Fingers Crossed – TSTO Level 33

DrewDabble has his fingers crossed for certain rumored TSTO Level 33 content… 
Read the spoilers here…
http://drewdabble.com/2013/08/08/what-will-be-in-tsto-level-33/

Being A Good Neighbor-eeno

Nearly overwhelmed by ‘real-world’ work and blogging related stuff, my TSTO playing has suffered. My second (100% non-premium) game is forming cobwebs.

My vising of friends’ towns is lagging also. I’m nearly maxed out so that’s almost a hundred.  I haven’t timed it, but it takes a long time to visit them all. It’s giving me flashbacks to Whacking Day, when TSTO became a part-time job. I for one, was relieved to see the laidback pace of Squidport.

Now that we can see who has visited us (except for vandalism) I’m going to try my best to reciprocate with Tappers who visit me. However, with no ability to ‘sort’ or ‘favorite’ on the Friends Screen this is somewhat laborious. Seriously, I’m getting guitar players’ callus on the end of my tapping finger from scrolling back and forth so much.

The best solution would be if EA just automatically sorted the friends that have visited your town to the front of the list on the Friends Screen.

This would give us the ability to manage more friends. Which I’d very much like – because (true story), I’ve been struggling to find a few friends to remove from my Springfield. I had nearly decided on a short list when one of them visited my town.

I’ll end by dusting the cobwebs off my second game and showing it some love. Here’s a screenshot from it. What is the rarest thing one could ever glimpse while visiting someone else’s town?  I’m thinking that would be witnessing a crop of Perfection blooming. I’ve tried several times going back and forth between my two games with no luck. Not sure if it’s even possible with the lag-time involved in syncing with EA’s servers. So here’s one I grabbed directly from my second game. I’m tellin’ ya folks, it’s even hard to make a screenshot and then harvest Perfection before it rots.

Good News, Everyone!

This is an update to my (possibly) misunderstood post… http://drewdabble.com/2013/08/09/we-must-be-cautious/

The pre-takeover TSTO Tips Team is regrouping and can be found here. Hopefully they won’t change the URL again 😉 But if they do, just check back here because I will have probably tracked it down and posted about it. Anyway Mike, Mickus and most of gang are there and hopefully more will be joining soon.

Plus, and this is a BIG PLUS, (also long overdue) they finally have a female voice! Her pen name is minicha or ‘Em Cha’ as she’s known at Tapped-Out UK which is kind-of an online version of ‘Cheers’ (you know, like a pub where everyone knows your n…) Just create a free account and join in on the fun! BTW: Please add an account pic, this helps the more ‘visually oriented’ of us keep track of your shared TSTO insights.

OK, so maybe now I can get back to making this a ‘Multi-Topic’ blog.  Woo Hoo 🙂 To which Professor Farnsworth is a clue (but not in a bad way, like his ‘good news’ usually is on the TV Show)

What new TSTO / TV Show tie-in’s does Fox have planned for us?

The new Simpsons TV season is just around the corner. I’m thinking there’s going to be tons of TSTO episode tie-ins. For most of the summer re-run season here in the US, Fox has been hammering the tie-in episodes. Lots of chances for DrewDabble to lament not buying a Moe’s Limo (or three) and The Swanky Fish 😦

What could be next?  Well the upcoming Level 33 (click here for the Spoilers) might give us a clue. So far the seemingly most tangential TSTO character or item, is (correct me if I’m wrong) Honest Abe. http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln and his cabin. However there is the fact that the real Abe did live in the real Springfield (Illinois). Was this supposed to play off of the long running gag about the real location of The Simpsons’ Springfield?

Frankly, I’m open to anything at this point. Went surfing for some ideas and ran across this fantastic site… http://www.antesydespues.com.ar/en/famosos-al-estilo-simpsons/ with a well done and thought provoking list of real-world celebrities that have been seen on the TV show. Here’s four I’d shell out serious donuts for and would be honored to have wandering around DrewDabble’s Springfield. Just imagine a hilarious dual task… Like Nimoy confronting ‘Cosplay’ Comic Book Guy about copyright infringement issues, which by the way – this blog has no intent of, at all – just a fan 🙂

