting leaderboards in-game when it comes to special events, like the recent Full Moon or current CC event? I’d love to see how I rank among others in terms of score.
TinyCo
We heavily explored leaderboards in Spellstorm, our recent card battling game. We learned that leaderboards are a powerful way to encourage competition (or coopertition). We’ve definitely thought about it, though we haven’t devoted resources to exploring it. Would you like a leaderboard?While it may not look like it on the surface, Spellstorm contains many features that eventually found their way to Family Guy. It was the first game where we experimented with “Events” as a way to make content releases more interactive and interesting. Before that, mobile social games relied mostly on “theme weeks.” An event takes those themes and expands on them with tiered rewards, narrative, and game mechanics.
DaPIMP
Why are bigger and better event currency dropping items released later on during the event, instead of when it starts so players can view all of the options before making a purchase?
TinyCo
Events last a long time, which means we need ways to keep them interesting for their entirety. If we showed everything in the first week, then by Week Four it would be quite dull.There’s a secondary reason, too: items released can act as a release valve if a specific part of the economy needs tuning. We don’t like changing payouts on items for any reason – everyone benefits when items are stable and nerfs are rare. If part of the event is blocking way more players than we expected, then we can release an item to help unblock it.
AJ
Can you please pass along to TinyCo that I have been unable to get in on this event since right after it started, I have been locked out of the game completely. I just get the loading screen over and over and then before it can load the game it crashes out. I tap again to repeat the process and have done this for hours but still no luck. It had been doing this before but usually after a few attempts like 6-7 it would load the game back up, but now nothing. I didn’t get Rupert as a result of it, and now I can’t make any progress on this event because of it. This is all extremely infuriating as this is the only game I play at the moment on my device and until this point I had gotten everything I needed but now I’m behind and can’t catch up at all. Thanks.
TinyCo
Sorry AJ 😦 I hope by this point you’re back in game. If not, I really appreciate that you’re still reading, and we’ll work to get you back in.Loading errors were our top priority for the past several releases, and each had some success. If you’re still crashing, please comment to this post and we’ll see what we can do.(Disclaimer: we don’t want to turn FGA’s comments into a support desk. Please do write in to our Support Team at help@tinyco.com for specific issues.)
pureval
@FamGuyAddicts Are there any plans to lower the unlock requirements for characters as more are added?
TinyCo
Maybe. We’ll tackle that when we get there. We like the current progression and how it guides players from district to district. There’s also a lot of quest dependencies with where the characters unlock – moving them around becomes a big reworking of the game.
Never say never, though. I’d be interested in who you think should be moved around.
tjbmurph
@FamGuyAddicts I’m taking a chance and asking my question here: are there plans for a non-Facebook social aspect? (To visit other towns)
TinyCo
Yes 🙂 this is far and away our top request. No ETA yet, and it might be a while – but we understand players want more ways to connect with their friends.And now for some overall questions that we have seen pop up all over the place.
TinyCo
A few reasons. Weekends are peak times for mobile games – tons of people play while they’re out and about. An update on Friday is better than an update on Tuesday. Sometimes we have an important deadline for launching content. (For instance, if we announced it to players.)Generally, though, it’s because weekend updates drive the game, and so getting them out before the weekend hits becomes very important.
And many times, it’s simply because there’s a ton of content to get done, implemented and tested – and the amount of content has gone up with each event.
Family Guy Addicts
If a game shuts down after winning a prize…then player returns to game to see it is gone and not winnable again… why is TinyCo unable to place that item in the game?
TinyCo
Two reasons:
1) The Community team actually doesn’t have the ability to add this without doing a manual save game edit, which is both risky and time consuming. We understand that lost items can be very frustrating, but because it isn’t verifiable, can happen repeatedly, involves a risky and time consuming fix, and is tied to unrelated crashes, it quickly becomes unsustainable to credit manually.2) Because of the underlying bug, even if we DID credit, we would then train the community to write back every time an item got devoured by a crash, taking significant Support resources away from other issues.
Here, the most helpful thing we can do is report to the team that it’s happening and work with them on a change. The community was HUGELY helpful in this, providing ample descriptions of their frustration, which we relayed straight to the team.
In a world of unlimited resources we could tackle all bugs and usability issues with equal tenacity. Cases like the lost items issue are why we’re very fortunate to have such an engaged, active community – you help us determine the places where a small change to the code makes a huge impact. That feedback led directly to the change to item drops.
