Plant Tycoon

I can't really say that I'm a fan of any of these real-time games. You either need to interrupt your day every hour or two to tend them, or play games with your computer's clock to make it seem like time is passing. If you, say, forget about it for a day, you can wave goodbye to any progress you'd made, because all of your people/fish/plants are dead.

Tell me, how can a game be "casual" if you need to pay attention to it regularly? Aren't casual games supposed to be ones that you can pick up and put down at a whim, unlike standard games that tie you to your keyboard for hours and hours?

Well, FunnyMan, I can tell you haven't even tried playing this one and already you're commenting with complaints.

Plant Tycoon is real-time, yes, and yet you can also sell all your plants if you will not be able to tend to them again for an extended period of time. And losing a plant or two is no big deal anyways.

Furthermore, all of these games allow you to control the rate at which time passes: Speeding up time for when you are playing, and slowing down time for when you are not.

As to fitting your definition of what a casual game is, I think perhaps you should loosen your definition just a bit to include games like this, IMHO.

I'm not trying to make this a heated argument, so please forgive me if I succeed despite that.

Yes, I have not tried this particular one, but seeing as how I have played both of the Virtual Villagers games and Fish Tycoon, I feel somewhat qualified. Since you didn't say anything that would suggest a change from the same basic concept, I can only assume that what I see as flaws remain in the game. Judging a book by its cover art is a no-no, but when you're looking at the publisher, author, genre, and review, you've got a pretty good idea what's inside. If I say anything that doesn't apply to this one, please, do get out the giant flyswatter and knock me down.

Yes, they have a control for speed, but it's buried in the options. If it's a major part of how the game is played, it should be part of the basic interface. To my memory, there was never even a keyboard shortcut for it.

Were that fixed, you still run into the problem that if anything at all goes wrong while the program is closed, you can't react to it. A minor issue that could be fixed easily grows into a devastating problem by the time you get back to it.

For comparison, consider The Guild (either version), which is a more complicated, decidedly non-casual (to my eyes) take on the real-time management genre. There is a visible method for fast-forwarding the game, and when you close the game, it stops running. This is a Good Thing, because it means you can always pick it back up right where you left it. Any game that continues to progress even when closed requires that you think about it regularly. If I forget about The Guild for a week, I don't need to rush back to it in a panic, because I know that it's still fine. I shouldn't need to know in advance whether I'm closing the game for an hour, a day, a week, or even longer.

Really, what it comes down to is that I like the concept of these games, but not the execution. If you're going to let the game run even when it's not open, there needs to be some kind of a safety net, so that the player doesn't need to worry about what will happen to their plants/people/fish while they're away, even if some emergency (or simple absentmindedness) comes up that keeps them away for far longer than they'd expected.

I'd also like to point out that I'm not saying these are *bad* games, or that you should immediately delete them from the site. What I am saying is that, to me, if we are to consider them casual games, they are flawed, and the publisher seems to be producing one after another without fixing those flaws. As long as they keep selling well, I can't blame them, either. I just wonder wonder why a casual game site keeps posting them without even noting that as casual games, they have some problems.

The final decision is up to you, of course, since it's your site, but have you considered that you might be overextending "casual gameplay" to include another class of games that you happen to enjoy?

Sorry about the length, but I tend to get verbose when I'm emotionally invested in my topic. I do love this site, and I would hate to see the term "casual game" lose its meaning, because I think it's an important distinction to make.

Now watch the powers of Gemini step in!
Well you probably couldn't call it "casual", but then again it's a download, which makes it a little less casual, so it wouldn't be so casual on the inside.

But why worry about how "casual" it is when it's fun?
I know it defies mostly what this site is about but there are a few other games on thus site that aren't totally "casual".
So ends the argument, and lets others talk about the game itself, not how "casual" it is.

I can appreciate your point FunnyMan.

Is the real-time execution perfect in these games? Probably not. Does it add an interesting and compelling element to the gameplay? I think so.

I agree that the time management controls should be more prominently displayed since it is central to the gameplay.

Perhaps displaying a dialog upon returning to the game giving players the option to continue where they left off, or to have the game process the elapsed time as "real time" would address this issue you have with these types of games?

Are these casual games by strict definition? Probably not; these simulation games are likely to appeal more to the hardcore casual set. Do they belong on a site that features and promotes excellence in casual gameplay? I think so.

Fair enough.

to contribute to this discussion, I wanted to say that any comment that starts with
"Well, FunnyMan"
gets an A+ in my book :P

i agree with the jays second comment, even though I am not a big fan of these games
but neither do i like the horror games :D

I can see Funnyman's point - but probably in a different way. I really dig games like this and my only difficulty with the time issue is that I'm impatient and want to quickly see what will happen and, in the alternative, not miss anything. I think, however, that it is more of a personal issues with myself than it is with the game.

I would probably still consider these casual gameplay because it doesn't require that someone sit with a strategy guide in one hand calculating Mage Spell hit points or other odd junk like that. Those games are really for the ner...hardcore gamers.

I will point out that you CAN play it as if time doesn't pass while you're not there - hitting the spacebar pauses the game, hitting it again returns it to whatever speed it was on before you paused it, although you have to remember to pause it before you close it. (and doing it that way gets rather annoying since the plants take like half an hour to grow...)(Also pausable under the time settings in options)

This game does make it easier to leave running for a while, unlike fish tycoon. You could have all your fish die, but in this one the 'babies' are stored as seeds that don't die or need tending, so as long as you have a store of seeds everything is still good.

