Inject a Tree

The big trend on Facebook right now is farm games. FarmVille is the most successful online game right now, but there are several other games that follows similar game concepts. Tiki Farm is one of these farm games that puts it’s own pacific island feel on the farm game experience.

Tiki Farm puts you on your own plot on a pacific island, complete with an active volcano and a spectacular beach front. On this little piece of island paradise it is up to you to create a thriving farm and eventually your dream island hide away. To do this you need to earn shells that you can trade for seeds or decorations at the local store.

You start out with 4 plots of land already plowed and your first crop ready to be harvested. This basic set up teaches how to use the different tools in the game. The very short game tutorial shows how to harvest and plant crops, how to remove bugs from your plants and how to call forth a rain storm when your produce needs water. After the introduction it’s time to set out to set up the farm the way you want.

When you start plowing your fields you will notice a limiting factor in Tiki Farm that sets it apart from other similar farm games. The number of tiles that can be plowed is limited by the level you are on. This means that as a new farmer you are very limited in how much money you can make. This again means that picking the right crop becomes even more important. The game starts out with the most basic crop, mushrooms. These are ready to harvest in 15 minutes and make a tiny profit of 3 shells when harvested. More importantly, you also get 1 experience point for each mushroom you plant and harvest.

Starting off you level up quickly so taking advantage of the quick turnaround for the mushrooms will make you level up fast and help you reach level 5 in a couple of hours. Level 5 is a key level since this is where the red onion is unlocked. This crop takes one day to grow but has the best return of the early crops. For the best possible start in Tiki Farm you should make sure you get to level 5 on your first day and then plant red onions over night. This establishes a 24 hour rhythm of playing the game which fits well with the water requirements of your plants. All crops need water at least once every 24 hours so for the best results you need to log onto Tiki Farm once every day at least.

While you can play Tiki Farm successfully on a once every 24 hours schedule, it is possible to make more out of the game by playing more frequently. Plants dry out in 24 hours, but they can be watered more frequently. In this game you are awarded experience points every time you water crops that are slightly dry. This can be a huge help as you can water the crops throughout the day. This might not seem like it would make much difference, but you can also water your neighbors crops, and get experience every time. With many neighbors and dedication this can be a great way to level up very quickly.

Another key to Tiki Farming is that unlike almost all other farm games, your crops do not go bad in this game. This adds some flexibility as a slip up in the schedule doesn’t mean crops will go bad. If you need to make changes to the crop schedule this is a great advantage.

In addition to crops, you can buy fruit trees and harvest them. The return from the fruit trees is very low however as they take too long to be ready to harvest. On the plus side, once you have placed a tree it will continue to yield fruit without any further investment. The long turnaround and the low yield however makes trees unsuited for making money. The best use for trees are as decorations. Some well placed trees can add a very nice visual touch to your farm. A banana or coconut palm along the beach adds a very cool touch. Also, trees can be a good way to make some money from spaces on your farm that can not be plowed.

Tiki Farm is still a relatively new game and many of the features of the game are not developed yet. This applies to things like the news section and the achievements. It also means that many of the game elements are likely to be expanded in the months to come. For example, it is not currently possible to expand your island, the space you have is what you get. With the limited number of fields to plow this is not a big issue, but as people start hitting the higher levels and add more and larger decorations to their farms, land extensions are likely to be added.

Tiki Farm does not bring any new interesting concepts to the farm game genre, it is however refreshing to create a pacific island themed farm. From the fun avatars to the laid back island decorations the game retains a fresh new look. In all the novelty is not enough to set the game apart from the competition. Players who are already invested in one of the other farm games on Facebook will probably not find many reasons to move to Tiki Farm.