To keep this wishful train of thought rolling just a bit longer…  With Futurama’s final season on Comedy Central finishing up soon, I hope to see some Futurama characters showing up in TSTO. Truth is, what I really want is a full separate Futurama Tapped Out game. Alas this probably isn’t feasible because Futurama just doesn’t have the huge world-wide fan base of The Simpsons. However a good compromise would be to do a Kustyland-like expansion featuring the Planet Express crew.
This could be awesome paired with a Simpsons-Futurama-TSTO tie-in TV episode where Frink is tinkering around in his lab and accidentally zaps himself to New New York in the year 3013. He then runs into professor Farnsworth, who helps him get back to Springfield using his time machine. Then the time machine could become the “Shuttle” to the Futurama expansion.
I could go on for pages with this Futurama stuff (and will in future posts), so I’ll end with this; here’s two decorations I’d buy in a heartbeat…

– Tickle-Me Bender – in TSTO when tappped he’d say “Quit tappin’ my junk pervert!”
– Planet Express Ship balloon (like Blinky the three-eyed fish).

We must be cautious…

To borrow a great Obi–Wan line from Star Wars:  “Mos Eisley Spaceport (by this, I mean the Internet)… You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

It would seem that in the wake of the mega-hit blog TSTO Tips’ demise there are many websites and blogs scrambling to become ‘the next’ TSTO Tips (and some for profit).Not me, I’m a just a huge fan of Matt Groening (and the pre Level 30 Mr. T). I’m blogging to be helpful in a just-for-the-fun-of-it way and to enhance my (and other Tappers) enjoyment of the game. But since I’m not getting paid to do this (like others on the net seem to be, legally or otherwise), I’ve got to go make a living out in the ‘real world’. I’ll be back later with a lot more – including a full post clarifying this blog’s purpose(s)….

Until then Happy Tapping 🙂

TSTO Texture Rendering Glitches (TRG’s)

Texture Rendering Glitches (TRG’s as I call them) in The Simpsons Tapped Out are a source of constant enjoyment for DrewDabble – especially since they don’t seem to hurt anything 🙂 They are just a ‘misunderstood feature’ not a ‘bug’ or ‘glitch’ in the eyes of this IT industry veteran 😉

I’ve been geeking-out on the ‘screenshot thing’ lately. I snap shots of TRG’s every chance I get. Here are some of my favorites.

To fully enjoy the amazing level of HD Quality detail that EA has poured into TSTO please Tap-Click these pics to see full-res versions on my Flickr site…

IMO the ‘four-leaf clover’ of TRG’s would be the Film Set with ‘Climactic Battle’ task in progress.

I have started a full-res TRG Gallery on my Flickr site…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewdabble/sets/72157634270202755/

Krustyland – The Game within a Game

I’m just starting to get my head around this Krustyland (KL) thing. It’s a game within a game. While a little confusing at first, I get it now. EA has to design content that takes a reasonable amount of time for players to consume. Plus that content must introduce new and unexpected twists to keep us Tappers interested (and more importantly buying donuts).

Whacking Day achieved this by being grueling, but in the end – I really enjoyed staying with it everyday and strived to get all the prizes. Squidport [aka Snailport 😉 ] achieved this in a much more laid back fashion with its long boardwalk ‘Make’ times. Now the trick with KL will be to manage 2 sets of quests/tasks going back and forth between your KL and your Springfield.

This will require plenty of planning. Walkthroughs (WTs) will be very helpful. I will (as time permits) be posting my ‘Nearly-Spoiler-Free’ WTs here on my blog. Each quest name in the WT is also a link to my Flickr site which has an archive of compact yet full-res screenshot paste-up pics containing all the ‘dialogue’ from that quest/task. BTW: I have an ulterior motive for doing this. I’m a word-geek and want to have time to savor this in-game dialogue. There is (just like the TV show) some cutting-edge writing in them.

Plus they are the only source of game play instructions directly from EA. A good example is the following explanation of the Krust-O-Meter that I would have just blown through a couple of months ago…

Then there’s the cool new friends’ menu-screen. It now shows Krustyland and Squidport status. Although the verdict is still out on how accurate it is. Accuracy aside it’s still a very cool upgrade IMO. (Please note: Since this is a public blog, I’ve partially blurred their Origin IDs in respect of my TSTO friends’ privacy)

 

But wait, there’s more! You can now tell what friend tapped what item in your town. When you tap a shaking-hands icon the Origin ID of whatever friend tapped it appears and floats upward. However, at least in my Android game it doesn’t show who tagged (vandalized) your buildings. Which is fine with me, because graffiti is perfectly within ‘the spirit’ of the TV show and it’s supposed to be a sneaky activity anyway 😉 I haven’t tested what your friends will see after you clean graffiti in their towns. If anyone knows, please comment.