I'm enjoying it quite a lot, although I have run into my usual problem; There's not enough space for all my seeds! I've bought all the seed box upgrades and I'm still running out. I guess I'll have to ditch all the plants that aren't somehow unique, expensive, or awesome.

Thanks, Morigale. And I'm having that problem too. While the game gives you reason to want to map out the different species of plants, the tools it provides feel a bit constraining.

I'm working on an analysis section for the review and will post some of these thoughts in there as well.

All things considered, though, I'm also enjoying the game a lot. It is quite addictive, and I was up far too early this morning playing.

Thanks for the tip on messing with your computer clock! This game is FAR more enjoyable when you skip forward 15 or 45 min at a time. I actually bought it, and that's something I seldom do. :)

I agree regarding the space in the main screen + the seed boxes. :( It says there're 500 species! This is going to take me a long time to figure out all the possibilities *sigh*.

I'm hoping I'm not the only one with a couple of spreadsheets open to track genealogies and what's currently in my planters. *koff*

One nitpick I have is that even if I have known parents for a given seed, I can't tell what it is after it's been planted. It'd be really nice if the game would display the name of the plant in that situation, instead of having to wait until it's mature.

The pruning makes me wonder if people would shell out for a VirtualBonsai(tm) -- Have yourself a thousand-year old plant on your screen in only a few days! etc. ;)

I agree, lizardling. I wish the game would display the names of the plants when mousing over the seeds in the seed bin.

And yes, I have a spreadsheet open to track all the various seeds I acquire, too. :)

I had a game credit sitting in my account on Big Fish Games so I bought this one. Jay, you need to quit reviewing games from there or I'm going to go broke!

Anyway, I definitely prefer this one over Fish Tycoon. As said, you can store lots of seeds so that you have doubles of everything you currently have growing. If they all die then it's no big deal. Repeatedly I'd end up somehow breeding one kind of fish that barely survived to adulthood and they'd eventually die out so I'd have to start over. I didn't realise it paused either, that's very cool. Wish I'd known last night so I wouldn't have stayed up until they all grew up and I could sell them off...

What the game really, really needs is something that keeps track of discovered species and how you got them. At the absolute least it needs to display names along with pictures of the parents. I'm going to have to start a big file putting pictures to names just so I can keep track of it. (I don't suppose anybody has already done that and feels like uploading it so I can figure out my current parents?)

Hmm. I'm finding that some completely disparate crosses have seeds that look exactly the same, so that makes it harder to tell what I have in my bins. :p

For example, Rosaceae Grass x Jalapa Maple and Bluestar Reptans x Fragrant Pipe Cactus.

Oy.

Does anyone know if it makes a difference in the result which plant's the 'mama' plant when crossing?

Kat - once I have some data worth sharing, I'll gladly upload it. I've made some silly mistakes in my record keeping, and need to fill in some holes.

lizardling - yes, I don't believe there are 500 varieties of seeds, as I've seen different plants come from the same seed. And that is a good question about cross-pollination. I am wondering the same thing.

I don't think it matters which plant does the pollinating. I've done a few crosses where I pollinated both plants from each other and never saw a different offspring.

There definitely are not 500 seeds - it seems like the base seed is based on the foliage and then the coloring/hair is based on the rarity of the flowers rather than by specific flowers. Generally the fancier the seed, the rarer the flowers.

I too find real-time games.. extremely unrewarding. And even on the 'fast' mode here, making a step takes upwards of half an hour.

Diddling with the clock is usually even too irritating to bother with. However, if you can run perl..

Hi everyone,

I'm the lead designer on Plant Tycoon. Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this review, and these types of debates. Here's my $0.02:

1) Is it 'casual'? Our games were never 'aimed' at the casual demographic. We try to make them very easy to pick up (without dumbing down the game!), and they happen to sell very well on casual portals...so *POOF* I guess they are 'casual'.
2) Flow of time: we made 'fast' time setting _very_ fast in Plant Tycoon (relative to Fish Tycoon), because it seemed a little slower just because the plants do not swim around in a cute way. I personally do change the time setting a fair bit and if I could go back I would probably add a more prominent display for 'current speed setting'.
3) Seeds/species combinations. There are a lot. The limited seed space is actually intended to force the player to make some hard choices about organization, and which seeds to keep. That is why we start them with so little space and allow them to upgrade. As a designer, I am a fan of limits (both in design and in the play experience). I find limits like these challenging--and even liberating in ways.

In closing let me suggest that for one of our real-time games, this one is particularly forgiving for the absent-minded player. You can even just forget about it for a week, come back, pick the seeds off of your dead plants, and pick up where you left off...

Anyway we hope everyone enjoys Plant Tycoon. Making it was certainly a labor of love.

Arthur
Last Day of Work

May I say, Arthur: I don't like you. I like your games, but I don't appreciate how you keep producing them. I don't eat. I don't get sleep. My boss noticed a decrease in productivity. Family and friends have pleaded to the public if they have seen me.

And I just started this 3days ago?! Addictive. Definitely a better system than the Soup Recipes in Villagers 2 =D

I admit to advancing the clock. It's the only thing that's kept me sane. Devised 2 charts for cross-pollination of Foliage and Bloom, and i'm not sure i've discovered half of it yet since those rare plants are so hard to keep alive!! I haven't even cross-pollinated all of my original seeds with each other yet.

