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[Snuggles]

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PLATFORM
iOS (Universal)

DEVELOPER
LambdaMu Games

GENRE
City Builder/F2P Time Management

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Welcome to the world of Utopia where YOU create the city and the residents.

Greet new clones to Utopia at the arrival centre, then find them a place in your new world. Splice genes of residents and combine their skills to discover new Pixel People to join your thriving city.

• VARIETY IS THE SPLICE OF LIFE
Combine the properties of Utopia residents to create up to 150 new occupants, each one suited to a special role in your new society. You can create Athlete Stanley Cupp, Judge Judy Schuss, or even Buccaneer Yoho Howe!

• MONEY MONEY MONEY
Each new job you create for a Utopian resident puts money in the bank, and the more residents you place in each building, the more money you make! Use your cash to build more residences, places of work, and to expand your land. Collect or buy Utopium to speed up building processes and reveal secret recipes for creating exotic residents.

• LOTS TO DO
As your population grows, love can blossom in Utopia too, and you can earn a sweet bonus for every 11 love hearts you collect. Bonuses could be coins, Utopium, or even a wild animal to wander your world?

• EASTER EGG
Discover all the secrets of Utopia with Pixel people's delightful hidden secrets — unlock certain buildings for enchanting surprises!

Key Features:
Create 150 different Pixel People
Find 80 hidden animals through secret combinations and bonuses
Distinct pixelated art style
Share your newly created Pixel People on Facebook
Move and customize your Pixel Utopia however you wish
Free to play!
iCloud enabled

​

• Official Trailer: http://youtu.be/iMUPMrHYN0I

• Touch Arcade Review: http://toucharcade.com/2013/01/31/pixel-people-review/

• IGN Review: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/31/pixel-people-review

  At its core, Pixel People is a simple town-building appointment game. In the beginning you’ll always have something to do. But by the time you have more than 100 citizens, most buildings will take 24 hours or more to complete and it’ll be 30 minutes or more before you get a new clone to splice.
  
  Players only interested in casually tapping around will still (slowly) progress through Pixel People, but there is a surprising amount of depth for min/maxers to consider as well. With a finite amount of space to build, every construction project becomes a real decision. Is it best to build more coin-giving trees, or more construction cost-reducing decorations? Where a citizen works also makes a big impact on income. Smart and observant players will likely make money twice as quickly as more casual players.
  Of course, as a freemium title, players that are willing to pay up can skip these wait times and strategic concerns entirely. Players can purchase Utopium, Pixel People’s premium currency, in bundles ranging from $1.99 to $24.99.
  
  But here’s the thing – not all freemium titles treat their currency the same. And Pixel People is one of the most generous and reasonable examples in recent memory. Players that never pay a cent will still enjoy a steady trickle of Utopium via tree harvests, a Utopium Mine and other sources. A patient player playing for free could see and do everything the game has to offer. Additionally, the premium features that are here are very reasonably priced. Speeding up a building just costs just a few cents, not a few dollars.

• Kotaku Review: http://kotaku.com/5980530/my-perfect-world-is-populated-by-pixel-people

I'm enjoying this game quite a bit at the moment, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a dedicated thread so we don't clog up the works in the iOS gaming thread. Anyone else playing? Post your impressions and shit.

 

[Tunesmith]

Just started this, very few freemium "builder" games grab my attention (Happy Street is the only one in recent memory) but this game seems very cool. Eerily similar in style and leniency on IAPs to a Nimblebit designed game -- might be why it's so appealing.

 

[Heel]

RETURN TO TOWN CENTER? NO / YES

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Sounds like a better Happy Street. I'm down to check it out, at least.

 

[superrobot]

I'm liking it so far, in 5 minute bursts at work.
I haven't delved too deeply into it.
You could see it having more layers like a kairosoft title with regards to building placement giving bonuses and so on.

 

[GDJustin]

Try not to plug my own stuff too much, but my obsession with Pixel People above and beyond what was needed for the review spawned a wiki that is getting pretty darn comprehensive, including a table with all 150 professions and their formulas. Useful if anyone is looking for something in particular:

http://www.ign.com/wikis/pixel-people/Professions

 

[FerranMG]

I started it today and I'm finding it very difficult to understand where money comes from, how can I get utopium, what to do do maximize benefits...
I've seen a kind of a lightning icon over buildings that I have no clue what does it mean.