Finally, an interesting observation about the KL Shuttle. It can’t be rotated…

Amazing week for TSTO!

It’s been an amazing week for The Simpsons Tapped Out! 🙂

I’ve added some updates to my ‘Nearly-Spoiler-Free’ walkthroughs…

➡  Level 32 – Rod and Todd Parts 8-10

➡  Krustyland – Krusty-est Place On Earth Parts 1-6

I must say, TSTO has provided me with so much enjoyment. The truth of it is, due to many obligations, commitments and my modest financial situation; I haven’t been able to afford much entertainment, let alone consider a vacation for several years. But for less than $300 dollars US, TSTO has given me a vast virtual vacation that I’ve been on for months now ~ with no end in sight!. Now that’s money well spent!! Thank you, EA!!!

Finally I want to say how much joy I’m receiving from recording my TSTO game progress on social media. I’m a such a geek. Always have been. My circumstances have kept me from expressing the full depth my geekiness lately. TSTO and all it’s associated activities are providing me with a huge dose satisfaction on so many levels.

The Krustyland (sub-game?) is here!

If last week’s Level 32 update was a surprise, then today’s Krustyland “App Store” update is downright shocking! 😯 😯 😯

On the other hand, I was just thinking earlier today that I’m finished with Level 31, my Squidport only has a couple of buildings to go and in Level 32, I only have Kamp Krusty left. Without this wonderful new content I would have been pretty much caught-up game quest-wise by this coming weekend.

EA’s really bringing their ‘A-Game’ 😉 and us Tapper’s are reaping the benefits :D. I know some will struggle with the amount of money needed to acquire all this new premium content. I appreciate this and actually have two games that I use to document & archive my progress. One is a ‘Premium’ game, wherein I buy all the content I can afford. I also have a 100% ‘Non-Premium’ game. This way I can enjoy TSTO from both points of view.

Anyway, I’ve gotta get back to the game! I’ll be posting more on Krustyland as I progress and also will be adding to my ‘nearly-spoiler-free’ walkthroughs here. Until then, I’ve posted my first set of dialog paste-up’s on my Flickr site. The dialogue in them is first-rate entertainment ❗

Welcome Back Mr.T!

Mr.T, the recently elusive creator of the mega-popular TSTO Tips Blog has returned, but only briefly for now!

      

He just made a couple of short posts…
http://tstotips.com/2013/07/30/whats-your-favorite-animation/
http://tstotips.com/2013/07/30/poll-what-do-you-think-of-36-hour-tasks/

He says he’s been traveling outside of Wi-Fi coverage in India, Nepal, Burma and now Thailand. He also said he met the Dalai Lama (of whom I’m a HUGE fan). What an awesome privilege! If could meet any sentient being living in the present moment, he would be at the top of my list.

Mr. T also says he has ten days of vacation left. Well here’s wishing him and his family a safe and enjoyable finish to their epic vacation.

I also want to send a huge note of thanks to Mike S. & WerdnaSimpson for the terrific job they’ve done minding the store at TSTO Tips while Mr. T has been away! Moderating that mega-hit blog must be exhausting!

“Whole Springfield” Pictures

I enjoy making screenshots of The Simpsons Tapped Out game almost as much as I enjoy playing it. Especially making stitched-up images of my whole Springfield. Here’s the last one I made. Click to see a much higher-res version on Flickr…

Alas, starting with the 4th of July TSTO event, my town has outgrown my technology’s ability to handle it at full resolution. I play on a Samsung GS4 phone and it makes brilliant Full HD 1920×1080 screenshots. However, it seems that in Windows 7, MS Paint’s PNG file size limit seems to be just over 9400×9400 pixels. Which is apparently not big enough to hold a full hi-res Springfield.

Guess I’m going have to reduce the screenshots to about 80% original size before doing the manual stitch-up in MS Paint (which does a great job BTW). Sadly 😦 this will add another tedious step to an already time consuming process.

I hope to have time to make a new one in the next few days. Including all the cool new stuff from Levels 31 & 32. Actually it’s really not that bad, even if It does take a few hours. I find it to be a restful meditative activity ~ in a sand mandala kind of way 🙂

See more of my favorite (hi-res) TSTO screenshots on Flickr… http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewdabble/sets/