I'm still learning a few things along the way. For now, my current strategy is buying upgrades by growing my 3rd-4th gen seeds that make the most money (another list i keep track of).

Thanks, Arthur! Seeing the Villagers in city-folk get up was cute.

This was the first download that I have bought. I was close with gemsweeper, so I ended up getting them both.

Arthur, I understand, the limiting of space for seeds, but, I think that a smaller set with seeds that stacked up to 10 in a pile would have been more playable.

Also, a more detail geneology like other have suggested would have been nice.

Nice charts, Tenny, thanks! :D

But I think I'll wrap those in spoiler tags since they give away information that some players may want to discover for themselves.

As for the seeds:

I'm working on my own (similar, cough cough) chart, and what little overlap there is between what he's tried and what I've tried shows identical results.

If not random then perhaps multiple sets? None of my data aligns with Tenny's charts.

(But then again I could be way off here. More than once I've forgotten to record what I planted and then had to backtrack introducing the potential for error.)

Arthur: The game should allow the player to keep track of things easier than it does.

Hey this is going to sound like a stupid question, but it is now 3:28am and this game is driving me mad... so here it goes, how do I cross pollinate, do I just have to find the right combination or am I missing something everytime I click on the first plant then the second plant nothing happens. (yes they are both mature). Ugg I need to get some sleep.

thanks for the help

Jen, when you have two plants that have matured, select one then click-drag the pollen from that plant and drop it over the other one. The pollen appears just under the plant name in the left-hand palette.

I hope that helps. :)

PS: the game has me up until all hours of the morning, too. I can't seem to put it down. xD

What little overlap mine has matches the posted chart as well, so I think it's valid.

I agree that seeds should stack so that you can have multiples of the same kind. That seems fair.

After mapping out quite a few more I've still yet to find a contradiction, but I have found a slight problem: I'm coming up with multiple results for some combinations. That is definitely going to make this more complicated. I'm fairly certain I made no recording errors either. This may account for the discrepancies between charts, Jay.

Arthur, I think I've found a slight bug, though I have no idea what causes it. A lot of times the text will "stick" in the bottom after selling a seed or plant. Seems to happen after I sell a lot of the same type. It stays even if I switch between windows or sell another item. It does eventually unstick, but I'm not sure what prompts that either.

The problem with this game IS the time. Of course you can turn it off, but, like Virtual Villagers, there was absolutely NO need to have it run this way. It's almost masochistic to play this kind of game.

About plant tycoon in general:
a)it would be better if the plant growing was NOT real-time. the only downside would perhaps be smaller game length, but apart from that the concept does NOT lose anything.
b)WHY ON EARTH do you need to be in nursery screen in order to sell plants? it's annoying, plus you see all these familiar virtual villagers ugly sprites and recycled sounds all over again, just slowly browsing and staring - WHY?
c)it was a good game concept, but this approach kills it, imo.

Thanks for the spoiler edit, jay. Maybe my brain was tired. I'll blame the game for my lapse. Anyone else dream about pollinating plants last nite?

MULTIPLE SETS?!! Now I have to test this out. Just when I thought I could do some work at the office today =) ...

What prices has everyone found for hte plants? The most expensive ones I have found have been in the $80 range.

Kat - I am quite convinced now there are multiple sets, as none of my mappings are matching Tenny's chart data. I'll post mine soon.

One possible reason for this may be due to this being the 2nd game I've started. I made far too many mistakes while getting acquainted during play testing for the review and failed to record some initial data. So I clicked "Change name" at the main title screen and created a 2nd player identity, and I am playing and collecting data with that one.

When you say multiple results, are you saying you are getting a different offspring from the same two parents? And if this happens are you certain you didn't just pollinate it differently?

One thing I've noticed is that sometimes it seems that pollen stays longer in the 'pollen bin' after you have selected a different plant, thereby causing an unexpected cross-pollination.

I've been playing this game quite late into the early morning hours, so it's quite possible I've imagined everything I'm reporting here. xD

Breeding combinations should be 100% reproducable.

We toyed around with that part of the algorithm during testing, and went that way with it.

Breeding A + B should always = C.

As mentioned above, this does not pertain to seed skins--only breeding combinations.

Seed skins have their own rules, which someone above had correctly observed.

Arthur

Bug collecting tips:

• Certain bugs are attracted to specific types of plants, therefore which ones you see will be dependent upon the plants you have growing at the time.

• Always approach bugs slowly from above.

• If you turn down the music volume all the way and put headphones on, you can hear when most bugs comes into play.

• If possible, allow flying bugs to land before swinging the net.

• Some bugs can still be caught even when they seem to have disappeared behind a pot.

Ooh, this is helpful: double-clicking on a pot will show you the type of seed that was planted there.

Okay, I am now beginning to see some overlap, too. So, perhaps my claim of there being multiple sets for different games is incorrect.

I guess what threw me off is that there are multiple ways of yielding the same offspring, which may be what Kat meant before.

In other words, as Arthur mentioned, A + B will always equal C and yet D + E can equal C as well.

Therefore, since I was seeing A + B in the chart for C, and my results showed D + E for C, I incorrectly assumed that my data was different when both may be correct.