Anyone care to explain it a little bit?
The in-game tutorial leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[SirMossyBloke]

Cloud saves between devices? I'm there!

 

[FHIZ]

Like usual... iCloud is completely screwed. It'll sync over once between devices then never again. Started a town on my iPhone, checked it a little while later on my iPad, then when I picked up my phone, again sometime later, no progress was there. I now have essentially two games. Guess it's time to erase everything and try again.

 

[Impeccable]

I'm been playing it on and off all day, I love this.

 

[wetflame]

Every time I load this on my iPhone there's no city, just an empty screen with the sky. No idea what's going on. Really frustrating.

 

[viralmarketeer]

The hook is discovering new pixel people, that mechanic is pretty much the same as Doodle God (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doodle-god/id376374689).

It's done really well and layered on top of your basic -Ville game. The fun thing is that since there's a limited number of combinations it feels like there's actually a way to beat it... despite reviews saying that the downtime gets really bad as you approach the final few things to collect.

 

[chris121580]

How do you plant trees? That doesn't seem to be an option for me. Only roads and different types of houses

 

[Snuggles]

How do you plant trees? That doesn't seem to be an option for me. Only roads and different types of houses

You might have to level up a couple times first (by expanding your city) but yes you can build a variety of trees. They will be under the same menu as homes and paths.

40 citizens spliced today. I can't put this damn game down. Definitely my favorite of this type of game yet.

 

[FerranMG]

Alright, definitely hooked to this.

Checking the toucharcade forums, it seems the developers encourage exploring the game a lot, that's why there's so many things that are not explained anywhere.
I think I understand how it goes now, and I'm having a lot of fun.

To answer one of my questions from above: the lightning icon on top of buildings means that they are not producing anything, they are stopped. You have to touch it in order for the building to start generating coins again for a set amount of time (each building has different production times).


So far, this game is as addictive and charming as Tiny Tower, with the big difference that in Pixel People there's ALWAYS stuff to do.
You can actually "play" for hours.

 

[Henk_Glimlach]

Anyone know what you can do with animals you collect?

 

[Ranger X]

The game is actually pretty good.

However it's not properly balanced (like most IAP games that is). Shit takes ALOT of time to happen so it ends up being a "waiting game" more than anything else. Its sad because of the premise of this game + the look and feel is excellent!

 

[MThanded]

My game is broken. I can't see any land and it asks me If I want to go back to town center. If I click yes nothing happens. If I click no nothing happens. Think I am done with this...

Every time I load this on my iPhone there's no city, just an empty screen with the sky. No idea what's going on. Really frustrating.

I have company.

 

[avcables]

My game is broken. I can't see any land and it asks me If I want to go back to town center. If I click yes nothing happens. If I click no nothing happens. Think I am done with this...



I have company.

This happened to me as well on both the iPhone 5 and the iPad 3. Just continuously zoom in and out with two fingers and it should snap back to the game world.

 

[Impeccable]

The game is actually pretty good.

However it's not properly balanced (like most IAP games that is). Shit takes ALOT of time to happen so it ends up being a "waiting game" more than anything else. Its sad because of the premise of this game + the look and feel is excellent!

Yeah, hit that point too even after 're-rolling' to take as little space as possible up with housing (minimal housing before Heavenly Towers(?)).

Except now it's 4 hours 30 minutes for a building and like 15-20 minutes per clone. I also need 14 million for my next land expansion and I'd have to play it so much to make that happen.

Oh well, it started off okay.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Sounds like a better Happy Street. I'm down to check it out, at least.

Happy Street is better!

 

[Ollie Pooch]

The compendium thing of the jobs already found is driving me nuts.

It's such a hassle to find an existing job and then find the recipe for it by pixely picture alone with no text. You then have to jump out, go to the main building, and use the recipe. They should just have a list of already-found jobs, where you can hit a button and create another then and there.

 

[Snuggles]

I had a good time with this but I've reached the point now where cooldown times actively discourage me from opening up the app. It takes upwards of 12 hours to build a structure now. Even when it's not that much, it's long enough that the majority of the time, all there is to do is repower my businesses and collect a little cash. At that point I'm not really doing anything but opening the app, mindlessly tapping a few times, then closing it for the rest of the afternoon.

