Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa
Encyclopedia
Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa is an simulation video game
set in Africa
. Players create and control African animals such as lion
s, elephant
s, zebra
s in this strategy game
. To succeed, the player must discover the unique behaviors of each species and build food and water sources to suit them. They must plan their ecosystem well so that it can help both predator and prey achieve balance in the wild. The player can also select any animal and teach it about far away food sources, or select a predator to take down a herbivore
.
Venture Africa was published by casual game
publisher
, MumboJumbo
, and is also sold online from the Pocketwatch Games website as well as a number of other gaming portals.
The title was developed in 10 months for a total of USD
$8,000, and sold about 65,000 copies. Andy Schatz, CEO and founder of Pocketwatch Games, designed
, programmed
, produced
and contributed art
to the game. A team of seven remote contractors provided the rest of the art and media for the game.
Hyper's
Tim Henderson commends the game for its "simple interface" as well as "great life and death balance". However, he criticises the game for its "tutorial [which] is a little vague and no camera rotation".
. Venture Arctic was released on the 26 May 2007 and has approximately double the number of animals compared to Venture Africa. Also, a second sequel called Venture Dinosauria
is being made. It includes dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and Deinonychus and will take place at the very end of the Late Cretaceous Period.
Simulation video game
A simulation video game describes a diverse super-category of computer and video games, generally designed to closely simulate aspects of a real or fictional reality.-Sub-genres:-Construction and management simulation:...
set in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Players create and control African animals such as lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s, zebra
Zebra
Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
s in this strategy game
Strategy game
A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...
. To succeed, the player must discover the unique behaviors of each species and build food and water sources to suit them. They must plan their ecosystem well so that it can help both predator and prey achieve balance in the wild. The player can also select any animal and teach it about far away food sources, or select a predator to take down a herbivore
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
.
Venture Africa was published by casual game
Casual game
A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games...
publisher
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
, MumboJumbo
MumboJumbo
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, MumboJumbo LLC is a publisher, developer and mass marketer of casual games for PCs and game consoles including those manufactured by Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment and Microsoft Corporation. Established in January 2001 they originally focused exclusively on...
, and is also sold online from the Pocketwatch Games website as well as a number of other gaming portals.
The title was developed in 10 months for a total of USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$8,000, and sold about 65,000 copies. Andy Schatz, CEO and founder of Pocketwatch Games, designed
Game design
Game design, a subset of game development, is the process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and design of gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters during production stage. The term is also used to describe both the game design embodied in a game as...
, programmed
Game programmer
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebase for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer"...
, produced
Game producer
A video game producer is the person in charge of overseeing development of a video game.The earliest documented use of the term producer in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Arts in 1982...
and contributed art
Game artist
A game artist is an artist who creates art for one or more types of games. Game artists are responsible for all of the aspects of game development that call for visual art...
to the game. A team of seven remote contractors provided the rest of the art and media for the game.
Animals
The game features 11 animals:- ZebraZebraZebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
- FlamingoFlamingoFlamingos or flamingoes are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus , the only genus in the family Phoenicopteridae...
- LionLionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
- SpringhareSpringhareThe springhare , or springhaas, is not actually a hare, but a member of the order Rodentia. It is one of a number of species in the genus Pedetes, and is native to southern Africa. Synonyms are P. caffer or P...
- Elephant
- VultureVultureVulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
- CrocodileNile crocodileThe Nile crocodile or Common crocodile is an African crocodile which is common in Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, South Africa, Malawi, Sudan, Botswana, and Cameroon...
- WildebeestWildebeestThe wildebeest , also called the gnu is an antelope of the genus Connochaetes. It is a hooved mammal...
- BaboonBaboonBaboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
- HyenaHyenaHyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
- Giraffe
Awards and Reception
- Independent Games Festival 2006
- Grand Prize Finalist
- Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition 2006
- Grand Prize Finalist
- Indie Games Con 2005
- Most Innovative Runner Up
- Best Overall Runner Up
Hyper's
Hyper (magazine)
Hyper is a multi-platform Australian video game magazine. Australia's longest running gaming magazine, it has been in publication since 1993, and was released the same month as the better known UK magazine Edge...
Tim Henderson commends the game for its "simple interface" as well as "great life and death balance". However, he criticises the game for its "tutorial [which] is a little vague and no camera rotation".
Sequels
Venture Africa spawned a sequel called Venture ArcticVenture Arctic
Venture Arctic is the second ecosystem simulation game to come from Pocketwatch Games. Following its predecessor Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa, this Arctic sequel combines educational value and entertainment...
. Venture Arctic was released on the 26 May 2007 and has approximately double the number of animals compared to Venture Africa. Also, a second sequel called Venture Dinosauria
Venture Dinosauria
Venture Dinosauria is an upcoming real-time strategy game that is being developed by Pocketwatch Games. The player's objective is to create a thriving ecosystem of dinosaurs...
is being made. It includes dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and Deinonychus and will take place at the very end of the Late Cretaceous Period.
External links
- Venture Africa at Pocketwatch Games website
- Hyena's Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa website, a fan site