We all have things that drive us crazy, but we understand. Right? Like, I hate that it’s
snowing and 15 degrees outside right now, but I understand. I hate that this industry
is convinced that multiplayer is all that matters, but I understand. I hate that Sweden’s
In Flames sounds like a prepubescent emo band these days...but I understand.
As much as I advocate mobile gaming, specifically iOS gaming, there are a few things that drive
me crazy about it, too. Case in point, the notion that paying for a product is a process
that should be incremental and can be extended over a given period of time. This drives me
crazy, but again, it’s something I understand.
It just also happens to be why Toy Factory is a really good game, but.
That’s a big “but,” but we’ll get to that in just a minute. Toy Factory is a
brand new App Store release from Chillingo that essentially mixes Rudolph’s Island
of Misfit Toys with a dose of good ol’ fashioned American capitalism. The world’s forgotten
toys are evidently tired of waiting for Santa Claus, so they decide to put the bastard out
of business.
So they pick themselves up, crawl of the dumpster and start a toy shop. Their goal is to make
toys that will never be forgotten, evidently oblivious to the fact that if they would’ve
expressed these ambitions to their former owners, there’s not a kid on this planet
who would’ve thrown them away.
Toy Factory is basically a kind of manufacturing and management game. You have the factory,
and you have a shop. What you make in the factory, you sell in the shop. So the game
boils down to making supplies, building toys and growing your business.
Everything you do in this game costs money. So for example, if you want to place a table
in your storefront, you have to pay for it. The good thing is that you earn a fairly steady
income from selling your toys, so it all works out. That’s how capitalism works, ideally.
You earn money for providing goods, and by investing money back into your business, you
can earn even more.
The problem is that Toy Factory throws in a third factor.
See, things don’t just cost money in Toy Factory. They also cost gems. And unlike the
money you earn, which represents the fair transfer that is the core of capitalism, these
gems are as imaginary as the floating islands capitalism’s strongest defenders like to
pretend actually exist.
These gems are like a tax you have to pay on top of your money to buy stuff. Gems allow
you to speed up the manufacturing process, too. But the problem is this game is f*cking
impossible to play without buying gems. For example, it takes hours to make certain materials
for your toys. Literally hours. But of course, you can bypass that deliberately insane waiting
period...by buying gems with an in-app purchase.
Again, this is something I understand, right? These games are very cheap, a lot are
even free. So you have to make money somewhere. The problem is that it’s also very annoying
to have a game that is deliberately impossible to play without throwing extra money into
the hat. I get it, I really do. That doesn’t mean it isn’t kind of ridiculous.
That’s the thing about this game, though. Because Toy Factory is great. It’s a lot
of fun to manage your shop, and the fact that you also have to make your products is actually
kind of rewarding. There is a lot of stuff to add to your business, lots of customization,
even a fun art style.
And if you don’t mind buying gems at the rate of—oh, I don’t know—how about 30
dollars for a thousand...you’ll get to experience all of it.