So there you have it. A great Q&A that made me feel quite privileged and humbled to be a part of. Again, MANY Thanks go out to Mike and especially Matt for being so open and upfront about TinyCo. Also for being so amazing when it comes to listening with open minds to the community. Not to mention responding back in such a professional manner of which I have not seen the likes of yet. Not from ANY gaming company out there. These guys have definitely set the bar high and are setting a great example of how I personally feel a gaming company should be in today’s world.
Family Guy Addicts 
Maybe he’s not necessarily Comic Con flavored, but if you’re adding celebrities, I think James Woods is a required addition to the game. He’s had probably the biggest and best guest starring roles in the show of any celebrity. (“Ooh, piece of candy!”) For that matter, you could almost create a new event based solely on his cartoon storylines.
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Great Q&A, but I was wondering if our game will ever expand onto windows devices?
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how come Bunny never says anything bad about Tinyco? She acts like they can walk on water and turn water into Cognac, all they are is a money hungry company (just like EA). Bunny has never once said anything bad even when people have legit complaints she responds with “LOL”. I know this comment will never be posted so ****** ***** ******
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Well hello there. Not sure why so down in the comments. But here goes…
I DO respond to issues and problems with TinyCo all the time. Difference is, I address my negativity in a constructive way that it seems many in the world now a days have forgotten how to do. Kinda like your so very eloquently worded comment there at the end.
There is always a proper way to handle negativity and an improper way. To just yell, scream, swear at EVERYONE ELSE but those that it was intended for in the first place. All of that, gets nobody anywhere. Just more anger, more hate, more drama. Why? That is not productive in my mind at all.
Instead, I take my issues RIGHT to the source. I tell them (Just ask poor Matt and his team how many emails DAILY they get from me). I tell them WHAT I find wrong, WHY I find it wrong, and HOW I feel they can do better. My constructive criticism along with many of the readers here has led to a multitude of changes in the game that are still going on to this day. I say my peace and my frustrations in a way that make a change. Make a difference. Not just flame hate. No one gets results that way.
Is this game perfect? Nope. Will it ever be? I doubt it. You can NEVER please everyone. Do I still find things ridiculous? Yes. Do I tell them? ALL THE TIME! Is this game for everyone? Nope. Same as not everyone likes Xbox, or baseball. or La Cross…every person has their own set of what THEY find entertaining and are drawn to it.
End of the day, TinyCo IS a business. They have employees to pay, bills to pay, lawyers to pay…on n on n on. To expect everything for free…well that is just silly. Try that in ANY store…just go in…go shopping…and go right out without paying. I think someone may have issue with that.
To compare them to EA? Nope…not even close. EA is HUGE. They have hundreds of games at their beck and call. If one drops off…they have 20 others to replace it. So they have a bit more wiggle room. TinyCo is more like…hmmm…a Mom & Pop business. They rely on pretty much all they make to keep them going and to keep the game in play. I have gotten far better support to the game, players, and changes from TinyCo then EA EVER gave or any OTHER gaming house for that matter. Right now, TinyCo does stand out above the rest. Hands down.
If you are not happy with the game, it may not be for you. If you want them to make a change, tell them…tell them what you do not like, why you don’t, and YOUR advice on how to fix it.
Just because MY views and language are not one of vulgarities, hate, riot starting, flame war starting, trolling, etc…it does not mean I am not taking action where action is due. What YOU see…is maybe 1/300ths of what we actually do on a daily basis here. There is a LOT of work that goes on behind the scenes. We welcome discussion. We welcome open minds. We try and welcome all. We will however NOT welcome vulgarities, attacks, and down right poor behavior. You are welcome to take that somewhere else.
Thanks for your time, your lovely worded comment, and for making assumptions of things you do not understand. Have a FANTASTIC Day! 😉
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Ohh, nice comeback!
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I would also like to see the premium characters do something other than earn money. Having them at least drop the event currency (butts or blam) would be nice, dropping items would be even better.
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Well it seemed like you had a really good time. You can feel from your writing how exited you were. It really comes through and lets all of us feel like we were a part of it as well so thank you for that. Great info and gives us some insight into the inner workings of TinyCo. You did good but then again you always do. Congrats BB.
