Looking at a promotional picture for Animal Crossing one might be confused as to what the game is about. Animal Crossing is an interactive game in which the player moves to a town where animals are able to talk and have personalities such as humans. In earlier versions of the game the player was a normal town villager who had to work to pay off their home loan. In the latest installment of Animal Crossing the player becomes the town mayor whom apart from paying off their home loan and making villagers happy also has to keep the town in shape by building projects, planting flowers, and planting trees; all which happen to cost money in the game.
The game is more complex than meets the eye as you are constantly judge on your skills as the mayor. The game measures skills by a village popularity system, if one fails to build projects and keep the town clean the popularity drops and the villagers become less friendly. The game also features it's own stock market by buying and reselling turnips at a higher price, which like in the real stock market prices vary according to the day. Like a real town the game features shops including a hair salon, clothing store, convenience store, and a store in which you can resell items to your town villagers. The player can make money by fishing, catching bugs, digging up fossils, and selling the fruit in the town initially, as well as selling clothing and furniture.
The villagers in the game all vary depending on their personality types, there are villagers who are peppy, angry, smug, like an older sister, snooty, and jolly. This makes the villagers unique as their dialogue depends on what type of villager they are, this also determines the type of furniture that is displayed at their homes and the types of tasks that they will ask you to assist them with. Just like the player the villagers can also change their clothing and will also give the player clothing, furniture, and fruit when they help them complete a task. The villagers will also hold birthday parties when it is their birthdays as well as throwing a party for the player on their birthday.
Animal Crossing can be played at any age since the game is extremely customizable. The player has the power to change villagers catchphrases when they request it, they can make clothes, and choose which public works projects to built. Because of the amount of customization in the game everyone has a different experience when playing animal crossing, the initial villagers one receives are random. After that villagers may ask to move out and a random villager moves in, a visitor from a campsite could be asked to move in, or if you know a villager in a friends town is moving out you can choose to visit them and ask them to move to your town.
This initial post is to briefly explain how Animal Crossing works and what the concept of the game is. In the following posts to come I will introduce some villagers, special events within the game, and strategies to have a successful town within the game. I look forward to informing you on the joys of Animal Crossing.