Wow, you guys are organized. I'm amazed and impressed! It never occurred to me to create a chart.

I've just been systematically breeding my way through every foliage type for each flower type. It's taking a long while, even with the fiddling with my computer clock. (My sundial says 45 hours played when I click on it!) For most of that time I was just having a blast breeding things solely for money and trying to find the most profitable plants.

Now that my aim is to find the goal plants, I have been systematically breeding through each foliage type, one flower at a time. I have just recently realized how HUGE this game is, and I fear that I'll need to join the spreadsheet gang as well. >.<

Spoiler tags because I'm new here and hope to incur no wrath... ;)

Jamus, that's great! I think it'd be worthwhile to reinstall perl just for this game. *grin* You know it's a good game when people create addons to play it the way they want to play it.

I enjoy these sims very much although I do find they have a few shortcomings. The speed 'problem' isn't one for me - I hate the lack of information on the seeds. I want to know both parents & grandparents of a seed. Also I want to know the name of the plant when I've popped the seed in - provided I've grown one of them before. I make crosses & then I self pollinate the resultant plant so I know what the seed is of when I mouse over in the tray. I need to know the parents of the seed when I've planted it as there are not enough unique seed skins and there is never enough space. I need to keep 2 of each seed since parents are not displayed by the plants.

Other than that I love it and Fish Tycoon though the lack of game defined goal would put off many nowadays. By the way, am I the only one using Access to record all my crosses?

Heheh, I spent all day Sunday playing it. Literally. And playing with the computer clock to speed things up. I was commenting to a friend that Plant Tycoon was... really slow but that I could...not...STOP. *g*

I see you guys have been busy since the last time I posted!

I've now found two different combinations to get the same plant in several cases according to my spreadsheets, for the record. Does this count as 'one' variety or 'two' given that they're different crosses?

katzarai, I've never tried Access. How is it holding up for this game? *grin*

Neither can I stop playing. I love finding new types of seeds and the anticipation and excitement of watching them germinate.

And I refuse to play with my computer clock. I'm a purist in that way. I just find other things I should be doing while I'm waiting for the plants to mature.

As for the different crosses creating the same plant, I'm guessing they can be considered the same variety here. I believe it's one of the ways in which the game is forgiving, so that there are no dead ends created by losing a particular seed. Though I still don't know yet what makes a seed "extinct" or even if that's possible given the multiple paths characteristic of the game.

Maybe I did misrecord something, but I meant that crossing two blooms with different foliage sometimes resulted in a different bloom, so separating the two out might not be valid. For example, say you have a Jalapa Maple + Spotted Fern = Citrus something. Then a Jalapa Pipe Cactus + Spotted Lemonbush might = Bluestar something. Not actual results I got, just an example. Arthur, is this possible, or are blooms and foliage completely independent of each other?

There are definitely tons of different ways to get different plants. There has to be if you think about it, or there would end up being an infinite number of plants.

To whoever asked what the most expensive plant found was, the best I've found sold for 84 dollars by default. I'm sure I could raise the price and have it still sell easily though.

I agree that being forced to wait for things is silly. I'm not sure what the point is, it doesn't seem to add anything to the game to me. Having a button in game that jumps you ahead X minutes would be nice

About the highest price I had so far was $246 by default for one of the magic flowers.

About being forced to wait for plants to grow:
I disagree with the comments that it adds nothing to the game. This is a resource management game, and time is one of its most valuable resources. Removing that would reduce the game to one of methodical scientific approach to mapping all species in the game. Not very fun, IMHO, though I am sure there are some that activity would appeal to.

What I object to are the artificial constraints imposed that unnecessarily complicate the game. Having to manage a wide array of seed types with limited information about them in an extremely small space (relative to how many there actually are) makes the game much more frustrating than it needs to be.

The game could have much more success with the casual crowd if it were easier to keep track of the plants you have grown and the seeds you have collected.

Also, when pollinating a plant, it would be nice if the plant being pollinated wouldn't then become automatically selected. Normally I use one plant to cross-pollinate several others, and the game's auto-select feature has caused me numerous unexpected cross-pollinations, and only just recently have I figured out why.

Arthur - if you're still watching, there seems to be an intermittent problem with the music coming back at full volume even when I have it turned down all the way in the Options menu. It happens when switching back and forth (in Windowed mode) between applications -- I have an open spreadsheet I am using to record my data. Now if only there were a place within the game to record my data, then I wouldn't have to switch back and forth all the time.

Even though I have some complaints, I don't want to come across as a grouch because I am really enjoying this game a lot despite the fact that I continue to struggle with the seeds/data I'm collecting.

That music volume bug is in our framework (hence it is present for some people in the Virtual Villagers games, etc). We have rooted most of our framework bugs out, but that one is proving pretty tenacious (and surprisingly intermittent).

The parantage info tools are widely requested in our breeding sims. Part of the problem for us is simply a good implementation...I think we basically decided we wanted an excellent implementation of that kind of thing, or none at all.

I have lots of comments on this game. And it is not the speed. Although it is "slow". But Alice Greenfinger was too busy. We need a happy medium
But to Arther there are several things that could make this game much better. I need to see the name of the plants in the seed tray. Just seeing the pictures doesn't do me a whole lot of good. The names would help me track the pollination better.
Also, buying stuff is a bit expensive, it takes a bit to get there. There are other things, but I have to get back and tend to my plants.

