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The Simpsons: Tapped Out | |
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Developer(s) | EA Mobile Gracie Films Fox Digital Entertainment |
Publisher(s) | EA Mobile |
Engine | Custom |
Platform(s) | iOS, Android, Amazon Fire |
Release | iOS Android |
Genre(s) | City building |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
The Simpsons: Tapped Out (TSTO), or simply known as Tapped Out, is a freemium licensed city-building mobile game for iOS and Android, based on the American animated comedy television series The Simpsons . It allows users to create and maintain their own version of Springfield using familiar characters and buildings. The game is regularly updated with new content, often seasonal and holiday-themed, for example, during holidays like Thanksgiving, and Treehouse of Horror episodes-related content for Halloween. The game is available in several languages such as English, French, Turkish, Italian, German, Simplified Chinese, Peninsular Spanish and both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. The game was developed and published by EA Mobile and launched in Europe on February 29, 2012 and in North America on March 1, 2012 for iOS [1] and February 6, 2013 for Android. [2] The game was released for Amazon Fire devices in several markets on June 24, 2013. [3]
According to its own estimates, EA generated over $130 million in revenue since the game's release, as of 2014 [update] . [4]
Too busy playing an elf-related game on his myPad at work, Homer Simpson neglects his workstation and accidentally causes a meltdown at the nuclear power plant, leading to a complete destruction of Springfield. Left stranded, he is solely responsible for rebuilding Springfield and bringing back its town members. Homer is desperate to find other characters so that he can get them to rebuild, and he can get back to his elf game. With the help of Lisa, Homer rebuilds Springfield and brings back key sought-out characters.
The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a city-building game. [5] It offers buildings that the player buys with "Money ($)" in-game currency. Premium items are bought with Donuts which can also be purchased with real-world cash. The player uses building and characters to make progress. By completing quests and levels, the player collects more characters and buildings to unlock more quests and levels. Each building generates in-game money to collect, under names such as "Income tax" from houses and the "Marking up Prices" for the Kwik-E-Mart. Players can place rivers, roads, pavement and decorations on the land.
The game is supported by EA's Origin, which acts as a social bridge to where players log into their Origin accounts and visit friends' towns to collect cash every 24 hours.
Since the May 18, 2016 update, the maximum number of levels is 939. This is a reference to the episode A Tale of Two Springfields, which shows the Simpsons' area code.
Content updates have been released for the game, with new game content or limited-time events related to episode promotions or holidays. Major events include a temporary currency, which win the player limited edition prizes. [6] [7]
According to game runner and longtime Simpsons writer J. Stewart Burns, the game originally started as a "labor of love" and he didn't expect much to happen after the game's release. [5] Although they do not get credited, there are about ten writers who currently work on the game, including Simpsons writers Burns, Matt Selman, Brian Kelley, Jeff Westbrook, Jon Kern, Carolyn Omine and Diana Wright. [5]
Shortly after the iOS launch, the game was pulled from the iOS App Store due to EA's servers being unable to cope with the demand and a plethora of serious glitches reported by users. [8] After a month had passed, EA set up a forum whereby users could report bug issues, but failed to offer solutions to issues or temporary updates. Some users who had made in-app purchases discovered that their purchases had vanished. After contacting EA, users were able to collect refunds directly from Apple. Several months later on August 16, 2012, [9] the app returned to the App Store. The bug remained in the game for some time before eventually being patched.
The game has a score of 69 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "Mixed or average reviews". [10] Daniel Bischoff from GameRevolution summarized their review by saying, "The Simpsons has everything you need for an excellent free-to-play game, including universal appeal, a wealth of material, and excellent little sound bytes like "D'oh" and Krusty's iconic laugh. It's just a shame that Electronics Arts has to choke the life out of that wonder with their oppressive Origin service." [11] Max Eddy from PCMag described the game as "[walking] a delicate line between miserable money-maker and actual entertainment. So far it's done a good job being fun, but it's a balance that's easily upset". [12]
Due to criticism of the larger trend of freemium games' revenue structure, the game was satirized in the South Park episode "Freemium Isn't Free" as exploitative and lacking in gameplay. [13] The game itself earlier lampooned this point during an in-game conversation between two characters. [14] In The Simpsons season 25 episode "Labor Pains," Homer opens the game on his phone and is automatically charged $300.
The game won the People's Voice Award for "Strategy/Simulation" at the 2018 Webby Awards. [15]
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Developed by Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon, the series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Set in the fictional town of Springfield, it caricatures society, Western culture, television, and the human condition.
Abraham Jebediah "Abe" Simpson II, better known as Grampa Simpson, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He made his first appearance in the episode entitled "Grandpa and the Kids", a one-minute Simpsons short on The Tracey Ullman Show, before the debut of the television show in 1989.
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Songs in the Key of Springfield is a soundtrack/novelty album from The Simpsons compiling many of the musical numbers from the series. The album was released in the United States on March 18, 1997, and in the United Kingdom in June 1997. This was the second album released in association with the Simpsons television series; however, the previous release, The Simpsons Sing the Blues, contained original recordings as opposed to songs featured in episodes of the series.
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"I Love Lisa" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 11, 1993. In the episode, Lisa gives Ralph Wiggum a Valentine's Day card when she sees that he has not received any. Ralph misinterprets Lisa's gesture and, much to Lisa's dismay, relentlessly pursues her with affection. Lisa snaps at Ralph and angrily tells him they are not together and that she never liked him. Heartbroken, Ralph channels his feelings into his performance as George Washington in the school's President's Day pageant. After a thunderous applause from the audience, he is able to accept Lisa as just a friend.
Kang and Kodos Johnson are a duo of fictional recurring characters in the animated television series The Simpsons. Kang is voiced by Harry Shearer and Kodos by Dan Castellaneta. They are green, perpetually drooling, octopus-like aliens from the fictional planet Rigel VII and appear almost exclusively in the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. The duo has appeared in at least one segment of all thirty-four Treehouse of Horror episodes. Sometimes, their appearance is the focus of a plot. Other times, it is a brief cameo. Kang and Kodos are often bent on the conquest of Earth and are usually seen working on sinister plans to invade and subjugate humanity.
The eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States between September 26, 1999 and May 21, 2000, starting with "Beyond Blunderdome" and ending with "Behind the Laughter". With Mike Scully as the showrunner for the eleventh season, it has twenty-two episodes, including four hold-over episodes from the season 10 production line. Season 11 was released on DVD in Region 1 on October 7, 2008 with both a standard box and Krusty-molded plastic cover.
The sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 4, 1994, and May 21, 1995, and consists of 25 episodes. The Simpsons is an animated series about a working class family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional city of Springfield, and lampoons American culture, society, television and many aspects of the human condition.
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