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My question was answered, but not exactly how I intended it to be. I was talking about the clam costing items that drop event currency like how the trucks came out, and then later the bar. Why not just release the bar along with the trucks? Some players bought the Super Truck thinking it was the best option only to see a better one come out shortly after. The 400 clams spent on the truck could have went towards the 700 for the bar, it just seems deceiving. Same type of thing happened in the Full Moon event with the butt shrines, bigger and better ones come out as the event goes along instead of showing all the options to begin with.
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Just wanted to let everyone know that even if you spend $100 on clams (3500 clams) in the beginning of the event, you WILL NOT have enough to unlock everything they are throwing at us. I’ve added up the cost of everything in clams and even EXCLUDING the Human Rupert Mystery Boxes for pesticides and the Robo Brian Mystery Box you will not have enough to unlock all of the buildings and characters. $100 is a lot to spend on a month long event. It should be more than enough to unlock everything the event has to offer. Very disappointed with this.\
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I can see where that could be daunting, by I also see another side of it. All the items may not be wanted, needed, or necessary at all to every player. That to me just means there is a multitude of options for players to buy, if they feel it will enhance their personal gaming experience.
I do understand your take on it though. Thank you. 🙂
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How about a Robin Williams 24 hour memorial event? just as in the show all you would need to do is swap everyones graphics out for Robin Williams (except Peter) and cause some mass confusion; you would need to click on every Robin to find out which character it actually is to assign tasks… a small tribute to a great man!
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Either that or do a building that releases the different Robins like in the episode. That might be easier to pull off. Gonna miss that guy. He was one of my favorite improve comedians along with Johnathan Winters and Tim Conway.
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One question, where is joe’s costume. AKA The android exclusive. Because I am sorta being overwhelmed with how much blam is required for buildings, celebs and costumes. Even though I started on a week early I am only at roughly 25000 blam and we are roughly half way through the event.
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I’m beginning to think the costume will be released at the end of the event. This is just a hunch, mind you. Right now, focus on getting as many pesticides as you can. The Giant Stewie has the best payout when you convert them into Blam. 😉
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Good stuff. Nice Q&A. I do have a question for you guys though. I heard a rumor about an addicts clothing line. Is there any truth to that? Maybe Bunny Boxers or Cyber Speedos. Just wondering.
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So any word on the Bunny Boxers yet?
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I’m wearing them now. 😛
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Thank god. I thought you were gonna say you were wearing the Cyber speedos. I definitely want some bunny boxers. And not the kind we used to bet on back home. Do you know how hard it is to find the little boxing gloves. Ridiculous how difficult. Don’t even get me started on the tiny mouth pieces.
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HAHAHAHAHHAHAH. Well…the speedo is for beach time. 😉
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I’m sure you could put on a garbage bag and still be the belle of the ball
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So…I can sit there as people go by and say, “Ding Dong…Ding Dong…Ding Dong”? 😉
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ahhhh ahhhh ahhhh ring my bell, my bell. Sorry. A bit before your time.
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I know music from the 40’s, doesn’t matter time. Music spans the test of time. 😉
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I enjoyed the Q&A but I found one response condescending and rightly rude. It had to do with Eric Wong asking about the “flinging screen.” Answering with “That said, if you are able to do it on command, we’d be very interested in your magic trick.” Magic trick? Really? I have three devices that does it ALL the time. Then to just downplay it as a nuisance that isn’t important blew my mind. Some people may find it petty and may blast me for this but
that answer really annoys me and with people spending money on this game no complaint should be downplayed nor wrote off as a “magic trick.” Thanks for the Q&A it really shed some light on Tiny Co for me.
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I honestly think you mistook what he was asking. He was stating they have not been able to replicate it to correct it, so if there were any suggestions on what they need to do/try/initiate to get it to work…like a “magic trick”…they would be most happy so they can get it fixed.
I do not see it as ill will at all. Just them asking for more details on what caused it so they can try to replicate. Same as we do here. Ask for more details on something so we can assist in the best way possible.
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Understood. Thanks Bunny
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🙂
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I admit, I paused over that wording, worried about how it would read. I meant it to illustrate our huge respect for repro cases 🙂 if someone can perform a bug on command, every time, it captivates us.
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Hi…does anyone know when the streak meter will end? I’m nervous once the time runs out, it won’t reset…is there an end date or will it run for the rest of the event? Thanks.
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it’s supposed to run for the rest of the event.
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Thanks…makes 100k a little more achievable!
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Anybody else having problems getting ice cream sundaes for blobulous? I got 2 on the first day and none since. It’s getting very frustrating!