I'm not against spending the occasional buck or two on an IAP, but what's the point? It'll give me a small boost but then I'd soon be back in the same position. Seems like a total waste of money.

It was fun will it lasted, though. It probably edges out Paper Planes and Happy Street as my favorite of it's type. The splicing stuff was fun, I'd like to see the concept applied to a non-FTP, deeper game.

 

[wetflame]

I feel that point is going to hit soon for me too. Plus the businesses need tapping on far too often, most have sub-20m time limits and so you can't really build anything up while you're not using it. Nice concept, but ultimately too restrictive with the cooldowns. Plus as cute as little pixel animals are, they're just cosmetic and another thing to try and get you collecting, and so offering a random (often repeated) one isn't much of a reward.

 

[jessecuster]

The compendium thing of the jobs already found is driving me nuts.

It's such a hassle to find an existing job and then find the recipe for it by pixely picture alone with no text. You then have to jump out, go to the main building, and use the recipe. They should just have a list of already-found jobs, where you can hit a button and create another then and there.

You can tell you have already created the job because the formula is yellow instead of pink.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

You can tell you have already created the job because the formula is yellow instead of pink.

I know that, but sometimes you need to create another of the same job to fill a free slot in another building (for example, I have 2 policemen) and need to remember the formula - I think it would just make more sense to show 'policeman' under the icon in the gallery, instead of having to identify it by sight, then give you the option to 'create another' (in a much more elegant way!)

For some of the more obscure jobs like 'secretary' and 'accountant' they all blur into each other.

I had a good time with this but I've reached the point now where cooldown times actively discourage me from opening up the app. It takes upwards of 12 hours to build a structure now. Even when it's not that much, it's long enough that the majority of the time, all there is to do is repower my businesses and collect a little cash. At that point I'm not really doing anything but opening the app, mindlessly tapping a few times, then closing it for the rest of the afternoon.

I'm not against spending the occasional buck or two on an IAP, but what's the point? It'll give me a small boost but then I'd soon be back in the same position. Seems like a total waste of money.

It was fun will it lasted, though. It probably edges out Paper Planes and Happy Street as my favorite of it's type. The splicing stuff was fun, I'd like to see the concept applied to a non-FTP, deeper game.

I was all over this to begin with but it's already becoming a bit of a slog. The balance is totally off. Despite it reaching 'real work' status eventually, Hay Day is still my favourite of these games - they're different styles of games, but still share the IAP/timed build thing. Far better social features, too.

 

[BobJustBob]

The compendium thing of the jobs already found is driving me nuts.

It's such a hassle to find an existing job and then find the recipe for it by pixely picture alone with no text. You then have to jump out, go to the main building, and use the recipe. They should just have a list of already-found jobs, where you can hit a button and create another then and there.

Yeah, this is my biggest complaint too. The bank bonus actively encourages you to fully staff all buildings but they make it such a hassle to create duplicate clones to fill those positions.

 

[Heel]

I know that, but sometimes you need to create another of the same job to fill a free slot in another building (for example, I have 2 policemen) and need to remember the formula - I think it would just make more sense to show 'policeman' under the icon in the gallery, instead of having to identify it by sight, then give you the option to 'create another' (in a much more elegant way!)

For some of the more obscure jobs like 'secretary' and 'accountant' they all blur into each other.

Yeah, I'm with you on this.

Also, it'd be nice if you could move the bigger buildings over a single space. As it is now, if it's overlapping with it's original placement it won't let you place it. Kind of minor but pretty annoying if you want to rearrange your city.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Yeah, this is my biggest complaint too. The bank bonus actively encourages you to fully staff all buildings but they make it such a hassle to create duplicate clones to fill those positions.

Hopefully they'll add this in an update. If I'm still playing

It's a shame they couldn't include some kind of social stuff in the game - in Hay Day you could trade items, get help with deliveries and stuff. All pretty mindless but it added to the game. Pixel People feels too lonely - the music doesn't help either!

 

[Dawg]

Fun game. Hard to put down once you've started, I just went in for 15 minutes and ended up playing it for like two hours.

 

[Dawg]

The compendium thing of the jobs already found is driving me nuts.

