Farmageddon – It’s the End of the World as We Grow It

By mid-June, Nerd Pile Games will release their first ever game, Farmageddon , to Android and iOS devices.

, to Android and iOS devices. Indie Game Magazine was able to get a beta copy to a take a look at the near-finished product. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the way the game was initially described.

Farmageddon is a turn-based farming puzzle game that pits players against a variety of stubborn vermin. A short queue of items is displayed on the left-hand side, showing players what they can use, and what items are coming next. The list of items is fairly small, as the players only receive seeds to plant and harvest for points, and weapons to deal with the different vermin that attack and eat plants. Each time a player uses an item from the queue or harvests a mature crop, a turn is used and a day passes. Anything that is on the farm grows and matures after the day passes, while some enemies will appear or move around the map.

Farm for points before the doom counter strikes zero!

Players are asked to farm and harvest as much as possible, before the vermin move the doom counter down to zero, at which point that level ends. Besides setting high scores, points are also how the game allows players to unlock 3 more difficult levels with different plants and enemies. There are several different kinds of crops, and the wider variety in later levels makes it less likely to get the same type of plant over and over. Later level plants will also produce vegetables and herbs more than once, allowing players to spread further and earn more points, or focus instead on the different enemies.

The list of enemies is small, but they are quite a bit different in their tactics and the amount of difficulty they pose to the players. The game currently offers four levels, each with their own enemy: Lazy gophers, smart gophers, ravens and cockatrices. Each creature does it in different ways, but in the end they all travel around the map of the farm to eat and destroy plants, especially those that are close to maturing. Each also tends to leave behind something that closes off one of the single squares on the map, which moves the doom counter closer to zero. Some of these can be destroyed with a little work and luck, while others are permanent. The game is not meant to last infinitely, as the number of enemies increases and the queue of items provided is usually random.

Hammers might work for Gophers, but you need slingshots for ravens and cockatrices.

Players are also rewarded for patient planning of their crop orientation. Plants that are ready to harvest and are next to each other can be picked in one turn, instead of multiple, and offer more points as a combo. Combos are great ways to earn points, but are also difficult to achieve because of roaming and randomly generating enemies. For this reason, the game provides a type of holding crate, where players can choose and hold a single item on the queue for future use. This is a good way to, for example, keep a spare weapon ready if a vermin happens to get too close to the crops.

Farmageddon is a simple farming puzzler that’s easy to learn and challenging to those who want the highest score. Gamers can learn more on Nerd Pile Games’ website, or by liking them on Facebook.