Oh and it takes too long for people to buy. And you should add graphics at least I can see the silly little people carry off the plant.

I'm having fun with this one - very enjoyable distraction playing behind something else I'm doing.

I have one glitch I've seen occur frequently - I have a plant selected showing one or zero minutes left before it flowers - I have the screen minimized, with another screen next to it - I'm working on the other screen and then switch back to Plant Tycoon, where the same selected plant now has 4 or 5 minutes until it flowers. I've seen this multiple times, so I'm 99% sure that time is going the wrong way, not that I'm just forgetting which plant I was looking at.

I'm not messing with the computer clock.

Is there a reason for this, or has anyone else noticed the glitch?

My second thing is just what others have mentioned about the Nursery - I really can't imagine why there can't be something else going on here - just sitting and watching plants sell seems a little goofy. If I can't be tending plants at this point, why not offer at least some interaction with customers, a mini game, anything to pass the time here?

Seems like it would have been a smarter place to put the bug catching mini-game, wouldn't it?

Otherwise, it's an enjoyable game.

Ducatisti - are you sure you're not confusing the timer that counts down "budding" with the timer that counts down to "mature"?

Once a seed is planted its "Buds in X Min." is displayed. That is not the time until it flowers, but the time until buds are formed on its leaves. Then a new timer starts that displays "Mature in X Min." Once those minutes have passed (usually about 5 minutes) the buds will bloom and the plant will be mature and ready for pollination or selling.

Hey guys! How maney magic plants has anyone found yet. I found 3 so far but don't remember who I cross-pollinated to get them.

I have found 3 different magic plants (although I really just bought one, slight cheat) The most expensive one sold by default for $327.

I've yet to find a single magic plant, but I'm beginning to get a sense for where they are.

And when I do find them I will know exactly how to find them again. :D

After some struggle with the proper tools with which to record data, I'm finding a couple of spreadsheets similar to the ones that Tenny posted a bit ago work well. But I wouldn't start with Tenny's data, however, as it might be a bit of a spoiler for anyone just getting started.

Rather, start with the seeds you're given at the beginning along with the ones you can afford to purchase, and chart those. Add a row and column for each foliage type, and on a separate sheet add a row and column for each flower type.

Then begin to chart the crosses obtained from those. Add rows and columns as necessary when you come across a new species or flower.

Eventually you will begin to see that there are some rare foliage types and some rare flower types.

And though I've yet to find a magic plant, I'm guessing they will be the plants with the rarest foliage and the rarest flower.

"Ducatisti - are you sure you're not confusing the timer that counts down "budding" with the timer that counts down to "mature"?"

D'oh. Yes, you are absolutely correct. I've been playing 3 days and you just told me something I should have realized from the start! Thanks :)

Two magic plant spoiler

No thanks, dodo, I prefer to find them on my own. :)

(It was a bit tough to approve that comment without looking at it (but I managed), and I do appreciate that you put it in spoiler tags).

Finally found one! \o/

(On my own, without spoilers, and without setting my clock ahead even once.)

I love this game. :D

And I can't stop playing. x_x

I'm having so much fun just seeing how big I can get my plants to groww. So far I fertilise them as seeds then use th bio-food after 10 minutests then the plant food after another 10 minutes and they are gigantic when mature, also sell faster.

Augh! Sooooo addictive! I was late to lab because of this thing! (Fortunately my DNA samples weren't going anywhere.)

Another great RT game, Jay! I even paid for this one.... >.>

By all means, DON'T TAKE MY CHARTS FOR GRANTED! ^_^ There's extra columns and rows that need to be added since that first post, not to mention that 99.99999% chance i misrecorded something.

I am nearing the end of one spectrum of cross-pollination where i'm beyond (A+B)=C=(D+E), and I'm coming across M=(M+N)=(M+O)=(M+P). I thought I was mixing my data at first until a couple more hours of getting the same results.

Morigale mentioned earlier that there couldn't be 500 species. With what you are given in your tray at the start of the game, no. Permutations only come up to like 200 species or so (i haven't completely found all of my blooms and foliage, yet).

But then i remembered you can buy extra seeds from the Supply Store. Why not? I really shouldn't and focus on my data collecting, but i got the cash. I bought a couple extinct seeds that produced totally new foliage and bloom from what i've come across (obvious from the seed appearance), I cried when I saw them. Who knows how many more unknown are lurking in the Supply Store (resets every restart of the game). It could easily bring up the possibilities to over 500 species.

I really have no complaints about seeing plant name at the seed tray (tho i did at the beginning =D ). But that's me, I go with the flow. I've actually become adept at naming them by sight.

And "this" close to anticipating what plant will come out of a cross-pollination without consulting my charts.

Heh, after glancing at your charts, Tenny, I went ahead and added another column to my spreadsheet tracking bloom type since I'd already been tracking foliage. foilage?

Same here - I've gotten pretty good at naming a plant although sometimes I still mix up Rosaceae and Jalapa blooms if I don't look longer than a second because they're both pink. :(

I just wanted to comment to the debate on whither Last Day of Work take on realtime games are "hardcore" or casual games.

When I first found Fish Tycoon online I was intruged by the "real time" concept, but for my 10 minute break nothing spectacular happened. The next day I totally bummed when I logged in the next day and my fish were all dead. I toyed with the speeds, but I ended up repeating the process (the best I ever did was have two severely ailing fish the next day).