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In response to tinycos question as to how comic con compairs to adventure: Oh my gosh it blows it out of the water! I had no desire to spend clams on the last event and wasnt even disappointed not to get king butt, but comic con, I must have every character! It actually feels realistic that I will reach the top prize because you took feed back from the last event and made the streak meter thing start way earlier so just knowing that I will be able to get to 100,000 makes it much more fun. There is so much more awesome stuff going on and the items to purchase with blam! in this event are a lot more desireable than the items for butts. Great job tinyco and I cant wait to see what you will do for the next one!
I also like erics idea of american dad characters.
This game is great. I also play one of your other games, tiny monsters, but it has taken a huge back seat sinse I got this game (I barely broke even on my last diamond producers because ive been busy with fg). I wish i could use my tiny id for the social feature like I do for that game though.
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I have a question. Will we ever be able to put the gold digger island actually fully in the water?
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I second this! It would be fun to be able to put the boats in the ocean as well. My coastline is pretty crowded!
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Just some suggestions, stuff that I would like to see in the game.
Sidewalk squares. Both white and gray so we can extend our walkways and driveways past the flowers and the fire hydrants. More colors in the flower section. More than one one square tree to decorate with. More than one shrub would be nice too. More types of other trees. Finally a statue of me to go alongside the one I have of Peter. I’m OK with bronze, it’s not like I’m stuck on myself or anything. Love the game, loving the event. Can’t wait to get Stan Lee.
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Why this far into the game do we still not have pavement? I can understand the first month of the game. But this far along is just confusing. Seems like a simple enough addition with all the elaborate things they have been doing lately.
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Tinyco just have another 5 clams to visit their Facebook page. Also I just got Felicia day and vanquished stewie 6 times within 5 minutes as I have collected enough pesticides in 24 hours to do it.
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Oh also forgot to mention I am 2300 blame away from the 50k prize. Thanks Bryan Cranston : – ). At this rate the 100k prize will be a piece a cake to get with 26 days left in the event.
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Has anyone else experienced this, because it’s the first time I’ve been really pissed about something I consider a glitch… I’ve been holding off on vanquishing Big Stewie until as close to the 24-hour count down timer as possible. I’ve been collecting as much pesticide in between, in anticipation of the streak amount needed to subsequently vanquish him again and again to keep the level at earning 2,500 blam per sequence.
I’ve been hugely successful in this way. My guesstimate is that by the time Tiny Co changes to a different form of project from vanquishing Big Stew, this Friday, for example, I’d be well over 50k in Blam and I’m only a true freemium player! Yesterday, (Tuesday), three full days before the crossover, I vanquished Big Stew. My game suddenly escalated from requiring 18 pesticides to keep the streak alive, to 29… The arbitrary and exact number of red pesticides I had banked before the countdown timer reached about 20 minutes and I had last vanquished the mutant scum.
Now, there is NO point in continuing the Big Stewie process as I can’t compete. Anyone else experience this?
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The Giant Stewie element is here to stay until the end of the event. This weekend, phase 3 will bring another “mutant” Stewie into the game (just like phase 1 and 2 did). The Giant Stewie mini game has gone up to 29 pesticides to keep the streak going after you get the 18 25x defeat level since day one (if it has been staying at 18 “cans” in your game, then you have had a glitch that no one else has reported and was in your favor). It’s just a coincidence that it needed the exact color that you had 29 pesticides.
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To Matt and Mike – Your company makes an amazing game! It is safe to say that I am hooked. And to the Addicts team, your coverage is great and extremely helpful. I love both your sites, thanks for everything!
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Thank YOU for being an awesome member of the Community. 😉
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Awesome Q&A! It actually answered a couple of my own questions. I also appreciate the candor in some of the replies. It’s also very much appreciated that they took the time to do this! =)
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Just got 5 free clams from visiting the Facebook page. Thanks Tinyco.
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Pooh just saw a new pop up. Stab lee is coming Friday and stewie mutates yet again and you have to nuke him lol. Also a little pop up from peter prompting you to like family guy page on Facebook earns you 5 free clams. That’s tiny co
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Will be there any Jesus character? I really love Jesus from Family Guy.
Will oversized vehicles have a resize, like Ice Cream Truck that is too big, or event cars that are a little too big compared with the Pirate Car? The Ale truck and Pirate Car have the best sizes for an isometric game, why you no try to resize the other vehicles reported to them?
Will Tricia have more than four actions?