It's such a hassle to find an existing job and then find the recipe for it by pixely picture alone with no text. You then have to jump out, go to the main building, and use the recipe. They should just have a list of already-found jobs, where you can hit a button and create another then and there.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can click people in a building you want to fill and the recipe will be on the guys. Just click on the desired building, then choose the job you want to create again. Don't have to search for it in the gallery each time.

edit: damnit, double post... my bad.

 

[Chanser]

They reduced the cost of levelling up and added romance job type.

 

[superrobot]

They reduced the cost of levelling up and added romance job type.

Yes. The previous update added it but it didn't work for everyone.
I'm close to unlocking everything.
Hopefully the next content update will add some interesting stuff.

 

[atre324]

Finally filled my last job in my last building in this tonight, with 155/155 jobs unlocked.

Some helpful stuff:

-CPS caps out at 1796 with all upgrades and whatnot
-You know you've reached your 25 Utopium daily "cap" when you start getting 10 coins, in addition to 100 and 1000. You won't get 10 coins otherwise.
-You can rarely get 3 Utopium from forests.
-The time discount and expansion discount from Spirit caps out at 50%. Since the Time discount raises at 1/2 point per spirit, you need 100 spirit to max out both discounts.


Things I wish they added:
-The ability to turn off that horrible sound every time you move/build/delete a road/river
-Being able to visit another person's world
-More special effects from buildings
-More decorations and trees!

I've still got a bunch of animals to get and I guess a few achievements. I'll play for a few more expansions to decorate my town and get it ready for future updates, but then I'll probably stop playing until they add new stuff.

Al in all it's been pretty awesome as far as Freemium games go. I spent $1.99 on the one upgrade but I really like how you don't have to spend any money on it. I'd definitely put it up there with Tribez and Tiny Tower as far as favorites go. Between this game and Puzzle Craft, Chillingo seems to know exactly how to make me waste hours and hours, lol.

 

[atre324]

Soooo, has anyone played this since the update?

NEW STUFF!
✔ 55 new jobs to splice + 9 special genes to unlock. That 64 ALL NEW Pixel People to find!
✔ 13 exciting new buildings to add to your town
✔ 12 more new adorable animals to adopt
✔ Over 40 new missions to complete, using your animals and resources, with spectacular rewards!
✔ A new 'lucky' packet to open, containing many more land-saving surprises
✔ Hotel Utopia finally opens its doors to public

CHANGES AND UPDATES
✔ Gene Pool gets a new look!
✔ Get quick surprises from the Animal Shelter
✔ New special features added to existing buildings
✔ Time discounts from Spirit now increase at the same rate as expansion discounts
✔ Splicing Time also benefits from Spirit discount
✔ New Spirit calculation system, now Spirit scales with level
✔ One more upgrade level available at the Research Facility
✔ Animal cards now show quantity, tier, and categories

BALANCE AND FIXES
✔ Build times reduced
✔ Coin exchange rates improved, now they scale with level
✔ Coin rewards improved, now they scale with level
✔ SFX and Music state saved on exit of the game
✔ Other minor bug fixes

I was pretty much done with the game before the update. Now I'm at 179/210 (I still check 2 or 3 times a day). I don't really notice much difference in build times for anything besides houses, although it does seem quicker now to have new clones show up in the Arrival Center.

The missions were a lot of fun at first but now I'm kinda stuck, you need to complete missions to unlock the new genes and I'm missing 1 animal each (Dodo and Stag) from 2 missions that would allow me to keep spawning new clones. You can at least buy out the gene missions for 100u but I really don't want to waste mine so it's a bit frustrating. I really wish they'd increase the spawn rate for tier 5 animals or make some other way to get the animals I need faster.

I appreciate the spirit changes (you essentially have to buy a spirit point or two to top yourself off every few levels) but I would have liked to see a few more decorations added to the game as well. My city can only have so many of the same fountain!

One new thing I noticed is that now while you're collecting hearts from your houses you'll occasionally get a gold heart, which seems to increase the likelihood of getting a rarer animal when you finally get your surprise.

I also got a special tree from the Casino (looks like an andromeda oak, but it's pink and takes up 0 land), and I got a neat looking special house from missions. It seems there are a few other exclusive mission/casino items. I'd definitely like to see more additions like this in the future.



Is anyone else even playing still?

 

[Chanser]

New update added a firefighter hotel bug.

I'm at 202/210 new jobs filled, you need to save up 100u to unlock the last profession.