Next played the first Village game, and by then I had learned to play with the clock. However, I would end up messing up and all the villagers would die, or somehow the villagers would get board with the tasked and nothing would be done.

So at this time I really came to dislike these games.

However, I ended up taking a class at work that got you a nice PDA for like 20 bucks, and since many of my co-workers had taken the class, I ended up with a lot of games on my PDA including Fish Tycoon & Plant Tycoon. And even then nothing would have come of it, but I ended up sharing my PDA with a co-worker that fell in love with Fish Tycoon.

It was because all the conditions were just right; she would leave it running while she worked and checked in on the status from time to time to breed fish or feed them or whatever. These games play like (old)soap-operas or like those Tamogotchi, etc. Something that you keep continuously in the background, but compelling enough to keep you involved.

Eventually I got drawn in enough to make some breeding charts so I could find so I could help her breed the magic fish. I hadn't enjoyed the games because I play games with my full attention in short spurts. So it's possible to argue that these games aren't casual games because you can't just pick them up play them for a few minutes at a time. But I think that perhaps they are a different sort of casual that doesn't require your full attention while you play.

As an aside, I like most of the improvements for this game. It's much prettier then the PDA, has more interaction, and goes much faster. I do think an in-game breeding documentation/charts would be an improvement, as well as not having to actually be in the sell screen to sell your stuff.

Great feedback, delzoup! :D

May I suggest an alternative method for playing these games that may fit better within your schedule: when done playing for a session, press the [space bar] or choose "stop time" in the Options menu. Then, when you return, reset back to your preferred game speed.

That is what I do myself since when I'm away from the computer it may be several hours before I am able to return, and I don't want to wind up with dead plants/fish/villagers. Better to be safe than sorry. :)

Anybody know any cheats?

File this one under "walkthrough", here is a foliage cross chart. (Whew!)

Don't look at the chart unless you're looking for a spoiler, as it reveals (most of) the plant foliage types:

If anyone notices any errors, please post a comment here and I'll update the sheet.

(And no, I didn't mess with my clock even once.)

Oh h*ll.
I think i'm going to have to buy this one.

Supplies for school be d*mned!

I just want to say that I am extremely addicted to this game. So far I have found five of the magic plants(one I bought, the others purely by accident). I don't mind the real time play because I play three games and just switch between them, each 24 hours apart. I have started a chart but I find that I have the most beautiful accidents! Thank you for this game I love it!

Here are a few of the magical plant's I've uncovered. Still working on the last two of them.
Here is the names of 4/6 of the magical plants, enjoy!

ladyraven, I think you have the second two switched. I've found four magic plants, well, one was an extinct seed purchase, and I think you've switched the abilities or qualities or special features or whatever you want to call it.

Ok, I have a massive Excel spreadsheet with all my crosses to date. I track color and plant separately, so it's easy to use. I just can't figure out if there are some of the species that can't be created without buying the seeds at $2k a pop. Has anyone managed to breed some of the uber-cool ones? I'll list names here:

If they can't be bred with existing seeds, then one of the magic plants can't be made. Just wondering.

When I finally found the first magic plant Fabled Lemonbush, if thats the one with blue roses, I added fertilizer and bio-organic plant food and I sell it between $400 and $600. Those seeds help me get $60,000 and more so I'm good money wise but i'm going around in circles trying to find the other magic plants and I'm thinking about starting over because I'm so completely lost.

I've lost $40,000 on the mutation liquid trying it on just about every plant I could. That liquid is spent so easily because I realized that you could use it 2 or 3 times on a single plant to get a different plant.

I've crossbred so many plants with others, and also spent a small fortune on the mutation formulas as well. 3 trays full of seeds, i wish i had done what some of you have done and kept a record, i'm almost completly lost at this point. I think those four seeds you had mentioned can only be bought through supplies under excint seeds. I've only managed to be able to but 2 of them. Ihonestly can't remeber how i got the magical plants, it was just mixing and matching, and 1 was bought. I only know the specices of the plant, and you are correct, i did mix up the last two plants with their names.

I found one of the types by using the mutation liquid. Here is how I got it....

I have been reading the comments here right along..some have helped me quite a bit. I am happy to say I have found all 6 magic plants! :) The 6th and final one is:

Ok, I have one other question. Has anyone noticed any special features from upgrading the water or clippers to the third level? Soil, obviously. Clippers to the second, I agree. But the fancy water? Or gold garden shears? What are your thoughts?

Is it really true, that once you pollinated a plant with something, you can't pollinate it with something else? In fish tycoon it wasn't this hard, if I had all kind of fishes in one tank, and all types of one fish in another, i could cross them the way i just wanted, but here crossing is difficult because of this "you can pollinate them just once" thing.

I found the total number of plant types and flower types off of the plant tycoon official forum.

Here is a copy of the seed catalog which includes all of the seeds. Major spoiler but for those who need it it is here.

Alright one more spoiler for you. Here is a checkoff list and plant and flower chart. The best I have seen so far. I didn't make it but I found it on the forum.

Hi,

I have known five of the magical plants. But what is the sixth?