Will you stop making outfits for Peter? Seriously, what is too much is too much! Bonnie is the 3rd character introduced into the game, but she had no outfit. Why you not made 4th event outfit for her, or Lois instead for that fat guy? Seriously, is not funny to see a fat dude dressed like a girl, it is just horrible.
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I love it.. Thanks Matt. First time I see it.
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Awesome product Tinyco. The districts are a great idea and both the current and past event are addictive…you can tell even more thought has been put into this one. Now the questions.. #1 The elephant in the room..regardless of the reason behind the decision to go live first on IOS..will there be any equalizers coming Android users way to make up the loss of the week gathering Blam! 2. Meg had a super power in that episode as well…will we perhaps be seeing a side quest that she uses her power to grow fingernails :-). 3. What are the realistic odds of a Blue Harvest event in the future? 4…or a Game of Thrones? 5. The special characters you brought into this event are impressive any chance that the Comic-Con event will become a yearly thing? Thanks for any feedback
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1) One of the big design changes with Comic Con was the length of the event. Since each “week” unlocks when you complete the previous tasks, and players have 4-5 weeks following the week one content, we’re seeing Android players keep up. Since it lasts for so long, we’re happy so far with Android players’ progress.
If it looks different from your perspective, please do let me know – this is something we’re keeping close tabs on. So far, though, we’re excited by progress on both iOS and Android.
2) Who?
3) Blue Harvest: The odds are directly correlated with how much you want one. How much do you want one?
4) Game of Thrones: The odds are directly correlated with how much you want one. How much do you want one?
5) Comic Con 2015: The thought of Comic Con being an annual thing just sent a shock of panic through me. It was SO MUCH WORK. And so AWESOME. Then I remembered we plan on being around for a long, long time. So…. The odds are directly correlated with how much you want one. How much do you want one?
😉
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(p.s. I WANT IT ALL AND WANT IT NOW!!! That is all. 😉 )
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Thankyou tiny co and addicts for bringing us into the fold as it were!
My question would also be a way to track characters so I don’t lose them and miss putting them on tasks.
I had to look for bonnie for over 10 mins the other day to find put her on the felicia task.
You think the one you can’t find must have glitches out then all of a sudden they appear from behind a tree like they’ve been in full view all along! :-{
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When you need them for a specific task like gathering items, click on that person’s icon (Felicia), then click on the item in question(jam box), then find the person specific task (Bonnie hours to ladies night) and click Go. That will take you directly to that person (Bonnie).
My issue is anyone else who is wondering around not doing anything. I’d rather have them earning blam or money.
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You can also use Al Harrington’s to find any of your characters that have outfits. Tap on use outfit and it will take you right to them (even if they are in a building. 😉
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So, we’re finally going to get to see some skin? Alright! Oh wait, I thought it said, “a lil T&A”… never mind.
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hahahaha
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I play on bluestacks and also have the random “screen freaks out when you tap it” issue. maybe once an hour it happens and my screen ALWAYS jumps to the same spot which is the far top corner of the entertainment district (which is not unlocked yet for me). have not noticed anything that seems to trigger it but since it actually is a bug, and not me just flicking it and not realizing, i’ll watch for it and see if i can make it repeatable.
either way thanks for the responses and the free clams. i like to think that my time is not totally wasted on the game but is spent as part of a community and supporting a company that appreciates it.
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Next mini event sharknado crossover imagine a big water spout in the water tapping flying sharks for items, peter with a chainsaw cutting his way out of a shark as a task, repairing destroyed buildings that have sharks in them and have to collect items to kill and remove them to fix btw to much free time lol
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I like
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You should ask them when we’ll get Tom Tucker, Mayor West, Jillian, and Babs. You should also ask them when they’ll add new characters.
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@TinyMatt — thanks for answering my question above. Yes; I would love to see leaderboards. I was just thinking about this the other day: I purchase clams, complete events, build my town, etc. for myself. But that’s just it — it’s all for myself. Sure, friends can stop by to check out what I’ve built, but adding a competitive piece to it (whether via leaderboards, challenging another player, showing off something in a shared zone we can roam around in, etc.) would keep me playing longer and also PAYING longer as I know that it’s going towards something other than what only my eyes see 🙂
Have you also thought about a player-run Clam to Coin exchange, where players can trade clams and coins with each other? I’d have to assume that people purchase clams more often than coins, and having this kind of exchange would allow for a player-driven economy, but would also allow for clam purchases to keep coming in.
