The Simpsons: Tapped Out

"Tapped Out" redirects here. For the 2014 boxing film, see Tapped Out (film).
The Simpsons: Tapped Out

The Simpsons: Tapped Out logo used since its release
Developer(s) EA Mobile
Fox Digital Entertainment
Gracie Films
Publisher(s) EA Mobile
Platform(s) iOS, Android, Kindle Fire
Release date(s)

iOS

  • EU 29 February 2012
  • NA March 1, 2012

Android

  • NA February 6, 2013
  • EU 14 February 2013
Genre(s) City building
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a freemium mobile game for iOS and Android, based on the American animated series The Simpsons. It allows users to create and maintain their own version of Springfield using familiar characters and buildings. The game is constantly being updated with new, often season-specific content, for example during holidays like Thanksgiving, and Treehouse of Horror episodes-related content for Halloween. Not limited to English-speaking players, the game is available in many languages such as French, 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 the EU on February 29, 2012 and in US on March 1, 2012 for iOS[1] and February 6, 2013 for Android.[2] The game was released for Kindle 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.[4] For BlackBerry 10, the Android version of the game can be downloaded via Amazon Appstore.

Story

Too busy playing an elf-related game on his myPad (parody of iPad) at work, Homer 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.

Gameplay

A typical gameplay scene

The game may be considered as a city-building game. It offers a variety of buildings (houses, shops, public buildings from the series) that the player buys with an in-game currency of "dollars", while buying premium items with real-world cash via donuts, a reference to Homer Simpson's passion for donuts within the series. Many buildings come with a questline for the player to follow and some add with them a character from the series; players collect characters along with buildings. Characters can be sent on tasks to progress with the quests to advance with the game, and to earn extra money to save up for items. Each building regularly generates a sum of in-game cash to collect, under names such as "Income tax" from houses and the "Collection plate" from the First Church of Springfield. Players can also place rivers, roads, pavement and decorations on the land. In 2013, developers added the "Krustyland" transporter, to get players from Springfield to the infamous Krustyland, where they can expand and build similar to player interactions in the game's Springfield.

The game is supported by EA's Origin, which acts as a social bridge to where players log in to their Origin accounts and visit friends' towns to collect cash once every 24 hours; and occasionally other tasks during an event.

There is a hidden easter egg where, in order to obtain the statue of Jebediah Springfield decoration, the player must tap Homer 10 times in a row whilst he is performing any task. This action also gives the player 10 free donuts, but can only work once.

The maximum number of levels is currently 59 since the November 10, 2015 update.

Themed updates

Several content updates have been released for the game:

Event/Update Theme Dates
Moonshine River Episode promotional September 28, 2012
Treehouse of Horror XXIII Halloween October 12, 2012 – November 8, 2012
Thanksgiving 2012 Thanksgiving November 8, 2012
Penny-Wiseguys Episode promotional November 13, 2012
The Day the Earth Stood Cool Episode promotional 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
Gorgeous Grampa Episode promotional February 28, 2013 – March 4, 2013
St. Patrick's Day 2013 St. Patrick's Day March 7, 2013
Dark Knight Court Episode promotional March 14, 2013
What Animated Women Want Episode promotional April 28, 2013
Whacking Day 2013 Whacking Day April 10, 2013 – May 16, 2013
Whiskey Business Episode promotional May 2, 2013
Season 24 finale Episode promotional May 16, 2013
Squidport Expansion Expansion June 12, 2013 – present
4th July 2013 Fourth of July June 28, 2013 – July 8, 2013
Krustyland Expansion Expansion July 31, 2013 – present
Homerland Episode promotional 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
Yellow Subterfuge Episode promotional December 4, 2013
Holidays 2013 Christmas December 10, 2013 – January 14, 2014
Married to the Blob Episode promotional January 8, 2014
Super Bowl Super Bowl XLVIII January 29, 2014 – February 2, 2014
Valentine's Day 2014 Valentine's Day February 5, 2014 – February 26, 2014
Social Currency Expansion March 2, 2014 – Present
Diggs/The Man Who Grew Too Much Episode promotional March 7, 2014
St. Patrick's Day 2014 St. Patrick's Day March 12, 2014 – March 25, 2014
The War of Art Episode promotional March 19, 2014
Days of Future Future Episode promotional April 9, 2014
Easter 2014 Easter April 15, 2014 – May 13, 2014
The Yellow Badge of Cowardge Episode promotional May 16, 2014
Stonecutters Stonecutters June 4, 2014 – July 2, 2014
4 July 2014 Fourth of July July 2, 2014 – July 15, 2014
Clash of Clones Clash of Clans parody August 19, 2014 – October 7, 2014
Clown in the Dumps Episode promotional September 24, 2014
Treehouse of Horror XXV Halloween October 7, 2014 – November 12, 2014
Simpsorama Episode promotional November 5, 2014
Thanksgiving 2014 Thanksgiving November 20, 2014 – December 2, 2014
Covercraft Episode promotional 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
Superheroes Superheroes 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 Sideshow Bob & Family April 14, 2015 - May 26, 2015
Pride Month Pride Month June 3, 2015 - June 10, 2015
Tap Ball 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup June 23, 2015 - July 21, 2015
4 July 2015 Fourth of July June 30, 2015 – July 9, 2015
Springfield Heights Expansion Expansion July 22, 2015 – present
Monorail Monorail August 11, 2015 – September 15, 2015
Every Man's Dream Episode promotional September 23, 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 promotional January 13, 2016
Deep Space Homer 2016 Deep Space Homer January 21, 2016 - February 3, 2016
World's Largest Redwood Redwood Tree February 17, 2016 – present
Burns' Casino 2016 Gambling February 24, 2016 – March 29, 2016
The Marge-ian Chronicles Episode promotional March 10, 2016
St. Easter 2016 St. Patrick's Day/ Easter March 16, 2016 – March 30, 2016
Crook and Ladder 2016 Fire Safety March 31, 2016 – April 14, 2016
Wild West 2016 Wild West April 19, 2016 – May 30, 2016

Major events also include a temporary currency, which can be used to buy – or win – limited edition prizes.[5] More recently, in some events every user's winnings contributed to a community fund, which includes prizes for certain levels of the currency.[6]

Development

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.[7] 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.[7]

In-game problems

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 bugs 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 disappeared. After contacting EA, users were able to collect refunds directly from Apple. Several months later, the app returned to the App Store.

Criticism

Due to its connection to criticism of the larger trend of freemium games' revenue structure, it was satirized in the South Park episode Freemium Isn't Free as exploitative and lacking in gameplay.[9] The game itself also earlier lampooned this point during an in-game conversation between two characters.[10]

See also

References

External links

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