The five magical plants that I've found out:

Thanks :)

[Edit: Please, Please Please, use spoiler tags when including information that could spoil someone's game(!) I've added them here for you. Thank you kindly. -Jay]

For Shintia's eyes only ;) here is the one you're missing:

I have charts for breeding made up showing all of the foliage and flowers, but I have no idea how to post them here if someone wants them. You can email me and I will send them to you.... Hopefully I will have them filled in soon just in case anyone wants to really cheat!!

I just found out from my sister that throwing seeds in the trash gives you money!!! I have been wasting all that coin just selling plants with seeds when I didn't have enough room for them... I don't think this is a spoiler as she told me she found out in one of the game hints

It is a good thing that we have unlimited phone minutes or this game would cost me a fortune in long distance calls comparing breeding results :)

Does anyone know if the supply shop restocks seeds once you buy them?

i definately love this game.... i just wish it would move a tad faster

Found this site really interesting. I haven't found any of the magic plants yet - and it isn't for want of trying. I do agree though that it would be useful to have the names of plants visible when you click on the seeds as the pictures don't always jog my memory and a cross pollination chart 'in-game' would also be useful.

Thanks

Kara

Thanks SharonD, I actually just found it out by accident :D

To Jay: I'm so sorry, I thought moderator is the one who would tag it, now I know :) Btw, have you actually found all of the magical plants?

Ah! I am actually now struggling of getting Four Petal Maple & Mela Rare Oak :( been cross-breeding like crazy.

I have one tips:

Good luck everyone!

Well, I just found out something very important. If you are going to play with the time, make sure that you have paused all of your all real time games. My little villagers were not very happy with me and it took quite a while to recover from all of the deaths :(

To manndiee...the seeds replenish every 24 hrs :)

I've been Playing Plant Tycoon for 4 days now. Found one sparkley blue rose mystic lemon bush magic plant so far. Selling for $332 or so.

I bought an extinct seed for about $2,000? and I was surprised when the plant only sold for $40something. Hmmmm...
Just bumbling around randomly.
It's fun to prune the little buggers so they grow all funny or short.
Only problem is my customers don't seem to like the novelty, so the plants
don't sell.

If anybody comes up with clues or a system, let me know.
Fun game.
Brown Thumb Besty

Dear April Robinson,

I would love to get your chart provided if you already had the 2 magical plants that I've been dying to find out. :)

That is the Fruit of Life and Magic Tree of Fragrance.

Do you? Please email me if you do. I'll be waiting for it.

Thanks.

I must say, I stumbled upon this site looking for method hints, and I absolutely love it!
For those looking for a reliable system to track your cross pollinations, I have found that I need three spreadsheets: one to track foliage, one for blooms and a third for the complete names of everything I've found along with their prices. For the foliage and blooms, just list each type along the side as well as the top. I also mark where the same type meets, since (A+A)=A. This diagonal line down the center of the sheet also makes it easier to track since I only have to fill in one side of the line! On one of the sheets I also have an area where I track the parents of the seeds in my pots since many of the seeds look identical (example: Pot 1= Spotted Ball Cactus x Jalpa Maple.

I'm pretty accepting of the gameplay, especially now that I know the spacebar toggle to stop time! One thing I would change is that the geneology of the seeds needs to show the name of the parents as well as or in place of the photo. I think it would also be great to purchase additional greenhouses like you could purchase additional fishtanks, so you could keep a cash cow and experiments going at the same time.
I think my absolute favorite thing about the game is that the plants don't move like the fish did in Fish Tycoon. I had the darnedest time keeping track of which ones I'd already picked up. I also love the additional income from bugs and seeds!

I am totally addicted to this game!!!
I only wish you could get more seed bins! there just isn't enough space to do it all
I actually was lucky enough to get one of my magic plants from buying it in the 2K seed lists in the supply room

And when is the end of game? I found everything,except one bug.

Hello!
I was just a little confused about how you "jump" time, because as much as I love this game, it's very hard to keep track of things over this large amount of time.

Could someone in layman's terms explain how I can make my game faster?

I sell the

for 700$ - pushed up with some plantfood - but it makes me rich ;-)

Thanks Doro,
I tried selling my Fabled Rose of Isola (I had been selling it for $300) for $600something and it sold! I tried again and it did not sell. Why? The first one had 5 blossoms and the second batch I tried to sell only had 4. Isn't that interesting? I had not been paying attention to which individual plants I re-produced of the same kind, but it seems to make a difference. Some individuals come out better than others, just like real life plant developing.
I'm sure plant fertilizer makes a difference, too.

Brown thumb Betty

i've been playing for ages and i still havn't found even 1 of the magic plants!!! so i'm really low on cash too.... HELP!!!

if you click on the people in the nursery then a picture pops up in a thought bubble.... any idea what those pictures mean?

OK, I have been playing for 3 days and was hoping to find some hints. I need to know how to build up my funds! I don't UP my cost for plants too much higher than the price recommended. Is that a good idea? Also, I can't seem to sell my plants fast enough to make enough money to buy supplies needed just to keep my plants from dieing! Supplies are SO expensive! Tips and hints on how to get started would be super helpful for a beginner player like me. Thanks!
(I can't seem to find a way to turn HINTS back on in the middle of my game, either.)
Thanks!
Jezenel

Jay and everyone else - I love this page. It's so helpful but best of all I know there are people out there even more addicted to this game than me! Cross pollination - I didn't even think of that and have been spending a fortune on mutation liquid! I have 2 magic plants so onwards to the other 4. Does anyone have the fountain yet and does it make a difference to prices of plants?
Leonie

The route I took initially was to keep cross pollinating various plants until I found one worth a pretty penny and that would grow in the cheapest soil.