Thanks!
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I’ll be straight with you 🙂 a Clams-to-Coins exchange would be a BIG undertaking, and a very, very risky one.
Why risky? It makes hacking a way bigger deal. We take 3rd party hacks seriously and we work every update to minimize them. As it currently stands, though, a hack is contained within just that player’s game. It becomes a wider community problem if that player is connected to social, because then it damages the investment other players put into the game, both in terms of time and money. Other than that, though, a hacked player can’t affect the larger community.
Having a player driven market changes all of that. Dupe exploits and free clams suddenly have the ability to flood and crash the market. It requires a dedicated team to squash them full time, and can result in frustrating rollbacks if well-meaning players unintentionally come to possess duped currency.
It’s something we (briefly) talked about early in design. Trading is fun! But supporting it would be very costly, complex and risky, requiring a dedicated engineering team and 2-3x the Community/Support staff, all while limiting our ability to release new items.
With all feature requests, we can never say never 🙂 but there’s a bit of context on why we went in a different direction. There’s other reasons, of course.
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Any chance there will be a tie in with the simpsons for the start of the new season? And will we ever get the chicken peter fights?
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I would love an option to turn off the ‘character dragging’ feature. I don’t use it, and it gets in the way of me panning around my town. Is this something you would consider?
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This begs a big question, actually.
How many of y’all enjoy flopping the characters around?
How many of you know that you CAN do this?
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It makes me giggle. Especially when I held them over the Volcano. Now…Giant Stewie is gonna get em. Lol. 😛
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I actually like this feature myself. Sometimes I want to place a character in a specific area on their task so I can more easily find them later. I wish this feature were available on TSTO as well, but I’m glad we have this ability in this game.
And like Bunny, it makes me laugh to hear them freaking out as I drag them or let them dangle! It demonstrates TinyCo’s great sense of humor and attention to detail.
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I also like the isolation option. Sometimes the streets get too crowded and I want to pull out just one character…with the silly option…I can. 😉
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How does this option work?
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You can lay down a short length of street off to the side somewhere, then drag characters to it so you can monitor and find them more easily if you have them on a repeating outdoor task.
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Don’t mean to seem dense, but how do you get the characters to move?
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We have an answer for almost everything. 😉
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I like this option as well. Especially for Herbert, who moves like molasses, up hill, in the winter. Plus, it does make it easier to stage scenes when you can move everyone where your want them. I use this function a lot. I kind of wish tapped out had it.
The one thing I would love them to add is a character locator. Stewie is GD tiny. I’m thrilled he’s finally been added. And that combined dancing task with Brian is my new favorite. But something to cut down on the search time. Particularly since our towns are only getting bigger.
Awesome Q&A. Very informative. Thanks. 🙂
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I find this do hard to do that I never purposefully do it, but sometimes by accident. Would love the option to turn it off.
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I would like to be able to move them while they are ON task so I can set up funny looking situations and take pictures of it. Kind of like setting up your own scene from Family Guy without them just moving away after a few seconds and the moment is gone.
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when will i be able to sell stuff on my inventory
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Amen to that! I was farming big time to get my coins back up after the last update to clear the test of the land. Now I don’t have a reason to keep over 150 standard offices don’t care how much we get for stuff just the ability to get rid of the things that we don’t want anymore.
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TinyCo: I was wondering if in future events or sometime soon you could give premium characters tasks and be able to assist in making costumes at Al’s. I have Consuela, Buzz Killington, and Jake and all they do is earn coins. I spent money on them, where is the unique twist? 🙂
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Actually, one of the challenges here was narrative. We found that with the Adventure event, we made unrelated characters too good at granting items. It didn’t make sense for players to switch to Mermaid Peter instead of Adventure Peter to collect butts.
For Comic Con, we made a conscious effort to scale it back for characters we felt made sense in the narrative. Judging by feedback we’re getting, we went too far the other direction. Armed with that info, we can keep calibrating.
Long term, we want to revisit how to make characters useful after their event, or after you’ve bought them. We’d love your thoughts on this!
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One of my ideas (of which I submitted to an in game message to TinyCo) was for Consuela. Maybe add a 4hr task for her like “clean up the Griffin House” and a chance to warn pesticides, or a “listen to Spanish radio” for a chance to earn batteries.
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Or at the very least maybe have premium characters earn event currency? Such as Butts or Blam!
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I can not get jazz records I have tried four days stright & not one!!
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I’d still really like to know how to delete people who no longer play the game. I have 24/7 alerts to visit ghost towns I can’t clear the 3/3.
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If you delete them from the Facebook account you have linked to the game (actual remove, delete, block, etc) does that help?
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Thanks Bunny, removing the person as friend removed them from the game to, didn’t even have to log out of the game. The person hasn’t even used Facebook in almost 2 years. Which makes me wonder of all my friends that they would be the on who made it on my list. Oh well, anyways thanks again. 🙂
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Would be nice to be able to do it without unfriending them. Also need that in tapped out. Have a friend who tried it, built three buildings, then quit.
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Most, like all three of us, don’t link the game to a regular Facebook page. We make an extra “gamer” account. That way, if you find you’re getting a problem from a “friends” town (like the Blam turning into Butt idols), you can easily remove them and you’re not having to drop an “actual” friend or family member from your personal account.
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You don’t want to be friends with anyone who deleted Family Guy, anyway 🙂
(Better friend list management is on our roadmap, too.)
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Good stuff, all around. Future characters I’d like to see are “Greased-up Deaf Guy” and the vaudeville piano duet, Vern and Johhny, from the early cutaways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLv4afpovvA
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I do appreciate the respectful answers to fan questions and the Android bug fix, but I still really think the event should be extended to allow for the days when people couldn’t get into the game.
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Thanks Mike and Matt! I have never seen personal interaction before!!! Love it!!! Just verifies for me what Bunny has stated time and time again, and that is that TinyCo does care and is listening!! 😉
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Only question I have is when or if Carl will ever be in the game? I love Jon Benjamins voice and need it in this game!
Also, anyone experiencing constant disconnections from the game since the update?
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I’m wondering if a “character management system” could be introduced. As more characters and real estate come into the game, it gets harder to keep up with them all. I find something like a… ahem… “town census” would be quite beneficial. An additional benefit would be finding tiny Stewie on a small screen. I’m baffled by how people can find him on an iPod touch.
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Here’s a question. Why the hell is the server down?! Consuela won’t let me play. I’m due to collect. They’re throwing off my important time schedule. Now my streak will be ruined.
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I was able to get right in. Are you still getting it?
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Just had this issue too, had to do the whole uninstall/reinstall nonsense but it fixed it.
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Well I got 50 clams for the glitches so not all bad.
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FYI on the screen jump thing. On my old iPhone 4 I had a plastic screen protector. The screen jump issue happened very often. About 2 weeks ago I upgraded to a new iPhone 5s and I never put on a screen protector. Since my new phone I have yet to still see a screen jump issue.
With that said it can be a few things. Either a faster processor on the phone or maybe due to the screen protector. I cannot say Forsure but guess that’s a start.
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I eventually did get into the game, but now I’m like 2 weeks behind, is it? And I purchased a new iOS (!) device just to be able to play this (and some others, but mostly this game.). I’m still so far behind it’s ridiculous, I wanted to be able to get everyone and thing but that’s probably a pipe dream now.
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Anyone else getting a “Cannot Connect to Server” error right now?
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I was able to get right in. Are you still getting it?
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Okay… This is getting rediculous. Just did the update and zapped Stewie on my Q hotel. Got a desperately needed yellow pesticide, with 2 hours to go to get my max streak and the server is down again. I’m beginning to feel that TinyCo has bit off more than they can chew. I already lost a streak with the previous crash. If this happens again, I’m done. Free clams or not. #readytofight
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I was able to get right in. Are you still getting it?
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In response to the answer to my question: YAY!
(I’m kinda glad there’s no eta yet though, my town is a jumbled mess at the moment, lol, too embarrassing to have friends over 😉 )
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Why does it take so long to unlock the costumes and people in the game i wish it would not be so hard or at least let more people work on each quest insteed on just one
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Meh no one asked about putting Ollie in the game…..
Only character from American dad I would like is Roger he’s so funny and has sooooo many costumes
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Ollie almost wasn’t in the game at all! It took a last minute intervention to keep his YOU LEVELED UP cameo 🙂 (we’re very glad he stayed in!)
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Is Nathan Fillion going to cost clams? Can you guys maybe have him for a Blame! Value or something! I love Nathan and would love to have him in my game but due to finances o don’t have any funds for clams.
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So Ollie will never be in the game? His short sentences would be great for this… Shame people like jake and Buzz are in and there hardly in the show!
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