I think once I found a plant in the $49-$70 range, I just mass produced them to build up my funds to buy the better soil and water.

Once you can afford the dirt from Isola, then there's really no stopping you. There's little need for supplies save for the occasional pesticide or the fertilizer bombs to make the plants grow large.

And the extras for the greenhouse actually make the selling go quicker as they attract larger crowds.

I haven't played much with changing the prices of the plants. I really just let the game set the price. But here's a bit of a spoiler about prices:

To nan:

those thoughts can mean all different things

i hope that helps nan

(i added spoiler tags as i didn't know if it would reveal too much information for anybody or not)

OK, I am cross polinating like crazy... all different combinations.
I have tried the mutation stuff. I buy the extinct seeds.
All I have found so far is one magic plant.
I am getting bored. Making no progress.

Does the fact that some of the seeds sell for ten dollars mean
anything? Is that a clue?
This blind trial & error & error & same old is getting boring.
Brown Thumb Betty

ok please can someone tell me what i have to do to get the magic plants. and then i mean which one i have to cross bread with any other? (sorry for my english im from holland, but over here there isn't much info over the game)

can u guys help me find the nox orchid

here is my situation i dont have, on the chart, from bluestar to the left and VST wont tell me even how to get those so that means no nox but i can get an orchid 2day

i succeeded growing my money until it reach 929.1978, how digit can we growing money???

this page has links to pictures of all the plants, the seeds, the bugs, and also a cross-breeding chart. it, of course, contains spoilers. :) Plant Tycoon Hints and Cheats Link

!*!*!*!OMG!*!*!*! ANYONE who sells their plants just to be able to buy the $1,500 super bomb vapor grow like me NEEDS to try this!!! Change the clock on your computer forward 40 mins right after u plant your seeds!! No waiting and no $ wasted on expensive purple grow!~!~! :D The only down side is if u like catching the buggies or if u like to prune dead leaves before buds get in the way. If u want 2 do that then forward the clock 20 mins.... prune..... then forward the last 20 mins! Good luck all!!! :D

im beeza and i have won the game but need 4 more bugs.
can someone write down all bugs and what plants they come to.

i would love it a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by the way

have you near the start of the game seen a weird rainbow thing.i have seen a very fast thing annoy me because i have only seen it once and i didnt even have time to grab my net!

is it the last spider on the right.

Uh, excuse me please.

Wonder why he's thinking of a fish
when he's going to buy a plant?

arthur:

how about a pedigree going at least to, possibly 4 generations, that can be accessed by clicking the seed *and by clicking the plant*
one of the most frustrating things for me is discovering a new plant, and then not remembering which seed it was i planted to get it.

or as others have suggested, a chart in-game that automatically fills when things are discovered, somewhat similarly to the achievements in virtual villagers.

so when you open up the chart you see:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v413/Ajil/plantchart1.jpg

and when you click on one of those you see:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v413/Ajil/plantchart2.jpg

people would then know how many kinds of plants there are, and be able to remember how to get them and figure out how to get new ones without a huge amount of outside effort.

also, it might be good to also have an "instant" mode where seeds mature within a minute or less of being planted for those of us who are impatient.

To Andy:

There already exists a chemical to make them grow faster. Check your supplies page for the InstaGrow Vapor Bomb. It works quite nicely.

How can I get the purple rose. It's driving me crazy! Please help! If someone finished this game or knows the combo, please tell me. Thanks.

I really like this game because you can plant your own seeds

To Arthur:
I have just finished the game and it was so much fun, I'm sorry that I've completed it.

I got the 1st 5 Magic Plants on my own, but the last one was the most difficult as my seed beds were a mess, and my notes so written over I couldn't read them, so I cheated on the last one.

Arthur, this game would be a lot more fun if you could put in 7 seed beds instead of only 3 and be able to scroll them up and down so you can see what seeds that you have and, more importantly, what you don't have. I had no room at all in my seed beds and when I was experimenting,

It would be nice to have the same set up with a bunch of blank charts, scroll them up and down like the seed beds, for experimentation.

Anyway, thanks for a wonderful game and will be looking for anything new on your website. I'm still playing The Villagers: The Secret City and probably will be playing for some time to come. Thanks for that game, too.

Rusty

Rose of Joy ( Rosaceae Fern ) can sell how much ??

i can't find the venomous grass. does anyone know what that seed looks like?

Can someone please tell me where I can find directions for the Virtual Seed Tray? I downloaded it and can't figure out how to work it. HELP!!!!

Two Questions:

If you lost your spotted reptan seeds, and there is no way to produce it...are you officially screwed? I have three magic plants, tons of bugs, lots of money, and can't move on without that plant? Any ideas? Which leads me to the second question....

I have bought all the seeds in the Supply store, so if it's possible to get another spotted reptan seed, does the empty shelf ever replenish?

Thanks,
Cate

Crystal ->
If you have some of the basic seed you can try to mix this
venomous Grass = Citruss Reptans x Fourpetal Astera

My plants keep dying! Is there any way to get rid of the dead plants, and if so, how? Please reply!

To Cheesehead:

To get rid of dead plants, just click and drag them to the trash located at the lower left part of the screen.

Update